luna mortimer-smith had long learned not to trust anyone, staying in the middle of the woods as to avoid any contact with the dead or any other humans.
one evening, she'd gone out to check her hunting traps like usual. little did she realize, thoug...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Hard, cold rain beat heavy on the road, the car speeding through the puddles and around other cars. It was already fairly late, the heavy raincloud cover not helping much. Luna was asleep in the passengers seat as Carl drove down the highway, half-mindedly keeping track of the minutes since they'd passed the South Carolina border sign. Trees lined the sides of the road, a slight ditch on either side before the tree lines, though nothing seemed to be moving in them. Carl was thankful they'd left that herd behind nearly a month ago, along with that mall.
He couldn't deny that his mind was on it, on what happened while they were there. Psychically, Carl could tell that Luna was healing. Her wound itself was nearly healed, and she could move around fairly well on her own. But Carl noticed how she was talking less, usually opting to read in the passengers seat or sleep in the backseat for the majority of the day instead of talk. And at night, she'd just curl into a ball, hold his hand, and pass out. It worried him, but at the same time, he didn't know what to do. She'd nearly died, he understood that would have an effect on her, but he felt like there was more. Like there was something she was holding back from him that stopped her from being close again.
Carl's mind was pulled off Luna when the trees started to thin along the side of the road. He slowed with the thinning line, coming to a full stop in front of the entrance to a sports bar parking lot. It was out in the middle of nowhere, some farms scattered every so often. Looking around, Carl knew it would be too far until they'd found somewhere else, so he turned into the parking lot and put the car right in front of the building. It didn't look like much of anything had been in or near the building since before, which hopefully meant they'd be lucky. He turned, watching Luna for a moment before beginning to shake her awake.
"Hey, Luna, get up." He said lightly, as she slowly woke up. "We gotta clear this place." She sat up, rubbing her eyes before taking in their surroundings.
"A bar?" She raised an eyebrow as she looked at him.
"Best place I could find." He shrugged. She nodded and they got out, quickly grabbing their gear before moving towards the building. Carl had a flashlight, in addition to his gun, so he led Luna. The door was easy enough to push open, with only a small box blocking it. Carl's flashlight swiped around the room, but there was nothing. It was just a little, abandoned roadside bar.
"Looks safe enough." Luna said lightly, looking at a few of the windows-glad to see they didn't have any cracks or breaks. "What do you think?" She looked over at Carl.
"Yeah, it'll work for tonight." He nodded. "Go grab some stuff, I'll check out the back room." She nodded, ducking outside. She grabbed a few bags of blankets and pillows, as well as a little lantern, before lugging them back inside. It wasn't hard pushing a few tables out of the way, and by the time Carl had come back from clearing the rest of the building, she was nearly done setting them up a bed.
"I'm gonna grab some food, too." Carl said, putting his gun away. Luna drifted towards the bar as he went back outside, and she poked around. There wasn't much left, surprisingly, but the thick dust layer told her that it had been cleared out a long time ago. Her hands wrapped around a dark brown bottle as she finally stood back up, using her sleeve to wipe away the dust. "What's that?" Carl asked as pushed the door shut with his foot.
"Whiskey." She said, looking up at him and holding up the bottle. "Kind my dad used to drink."
"I think my dad did, too." He said, setting the food down on their bed as Luna walked over. "Jack Daniels, right?"
"Yeah." She nodded, sitting down and putting down the bottle. "Funny, I kinda forgot about alcohol."
"Yeah, me too." He nodded. "Let's eat."
———————
"How do you feel?" Carl asked, watching Luna as she kicked off her shoes.
"I'm alright." She said, standing up and grabbing her clothes bag. "What do you wanna do tonight?" Carl's eyes wandered as she started getting dressed, and they landed on the bottle of whiskey. He stood up, walking over to the bar and grabbing two shot glasses, coming to sit back down as he got all the dust off. "What's that?" She asked, sitting down across from him.
"Figured we could try this." He said, setting the shot glasses down between them. "For fun."
"You sure?" She asked.
"Yeah, I mean, why not?" He shrugged. "We're basically adults out here, anyway right? The world ended."
"Yeah, I guess you have a point." She nodded. "Alright." He picked up the bottle, quickly twisting off the top.
"Ugh, Jesus." He huffed, the strong scent of the whiskey reaching his nose. "Smells like shit." He said, pouring each shot glass full. Luna watched as he set the bottle back down and took his glass before taking hers, also taking a sniff.
"Oh god, you're right." She sighed, holding the glass farther away from her. They looked at each other for a moment, the sound of the rain beating harshly down around them.
"Bottom's up, I guess." Carl sighed. She nodded, and they both took their shots. Of course, they were gagging and coughing immediately, not used to the strong taste. After a few minutes, and chugging some water, Luna was eying the bottle again.
"It wasn't...terrible." She said lightly. "Right?"
"No, not terrible." He shook his head. "Maybe not great..." Before too long, and after only a few more shots, Luna and Carl were very, very drunk. It was easy to be this drunk when you'd never had more than a sip of alcohol a day in your life. Carl was reading some comics-though mostly just complaining about how "hard it was to read" while Luna had moved to sit next to him, laying her head on his shoulder and laughing at him. The yellow light from the lantern flickered slightly, though persisted.
"It's too complicated." Carl threw another comic down onto the ground, and Luna laughed into his side, her arms snaking around his and her fingers interlocking with his.
"Carl..." Luna breathed out, looking up at him. He looked down, his hair getting in his eyes a little. She giggled again as he pushed it out of the way. "I have to tell you something."
"Yeah?" He asked, staring down into her eyes. They were so shiny, and he thought they were even a pretty color in the dim light.
"You're wonderful." She said lightly, leaning more against him. "Just perfect. I...I think I love you." Her words slurred together slightly.
"No way." He said, reaching down and cupping her cheek. "I love you, too." A smile spread across her face. He leaned down, and their lips finally connected. Luna moved, getting up on her knees and wrapping her arms over Carl's shoulders. He pulled her close, and they both fell back on the pillows laughing. Luna settled into their new position, her head resting against his chest. His arms situated themselves around her body as he settled back, the rain lulling his eyes heavier. Luna fell asleep first, one of her hands still twisted through his hair, though Carl was asleep soon after her.
