Counting Down (12 page)

He opened his mouth to speak and Aislynn suddenly felt another stirring in her bones. His bottom lip trembled ever so slightly, and his words stuck in his throat. Before he could gain his composure she stood on her toes and reached for his face. With fierceness and passion she brought h
er
mouth to his.

He kissed her back with his own
longing
, nearly sending her off her feet. His arms crushed her too him, one hand holding the side of her face as though to never let her go.

It took a combined effort to pull away so they could walk out of the circle and into the privacy of the night. Barefoot, they moved into a clearing, dropped to their knees and found each other’s mouths again. The stars blinked above them and the moon watched over, giving them her brightest blessing.

As they lay together in the tall grasses, Aislynn was taken to a lovely place where she could remember only one word. “Callum.”

Wednesday, December 19th 2012, 7:24am

K
yle
stirred awake much later in the morning than he had wanted to.
Having drank too much the night before on top of being given a migraine that would bring down an
eight hundred
pound gorilla, he had the hangover from hell.

As he lay in bed he knew a headache was the least of his current worries. Nothing a few ibuprofen wouldn’t fix. But there would be no little yellow pill to stop the big bad apocalypse demon that was about to show up at his front door. And now Kyle Windstone, Kansas farmer, was suddenly supposed to be some kind of reincarnated magic man.

When he had touched Abby the night before he had known it would change them both in some way. Very specifically, he had known it would significantly change him and there would be no way to get back to the person he was before. Even though the vision they shared explained their connection, he still wasn’t sure what to do with it. He also wasn’t sure he was willing to face the feelings that came along with it.

Slowly he got out of bed and threw on the first pair of jeans he found on his bedroom floor. He stopped in front of the door to the spare room and listened for movement. After a few seconds of nothing but silence he pushed the door open a little and looked in on Abby’s sleeping face.

Reincarnation wasn’t a concept he really had a hard time believing in. The idea had always made sense to him. Everything was based on cycles. After all, when summer was over you could count on it coming back the very next year; same bat-time, same bat-channel. Nothing in the natural world ever seemed to come to an end. Why would the soul be any different?

As he watched her sleep he couldn’t help but think about crawling into bed next to her, pulling her tight into his chest, and dreaming with her for a few more hours. The end of the world could wait.

With their first touch had come all the knowledge of another time, complete with all of the joy and sorrow that came with sharing a life together. He remembered all of the beauty they had experienced; the birth of their love, their children, and everything in between. The details were so stark that he felt as though it had been only yesterday.
But he also remembered losing her, watching her die slowly after they had survived the Destroyer’s initial onslaught.
He hadn’t been able to save her or their family.

The image came to him now from a well guarded section of his mind. He saw her lifeless in his arms, her face taking on the shadow of death. A sick wave passed through him and he involuntarily shuddered. She was his and he had never belonged to another. He knew that deep down, but he had no idea how to deal with it.

Thoughts raced like little stock cars around his head. He knew he wanted to be near her and that seeing her face gave him a simple sense of peace. Beyond that there was the physical pull. Those feelings he found easier to accept. Acting on the things he felt was a totally different matter all together. Though keeping that first kiss in a few hundred lifetimes out of his mind was not going to be easy.

Abby was a distraction. He needed to stay away from her as much as possible. There were more important things to worry about and he wouldn’t allow himself to fail. Not again.

There was work that needed doing and watching Abby sleep was not only bordering on the edge of creepy, but it also wasn’t getting anything done. He closed the door silently and headed downstairs to start his morning.

Kyle was standing in the kitchen pouring his first cup of coffee, still wearing only a pair of faded old jeans, when he heard Abby padding down the stairs. Shit, he thought. He had hoped to be showered and out the door before she woke up. He kept his back to her as she walked into the kitchen.

“Good morning.”

He felt his heart wrench a little at the sound of her sleep softened voice. He clenched his eyes and resisted the urge to look at her. He could almost feel her eyes wandering up the bare flesh of his back, over his shoulders and arms where matching black tattooed bands wrapped around each of his biceps. His skin grew hot. I should’ve put on a damn shirt, he thought.

“Good morning.” He walked to the table and set down his mug of hot coffee. “There’s diet coke in the fridge.”

“Thanks. Listen about last night…”

Kyle lifted a hand. “I’m fine now. Just a headache.”

Abby frowned, spoke softly. “Oh. Okay.”

He dared to look her in the eye for a fraction of a second. Big mistake. Confused rejection registered across her features making his brow crease in self loathing. He watched as she bit her lip and looked away.

Damn it, he cursed himself. Maybe he was playing it a little too cool. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he worried that it might be inevitable. He couldn’t allow her to think they were fated to be a couple because of what they had experienced the night before.

Kyle knew he needed to keep his head clear. He wouldn’t allow himself to make mistakes this time. Being near Abby in a physical way would make it difficult enough for him to think straight. He needed to push her away emotionally as nicely as he could manage.

He sipped his coffee casually, kept his mug in front of his mouth as he spoke.
“I’m going into town. There’s a list of things that could still use doing. We’re running short on time.”

