Malia and Charles lay on the dry, wild grass with their bodies wrapped as one. On and off, they dozed and woke and made love again, sometimes finishing, sometimes not, and fading back to sleep, still satisfied. It was the best they’d ever had.

The full, blood moon cast a red hue on the dark world while the white beams of searchlights flashed in the distance below but never neared enough to alarm them. They knew General Pinot’s soldiers would catch them eventually. The doom ...