CHAPTER 11: SMALLTOWN BOYS

August 4, 1993

6am.

Harlan slapped around for his alarm until it was silenced, and sat up in bed.

His body had fended off whatever infection he picked up in Fallas Lake. However the wounds ran deep, and he and Anthony were still in no shape to go on another adventure for the time being.

Instead, the two spent the better part of the day tilling the back yard to grow something they could eat. Canned food was aplenty, but nothing beats farm to table when it's a 20 foot trip.

Or, that was the idea at least, as the dirt-stained duo admired their handiwork from behind a pile of empty fertilizer bags. The moist earth was tilled and seeded, each crop labeled, and now it was mother nature's turn to take over. Without looking, Harlan clasped Anthony's hand and started rubbing it with his thumb.

"Now that we've staved off death for the time being," Harlan mumbled, "maybe I can take you out?"

"Tonight? I hope you made reservations."

"It won't be too crowded, I promise."

With that, both men took about an hour to clean themselves up and throw on some of the nicer clothes they've picked up during their odd month in the apocalypse. Harlan climbed into the rusty old truck with his backpack, followed by Anthony. The truck rumbled through town and down a road bisecting the thick forest that Rosewood was carved from.

The truck cut through the trees and down a dirt road before passing fields of produce and their respective houses. Harlan regaled Anthony with some local lore, like his first job working on McGreggor's farm, or when he and Jenny were stranded for a night after crashing into a ditch.

Anthony was half listening, soaking up the moment. Golden rays of sunlight radiated from the trees to his west, the air was warm and sweet, and despite the end of life as he knew it, things could have been a lot worse. He looked over at Harlan.

"... and her dad was pissed, I mean pissed! His brand new '82 Franklin, totaled, covered in mud, and Jenny was freaking out and I was freaking out and, god, that was a decade ago."

"You tell it like it happened this morning."

"Heh, yeah Jenny and I go all the way back," he paused, "or, we did."

"Better not dwell on the past for too long, given the future we're stuck in."

"True, true," Harlan scanned the horizon, "We're almost there."

The truck left a plume of dust as it sped down the dirt road before Harlan pulled over next to a wire fence. With his bag, he hopped over and led Anthony to a lake tucked behind a row of trees with tables on the far side.

Harlan started pulling items out of his bag, some canned fruit, snacks, cereal, and a couple beers. He cracked one and took a long sip as Anthony opened his own.

"Man," the curly-haired man began, "What luck."

"Yeah," Harlan started as he sat down, "Good food, good weather, and good company." He winked at Anthony.

"Very good company."

With a smile, both men voraciously chowed down on their canned dinner, errant bits of conversation floating across the table as time wore on. Periodically, their jovial noises would attract unwanted attention, but both men were more than prepared to deal with any interruption.

They talked about growing up, contrasting Anthony's suburban New York upbringing with Harlan's life in the sticks of Kentucky. College came and went, they discussed past lovers and traded tales of late-night exploits. Then Anthony began talking about his family.

"Christmas was always the big holiday, always. My little nona, all of four feet tall, always had to put the angel on top herself, until she fell last year. She was mostly fine but she realized 80 is not the new 60." Anthony chuckled as he finished his second beer. A silence fell as Harlan was still working on his first, "Can I ask about your family?"

Oh geez, Harlan thought, here we go.

"Yeah, I think we can talk about that." He took a deep breath.

"Uhm, where to begin?" Harlan's mouth hung open as he moved his hands around, gesticulating along with something he couldn't say nor Anthony could decipher. "I uh, I guess I had a pretty typical upbringing. Mom, pops, two sisters and a little brother."

"Nothing about you is typical, Harley." His face flushed as Anthony gently squeezed his arm.

"Yeah, yeah, maybe."

"So what're their names? How old are they?"

Harlan took a breath.

"Well, first was Hilda in '61, then Gabrielle in '63. I was their first son a few years later, then they had Carlos in '69 and called it quits. Four kids was enough, haha.

"Pops was a farmhand, like almost everyone else in town, mami cooked and cleaned to make ends meet. We all got jobs as soon as we could for some extra spending money, live the American Dream or something." Harlan waved his hand dismissively.

"I didn't have a lot of friends growing up, Jenny was pretty much all I had. We met in kindergarten and got on like a house fire."

"Then you guys set an actual fire?"

"No, that was later, high school." Harlan re-railed the conversation.

"Jenny and I. She didn't have many friends either. It never made sense to me, she was pretty and rich and blonde and smart, well-liked, but she only hung out with me. And, it wasn't easy being the only hispanic family in town.

"I've been heckled, called all kinds of shit, and the abuse just got worse once I realized I was different from the other boys. I kept to myself, reading a lot, but that didn't stop those assholes from singling me out.

