What We Become | Book Two

PART ONE: BEN

1. WINTER

All was silent.

The skies were quiet and I longed for the days where planes spread the sky with vast wings and engines that roared louder than anything I'd ever heard before. I started to believe that the absence of noise is one of the most powerful things. People expect noise, it's accepted as normal. Noise contains an element of peace but pure silence remains unsettling.

I stretched my neck, looking up at the expanse and taking it all in. It was the clouds that ruled the sky now; fluffy white and dominating every inch of the blank, blue space.

Nobody took any notice of the planes before this. Engines in the sky were as normal as time passing on a clock. Now they weren't there, it was like an absence you couldn't help but notice, an edging feeling that something wasn't quite right.

A loud bang erupted through Carnelian. The shots came like an eruption of fireworks. Delicate, sporadic, and then all at once. I ran over to the platform at the entrance of the town where Tom was standing with his rifle aimed outside the gates.

The platform was bigger now, reinforced like it should have been in the first place. A metal plate now spanned the front window, giving easy cover to look behind without the risk of being shot at from the other side. We were more careful, better prepared for intrusions. We couldn't afford to lose anybody else.

"What the hell are you thinking?" I shouted up to Tom.

He lowered the weapon to his side and turned to face me. "Do you want the Infected in here again?" he pressed. "They're getting too close to the gates."

"You don't think it's a bad idea when everyone and everything within a five-mile radius can hear it?"

My question was rhetorical too.

He began to wave his arms around in frustration, like a child that had just been told off. 

"I'm not that stupid, Robertson. I know what I'm doing," he said. "Look, Will put me in charge of defence for a reason. How about we each do our own jobs?"

I stared back at him, admitting defeat. Arguing with him was like trying to win a fight with a brick wall. "Fine," I sighed. "Just be more careful. The trees have lost their leaves so we're completely exposed."

I thought I heard him mutter something along the lines of "no shit", but I chose to ignore it. We were all tired.

The bare branches outside the gates towered over the platform and stood out from the rest of the bleak landscape. I wanted nothing more than to be sheltered by the green blanket that had covered us during the summer when the Infected had paid us little attention from behind our barrier of thick foliage. 

Those months hadn't been easy but our struggles then seemed small compared to what winter held for us.

As I turned from the platform, there was a tug on the back of my coat. I spun to see Sophia standing in front of me. She was growing faster than we could keep up with and it was a struggle to find clothes that would fit her. Everything she wore now was oversized in the hope that she'd eventually grow into it. 

Today, she was bundled in a large black coat and a fluffy pink hat which was pulled down to her eyelashes. Her arms lifted up toward me and just before she gave me her pleading eyes, I pulled her up to sit against my hip. I took every chance I could being with Sophia because one day, I knew I wouldn't be able to lift her at all.

"What's going on in Sophia-World today?" I asked as we made our way back through the town together, away from the gates she was always too curious about. "What important things have you got lined up?"

There was almost a feeling of normality when I spoke to Sophia. She was only a kid after all and it was like I could convince myself that there were people who were happy and untouched by the horrors of the Infection. 

When her mum died, she began asking questions. She'd seen the fight but she just thought they were people who were sick. 

Really sick.

"I'm going to put my barbie back together," she said as she yanked on my black beanie, covering my eyes.

"I can't see!" I laughed, pulling it up as I craned my neck to look at her. "What do you mean back together?" my eyes narrowed.

Her small shoulders lifted and fell quickly, her face a portrait of guilt. "Her head fell off," she admitted.

"Oh," I scoffed. "Are you sure it fell off?" I raised a questioning brow, "or did you pull it off?"

She giggled into my shoulder, hiding her face and reddened cheeks. "I pulled it," she squeaked.

I gasped and pretended to look shocked. "I knew it!"

Her fingers twisted into her hair as she readjusted her body against mine. "Beeeeen," she dragged out.

"What?"

"Can you get me some new toys?" she asked. Her requests were innocent compared to what everyone else asked for.

I cocked my head. "You want more toys?"

She nodded. At least she was honest.

"I'll do my best," I said. "But I can't promise anything so you can't get too excited, promise?"

Even though I'd said it, she'd still be expecting something. The world was still the same to her and I didn't want to be the one to break that.

"Hey!" a voice called out to our left. "Ben, you got a minute?" Will asked, peering from the front door of his house. 

The bricks still crumbled and every home seemed to be struggling to hold itself together against the cold. There was little colour to the town and it was enough to bring anyone's spirits down.

"Just a second," I nodded toward him, lowering Sophia to the ground and squatting down beside her. Her pigtails caught in the wind and she grabbed them with both hands, twisting her fingers around them. 

"I gotta head off, Soph..."

"Can I come with you?" she asked with eyes that were bigger than an animated character.

"Not this time," I replied, pulling her hat down. "Are you okay heading back by yourself?"

She nodded, readjusting her headwear so she could see again. "Yeah! I'm a grown-up now!"

My forehead creased. "Of course you are," I laughed as she took off in the direction of her house. "Don't get into trouble!" I added.