Page 99 of Ash Fall

The apocalypse, I decide on my way to the trucks, is really not so bad after all. That good mood survives right up until we assemble at the bay door. Reid arrives first, mask hanging around his neck, hair tied up, looking about as thrilled as a man walking into a dentist appointment. He holds his mask up and grimaces at it.

"Who decided survival gear had to smell this offensive?"

"They smell like functioning lungs." Torrin claps him on the back. "Breathe the smell of survival and you’ll live longer."

Penny trots the length of the truck line with her tail wagging, convinced she’s been invited. She plants herself at the tailgate and stares up at Reid with shameless hope. He crouches to her level and takes her face in both hands.

"Not this time, Pen. Ash is bad for noses like yours." He taps her nose once. "Stay here. Watch the girls for me. That's the important job."

Whatever she says back makes him grin. She sits at attention beside the tailgate with sudden military importance. The certainty that a golden retriever just accepted a formal assignment should probably bother me more than it does but I’m rolling with all this new crazy.

Then Gage walks up, and the morning gets even better. The beard is gone. All of it, right down to smooth fresh skin, and underneath that lumberjack camouflage he’s been wearing is a jawline that belongs in a cologne ad. Mars does a full double take. Torrin whistles the long low note usually reserved for expensive cars.

"Shut up," Gage says, to everyone, pre-emptively.

Luna comes over with Elenor to see us off and stops walking so suddenly that her grandmother bounces off her shoulder. Her mouth opens, and nothing comes out of it. The stare she gives Gage's bare jaw has the focused intensity of a woman doing complicated math. The roll of tape she's carrying slips out of her fingers and disappears under the truck. Nobody moves to get it, because this is better than television.

"Something startle you, Cin?" I ask in my most innocent voice. "You good?"

"Food… I mean fine…good, I’m good." She chokes out staring directly at Gage's mouth and then shakes the stun off. "Totally fine. You all have your chins… lips…ugh…kits?"

Gage's ears have gone red, and the smug creeping across his naked face is a brand-new thing on him. Elenor pats Luna's arm without any attempt at discretion. "Breathe through it, peach. I raised you better than to swoon on concrete."

Milton comes over from the door controls with a smile.

"You boys want me to radio Tanner, have them keep an eye out for you on the road?"

"They went to town?" Torrin asks in surprise.

"Tanner and one of his pals." Milton looks between us, reading our faces, and his own falls. "You didn't know? They rolled out right at first light on a scavenging run."

Annoyance flares. Of all the useless, rude, small-brained moves.

"They knew we were making a town run today." I spit in annoyance. "We let them know last night but they drove out of here without comparing the list we need?"

"Forget about it. We have a lot of stops and what passes for daylight now isn’t going to last forever. Load up."

Luna blows a kiss to us and starts backing away like she can’t stand watching us go as Milton hauls the bay door up. Ash rolls in over the threshold in a soft grey wave, as we pull out into a world with no color left in it.

Gage is behind the wheel with Mars next to him and Reid riding beside me in the back of the cab, wipers dragging dirty arcs across the glass. In the mirror the mine shrinks into the haze until I can't see it at all anymore. Cold prickles across the back of my neck for no reason I can think of. It's probably just me hating being separated from her after everything. She’ll be here waiting for us when we get back and maybe I can give her a little demonstration instead of just words tonight.

Chapter 37 - Luna

The bay feels lonelier once the trucks are gone. I stand there a while after Milton sweeps the ash back out and brings the door down, listening to the quiet settle in behind it. The huge space is less busy than the last few frantic days of getting everything set up and built. Now it’s just a new routine of daily chores to keep it all working. I look around the space and realize this is it, this is home now and an idea pops into my head, so I go looking for my grandmother.

Gigi’s standing underneath one of the huge ventilation fans with her hair in a scarf, coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other with the smoke being sucked up by the fan. She gives me a wry smile when I step up next to her.

"I miss doom scrolling Instagram and seeing what new drama has hit the author community that day." She looks around the bay and sighs. Maybe I should write an apocalypse romance to keep the monotony of our new lives at bay."

"I have a better idea. We should have a party," I tell her.

She turns to me so fast her ash falls to the floor. "Say more."

"Tonight, in the cafeteria, a house…or mine, I guess, warming party. Everybody from both groups in one room celebrating our new home." I lean against the wall beside her. "The main work's done, we're not dying today, and we've been living beside those people for days without learning their names or getting to know them. That needs to change if this is going to work and a party is a great way to do that."

"I know all their names."

"You would."