Mammoth

He looked at her a long time, trying to find it in himself to give her a reassuring lie. He knew he couldn't do it, so he just shook his head. She scooted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. They hadn't found anything like real bedding in their search of the warehouse. The best they could do were several plastic tarps that had been used for various things. They were sitting on one, and each of them had one to wrap up in. They weren't very thick, and he could feel her warmth against him.

"Maybe we should change our names to Adam and Eve," she said.

He looked at her, and for once in his life he didn't even think about it, he just leaned over and kissed her. She responded for a moment, then pushed him gently away.

"I want you to hold me," she said. "Let's get together under both these tarps, we'll be warmer."

"Good idea," he said, breathing hard. They struggled to get it all arranged, and then lay down side by side and he took her in his arms. She hugged him tightly.

"I'm afraid," she whispered.

"So am I."

"I want you to make love to me," she said. "But I guess it would be too dangerous. There's things out there, hunting. We need to stay alert."

"You're right," he said. She let go of him and started squirming around, and he asked, "What are you doing?"

"Getting out of my pants. Wishing, for the first time in a long time, that I'd worn a skirt, so if we have to run for it I wouldn't have to run half-naked."

"Maybe I should get out of my pants, too. So you won't be the only one ru

"That's very considerate of you," she said. She raised her knees under the tarp and got her jeans off, then faced him and slipped her hand into the waist of his pants, and squeezed his erection. "Yes, I do think you should take off your pants."

She helped him, then took his hand and pressed it to her belly. He moved it over her hip, down her thigh, and then into curly hair and wetness. She kissed him, and he moved over her. "I wanted to tell you... I've been trying for weeks to tell you that I love you."

"I wouldn't."

"I know," she said. But Matt noticed she didn't say she returned the love. She asked, "When?"

"When did I fall in love with you?"

"Yes."

"You want me to pinpoint a moment?"

"Sure. Can't you?"

"I'm tempted to say it happened over time, as I got to know you. But I think it really happened

the first time I saw you."

She looked at him, and gri

"I'll have to admit it wasn't the first time it's happened to me. I used to fall in love at first sight

several times a week. This was just the first time I've been able to do anything about it."

She laughed. "When did it first happen?"

"My first day of college. But she was an older woman. She was, oh, I'd guess around twenty.

And I was twelve."

"You're something else, Matt. My first supergenius."

It was only later that he even thought about that, of other men she might have made love to, or been in love with. She might still be in love with another man, she had never talked about it. So maybe it was despair, surrendering to the idea that they would never go back to the world they knew. Maybe it was fear of the darkness out there and the things hiding in it. Maybe it was the need for human warmth and knowing he was the only one who could provide it. He didn't care. Just then he lived entirely in the moment, in his body and not in his head. Just then she became his entire world.

THEY never did get to sleep that night. The creatures in the dark made themselves known with rustlings, twitterings, and the occasional terrifying roar. Once they saw eyes reflecting the firelight. They threw a torch in that direction and the eyes vanished. They talked about taking watches, but decided against it. They made love again, this time more carefully, if such a thing can be done, Matt kneeling with his back against the tree they sheltered under, Susan on her hands and knees, aware of each other and aware of their surroundings, too.

When dawn came they started walking again. Within a few hours they came to a low hill overlooking a small stream. The Los Angeles River? There was no way of knowing, but they did know it was quite a few miles from the warehouse. And they weren't the first ones there. From the hilltop they could see, half a mile away, a herd of mammoths drinking and splashing.

Matt wanted nothing more than to get away, but he didn't interfere with Susan's pleasure in seeing the beasts. If they were stuck here, and he was begi

"I hadn't thought about that," Susan said. "Naturally, wherever there's water, there will be other animals. We're going to have to learn to approach it cautiously, just like all the other animals. Predators hang around waterholes."

"Like right over there," Matt whispered, and pointed off to their left, where a saber-toothed cat was slowly approaching the river.

"Jesus!" Susan quickly turned and brought her rifle to bear on the cat. It was not quite as large as an African lion, but far larger than Matt would have liked. Its fangs were six inches long and it moved with the easy grace of a born killer.

"Here," Susan said, and thrust the gun toward Matt.

"I don't know anything about shooting!"

"Neither do I, I've fired it twice. It's got a gigantic kick. You're heavier than I am so maybe it won't knock you over. If it comes at us, aim in the general direction and maybe the noise will scare it away. If it doesn't, keep shooting. If you hit it anywhere you'll probably tear it to pieces."

Matt followed the beast as best he could with the sight, wondering if he should tell Susan this was the first time he'd ever held a firearm.

When the cat was no more than fifty yards away it stopped, looked at them for a long moment... then dismissed them and resumed his walk down toward the water. Soon it was out of sight in some bushes.

"Let's get out of here," Matt said.

"Which way?"

"Back toward the warehouse."

THEY talked about it on the way back. Their choices were stark. Neither of them wanted to move away from the warehouse; it was their only protection unless they could find a cave. Neither wanted to spend another night away from the safety of steel walls. But this river was too far away to haul water from.

"Or we could head to the ocean," Susan said. "All rivers join the sea."

"Good idea."

A bit after noon they did find a watering hole... and that's when they realized they were lost.

They had been following what they thought was the trail of their elephants, in reverse, but they had apparently crossed a mammoth trail and not noticed they had taken the wrong turning. They looked around, trying to orient themselves, but other than the distant Hollywood Hills there were no landmarks to guide them.

"We should have blazed a trail," Susan said.

"Next time we will. It shouldn't be a problem. We can't lose the ocean, and the warehouse isn't far from that. How many places could it hide?" Thousands of places, Matt told himself, and he knew Susan realized that, too. But there was no point in thinking about that yet. They needed to find it before dark.

"I think we're north of where we should be," she said.

"I think you're right."

Now that they were looking for them, though, they noticed dozens of mammoth trails. They followed some until they started to look wrong, then backtracked and tried again, all afternoon. Finally it was getting too dark to see, and they had to admit it was time to start gathering wood and prepare themselves for another night in the open.