As the once-blue sky over Rose Creek’s park took on a steady orange hue, the previously comforting breeze had grown slightly colder which, in turn, started to rouse Cleo from her slumber. Shivering at the sudden change in temperature, her eyes gently fluttered open. Rising to a sitting position, a small yawn escaped her as she rubbed her eyes. The once-bustling park was now rather quiet, with only a fraction of the people there compared to how it was earlier. Curious as to how long she’d been asleep, Cleo checked the time on her phone and discovered that it was nearing half past five. Deciding that it was time to head home she brushed herself down and attempted to leave the park. However, it turned out that her body had other ideas. A strong pressure in her abdomen, accompanied by a shiver down her spine, alerted her to the fact she’d better take care of something else first. Having broke the seal before lunch, she didn’t want to risk getting caught short before she made it home, so the park toilets would have to suffice once more. Putting her jacket on to combat the worst of the breeze, Cleo made her way over towards the park toilets.

Upon reaching her destination, Cleo’s heart sank as she saw the sign draped across the entrance to the toilets. It appeared she was a little too late on that front, as the ladies’ toilets were closed. From the faint sound of movement she could hear coming from inside them, they were currently being cleaned before officially being out of commission for the day. Cautiously glancing to her left, Cleo noticed that they hadn’t got around to cleaning the men’s toilets yet. Frustrated by the poor sense of humour that the cosmos had, she wanted to just carry on with her original plan of getting home and then going but, once more, her bladder didn’t think the same. It had actually gotten more insistent, almost as if it knew she was no more than a few feet away from where it could get its relief. It sent twinges and pangs through her body, voicing its discontent with her ignoring it, and had reached the point where it was threatening to make its displeasure more noticeable. Hating herself for picking watermelon slices and iced tea for lunch, a red-faced Cleo considered heading into the men’s toilets and seeing if she could get away with using them. Sure, there wasn’t anybody around that could see her committing this heinous act, but that didn’t help to quell the shame she’d feel for resorting to it. Although, regardless of the heavy mental blocks she put into place, her body still rebelled and sent a warm spurt into her panties, prompting her to gasp and shoot both her hands down to stem the flow. There was no avoiding it now, she either went now or risked flooding herself on the way home. Swallowing her embarrassment, Cleo entered the men’s toilets.

To her surprise, they didn’t look as bad as people made them out to be. The worst things she could pick out were the strong chemical smell coming from the urinal that lined the left hand wall and the amount of graffiti on the two cubicles at the back. With her heart racing, Cleo cautiously crept through the toilets to the cubicles, gently nudging the door of the first one she saw open with her foot. Much to her displeasure, the state of the toilet inside the cubicle was far worse than she anticipated. Overall, it looked relatively serviceable if she wanted to line it with reams of toilet paper, however the dispenser inside had absolutely no paper left in it. Trying her luck with the other cubicle, Cleo was met with disappointment once more as the door itself seemed to be jammed shut. She gathered that, with enough force, she could probably shove it open, but at the moment applying any kind of force to anything except holding back the tides was at the far back of her mind. In a last ditch effort, Cleo turned towards the sinks, hoping and praying that they were low enough for some inventive use. Yet again, her plan was foiled as the sinks were a little too high and far too shallow for anything except the washing of hands. Left with no other options and a bladder threatening to burst at any given moment, Cleo had to do the unthinkable…

...she had to use the urinal.

Not once did Cleo ever think she’d need to try and emulate Casey’s embarrassing means of taking care of these kinds of needs. She remembered her sister experimenting with peeing while standing way back in an attempt at having a much faster and slightly more efficient way of dealing with a pressing urge while away from any normal means of relief. Back then, Cleo couldn’t even imagine herself ever having to do the same without there being an apocalypse that put all the regular toilets out of use, but now here she was standing in front of a urinal in the middle of the men’s toilets while pulling down her shorts and panties. If anyone walked in on her now she was certain she’d die of embarrassment long before she even had a chance to explain herself. If worst came to worst, at least the urinal was the kind that stretched all the way down to the floor, so aiming wasn’t that important.

Or so she thought…

Closing her eyes to block out what she was doing, Cleo leaned her hips forward until her knees were slightly bent and then tried to relax her bladder. Seconds passed and nothing came out, contrary to how she felt before trying to go. Pushing a little harder, Cleo heard the sound of liquid drumming against what she hoped was the urinal itself. This only lasted a second or two after the initial push and then a much more devastating sound of something pattering against cloth filled her ears as warm rivulets snaked down her legs. In a moment of panic, Cleo’s eyes shot open and her fears were confirmed. Instead of going where it should be, her stream was heading straight downwards onto her underwear and shorts.

“NONONONONONONONONONONONO!”

She tried to fix her standing position but ended up messing up her footing, which sent her tumbling forward. Through sheer desperation, her reaction time quickened enough so she could stop herself from faceplanting the wall by letting go of the base of her t-shirt and instead pressing her hands against the wall above the urinal to support herself. During this time, her river was still running strong, bathing her shorts, panties and the base of her t-shirt before sending splashes up the back of her legs as it splattered onto the floor behind her. Since everything had turned into a disaster, Cleo felt like giving up and just letting nature takes its course there and then, consequences be damned. Although, a small smidgen of hope remained. Pushing herself upright, ignoring how her clothes were getting drenched once more, Cleo turned so she was now facing the sinks and changed her position to a standing squat, her rear hovering precariously close to the back of the urinal. This mitigated the worst of it as her pee was going pretty much where it should be. Why didn’t she think of doing this first?!

Cruel irony played its part once more as what little remained in Cleo’s bladder began to trickle out into drips, making it so her position change was worthless as the damage was done. Shaking her hips from side to side, she drip dried the best she could before taking stock of the situation. As she feared, her shorts and panties were beyond saving. They’d taken the worst of the flood and, despite making it, it looked like she’d actually wet herself. Her socks and shoes weren’t that important at the moment and hadn’t really gotten that wet. Her legs, on the other hand, would need wiping down with tissue paper to make it so they didn’t glisten in the light and feel horribly wet. The least affected part was the base of her t-shirt which, while damp, had avoided pretty much everything. The only completely dry part of her clothing was her jacket, which she took great solace in. Pulling her sodden shorts and panties back up to their normal position, Cleo stepped over the small puddle she’d left on the floor and washed her hands at the sink. After drying both her hands and her legs off with the paper towels, she removed her jacket and tied it around her waist to hide the telltale marks on her shorts.

“Well, it could’ve been worse I guess.” She tried to console herself. “At least nobody will see it...”