Hope and Undead Elvis - By Ian Thomas Healy Page 0,14

his hand. She took it and pulled herself away from the call of the grassy bed below. They went to the edge of the pond. Hope wasn't too proud to get down on her hands and knees and dip her lips into the cool, sweet water. She didn't care if it was teeming with lethal microorganisms. It was water, and it was good. If it killed her, at least she wouldn't die thirsty.

Her thirst slaked at last, she splashed water on her face and then took a deep breath and dunked her whole head in. Caked-on dust and grime peeled away in clouds. While submerged, she opened her eyes and let the cool wetness assuage the pain of her dried-out corneas.

At last, with black spots encroaching on the edge of her vision, she pulled her dripping head out and smiled at Undead Elvis. "I feel so much better."

Gabe offered her a large apple.

Hope smiled at him as she took it. "Apples in Paradise, Gabe?"

"That was a quince, señorita."

"What's a quince?"

He paused. "It's kind of like an apple."

Hope laughed and bit into the fruit. Sweet flesh and tart juices exploded through her mouth and she groaned with the sheer pleasure of it. She ate it in under a minute and then plucked another off a tree and ate it at a more measured pace. As she did so, she watched as Gabe sipped from the pond, splashed water onto his face, and refilled his water bottle. Her thirst slaked, her belly filled, a new appetite began to awaken, one she'd never allowed herself to satisfy. Should she still wait, now that the world had ended? No, she decided. She didn't have to anymore. The rules had changed; there were no more rules. She stepped over to him and knelt down beside where he crouched by the pond.

"Gabe," she said in a soft voice. "I haven't yet thanked you properly for picking us up." She touched his arm and felt goosebumps appear on his brown skin under her fingertips. "Do you want to sleep with me? You can."

He smiled. "That's a tempting offer, señorita, but I'm afraid I can't."

Hope was taken aback. Of all the responses she'd expected, can't hadn't even been on her radar.

"Can't? Why? Are you gay?"

"No."

"Don't you find me attractive?"

"Very much so, señorita."

"Can't you get it up?"

"It's not that. I just can't. Lo siento. I am sorry."

Hope yanked off her Catholic school girl top, not caring if it tore. She squeezed her breasts together and thrust them toward him. "Goddammit, Gabe! I'm a virgin, and I'm choosing you! Don't you understand what that means? I want you to love me. I want you to make me feel alive because we're in this beautiful place and it might be gone any moment like the rest of the world. And then what would we have? Nothing but sand, sand, and more fucking sand. I don't want to feel sand anymore, Gabe. I want to feel your skin against mine, and your weight on me."

Gabe bowed his head. "I cannot. I wish I could, Hope, with all my heart, but I swore a vow, and to break it would destroy me."

Anger rose in Hope as quick as her desire had. She grabbed her discarded blouse and tugged it back over her head again. "You know what, Gabe? Fuck you. Fuck you and your shitty vows. You could have had me right here, right now, but now you never will." She whirled to face Undead Elvis. "Hey, Elvis. You were a ladies' man. Come fuck me. Show this asshole how it's done."

Undead Elvis adjusted his glasses, shrugged, and smiled. "I would if I could, Li'l lady, but it takes blood flowing to put wood in a fella's wang, and I just don't have the juice."

"Then use your tongue. Use your fingers. God, don't you want me? Am I so horrible?"

Undead Elvis walked over to her. She stiffened a little at his approach. Was he going to take her up on her offer? She didn't care. She was ready. She chewed on her lip as he looked down at her and then tilted her head forward to kiss her forehead. "It's not the right time and I'm not the right man and we both know that, Li'l lady."

Hope wanted to lash out, to scream at Undead Elvis and belittle him as she had Gabe, but instead she stalked halfway around the pond to sulk under the soft green canopy of a willow tree. She