Fog City: A Short Story (Voices of the Apocalypse Book 5) Read Free Page B

was starting to think Crow and I had bad timing. I sat up, keeping the comforter around my shoulders. “Are you serious? We were in the middle of something.”
    “Serious as a straight line, missy.” He smiled at me.
    Crow smacked the back of Denson’s head. “Keep your eyes to yourself.”
    I wrapped the comforter tighter, very unhappy about the turn of events.
    “I’m sorry I interrupted, missy, but Crow and I got business to take care of,” Denson said.
    “You could’ve waited a few more minutes,” I said.
    “Yeah, that’s probably all the fella’s got in him anyways.” Denson laughed.
    “Cool it.” Crow put his pants back on.
    It was over.
    “So that’s it? We’re done?” I asked.
    “I already offered you a spot.”
    “Yeah, but do you
want
me to come with you?” I know I sounded like a whiny love-struck teenager, but that’s exactly how I felt and I needed some validation. After all, I would’ve been uprooting my life to live in the forest with Crow and a bunch of strangers.
    “Whoa, just a minute there. We never said nothing about no lady friend tagging along. This one looks like a bag of trouble.”
    “You don’t even know me.”
    “Don’t need to.” He laughed. “I can tell by your taste in men.”
    Crow pushed him out away, ordering him to wait by the bar. “Sorry about him. He’s a little rough around the edges.”
    “He’s a jerk,” I said. “And I totally have blue balls now.”
    “Ladies don’t get blue balls.”
    “You know what I mean.”
    “I want you to come with me.”
    That would’ve been enough to convince me to go along, but like a greedy child, I wanted more. “Why do you want me to come?”
    “You make me feel like I can do anything.”
    I smiled in spite of my pent-up frustration. That made up for him not saying anything back when I had blurted out that I was in love with him. In fact, that trumped love by a thousand fold.
    “Okay, I’m coming with you. But I need some clothes.”
    “I’m sure we can find you something to wear.”
    He began opening panels in the walls where the CEO had stored a bunch of items, ranging from business suits to sex toys. Crow handed me a pair of yoga pants, a matching top and hoodie, and some running shoes. I got dressed while he chatted with Denson over by the bar. I stared out at the dark city, where the layers of fog embraced the buildings and sifted through the empty streets. It felt like a dream, or that I was living someone else’s life. How could this be real? I was running away to join an underground team of Repatterning survivors. Just a few months ago, I was giving presentations in boardrooms. I had been too consumed with my job to notice the end was coming. But I was right in the heart of it––a cog in the machine that had contributed the end of times. My job was to make it look good. That crushed me more than anything. More than leaving my apartment in Alamo Square, and the pretty Victorians that lined the streets. It hit me that I’d never see my mother or my older brother again. The last time we got together was during the holidays, months ago. We hadn’t stayed in touch because their cell phones had been turned off. I didn’t even know if they were still in the Bay Area. I had been so involved with my work, I had lost track of everyone important in my life. Including myself.
    “You ready?” Crow came up behind me and massaged my shoulders, then he kissed my neck.
    “You’re only making my blue balls worse.” I laughed, wiping away some tears.
    “I promise you once we get settled by the lake, I’ll make up for it.”
    “So, this is it? Just leaving the city? Leaving everything behind.”
    “We can stop by your place if you still want to get your things.”
    If I had to leave behind my life in the glorious city by the Bay, I wanted to take some tokens with me. Otherwise, it would be as if I never really existed. And I wasn’t about to let the Repatterning erase everything.
    “I’d like to get