"I fucking hated growing up here, I felt like I was a prisoner in my own hometown. Not to say this place sucks, but the people didn't help. The people besides the Pray family, really. Jenny was the first and only person I told I was gay. She didn't say anything, just hugged me. Did you play with dolls?"

Anthony shook his head, his mouth full of sliced pineapple.

"Well, I did. We'd cook up crazy stories of deception, cheating, murder… stuff kids probably shouldn't be talking about, but we were kids, who cared?

"And when pops found out I was playing with dolls, he didn't like that. He showed up to Mr. Pray's front door screaming at him for making me sissy or something. He had no idea that ship had already sailed, haha."

"Jesus."

"Oh Jesus played a big part, too. Pops told me I wasn't a real man, and mami told me I was going to hell if I kept acting like that. Fat lotta good they did." Harlan finished his beer and cracked open another, chugging maybe half of it before belching.

"Brava, brava," Anthony clapped.

"Thank you," Harlan took a dramatic bow, the sky behind them turning a deep pink. "When I graduated, first thing I did was get the fuck away from everyone and everything. Even Jenny. That's something I regret."

"You just, cut everyone off?"

"Well, I got cut off. Once I got into Columbia I was not subtle about who I was, and it turns out I wasn't the only hick in the city, word got back to my parents."

Anthony steepled his fingers under his chin as he listened.

"I got a phone call the second week of class, it was my mom. She asked if… she asked how I was doing, how classes were, a very normal conversation. But then it turned, she said she heard I was having a lot of fun at school, and I knew she knew. But I wasn't prepared for her to straight up ask me if I was gay.

"So what was I going to do, LIE to my mother? No way, I swallowed my spit and told her." Harlan finished his beer and continued telling his story, noticeably less enthused as his voice lowered, "Then she hung up. I tried calling back but the line was busy. A week later, I got a letter from my pops telling me that-" Harlan felt a lump in his throat.

"Harley?"

"Huh?"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I can… imagine what he said."

"No, you really can't. He told me he hoped I died of AIDS because I was already dead to him. He said if I ever came near Carlos again he'd kill me." Harlan's voice trailed off. Not so much out of sadness, as it was out of an exhaustion around this story.

"So I never came back. I stayed in New York. Mom died after I graduated, I didn't know until she was in the ground. Jenny called.

"I was already going through a lot, my degree wasn't getting me a job, I felt like a total fucking loser, and when Jenny called I didn't even talk, I was crying on the phone for so long."

Anthony wrapped an arm around Harlan and pulled him into a tight hug as they sat at the picnic table. The sun was gone now, the brilliant gradient of yellows and reds waned to purple and soon, it will be pitch black. Harlan rested his head on Anthony's shoulder, leaning into the embrace.

"Do you want to go home?" Anthony asked.

Without a word, Harlan lifted his head and kissed him. Anthony was shocked for a moment, before kissing back. Chaste lip-locking devolved into near slobbering as unfamiliar hands pioneered across new and exciting lands, new sensations, new tastes. Harlan pulled himself away for a moment and brushed a lock of hair behind his ear.

"Let's get out of here." And with that, the two men packed up and left. The ride home consisted of half-glances, cheeky smiles, and the radio robot warning of a storm in the next couple days.

Back home, their clothes were on the floor before the door clicked shut. They studied each other for a moment, Harlan slightly shorter and stockier, Anthony taller but thinner. The observation period only served to stoke the flames as they embraced for another wet kiss.

Harlan hadn't been with another man besides Mike in half a decade, as he groped around he tried to make it seem like he got laid at least some of the time. He pushed Anthony onto the couch and climbed on top, ferociously kissing his way up from his midriff to his face. With a laugh, Anthony gently pushed Harlan back below his belt. In the throes of passion, neither man could feel their injuries.

Harlan tossed his glasses onto a nearby table and grabbed Anthony's dick, about the same size as his, and slowly started working his tongue around the head. He had a dense curly bush, circumcised too. Anthony exhaled as Harlan wrapped his lips around it and started sucking to a rhythm in his head. Anthony reached over to stroke Harlan, pausing a second realizing Harlan was uncut.

"I can't be your first, can I?" Harlan pulled his mouth off of Anthony's manhood and started stroking him.

"Uh, you might be. Every guy I've been with is cut."

"Don't chicken out on me now." Harlan chuckled and got back to work. Anthony gave up trying to stroke Harlan off and instead leaned back and enjoyed the performance. A few minutes go by and Harlan's jaw starts to ache. He pulled himself back up and grabbed Anthony, trying to drag the man on top of him to switch positions. Anthony understood, grinning.

"It doesn't bite," Harlan joked, gently slapping his dick on the other man's face.

