Hope and Undead Elvis Read Free Page A

Elvis's hips came free from the sand and she fell backward with him on top of her in a parody of coitus.
    Spent, she gasped for air and coughed as dust flew into her lungs. His weight comforted her and she put her arms around him.
    "Thanks kindly, Li'l lady." He didn't sound any worse for the wear. His voice was as mellow as ever. "I might've got out eventually, but it could have been a real long wait."
    "I was afraid you were gone, like… like everything else. I was afraid I'd be alone here, wherever this is."
    "Not if I can help it," he said.
    "Why? What are you even doing here? I mean, you're dead, right? You died before I was even born."
    "I did. I'm back, Li'l lady. Uh-huh."
    "How? And why?" Another thought occurred to her. "Hey, get off me."
    "Sorry 'bout that." He rolled off her and sat up in the sand. He blew grains off his microphone, almost going so far as to take off his sunglasses to examine it. "Can't say how it happened. All I know is, one day I knew I needed to be here, in this place, at this time. So I got up and came here."
    "You're not making any sense." Hope looked around at the sandy, forlorn surroundings. Nothing but dunes as far as she could see in every direction. "I don't even know what I'm doing here," she said in a voice so soft it seemed the sand might swallow it up as well.
    "Nevertheless, here we are, and it's the end of the world," said Undead Elvis.
    "Yeah, I think you're right about that. What do we do about it?"
    "Ain't sure we can do anything about it. When it's your time, it's your time. Same thing for the world, I figure."
    For a few minutes, the only sound was the wisp of shifting sand as Hope's breathing slowed to a normal pace.
    "What do we do now?" she asked into the silence. "We didn't disappear with everything else. Are we supposed to go somewhere or do something?"
    Undead Elvis shrugged. "If we stay here, you're gonna die of thirst."
    "What about you?
    "I'm already dead. Ain't got a thing to worry about."
    "You were eating when we were playing cards. Drinking, too."
    "That's different. I chose to, because I love me a big old mess of french fries with gravy. But I don't need to eat."
    "Because you're dead."
    "That's right, Li'l lady."
    "I'm sitting here in a desert, talking to a dead man after the world ended. Shit, I wonder if I'm already hallucinating."
    Undead Elvis patted her arm. "I don't think so."
    She sighed. "I keep thinking I should be freaking out, you know? I mean, if this is the end of everything, I should be screaming and crying and stuff. Instead, I'm just kind of… I don't know. Annoyed." She burped a little and made a sour face. "And nauseated. Crap, I hope I'm not getting sick. I don't want to spend my last days in the world barfing."
    "Do you want to spend them here?"
    "What?"
    He made an expansive gesture, encompassing the entire sandy horizon. "Your last days. Do you want to spend them here, Li'l lady? Surrounded by sand with an undead celebrity your only companion?"
    Hope stared around at the silica ocean around her. The stark landscape was beautiful in a surreal, sterile kind of way. She'd heard that deserts harbored much life among their sands, but she suspected this one was as empty as it looked. "Not a really, Elvis. If I've got to die, I'd rather it was somewhere prettier than this. Someplace green."
    "I know just the place."
    "Do you, now?"
    "Yep, I sure do. Graceland. Most beautiful place in the whole world." Undead Elvis's face grew wistful.
    "Maybe it used to be," said Hope. "But then the world ended."
    Undead Elvis paused and raised his head, as if sniffing the air. "No, it's still there."
    "How do you know?"
    "I just do. Like you know your toes are still there."
    Hope looked down at her feet, just in case. "Even so, it must be a thousand miles from here."
    He tucked his microphone back into his outfit and extended a hand to her. "Then I guess we better start walkin'."
     

Chapter Three
    Hope and the Desert
     
    They walked.
    The sun beat down upon