To the Accompaniment of Cannon

Becky flinched at the dull thud transmitted through the cold concrete as dust drifted down from the ceiling. It seemed like hours since she had fled into the basement of the abandoned farmhouse, hours that those distant concussions had started hammering like some giant's fist slamming time after time into the ground. A trickle of sand rained down from an overhead beam, the soft rasp of the grains falling against the concrete the only sound.

Becky tried to stifle a sob, palm away the trail of tears cutting through the dirt and grim on her check while ignoring the way the shadows jumped and danced from the vibration of the tiny candle lantern. She stared at that simple candle lantern, a reminder of happier days, of trips to the outdoor store to buy what was essentially a fancy toy for camping trips full of electric lights, plentiful food cooked on propane grills, and...

Safety.

She stared at the flickering candle and wondered where she was going to find thirty-two more for her birthday next week, her stomach growling noisily at the thought of a red velvet cake that she always loved for her birthdays.

She flinched again as another concussion thudded through the concrete and then stifled back a scream as she heard the sound of the door to the basement being forced open. She had found the door down a steep set of stairs at the back of the house already partially open and barely hanging by one hinge. She had managed to squeeze inside and then close the door before jamming a broken board beneath the doorknob to hold it in place when she had arrived a little after sunset.

Now Becky scrambled backwards on her butt into the darkest corner of the basement as someone rammed against the door hard enough to force the board back several inches. Becky bit the back of her hand to hold back her sobs and used a mildewed blanket to cover herself as someone rammed the door again, the board falling with a sharp crack as it struck the floor.

The door shifted and lurched as it fell from the doorframe to lean drunkenly by the single hinge followed by a muffled curse from whoever was outside.

"Hello?" a voice called a moment later, "Who's there?"

Becky peaked out from below the edge of the blanket as a man slipped past the door and into the basement, his head swiveling as he tried to look into every corner at once.

"Hello?" the voice called again.

Becky's moment of terror passed as she realized the man was probably no more than a boy in his late teens, his voice cracking in his own nervousness as he continued to look around.

"I saw the light..." the boy called out and quickly pushed the door back into place before reaching down to shove the board beneath the doorknob again, "I... I was hoping I might be able to stay with you..."

Becky had been on the move for weeks, barely scavenging enough to make it day by day and one thing she had learned repeatedly was that strangers no matter how harmless they may look were dangerous. Becky's hand shifted to the kitchen knife she had found soon after the invasion had begun that she kept hidden inside her purse and...

"I have food," the stranger said quietly, "It's not much, just some Spam, but I'd be willing to share..."

Becky's mouth flooded with saliva, her jaw aching at just the mention of food, the knife, even her wariness of only moments before forgotten.

"Is it just you?" Becky asked quietly.

The boy's head snapped over to look into the dark corner where Becky was hidden and after a moment nodded.

"Yea, only me," the boy replied, "Is it just you too?"

Becky pushed the smelly blanket off and slowly stood up before giving a curt nod.

"I'm Daniel," the boy replied without moving.

"Becky," Becky said and walked slowly over to the candle lantern.

Both Becky and Daniel gave a jump when a concussive blast shook the basement and more dirt and sand rained down onto them. They both gave each other a guilty look before Becky sat down while watching Daniel warily.

"You said you had food?" Becky asked as her belly gave an audible rumble.

"Oh... yea," Daniel replied and pulled a small backpack off before walking over to sit across from Becky with the candle lantern between them.

Daniel rummaged through his backpack for a moment before pulling out two foil packets of single serve Spam and three packets of saltine crackers. Becky's belly rumbled again at the sight of the feast and tried not to snatch one of the foil packets and a package of saltines out of Daniel's hand when he offered them to her.

"Never thought I'd enjoy Spam!" Daniel said with a grin as he watched Becky tear open the foil and take a bite.

"Mmmm," Becky moaned as she chewed, "I used to only eat organic stuff, I'd have never looked twice at Spam!"