"I don't wanna hurt you or something."

"I got it," Harlan pulled his foreskin back, revealing his pink glans doused in precum. Anthony hesitated. "What? I washed up before our date."

"I know, it's-"

"Is this really a deal-breaker for you? I can't like-"

"No, no," Anthony grabbed Harlan's dick and held it like a microphone, "Coming to you live from Rosewood, Kentucky, it's Saturday Night!" Harlan laughed.

"Quit stalling and suck my dick."

Anthony obliged with a smile. Harlan let himself relax and let the waves of pleasure wash over him. Anthony held a hand out to rub Harlan's naked body, tracing from his tuft of chest hair down his happy trail and back to the base of his dick. Just as he felt himself getting closer, Anthony stopped.

"Your bed or mine?"

"Mine has the ensuite." The two walked upstairs, at full mast, and reunited under Harlan's covers. Kissing Anthony felt like air being blown into his lungs after drowning at the lake. Things started to simmer, less focus on stimulation and more on maintaining the incredible heat between the two. Harlan wrapped his arms around Anthony's torso, who was partly on top of him. They paused to catch their breath, wrapped up in each other under the covers as a cool summer breeze kept the air in the room fresh.

"You know," Anthony began, muffled by Harlan's chest, "maybe the apocalypse wasn't so bad after all?" Harlan smiled and pulled him in close.

"I don't know, I'm gonna have to give it three stars out of five."

"Just three?" Anthony lifted his head and kissed Harlan, "that's harsh."

"Life," Harlan paused, "is harsh."

"Not at the moment." Anthony crawled under the covers, Harlan felt him pick up where the two left off. Before Harlan let himself be carried away, he beckoned Anthony back to the world above the covers.

"Hey, so, before we go any further, I'm not looking to get fucked or anything."

"What if you did the fucking?"

"Oh, that could work, just not tonight."

"Why not?" Anthony sat up.

"I just watched you eat two cans of fruit and a lot of beans." Anthony barked with laughter.

"You got me there, Harley." Anthony laid back down, slowly stroking himself, "Can I call you that?"

"I would've stopped you if I had a problem with it." Harlan leaned in close and locked lips with Anthony before pulling the covers over them. Anthony finished Harlan, who finished Anthony in turn.

Harlan lit up a cigarette and offered one to Anthony, who declined. "Dicks before cancer sticks."

"More for me," Harlan grunted as he took a puff and laid back in bed. Anthony didn't seem bothered by the smoke anyway. Harlan burned through most of it and snuffed it out in an ashtray. He thought Anthony fell asleep on him when he spoke, groggily.

"Thank you for saving me."

"What?"

"From the supermarket."

"Oh," Harlan pulled Anthony a little closer. "I should thank you too."

"What for?"

"For saving me too, back at Fallas Lake," Harlan took a breath, "You could have easily left me for dead, hopped in the truck, and got away scot-free."

"Now why would I do that?" Anthony turned to look up at Harlan, who kissed him again.

"Because, at the time, I thought it was what I deserved." A concerned look fell over Anthony's face, "I wanted to die. Even before all this."

"What do you mean?" Anthony sat up.

"I mean, I was in a really dark place." Harlan alternated staring into Anthony's eyes and picking random corners of the room to park his own eyeballs. "Mike dumped me and I sorta went off the deep end. I remember sitting at Lowery Street and watching the trains pass thinking, just thinking, what if I hopped in front of one of them? And then, crazily enough, the PA said the next 7 was delayed because of a jumper up the line."

Harlan laughed, startling his partner.

"Nothing new under the sun," Harlan smiled at Anthony, who was definitely not smiling. "Then when I got home, Jenny left a message on the machine about this party, how long it's been since she's seen me. If she called a week before, I would've said no, but she got me. She got me to come home just in time for everything to fucking break. I mean what luck, what fucking luck?"

Harlan sat back and exhaled. Anthony gently held his hand.

"If you killed yourself, I'd be dead without you."

"No, Tony, you would've made it somehow."

"No, I'm serious," he squeezed Harlan's hand. "You didn't just save me, you gave me a reason to keep going. Even if we got off to an awkward start, you were proof that someone could eke out a living in the world of the dead." He paused a second, "World of the Dead would be a cool movie title."

Harlan laughed.

"But I'm serious," Anthony pulled himself up against Harlan, their faces weren't an inch apart, "I love you, Harlan."

Anthony pressed his forehead against Harlan's.

"I love you too, Tony."

And they kissed, a slow, long, lingering kiss. Anthony pulled himself away and smiled as he tucked himself into bed.

"And never," he began, "at any point, did I ever think about leaving you behind." Harlan smiled, and the two dozed off for the evening.