7

REVELATION 2:11

She that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

~ * ~

"Please . . . don't."

Alex stepped inside the door of the bomb shelter. "You were here while I was sleeping," Deb whispered. "I felt you."

"Yes." He took another small step.

"Why did you come back?" Her voice was thick and bubbly, her lungs clotted with liquid.

“I . . .”He couldn't answer.

She laughed sadly. "You came to say good-bye."

He didn't turn on the spotlight this time. Instead he set his flashlight on the bottom step outside, giving only enough illumination to make out her location. He wanted to remember her as she had been, not as this terrible smell proved she was now. He sucked a breath in through his mouth and moved closer; her eyes, watery and red, were the only thing that showed clearly. He didn't know what to say.

"It hurts, Alex," she whimpered suddenly. "I didn't expect it to hurt this much."

"Oh, sweetheart." Before she could protest, he was kneeling at her side. "I'm so sorry."

"It's a success, right?" Every attempt to speak was a gurgling, fluid-filled moan. "You guys'll be all right now?"

"Yes." He put his arms around her shoulders and pulled her onto his lap, his heart kicking when her skin shifted sickeningly under his hand. Everything about her was wet and bloated; what had they done to his beautiful onetime lover?

"I didn't want you to come. I wanted you to remember . . . you know."

He surrendered to the tears filling his eyes. "I do," he assured her. His throat was trying to lock up on him. “And I always will." It was true; his mind's eye showed him a reelful of shots: Deb when he'd first met her, holding him at gunpoint with her face frightened and determined; Deb sitting across from him at Marshall Field's, laughing as she ate pickled eggs; Deb yet again, her expression glowing with passion as their bodies entwined in the moonlight. "I love you," he said hoarsely.

"I love you too," she said gently. She gazed up at him and he felt his heart crack as the reddish lights in her eyes visibly dimmed. All traces of the hungry thing that had tried so hard to claim her had fled. Her mouth was a darker slash against the blotched gray shadows of her face.

"Bury me in the sun, Alex," she said clearly. And she was gone.

Alex hung his head and sobbed.