Black Sun by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 24

Morning arrived with the usual chill that, only hours before, blanketed the city. Rousing from sleep, Ryan and Abigail quickly sheltered themselves beneath the warm layers of blankets. “Holy shit,” Ryan said. “It is so fucking cold.” Experiencing a sudden shiver, Abigail turned towards him, pressing herself against his body.

“Fuck, I’m freezing.”

Looking beneath the covers, Ryan playfully examined her breast, noticing her obvious response to the cold morning air. “I guess you are,” he said.

An embarrassed smile came to her face as she gave Ryan a playful shove.

“You asshole,” she teased.

Her smile broadened as a devious thought crept into her mind. “Well, let’s see how cold you are,” she said. She quickly reached a hand down and, grabbing him by what she had only recently been toying with, made a quip of her own. “Oh, you’re really cold, aren’t you?” Her teasing remark was quickly followed by a girlish giggle as Ryan grabbed her hand.

“I’m not that cold,” he said.

He moved in closer, kissing her passionately on the mouth.

“I can get warmed up again if you want.” Abigail wrapped her arms around him, pressing herself against his warm body.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “We won’t be able to get out of bed at this rate.”

The moment, however, was broken by Ryan’s sudden realization that there were still many things to do if their survival was to continue and leaving the warm shelter of the bed covers, he reminded Abigail of this fact. Her response was one of disappointment mixed with playfulness as she pulled the covers up around her neck.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “I still want to play.” Gathering his clothes, Ryan dressed quickly as he made a review of the things that needed to be done.

“We need to make a list of everything you have,” he began. “And we should search the house for more food and water.” Taking the obvious hint that her help was needed, Abigail reluctantly threw that cover off and proceeded to get dressed. “You’re right,” she said. “We certainly can’t have sex all the time, can we?”

Ryan returned her remark with a playful grin. “Well,” he said. “I can think of worse ways to go.” Still, in playful spirits, Abigail threw a pillow at him, hitting him soundly in the head.

“C’mon,” he said. “We have to get busy.”

“I thought we were getting busy,” she replied. Ryan was now rushed to complete his mental list of items they needed to acquire and reviewed it out loud.

Abigail conceded, yet she had her own agenda – work, get high, then sex. However, first things first and searching her small apartment, they were able to organize what modest amount of food she had.

“This isn’t much,” Ryan said. “We’re going to have to search the house.”

Ordinarily, Abigail had no problem wandering through the large Victorian home, but with so many already dead and the house being as quiet as a mausoleum, the idea of going from room-to-room left her more than a bit uncomfortable. “Do I really have to go with you?” she asked. Ryan noticed the fear in her voice and promised that they would do this together, even though he believed it would be better if they split up in order to more quickly accomplish their goal. Abigail reluctantly agreed, but would stay close, continuing to be enveloped in her fear of the eerie quiet that had consumed the house.

Locking the door behind them, Ryan and Abigail began their search, quietly going from room to room. Oddly enough, they found most of the doors unlocked, certainly the result of a desperate exodus carried out by the house’s remaining residents. While conducting their search, they found as they were when the residents left. Nothing had been taken, giving Ryan and Abigail the opportunity to collect not only food but blankets, bedsheets, and other necessary items. They would, however, have to make several trips back and forth to Abigail’s apartment, their arms filled with food.

“Damn,” Ryan began. “This’ll hold us for quite a while.” Also surprised at the amount of food they had recovered, Abigail commented as well.

“This is fucking awesome. We could stay here for a couple of weeks.”

“Yeah,” Ryan replied. “But we’re going to need more water, and we’ll have to go out to get it.”

Abigail had quickly become accustomed to the shelter of her apartment and was in no hurry to leave its quiet sanctuary. But again, she knew it had to be done and didn’t want to be alone in her apartment while Ryan was out getting water and would have to go with him.

Finally retrieving every ounce of food they could find, they returned to Abigail’s apartment and began the task of organizing it. Canned food and boxed goods were stored along the wall near the door, while bedsheets and other items had been kept in a small closet. Now, the new couple could breathe easy, at least for a while, as they maintained their survival in the quiet, nearly unnoticeable shelter of the large Victorian house. But Abigail, still having her own plans, retreated to a far corner near the head of her bed, returning with a zip lock bag filled with dried green buds, a pipe, and a lighter. Sitting on a small couch, Ryan was beginning to feel the effects of the previous night settle in as exhaustion took over his body. This, however, did not deter Abigail from her goal and with a broad smile she straddled his lap and held the bag in front of him.

“Hey, let’s have some fun,” she said. Opening his tired eyes, Ryan saw the contents of the bag and quickly decided against partaking in what seemed to her favorite past-time.

“Oh shit,” he began. “I’ve never tried that stuff before, and I’m really tired from last night.”

Moving closer, Abigail kissed him on the mouth and responded with a girlish giggle.

“I wonder why.”

“C’mon,” she continued. “Just a little hit.” Experiencing his own rising passion, Ryan gave in, but with only one small, rather humorous complaint. “Oh my God, you’re going to kill me, you know that?” Continuing with a teasing smile and pressing her breasts into his face, Abigail assured him that a little weed never killed anyone. “That’s not what I mean,” he replied. “Oh, that,” she began. “Well, give me a little time, and we’ll see.” She followed up her comment with another passionate kiss as she slipped a hand beneath Ryan’s shirt, gently stroking a nipple.