Both Becky and Daniel laughed softly before another concussion rocked the basement. Daniel glanced fearfully at the door while he hastily finished eating, even ripping open the foil packet to lick the inside clean before looking forlornly at the last of the three saltine packages.

"Do you know what's happening?" Becky asked after licking the cold congealed grease from the inside of her own foil packet.

"No, not really," Daniel said after a moment, "I heard from someone who heard from someone else that they are trying to take the 205 bridge after the I5 one blew up, you know."

Becky's eyes never left the saltines in Daniel's hands and he glanced from her stare down to the cracker when he noticed.

"Share?" Daniel asked after a moment.

Becky quickly nodded and Daniel grinned before he came around the candle lantern to sit next to her.

Becky watched as moved, his chin and face covered in a soft, patchy fuzz of a beard with his stringy black hair hanging down into his eyes. He had obviously lost weight with his clothes loose and baggy but was still close to six feet tall with an athletic build. After so long without a haircut... or a shower she thought she probably didn't look much better herself although she had managed to braid her auburn hair into a half dozen tightly woven dreadlocks. Daniel opened the package carefully and handed Becky half of the crackers before beginning to nibble at one himself.

"Are they ever going to leave?" Becky asked as she savored the dry salty flavor of the cracker.

"I hope s..." Daniel began before the ground lurched from a blast much closer than any of the others.

Becky gave a yelp of terror and wrapped her arm around Daniel's shoulders as a cascade of dirt fell into the basement. A crash from upstairs sounded as something heavy toppled over before silence fell once more. Becky realized that Daniel was holding onto her as much as she was to him, his arms trembling against her back.

"That was..." Daniel began.

Becky nodded and then snuggled in closer to Daniel while pulling him against her body.

"That was closer than any of the others," Becky finished.

Daniel left his arm draped over Becky's shoulder as they sat next to each other, both flinching at a distant concussion that sent tendrils of dirt raining down. Becky became more aware of the gentle pressure of his arm around her shoulder, his strong masculine smell and his deep, slow breaths. It had been weeks since she had felt the touch of another person, weeks since she would have even trusted someone so close to her, and now it was a boy not yet twenty who had shared his meager food with her in return for spending the night in a musty basement with a tiny candle lantern for light.

Becky turned her head to look at Daniel's profile in that dim, flickering light while wondering who else would have even considered sharing food with a stranger for nothing in return.

"What?" Daniel asked gently when he noticed Becky's scrutiny.

"Nothing," Becky replied and lay her head onto his shoulder.

A series of three concussions sounded one after another and caused Becky to cry out while Daniel flinched and pulled her close.

"I just wish this would all just go away," Daniel whispered after the dust had stopped falling from the ceiling, "Just go back to how it used to be, you know."

Becky glanced at Daniel's profile again to see a clean line drawn in the dirt down his check from his tears, the sight reminding her of her own tears from only a little while ago. Without thinking Becky reached up to trace that line along Daniel's check down to his chin before gently tilting his head towards her.

"What... what are you doing?" Daniel asked breathlessly just before Becky's lips touched his.

Becky let the kiss linger, Daniel's hesitancy melting as she slowly pulled her to him.

Becky leaned into the kiss, her tongue pressing between Daniel's lips as the weeks spent in constant fear, of having to move from place to place, of hiding at even a glimpse of another person or the soldiers no matter what uniform they wore were forgotten as she cupped the back of Daniel's head. Another distant concussion sounded and Daniel jerked and pulled away at the vibration transmitted through the hard concrete floor.

"You don't have to..." Daniel stammered, "I didn't share my food trying to do anything!"

"I know," Becky whispered and pulled Daniel gently towards her lips again, "It's alright if you want too though..."

Daniel pressed into the kiss, his hands fumbling clumsily at the front of Becky's bulky shirt with three other shirts beneath it.

