For days Luke had gone out without me. I'd wake up at odd hours of the day to find him missing or only just returning. He was dead set on his hunt for the new survivor. 

Quickly I had to adjust to opening my eyes, not knowing if he would be there. Despite his new war, waged on my behalf, we were becoming estranged. Like a bone. It hurt to fracture, snap, splinter, but my pleading wasn't enough to keep him near. His rage wasn't enough to stop my worry. 

I opened my eyes, and he was there. Shut. I opened my eyes, and he was gone. Shut. The cycle repeated, and our bunker, our dirt-covered box of hollow existence, grew into a cell. 

I opened and shut my eyes repeatedly, never sure how long I had sat in the dark until I saw dim lights again. Was I losing my mind? In all that time, I never imagined a way to break the cycle. I never expected someone else might greet me as I woke up. Only then, the end may have been a horror worse than the loop. 

"This is impressive. Explains how you've survived, but not for this long," said a voice muffled by a helmet. I saw him when I raised my head from a torn couch cushion acting as a pillow. The boy in the space armor had somehow broken into the bunker. Rummaging through things not his own, he must have assumed I was knocked out until I asked with worry, "How did you get in."

The stranger only turned his head in my direction. His lack of urgency spoke volumes. He wasn't afraid of me, not enough to ensure I wouldn't get up. A spear was against the wall well within my reach, but the stranger neglected to move it from my space. 

"You're cloaking is impressive," he said and approached me before adding, "but I followed you here a day ago. Voice controls are reckless, by the way."

My eyes fixed on the black visor of his helmet, wondering what eyes might have been set on me. I wondered until he took the helmet from his head and held it under his arm. 

"Who are you?" He asked calmly while my heart raced.

"I'm Preston," my voice hesitated, trembling dry with something stuck in my throat.

"So, you're not Luke?" He remarked.

With squinted eyes, I moved gradually to sit up and put faint distance between us. 

"Why are you here?" I questioned. 

"I should ask you that," he said, to which I quickly replied, "I don't answer to you. Not here. We don't answer to threats in our home."

"Your home with Luke?" He questioned again. 

"Why are you here?" I shouted as I rolled out of bed and reached for the spear. 

Before my fingers could close the distance between myself and a weapon, the stranger pulled a small gun from his pocket. He shot from it a net made of wires that, at first, were thin as silk but expanded into thick knots. It caught my body, and the force of its speed flung me up against a wall. As I struggled to get free, he came and squatted near me to speak.

"Why are you on earth? Are you a thief, a murderer, or a psychopath? Or were you unlucky? Answer me. "

"Leave," I begged.

"Believe it or not, I'm here to help you. I might help you, but I need to know why you're here." He explained while, like an animal, I continued to fight.

"If Luke sees you," I warned the intruder, but he cut me off completely. 

"This place is well constructed, but it's unsustainable. It's not safe to live in this world alone."

"I'm not alone. I'm never alone. And you attacked me," I reminded.

"You had a weapon, and I had to protect myself. Or was that the other you that day?"

He wasn't making any sense. 

"That net uses magnets strong enough to keep a door shut in space. You won't get out unless I let you out. So please, answer the question," he sighed and stood up. 

He wasn't bluffing. I had already found the net's opening but couldn't pull it apart. Where was Luke? 

"I'm gay," I finally answered, "The Machine abandoned us because we're gay."

The stranger glared menacingly, but just as I assumed he would kill me, he instead deactivated the trap. Hurriedly I escaped only to stand and find he still felt no fear. Nothing about me intimidated him, so why had he treated me the opposite?

"We need to go. A gas storm will hit this area in a few hours," He spoke words that neglected the subject at hand.

"I'm not going anywhere without Luke."

"There is no Luke," He said coldly. 

My heart sank. Had he hurt Luke? Did he trap my boyfriend, friend, and partner somewhere in the jungle? 

"What have you done?" I shouted and pushed at his plated chest. 

"I'm not leaving you here. You've clearly been exposed to the gas before, and your head needs medical attention." 

The intruder spoke nonsense, so sure of himself. 

"What did you do to Luke?" I begged until he struck me. 

I flew down to the floor. Ears ringing, I couldn't lift my head from his space boots. My vision blurred. 

"You're experiencing long-term effects of exposure to the gas. I don't enjoy this, but if you don't listen to reason, I'll make you come with me," he threatened. 

"I won't go, not without Luke," I slurred. 

"Your boyfriend doesn't exist, Preston. There's only you and that spear."

"I won't leave without Luke."

"Then I apologize for this."

My hands climbed up his legs till a shocking sensation paralyzed my body. It wasn't painful; if anything, it was numbing. But I lost complete control of myself as my muscles locked up in some places and relaxed in others. There was a warmth that ran down my legs, and I knew I was peeing myself. Even then, I couldn't break free. The paralysis grew deeper until I couldn't lift my eyelids, and finally, my heart began to slow. Like a blissful sleep, I drifted until there was nothing. 

"We'll bring the spear with us. You can bury it later." 

I shut my eyes, but for the first time, I couldn't say what I would find if I opened them again.