Mark finally relaxed for a few minutes, lying back in his appropriated bear cave and munched on a power bar, well past its date, but still edible. He was daydreaming of a nice hot shower when he heard a crunch. He had scattered small pebbles and little pieces of broken glass all around the desolate road, his simple warning system.

He grabbed his pistol even though it only had one bullet left, and crept silently outside. It was just falling dusk and the sky was grey and clouded. Through the underbrush, he spied someone approaching on the road.

It was a girl. Young, maybe late teens, battered and dirty. Likely half his age. She had frozen at the first crunch of her footsteps, looking all around, fearful. She was small, a good foot shorter than he, and thin as a rail. Her jeans jacket and shirt, torn and dirty. Same for her pants. Her hair, one time bleached blond, now matted with streaks of brown mixed with the remnants of blond and dirt.

Being only about a dozen feet from him, he could see that her face would have been quite pretty if she had any soap and water. As it was, it was streaked with sweat and tears mixed with dirt.

She looked unarmed.

He watched for a few moments as she hesitantly took another crunching step. He looked all around behind her. Nobody appeared to be hidden or following.

Unlikely, she was apparently traveling alone. Very risky for a guy, much less a girl, a young teenager.

“STOP!” he ordered using his falsely deepened authoritative voice.

She froze, staring straight at where his voice came from. He blinked, thinking she could see right through the brush and into his eyes as she stared.

She said nothing.

“Who is with you?” he asked, seeing if she hesitated in a lie.

“No one. I ... I am by myself. Can you help me?” her voice soft and sweet.

It had been a long time since he heard any voice, much less that of a girl.

“How old are you?” he commanded, again hoping to rattle her.

“Sir, I ... I’m 18.”

He doubted it but accepted.

“Please sir, I am hungry and thirsty. I have no food.”

She held up her hands as if to surrender to him. He knew something was strange but couldn’t place it. This young girl would not survive alone.

“I am alone. My parents are dead.”

So was much of the World’s population. The end had come swiftly.

He changed positions just in case someone was putting a bead on him.

“Step forward ... there! Stop!”

He put her still out of arm’s reach but close enough that anyone would have a tough shot to miss her and hit him. He stepped out, holding his pistol pointed at her.

“Sir, please. Don’t shoot. I am unarmed.”

He doubted that but saw no weapons. She didn’t even have a backpack. Very strange.

“What are you doing here? Where are you going?”

“Sir, I don’t know. I need food, water. Please.”

“Don’t move. I will shoot.”

Against his better judgment, he stepped back to his cave entrance and picked up one of his precious water bottles.

“Here, take this. SLOWLY.”

He held out the bottle and she moved slowly towards him. Now only a few feet away. He looked into her steel blue eyes, beautiful eyes, piercing, pleading. This girl was disarmingly appealing. He felt captivated by her.

Their fingers touched for just a moment as she took the bottle. His eyes never left hers. She looked down, opening the bottle and greedily drank it down, emptying it without pause. He groaned a bit, expecting her to at least conserve some for later. Clean water was very hard to find.

She looked up as he held out his hand again after pulling a Lara Bar out of a pocket. She stared at the bar then up at him. Their eyes locked again. Staring at each other.

She took the bar, again her thin youthful fingers caressed his. Almost on purpose.

As she scarfed down the bar, he lowered his gun.

“I’m Mark,” he said, now in his normal voice.

She mumbled, her mouth full, “Ashley.”

She looked like an Ashley, but he wasn’t sure that was her real name. Did it matter?

“You know it’s very dangerous out here, alone,” he glanced around again, watching for any movement.

“Yes sir. Thank you for the food and water.”

She peeked around him as well, looking towards the entrance of his hovel, his bear cave. The sky seemed ominous and dark. Night was coming.

Again, against better judgment, “Ashley, you can stay here tonight, if you wish, I mean.”

Now he was getting flustered. Inviting this young woman into his personal place. For weeks now, he had hidden out here, gathering supplies and setting up his camp. He had found the cave purely by accident, stopping one day to take a shit. Behind some bushes was an empty den. He cleaned away most of the smell of bear dung and bones, not looking too closely at either. He brought in old clothes, blankets, food, water, all scrounged from around the surrounding area. He had tossed pebbles and bits of glass on the broken pavement of the road.

He led her into the entrance, letting her go first, watching her well-proportioned rump as she entered.

“You live here?” she looked back at him.

He nodded. The light of a single candle flickered as they moved. The cave was just tall enough for her, but he had to stoop over. Her eyes glanced all around, taking in everything but stopping on his meager supply of a few can goods, a box of bars, and a few bottles of water. She suspected more would be buried somewhere nearby.

She sat down on his bed.

He sucked in a breath as her face turned back to stare at him with those innocent but longing eyes.

“Ah, sorry there’s not much room in here,” he mumbled.

In another life, his previous one, before all this, she could have been his daughter, with him sending her off to college. He had been a commercial real estate agent living in a million dollar house. Now he lived in a bear cave. He avoided thinking about his wife and son.

Ashley took off her jacket and rolled it up like a pillow for herself. She scooted over, placed the palm of her hand on the emptied space on his bed as if to offer it to him. In the flickering light, he saw her chest rising and falling, breasts full, and nubs visible in the thin material. No bra. It took several seconds before he looked away, embarrassed at his male gaze.

He didn’t know what to say, “Would you like some more water?” why did he pick that?

“May I? I am very thirsty.”

This time, she only drank half, handing him the rest. He sipped part and put the lid back on saving the remaining.