Black Ice

Chapter One: The Aftermath

 Corpses lay stacked like bricks in the streets, piled high to clear the way for the few of us who survived the cataclysm. The smell of the dead clung to everyone, everything, as did the ashes and the bitter cold that was beginning to clasp its boney, ancient hands onto everyone's veins. Even the dead seemed to moan from the onset of a new disaster.

"Let's go." He said, and no one dared to question him. We all followed, walking to a large house which we would make our safe haven for now.

"Hurry up. Don't look at them." A mother told her wide-eyed little boy. She took the child's hand and pulled him along. A faded blue hat sat on the boy's head to protect his face from the falling ashes and chunks of ember that tumbled onto the ground like pebbles. It was all I would remember about him.

We didn't have last names anymore, simply knew each other by nicknames and first names and the colors that we wore. I was Harper. Our leader was named Cassian. The mother and her son I didn't know, the middle aged man was called Bird and the quiet woman was named Rose.  We weren't the only survivors of the sun dying. The only people who weren't burned to ash or hit by falling chunks of molten rock and fire, were out on the streets searching for loved ones or claiming the ruins of houses as shelter.

"Harper. Harper!" Cassian's voice broke through my thoughts, my attention snapped to him. Cassian had always been quiet in highschool. He had friends, sure, but I was certainly not one of them.  He towered over me, almost unnaturally tall. His nearly black hair made his eyes look electric. He demanded respect and he got it. "Go upstairs. The first bedroom to the left is yours. Anything you find that can be of use to the child only, give it to Dina."

Dina. The mother's name was Dina. She was older, late thirties perhaps, with brown and gray hair and blue eyes that had replaced their laughter with fatigue. She smiled whenever she spoke about her boy, but that was rarely. They mostly just cried together.

I broke the gaze I didn't realize I had from Dina's gray sneakers and marched my way up the stairs and into the dreary room. Bleak white walls matched a white popcorn ceiling,  contrasting with a dirty brown floor. Everything looked gloomy. A small bed was tucked in a corner, with a dusty quilt on top and a slightly larger wardrobe in the corner parallel.

"I know it isn't much, but it'll do for now." Cassian said from the hallway. I nodded, not turning around. I set down the bag containing the few possessions that I could salvage.

Upon searching through the wardrobe I discovered a small blanket, well intact. It was pale blue, with a darker trim along the outside and a few dust stains as though it had been there for a while. As I stared into the blue fabric the face of the little boy entered my mind. I pushed away the image, swallowed my guilty conscience into some unknown realm of my mind, and hid the blanket under the one on the bed. He wouldn't miss what he never had.

I left the room to find the others, “Cassian, what do we do about food?” Dina asked him, concern for her child echoing in her voice. He mumbled something, ran a large hand through his dark hair and sniffed. 

“I'm sure we can find something….canned foods are probably the safest. Bird, you stay with Molly, Harper and I will go looking for food. We can run the fastest. Stay here and keep out of sight of any windows to avoid the embers.” Cassian ordered. 

“Can we try to burn something for warmth?” Dina asked, her little boy clinging to her side. Cassian nodded and we were off, my lungs aching from the cold. I hoped they would have that fire roaring by the time we got back.

Cold was all I would know for the next hour. Biting, stinging cold that made me shake in my boots. It seemed to not phase Cassian, who didn't think twice about reaching his bare hand out to pick up sticks for kindling.