Abby just nodded her head slightly and let her eyes drift out the window to the odd reddish colored sky beyond. Kyle took another sip of his heavily creamed coffee, feeling the mild burn of the liquid on his tongue, and tried unsuccessfully not to look at her mouth or remember how it felt under his own. He didn’t know what to say to her just then but he knew exactly what he wanted to say.

He wanted to tell her that he had been so taken with her on the night they met that he had felt compelled to scrawl out flowery stanzas of poetry, one after the other. He wanted to take her hand and tell her what he knew in his heart to be true – that they were connected and fate had indeed brought them together. But that’s not what he said.

“There’s a bathroom upstairs that’s all yours. I’ll shower down here.” He knew it was a dismissal, but she smelled like a vanilla cake he desperately wanted to sink his teeth into.

Abby moved to walk up the stairs then stopped herself with her back turned to him. Kyle thanked multiple gods that he couldn’t see the hurt in her eyes anymore.

“I dreamt of us last night, of who we used to be.” Her voice was quiet yet clear and Kyle thought he may have even heard a touch of anger. “I know what I saw and I know who we are.” She took another step away, stopped again. “Your name was Callum and I was the woman you loved.” With that she continued up the stairs.

Kyle stood barefoot on the stone tiled kitchen floor, staring blankly at the coffee cup in his hand. Hearing his name – or what used to be his name – on her lips had left his heart thudding in his chest. He hadn’t expected to hear it, but his soul remembered the sound.

He took a breath and set the mug down with a bang. He forced the fog from his mind, exhaled. There was no time for notions of past lives and soul mates. Before the Destroyer came calling, he had to make it in to town for some last minute provisions.

* * *

A little over a half an hour later Kyle
was making his way through Clover Lake. What had once been a quaint Kansas town, complete with people walking their dogs and gathering about the local ice cream parlor, had become little more than a vacant lot. Kyle didn’t see a soul as he scanned the streets for signs of life. A few of the shops were boarded up along Main Street and even the fire hall seemed closed for business.

He hadn’t watched the news for days, maybe even weeks. He didn’t need to. The visions in his head were enough for him to keep up on current events. He certainly didn’t need to check out the widespread panic in high definition widescreen complete with stereo surround sound. It was obvious that by now everyone on Earth was pretty aware of what was going down. Even if they didn’t know the details, the human race was famous for embracing a good apocalypse.
Rumors alone would be enough to keep everyone cloistered in their homes and close to their loved ones.

With the shops boarded up or on lock down Kyle figured he was going to have to do some good old fashioned looting. He wasn’t crazy about the idea, but he didn’t really have a choice either. Besides, he didn’t have a problem leaving money for what he took. Not
those pieces
of paper were going to do anyone any good after today, but it would ease his conscience a little.

His first stop was the local grocery store. Surprisingly he found the doors unlocked and they s
lid
open easily as he walked towards them. Though Clover Lake was a small town, the grocery store was a fairly large m
om
and pop production. The ceilings of the place
were
warehouse high though all but a few of the large overhead lights were off. This gave the place a creepy vibe that made Kyle feel slightly anxious as he let his eyes adjust to the dimness.

He looked around at the shelves to see most of them were empty or littered with random food items. He grabbed two
reusable
shopping bags from a rack and started shopping.

He found boxes of breakfast cereal down isle
four
, a few bags of oyster crackers on isle
six
, a ton of dry rice, cans of sweetened condensed milk, and tins of mandarin oranges on isle
seven
, and a bunch of gorgeous ripe yellow bananas misplaced in the dairy section. While he was there he grabbed the last package of butter and stashed it in his bag. Might come in handy, he thought. Plus it could be stored at room temperature for a little while without going bad.

He made a stop to pick up some toilet paper and found only tissues. Better than nothing, he figured. While he was at it he swiped up all the baby wipes he could find and fit them in his bags.

Kyle was rounding the corner of the frozen foods section when he heard something fall near the ice cream coolers and echo through the empty building. A tingle ran up and down his spine causing him to turn just in time to see a shotgun barrel pointing between his eyes.

“Jesus Christ,” Kyle breathed, staring head on into the muzzle.

“That’s my food you’re stealin’ son.” The man behind the weapon was older and could only be described as grizzly.

Kyle didn’t recognize him. He wasn’t the owner of the grocery store, that much was for sure. The man in front of him looked to be in his mid-fifties. He was short with a full head of greasy, grey hair and an overgrown beard. Kyle knew the owner of the store, Mr. Hawkins well enough and this man didn’t look a thing like him. He decided it was best not to point that fact out.

The gunman continued. “I’ve made my claim on this place and I don’t take kindly to looters.”

Oh shit, Kyle thought. This guy was staking claim to the grocery store like he’d just landed on the New World with a flag. The man was off his nut and Kyle imagined there would be no way to talk sense with someone like that. So he resorted to bribery instead.

“Oh, I’m not looting.” Kyle kept his voice even and calm. “If you wouldn’t mind taking the
twelve
gauge out of my face I could pay you for what I took.”