"Wait," Becky said breathlessly and tried not to grin as she pulled one shirt after another off until she was only wearing her sports bra.

She tried not to think about how dirty and smelly that bra was and watched Daniel's eyes watching her chest avidly as she pulled the sports bra up and over her head to join the pile of clothes behind her back. Daniel reached out hesitantly with a shaking hand to cup one of her D cup breasts to squeeze gently while he licked his lips. As Becky watched Daniel's eyes riveted to her dark areolas she had a sudden suspicion that he may have never been with a woman before.

"Would you like to suck on them?" Becky asked softly and reached down to lift and press her 'girls' together so that her hard nipples were pointed towards Daniel's face.

"Yea..." Daniel breathed and leaned down.

Becky gasped as Daniel leaned down and latched onto her breast taking her entire nipple and areola into his mouth along with a sizeable portion of her breast. Becky closed her eyes and leaned back as she let Daniel suckle, the soft wet sounds of his mouth pulling at her flesh filling the quiet basement.

Another concussion sounded and Daniel pulled away, his eyes wide as he gazed into Becky's. Blue eyes with long, delicate lashes Becky noted as her heart beat in her chest.

"Can we..." Daniel asked breathlessly, "Would you let me...?"

"Yes..." Becky said huskily and stood up to unbuckle her jeans.

Daniel's eyes lit up and he hastily began to take his jacket and shirt off, Becky trying not to smile at his haste as he managed to slip his jeans and boxers down before she had finished removing her own. Becky had a moment of anxiety at the thick, curly hair of her bush since she hadn't been able to shave for so long before realizing that Daniel couldn't care less as he stared hungrily between her legs. She took another moment to arrange her clothes and sleeping bag into a kind of padded nest before laying back and holding out her arms to Daniel.

"Have you ever been with a girl before?" Becky asked as Daniel scrambled across the concrete towards her.

"I... you won't... I mean..." Daniel stammered which caused Becky to laugh gently before reaching up to pull his body down on top of her own.

"I'll take that as a no," Becky whispered and reached down to take Daniel's length in her hand and guide him slowly to her vulva.

Becky spent only a moment to run Daniel's head up and down between her already wet folds, only a moment to lubricate his glans before placing his head at her opening and letting her body welcome his length inside of her as he gave a jerky, uncertain thrust.

"Ohhhhh, that's nice," Becky moaned and pulled Daniel's face with a comical surprised O of an expression down to her lips to kiss.

Daniel began to thrust into Becky, his enthusiasm matched by her need, her pleasure quickly building from a warm glow into a burning fire and she knew her new lover even in his haste and inexperience was going to make her cum. More concussions sounded in the distance, forgotten for the moment and drowned out by the wet slapping of Daniel thrusting into her accepting body.

"Ohhh, shit!" Daniel cried out, his body stiffening as Becky's body began to clench down to suck greedily at his dick.

Becky felt the warmth of Daniel's seed fill her while she pulled him down for another kiss.

"I'm sorry," Daniel whispered finally and tried to climb off Becky.

Becky wrapped her legs tightly around Daniel's waist to hold him inside of her and pulled his face down to kiss him again.

"For what?" Becky finally asked once she was sure Daniel wasn't about to bolt out the door.

"I was so quick..." Daniel confessed.

"You made me cum though," Becky whispered and began to gently rock her hips with Daniel's semi flaccid dick still inside of her body, "And we still have all night to try again... maybe a few more times."

"Really?" Daniel said hopefully, "This is going to sound stupid but... I didn't want to die without... you know."

Becky smiled gently and kissed his lips before pulling away.

"Yes, really, and no, that doesn't sound stupid to me at all," Becky whispered while they both ignored the distant concussions.

Becky pulled Daniel's mouth down to hers again, kissing him slowly as she felt him beginning to swell, savoring the chance to celebrate life, of being alive even for just a moment while forgetting the death that lurked outside the door.