Sitting up straight, Ryan interrupted her advance and inquired about how one uses weed.

“Alright, how do I do this?”

Abigail had the foresight to have already prepared a brass pipe with a ground-up bud only days before she found herself in Troy, at the onset of the crisis that seemed to have swept the world. But now, she had an antidote, if not a temporary treatment and lighting the contents of the bowl, took a deep hit, held it in and exhaled a heavy plume of smoke towards the ceiling. “Now it’s your turn,” she said.

Handing the pipe to Ryan, she saw the hesitation in his eyes and instructed him on how much he should use. “For anyone else,” she began. “A deep hit would be okay, but for a virgin like you, just take a little. A puff is all you need.” Still hesitant, Ryan took the pipe and brought it to his lips as Abigail lit the bowl.

“Remember,” she said. “Just a little.” Pulling back his tongue, Ryan filled his mouth with the pungent taste of Abigail’s favorite strain, but as he inhaled it, she instructed to hold it in for as long as possible. But this would not be the case and after only a few seconds Ryan broke into a coughing fit as the smoke exploded from his lungs.

“Oh, my fucking God,” he began. “You really smoke this shit?” Taking the pipe from Ryan’s hand, she took another deep hit and, setting it down on a nearby table, began kissing him on the neck. “This doesn’t just get me high,” she said. “It also makes me horny as hell.”

It was only moments later that Ryan began to feel the effects of his brief introduction to the experience of cannabis, as his face began to tingle and his body turned to cotton. “Holy shit,” he said.

His mind was beginning to wander off to a place of stillness where everything could be perceived in the space of a single moment of time.

As Ryan let his head fall back into the chair, Abigail decided to fulfill the last of her day’s agenda and unzipping his pants, pulled them down to his ankles. Ryan raised his head in surprise. “Now? You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me, right?” he said. As she slipped her warm hands up his legs, Ryan felt his skin become hyper-sensitive while his arousal continued. “I told you,” Abigail said. “This stuff makes me really horny. Now, take off your clothes.”

Within only minutes, Ryan found himself disabled by the plant’s powerful effect, as the perception of his body became lost in the fuzzy haze of intoxication. Having become unable to disrobe, was left at the mercy of Abigail’s frantic need for satisfaction. But for now, her fear of being alone was calmed by her mind’s response to the fragrant smoke that had quickly filled the small apartment, applying a Band-Aid of soft euphoria to her trembling soul.

Having no experience in the consumption of marijuana, Ryan remained in an off-world state for hours as Abigail continued to have her way, joyfully exploiting his drug-induced disability. Hours later, he still felt the plant's cottony effects consuming both mind and body, but with its peak having passed, he had also become affected by the physical exhaustion of Abigail’s playful assault. It wasn’t until late afternoon that Ryan’s senses came back from his hazy journey into the ethereal, as he rose from the chair with an alarming sense of hunger.

“Holy shit,” he began. “What the fuck was in that stuff?” Abigail couldn’t help but giggle at his expense. “Just the weed,” she replied.

Stumbling to the window, Ryan slid it open by a few inches and breathed deeply of the early evening air. Yet, there was something Abigail hadn’t told him about what had served as the catalyst for his cerebral journey.

“Oh,” she began. “There’s something I forgot to tell you.” Turning away from the open window, Ryan looked at her with obvious concern.

“And what would that be?” he asked. With a broad grin stretched across her face, she informed him of just how strong her favorite strain was. “Well, there isn’t anything else in it, but the potency is about thirty-three percent.”

Ryan felt a bit better knowing that what he had consumed had not been tainted by anything harmful, but still inquired about its strength.

“Is that a lot?”

Still, with a grin on her face, Abigail gave him an answer that he found more than a bit disturbing.

“Oh yeah, that’s a lot.”

“So,” he began. “You’re saying that…” Her grin turned to a soft giggle as she poked fun at him for his unexpected experience.

“Yeah, you got really fucked up. I think this was way too much for you.”

Ryan slid down to the floor, where he would remain for the next hour, but remarked on the insane hunger that had overwhelmed him. Now, feeling a twinge of guilt, Abigail set about making dinner and within thirty minutes had prepared a cold but filling meal. In the absence of gas and electricity, cooking was impossible, so cold food would have to do, for now.

By the time they finished dinner, Ryan was well on his way to a night of deep slumber as the sun gently fell from the western sky. It would be another night in the warm protection of Abigail’s bed, tucked away in the small apartment that they now shared. Although Ryan had fallen into a deep sleep, Abigail would wrap herself around him, absorbing his body heat with the recollection of their journey and the anticipation of what might lie ahead. Soon, she would drift off, escaping from the horrors of earlier events as well as the sight of the abundant dead that seemed to lay everywhere, as if intentionally placed in their path as a test of courage. But as fear gave in to sleep, she tightened her grip around Ryan’s chest as a tear rolled down the side of her face. In spite of the relief brought on by her own drug-induced journey, her fear persisted, and she would be quite happy to remain in her tiny abode with Ryan, never having to step foot outside again.