The Promise

The Promise

Phoenix stepped over the rubble carefully, hearing the soft crunch beneath her leather boots. The hot, dust-filled air scorched its way down her throat. The rag over the lower half of her face barely gave her any relief from the heat. It was just too hot here. Too hot everywhere. Ever since they broke the Earth. You’d think she was in the middle of the Sahara desert. Nobody a year ago would believe that this used to be Chicago. Her eyes scanned her surroundings, taking in the state of the once towering buildings with a building sense of dread. If they hadn’t been destroyed from the series of tornadoes that swept through the area, the sandstorms had finished them off. Everything was a shell of what it once was. Her hope of finding him alive was dwindling. Still...she had to try.

Every time he had gone on a business trip, she had worried. What if he got stopped by the police? Would they think he was reaching for a gun? Would he come back in a body bag? Being a black woman in the United States meant worrying about black men. Your brother, your father, your uncle, your cousin. Who would be the next to go? Who would you have to bury next? It was almost easier to just not let yourself get too close to anyone. They couldn’t break your heart if the only person you relied on was you.

But Jaquobi had broken through her walls. With the efficiency of an assassin, he had slipped past all of her defenses. It was impossible not to love him. Even now, she remembered his mischievous smile and the deep, booming laugh that had won her over. The look in his intense, intelligent eyes when he asked her out on a date. Reaching up to her neck, her fingers caressed the silver heart-shaped locket he had given her just before he left. What they both hadn’t expected was that the attack didn’t come from the police. It came from the Earth itself.

She had been in Vegas when it all started. There were news reports from all over the world of tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes and tsunamis. In Vegas, there had been a huge sandstorm that buried half the city. The large corporations had abused the Earth until at last, the planet decided to fight back. And it won. Most people died in the initial onslaught. Then they died from starvation and dehydration after. They had grown so accustomed to having everything at their fingertips that nobody knew how to survive without electricity and bottled water.

Phoenix had waited for Jaquobi to come back. Cell service was gone, the internet was gone. She couldn’t reach him, but she knew he would come back for her. So she waited at the apartment building. Many of the apartments were abandoned. There were a few other tenants who had stayed in the building, but as soon as the food ran out, they all left. One by one. Until she was the only one still there. She only dared to venture out to the surrounding buildings for the first few months until those were picked clean too.

There was no choice. She had to move. Either he had died...or something was preventing him from coming to find her. So Phoenix picked up a map at the local gas station and decided on the best route from Vegas to Chicago. She had stopped at every convenience store, Dollar General, and supermarket and gas station that was still even somewhat intact. She drove when she could find an abandoned car that had gas, but mostly, she walked.

And here she was. At last. Her heart began to race and a pit of dread formed in her stomach. Either she would find him...or she would find his body. Either way, she had to know. She had to know that he didn’t just abandon her. He had been staying at the Embassy Suites. Bringing a canteen to her cracked lips, Phoenix let a mouthful of the cool water slide down her throat. As much as she wanted to just tank it, she couldn’t be greedy. It had to last until she could find more.

Bringing her hand up to shield her eyes, she saw a sign that was partially covered in debris, but enough of it was visible that her heart leapt in her chest. Suddenly, her body was moving of its own accord, pulling her towards the broken building. All of the windows were busted and the floor was covered in dirt. She slid through one of the windows rather than bothering to find the door. A half-crazed laugh escaped her at the thought of the front door. Oh how the rules have changed. There was nobody to enforce them now. Nobody to call the cops on her for going through a window. No cops at all. A voice in the back of her brain knew she was hysterical because of the heat and her excitement, but she couldn’t find enough energy to care.

She carefully picked through the lobby. Phoenix had seen enough dead bodies in the last year that she was unfazed by the bones that littered the floor. All she could think was “poor bastards” while carefully nudging them away with the toe of her boot so she didn’t step on them. There were hundreds of rooms to go through, but all she could think about was finding Quobi. He had been in room 302. Would he still be there? Had he moved? Was he dead?

Standing outside of the room, she could hear some rustling on the other side. Her breath caught in her throat and her hand was shaking as she raised it up to push on the door. Sitting on the bed, looking worse for wear but alive, was Quobi. His eyes looked wary and he was pointing a gun at her, but as soon as he recognized her, those intelligent eyes widened in relief and surprise.

“Nix!” He breathed and stood up. Right away, she knew something was wrong. His movement was incredibly stiff and she was way faster than him as she ran across the room to throw herself into his arms. He grunted as the full brunt of her weight crashed against him, but his arms tightened around her waist. Tears soaked her neck as he buried his face there, breathing in the scent he had missed so much. Disbelief was the dominant expression as he raised his face to look at her once more.

“I didn’t know if you were dead or alive. I wanted to find you so badly but I knew I would never make it.” Quobi frowned and lifted up his right pant leg. There was a medical brace there that had been hidden under his clothes. “A support pillar fell on my leg the night of the tornado. It was broken. A doctor put a brace on it but there were so many people who needed attention...it was the best he could do. I don’t think it healed right because it still hurts a lot. I knew I would never make it to Vegas like this...I can barely get around to find food and water as it is. I thought I was going to die here once all of the food ran out….I hoped you were alive. I had to trust that you would find me..” His lips crashed down on hers and she felt herself melt against him.

“Of course I did, baby. Of course I found you.” She breathed out in between kisses, while her fingers wound their way through his uncut hair. “I waited for you as long as I could at the apartment. After a few months, I realized you weren’t coming. I had to see it for myself..I had to see if you were dead.” A sob of joy burst from her chest and she pressed her lips to his again. It was as if she was trying to become one person. They couldn’t get close enough to each other. After a few minutes, he let go of her and sat back down on the bed.

“What do we do now? Where do we go? I can’t walk that far on this leg and my supplies are almost gone.” Phoenix sighed and sat down next to him, pulling out the map she kept in her shorts pocket. When she leaned forward to get a good look at it, the necklace slipped out of her thin shirt and Quobi reached up to tough it gently. “You still have it.” She smiled at him and placed her hand over his, giving it a squeeze.

“You made a promise to me. That you would always be there for me. By staying alive all this time, you kept that promise. Now we need to find somewhere safe. I think the only option we have is to keep going north. The colder the better.” Jaquobi nodded and stood up, pulling Phoenix with him.

“There’s a supermarket a few blocks away that still has a few supplies. Bottled water, blankets, backpacks, some canned food. We can hit that first before we go.” Phoenix wrapped his arm around her shoulders and supported some of his weight as they walked out the door. It would be a slow journey like this. But as long as they were together, they could take all the time they needed. Nothing else mattered. She was home.