Fallen Nation: Party At The World's End by James Curcio

destruction. Dionysus
ignored it.
    “ Bloody things are tearing the engines off,” he said. “Just
like in the Twilight Zone.” He took another look. “They don’t
really look so much like marsupials anymore.”
    Ariadne laughed
hysterically as they plummeted through the clouds and into a
shopping mall. Metal sheered and shrieked as glass powderized into
the air in a rainbow cloud. It twirled gracefully around the
wreckage, like dragons on Chinese New Year. Books, stuffed animals,
overcoats and televisions poured from the shelves as they shuddered
past the jewelry aisle and a flock of slack jawed housewives. The
plane’s double tires splattered all the would-be shoppers that had
the misfortune of being in its path. They popped like cherry
tomatoes and left a red smear all the way from what was left of
Macy’s down to the food court, where the shattered vehicle finally
came to a lurching stop in front of Taco Bell.
    All was silent in the
cabin, charred black with smoke and fire. Outside, the lights of
rescue vehicles flashed, but there were no survivors, and no
vehicles.
    Dionysus turned towards
Amber, about to comment on how odd it was that they were still
alive, when he saw her bite her lip. She sighed and closed her
eyes. Ariadne was licking her ear and running her hand between
Amber’s slowly parting thighs.
    The thought did cross his
mind – for a moment – that this was an unusual time for sex. But
only for a moment. One of his hands wandered under Amber’s shirt,
finding her pierced nipples already hard. The other gently lay on
top of Ariadne’s damp fingers as they explored under her
skirt.
    Looking at him through
wisps of Amber’s hair, Ariadne smiled and hiked up her skirt
further.
    Taking the hint, he leaned
over, kissing his way up her thigh. She shivered appreciatively. As
he leaned forward, he felt his hands sink into the dust.
    He looked around. They were
on the plateau. Drums beat ceaselessly in the distance.
    “ We weren’t on a plane,” Dionysus said matter-of-factually,
looking up at Ariadne, past Amber’s now exposed breasts.
    “ Huh. Guess not,” Ariadne said.
    Dionysus leaned forward
again.
     
    –
     
    They passed out in a
contented pile shortly after the sun crested the
horizon.
    Ariadne drifted in
sensations, untethered from time and space. Her mother was smiling
above her. She was encircled by a crowd of wrinkled faces, atop a
picnic table. She put her foot in the birthday cake, and the smile
turned to a frown. Three candles, and such tiny toes. The sticky
icing oozing between them turned dry. She was on a beach.
Sun-blinded and breathing in the smell of salt, sand and crabs
baking in the heat.
    Her hand closed around
another. The shape of it, its warmth, the tingle she felt
throughout her body when fingertips touched, were all impossibly
familiar. An electrical circuit seemed to close as their fingers
intertwined.
    When the circuit closed,
she was fixed again in one place, one time. She rubbed her eyes,
and was surprised by what she saw when they opened. No longer on
that ridge, and Amber was nowhere to be seen. Dionysus was curled
around her. They were both in a labyrinth of stone and forgotten
memories.
    “ Hey,” she said, running the back of her hand along his cheek.
He mumbled to himself, but didn't stir. Changing tactics, she bit
his ear.
    “ Fuck!” He flailed pointlessly, and then looked around.
“Where's this?” he asked absently as he stared at a baby hanging
from a tree above him, squirming in its glowing amniotic
sac.
    “ I don't know. I've been here before, though...I think,”
Ariadne said. She started to stand up but he grabbed her arm and
pulled her close.
    “ Does it really matter?” he asked.
    She held him close and
thought for a moment. “Except–”
    She was cut off by a sound
that sent a shiver through her, like the monstrous hybrid of a bull
and a locomotive had been set loose in a crowded theater. She was
on her feet and running before Dionysus