The Last She (Books 1-3, the Last She Series)

Ch. 5, The Last of Humanity

Ara

Kaden pushed through a set of double doors, and I was momentarily stunned. We stood in an open cavern, three stories tall and impossibly long in the darkness. The glass roof had caved in, and starlight reflected against thousands of shards of broken glass. Circling staircases led up to the higher levels, and hundreds of darkened storefronts led off the main floor. I tried to remember the layout of the mall. I had shopped here once, just before Christmas, but without the lights and noise, the building felt hollow, a crumbling shell.

Kaden pulled me behind him, and I struggled to follow, favoring my leg. As the doors swung closed, the light became a diminishing sliver, then nothing. We walked down the corridors, weaving between overturned benches, trash, broken bottles, and discarded clothing. Some stores were completely gutted, while others advertised forgotten sales. I watched Kaden carefully, but he made no move toward me, only dragging me forward. He'd asked if I wanted a bath. What did that mean?

Our steps echoed in the cavernous space and the further we walked, the more nervous I became. The mall smelled of cold marble and rot, but the wind swept away the worst of it, whistling in through the shattered glass roof. After several minutes, we turned a corner and our progress was blocked by a large fountain. The graceful statue of a dark green copper lady stood in the center. She was twice the size of a real human and held a kite that fluttered away from her. Two green children smiled and chased her, their fingers perpetually reaching. Beside the fountain sat a water pump stained the same dark green, and behind it, two escalators led up to the second floor.

Kaden led me to the lip of the empty pool then simply dropped the rope. I stared at him in shock. Was he really that cocky, or did he want me to run? Moonlight leaked down from the rooftop, lighting up the concrete pool, but beyond it, the doors and hallways receded into darkness.

Kaden moved to the pump and threw his weight into it, forcing it down, then straining to pull it back up. The muscles on his back and shoulders stood out as he pumped. A deep gurgling noise came from the faucet. I watched in disbelief as red tinged water sputtered out of the head then ran down a small chute and began to fill the bottom of the pool. A clear flow soon followed.

I moved towards it, attempting to reach out, forgetting my hands were tied behind my back.

"Here, let me." Kaden moved behind me, drew his knife, and cut me loose. The rope slithered to the ground, ruined, but he made no move to retrieve it. Instead, he stuck his head under the flow of the pump, drenching his hair. Then, without warning, he shook his head wildly, spraying water everywhere. He looked totally ridiculous as he turned to grin at me; it made me wonder how old he was. Older than me, but at nineteen, I was young for a survivor.

"Come on Princess, I brought you to work, not to stare." He gestured towards the pump, and for a moment, I considered running fast and far. "Unless you think you can't."

He turned away and lifted his shirt off, tossing it to the ground. The shock of watching a grown man undress made me pause. Was he really going to take a bath right in front of me? Moonlight lit the ridges of his spine as he bent over to take off his shoes.

Then he took off his pants.

He winked when he saw me watching, and I raised my eyebrows. Then I smiled and stepped up to the pump. As soon as he was naked and soaking wet, I would run.

I might even steal his clothes.

I grabbed the handle and forced it down. Kaden had made it look easy, but the water came out more slowly and intermittently. A quick glance told me he wore black boxers. What was with this man and black clothing? I continued to pump, forcing the handle up and down, feeling a rhythm as it loosened. I fixed my gaze on the darkness, trying not to notice Kaden's tall, muscled form as he washed himself.

The dark hugged the corners and recesses of shops and it was hard not to imagine strange shapes just out of site. I paced the pumping as I filled my lungs, readying myself to run.

"You won't make it, Princess."

I looked up, startled. Kaden smirked like he wasn't the one standing half naked in a fountain.

"I'll catch you. I ran track in high school."

"So did I."

I stopped pumping to study him, like someone might study a racehorse. I didn't like what I saw. He was fit, with long legs, muscular arms, and a toned torso. Even standing still, he looked fast. He wasn't even looking at me, cocky bastard. Instead, he kept washing.

I hesitated. These men hadn't hurt me. Yet. A darker voice told me there were other men out there who could have done far worse. Plus, my leg hurt just standing upright. Adrenaline might help for a bit, but for how long? Before I could come to a decision either way, Kaden jumped out of the fountain. He ran his hands across his arms and stomach, forcing the water off him in rivulets. Then he shook his hair while I scowled at him. He pulled his black t-shirt onto his still wet skin then tugged on his pants, raising his eyebrows when he saw me watching.

"Your turn, Princess."

I took a step back, but he made no move towards me.

"Either you take a bath yourself, or I throw you in and scrub you myself. No offense, but you stink."

I'd been living in the mountains for three years, what did he expect? I took another step backward, now ten feet away. He smiled and leaned back lazily.

"Turn around while I get undressed."

"Come stand by the fountain," he countered. We sized each other up, a strange game of cat and mouse. I wanted to run and call his bluff, but another part of me worried he would catch me, drag me back, and force me to take a bath. The part that wanted to test him was tempered by the realization I needed to wait until I had the advantage.

Besides, I hadn't bathed properly in weeks.

I walked to the fountain. The bottom held only a few inches of clear water. I stripped off my shoes and socks, then lowered my feet over the side. The water was cold enough to bite, but I curled my toes, welcoming the numbing cold. I closed my eyes and sighed.

When I opened my eyes, Kaden watched me, a strange, sad expression on his face. He turned, presenting his back, and threw himself into the pump. The gurgle of water sounded again, like deep-throated laughter. The flow into the pool increased and the ripples caught the moon's reflection. I stripped off the jacket Sam had given me and my pants, too unnerved by Kaden's nearness to take off my bra or underwear.

I knelt in the flow, then sucked in a sharp breath at the sudden cold. Kaden had left his lumpy soap on the rim, and I used it generously. My nails were long with caked dirt underneath, so I chewed off the ends before scrubbing them clean. My matted, dirty hair fell well past my shoulders, not quite to my elbows. I usually kept it braided, but now it was impossibly tangled.

"Do you have scissors?"

I could practically feel his eyebrows raise.

"I just need to cut my hair, I'm not going to stab you with them." Though the idea was tempting. "A brush would work too."

He kept pumping as if he hadn't heard me. Then, suddenly, he stopped. "Stay here. I'll be back in a second."

Was he kidding? Or just downright insane? He vaulted over a railing into a store past the fountain. I could hear him inside, rummaging, and I looked at my clothes. I could pull them on, or just run and hide. This was a mall, I was bound to find other clothes.

Yet I found I didn't want to run weaponless and unclothed into the dark, still void surrounding me. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. Already, the mall crumbled around me; already, nature reclaimed it. Vines and weeds grew over the once polished floors, and the windows above had long ago shattered so that only starlight crowned us.

Could I truly leave the last of humanity? Kaden had disappeared. Whatever I chose, I needed to do it now.