a man doesn’t need much to cling to life
A lone ant
crawled into his hair and went across
his forehead to
his eyelid
He woke up
Sand all about him and wood above
But this was so far
from hell
Hell was a thing of the past now
Now he had her by
his side
She was still sleeping
in her rugged sleeping bag
For the past few days
they slept under the cabin
to avoid being ambushed inside
He knew she wouldn’t be by his
side
for long. The infection in her
mouth was really getting out of control
putting her one outrageous fever
away from death
This was the world today
A warm wasteland full of predators
and no medical help of
any kind. Kill or be killed. Law of
the jungle. And so on
He liked to believe he
adapted
Too many didn’t
His luck stood in not having that much of
a fine life before the disaster
In fact
life was actually better now
in some aspects
For one
he had a cute companion by his side
A man really doesn't need
much to cling to life
She awakened a few minutes later
from another one of her fever dreams
All sweaty
Breathing heavy
Reaching out for his hand
“Do I smell?” she asked
“What?”
“I said, do I smell?”
“Well, yeah, we both do. Just look at…
where we are. How we are. But hey,
one thing you can be sure of, I
really, really don’t mind.”
“You sure?”
“More than sure.”
“Good. Then hold me.”
He moved closer and circled her with his
arms. Buried his head in
her hair. “We can go inside. No one
came tonight either. It’s safe.”
“No,” she said. “Hold me for a bit longer.
This night… I had the worst of
them. Worst nightmare. A boat came
here on the beach. With saviors. They weren’t
even pirates. But actually good people.
They rescued us.
And among them… there was another woman.
A healthy, pretty one.
And the two of you fell in love. And I
lost you. And I killed myself. Threw
myself over the board. And drowned. My lungs
were burning.”
“Wow,” he said. “What a silly dream.”
“It felt so real.”
“You think I’d leave you for another woman
just because she’s healthy and pretty? After
all we’ve gone through?”
“Look,” she said, “my husband left me for
another woman
even before my gums and tongue started to
swell and rot. When I was still
healthy and… somewhat pretty.”
“Well… I’m not your husband.”
“Sorry,” she said. “I… shouldn’t have brought him
into the discussion. And you’re right. You
are… the most… You’re all I’m still
alive for, really. And I know
I won’t be alive for long.”
“Don’t talk like that,” he said
“It’s true. That’s why… I want you to know
that these past days…
I’ve been praying. For God not to send
us any rescuers. I prayed not to be
found by any other humans. I hate all other
humans besides you. I know it’s incredibly
selfish of me but… We’ve enough
provisions here to
survive… You know, in my case, for the rest
of my life. It’s all a matter of
days, really. I want these last days to be
spent with you alone.”
They made love there in the
dirty sand
and he didn’t mind covering that rotting
mouth with his
By the time she died
her belly
was quite swollen
And he made his peace
with the fact that he’ll never get
over it
***
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