Tul was in a dark space. Under his hands, he could feel a slick sticky surface. "What the hell?" As his voice broke the silence, the light slowly brightened. It was a scene straight from Satan's Playhouse.

Tul was in the midst of seemingly endless bodies. Stabbed, beaten, decaying carnage as far as he could see. His hands were covered in blood. The stench of offal, blood, decay made him feel dizzy and sick. He tried to get off his knees to run but slipped. He fell ending up face to face with a dead man. Half his face had been shot off. Jagged gouges of flesh were missing.  The other side of his face was perfect. Untouched. The beautiful dark brown eye staring into his own horror stricken ones.

"M-max?" Was it a whisper or a scream? It was his Max.

A jerk, a gasp and Tul woke. He was covered in sweat, trembling and breathing like he had run a marathon. The last image surfaced again.  'No. That's not my Max. It can't be my Max.' he thought but gods, he was so afraid.

~~~~~

Last night had been so good. Miri had given him the thumbs up for her name. He'd managed to comb the snarls from her hair while only receiving a few death glares. She had donned her Beauty and the Beast jammies with an air of excitement that had lasted all of 5 minutes before she was sound asleep. It had been a long day for both of them.

Tul's mom had always said kisses kept nightmares at bay. He had gently run his fingers through her light brown shoulder length hair then placed a small kiss on her forehead. "Sweet dreams, Miri."

It didn't take him long to fill the water bottles he had and re-pack their bags. He reattached them to the back rest on his motorcycle parked in the living room. He'd had to clear most of the furniture out of the way but it worked.

He took the remaining water and bathed. How could he have ever taken the luxury of cleanliness for granted? Clean skin, clean hair, clean pair of pj pants. Life was good. He'd tucked the sheets around Miri again and then crawled in on the opposite side of the king sized bed. Falling asleep had been blissful.

Until now.

~~~~~

The nightmare was fading and the trembling  had slowed. He knew it was caused by the slaughter he'd seen earlier that day. It didn't matter. His Max wasn't there. He was safe at the cabin. He was safe.

It took a bit to calm down. To hopefully let the nightmare go. As he relaxed more, he realized there was a small lump pressed against his side. At some point, Miri and her ever faithful companion, Unicorn, had slid across the bed and curled up in a ball next to Tul. He tucked her into his chest holding her close. She snuggled in a bit. He smiled in the darkness.

~~~~~

Despite all his efforts, the dream image of Max's mutilated face had lurked at the edge of sleep. Just waiting for him. No way he was going back there. He was up.

Tul might be awake but Miri wasn't and he didn't want to disturb her. Consequently, he just laid there thinking. The first thing was to find them helmets. It was too important to let slide. No matter how good the wind felt in his hair.  Finding him one would be no problem but Miri needed one too. Did they even make kids helmets? He needed to find a motorcycle dealership.

They might even have leather jackets for both of them. Bugs were annoying when riding at 50 mph. A stray june bug hitting you stung like crazy and gave you a good sized bruise. Leather jackets helped with that as well as road rash. If,
the gods forbid, he ended up laying down the bike, it would take the hide off of him - road rash. Who knew how much damage it would do to Miri. Nope. Not happening. Leather jacket for her too.

The sun was barely up but Tul had carefully gotten out of bed. Miri had wiggled into his warm spot and relaxed back into deep sleep again. A soft smile on his face. Miri seemed to do that to him alot.

He dressed and started digging through the kitchen cabinets. Last night they had eaten out of his stash. Today, he would see what the kitchen had to offer. A can of ravioli, stale bread, and 3 small strawberry milks tucked in the back. 'They must have processed the hell out of it.' he thought. It was in date. He'd smell and taste it before he let Miri have it. But if it was good, she would be one happy camper.

A few more items. Nothing much but it all helped. He had some unopened cereal in his stash. That should be okay for her. He ate a breakfast bar while he was scavenging the kitchen. What he really wanted was a cup of coffee.  Hot blackness with two sugars, thank you very much.

"Miri... wake up, princess. Time for breakfast." Tul had clothes laid out for her. "Can you get dressed by yourself?"

Miri was still rubbing her eyes. Hair fuzzed out everywhere. A huge yawn. She looked at him bleary eyed and he couldn't help but laugh.

"OK then. How about breakfast first?" A quick scoop and she was in his arms with her head on his shoulder. "I found a treat for you." The milk was good if ridiculously sweet.

A glance up. "Yep! How about strawberry milk and granola for breakfast?" Tul plopped her into the seat. "Go ahead and eat up, Miri. We have to find helmets and jackets today and then ZOOM, we're off to see Max! You'll like him alot." Tul rambled while Miri happily gobbled her breakfast.

Thirty minutes after breakfast, Miri was dressed and ready to go. "Can't believe I forgot a toothbrush for you. We'll fix that today." Tul pushed his bike out of the house after some careful observation. "Oh and I almost forgot!" He dug into his backpack. Out came a small pink backpack with rainbows all over it. " I thought if you put it on like this..." He put it on her backwards so the pack was on her chest and adjusted the straps. "Now, Unicorn can ride in your pack and see where we're going." He unzipped the pack and held it open. Miri looked at him then the pack. She carefully placed Unicorn inside and Tul zipped it up so only its head was sticking out. "All snug and ready to go!"

Another scoop and she was settled in front of him. "Hang on, Princess!"

~~~~~

It took 4 stops and most of the day before Tul was satisfied with their equipment. Finding Miri a helmet had been a bitch.

All of the motorcycle dealerships were near the highway so he had been very cautious. He might not have seen anyone else but he had heard distant gunshots the day before he found Miri. He wasn't going to take any unnecessary chances.

They'd found jackets and a helmet for him fairly easily. He was surprised the Harley Davidson hadn't been emptied when there was so much looting. The jackets were slightly large so she could wear a sweatshirt under it and he could tuck her into his if necessary. The next stops were a bust except for a pair of sunglasses Miri picked out. Round reflective kid sunglasses and Miri was styling.

The Yamaha dealership held the jewel though. Tul was tired. He was short on sleep and each place had to be cleared with Miri right behind him. It was nerve wracking. He was afraid to just hide her. Someone could grab her so where Tul went, Miri went.

He was almost convinced they never made kids helmets when he saw a a box in the store room. 'Special Order' was stamped on it. Box was about the right size too. Using a stepstool, he managed to pull the box forward enough to grab it.

'Keep your fingers crossed, Princess." Miri leaned in to watch as he opened the box. Inside was a child's helmet - white with bright blue sparkles. "Okay, let's try it on!" It was a bit big but it worked.

"YES!!"

They looked pretty bad ass when they came out of the last dealership. How could you go wrong with black leather, sunglasses and jeans? Tul smiled to himself. Unicorn did kill the image a bit but Miri was happy and that was what mattered. One more stop and then they were going to put some serious miles behind them.

A dinosaur toothbrush, a tube of kid's toothpaste and a tiara that had been tucked in with Unicorn later and they were off.

~♡~♡~♡~