Across the Deadzone

Chapter 13: Wystan

I rushed out after her, but Ophelia was already out of sight. Pushing my hair from my eyes, I faltered for a moment, unsure of myself.
Rolling my eyes at my indecisiveness, I picked a random tunnel and walked briskly down it, softly calling her name. I passed the disposal cavern, which secreted a smell strong enough that it made me wonder how a Rubble Creeper hadn't actually tried to break in yet. I passed doorways much like my own, corrugated metal plates pushed against them to keep prying eyes and nosy neighbors out.
No one roamed the halls, least of all Ophelia.
After milling around aimlessly for the better half of an hour, I rounded a corner- the one leading directly to the locked door of Hemmington's arsenal- I collided into a body, almost sending us both to the ground. They steadied me in a less than gentle manner.
I let out a sigh of relief when I looked down and met Ophelia's somewhat cold, honey-brown eyes.
"Were we boring you back there?" I asked, adding in a lopsided smirk. She glanced up at me and, although she tried to conceal it, her bottom lip quivered. My eyebrows drew together and I took a subconscious step toward her. "What, uh... what's up?" I went to lay a hand on her shoulder before deciding against it.
She bit at the inside of her cheek, looking around as if to see if anyone had appeared out of thin air beside us.
Finally, she held up her arm, the one with her bracelet wrapped around it. The silver charm clinked softly with the movement.
"I almost lost this," she said, her voice tight. She shook her head, looking down at her feet.
"You wanted to know something that's happened to me?" she asked with a sour chuckle. "You wanted to know why I have to cross the Deadzone?"
"O-" I started, but she cut me off.
"Because my family's on the other side. My sister is on the other side. And I can't lose this," she said, pointing to the bracelet with gusto, "when I'm this close."
I blinked. "Your family is alive?"
She huffed, her jaw tense. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She tried again. "My sister and my dad were, yeah."
Needing to know everything and also not wanting to pry were not a good combination of personality traits. Thanks, mom. Thanks, dad. "What, uh... what happened to them?" I didn't come right out and ask about her mom. She would tell me when she was ready. If, I reminded myself.
I don't know." I gave her a confused look and she sighed, obviously not wanting to talk about it any more. She pushed on anyway. "I... wasn't with them when the blast happened."
I stayed silent, not moving. That urged her to go on. "I know they're alive, though. Or... were." She looked up at me then, finally meeting my eyes. "Did you hear about that place the government made before they went under? The 'Haven?'"
I nodded. There had been a mad rush of people moving through Hemmington when the rumor had first surfaced about the Haven a little while after the blast first hit, all of them wanting to cross the Deadzone for a place that might not even exist. It had died down after a few months when no one came back.
She stepped closer to me like she was about to tell a secret big enough that it could ruin both of our high school careers.
"I talked to a man running a trading post a few miles away from here. He told me he'd seen people in government gear, searching for anyone this far out to bring back to the Haven." She shook her head again, taking a step back. "I know it seems like a longshot, but the place where I lived was one of the first to be moved into emergency EVAC. It's the only lead I have."
I tried to think of something to say, something that could comfort her, and assure her that what she was doing was the right thing, but my mind was stuck on a big fat pile of nothing.
Instead, I offered her a small nod to show that I understood. I would do the same thing if I thought there was even a chance that my parents were still alive.
"What happened to your mom, then?" I asked after we had lapsed into silence.
She cocked her head, considering if she should tell me. After a long moment, her shoulders slumped. "She got diagnosed with cancer when I was fifteen. Died later that year." I gaped at her, my eyes glistening. I'd known her mom for years. She and my mother had been friends since high school. It had hurt her so much to move away from us, but Ophelia's dad had been offered a great job out near California. Or, where California used to be. 
"O, I'm so..." I trailed off. "Why didn't you tell me? You didn't even text." We had still been in contact at that point, and even if Ophelia hadn't told me, it struck me as odd that neither had Thalia.
"I was... mourning. In shock. I isolated myself from pretty much everyone after that." She paused, letting out a breath. "I'm sorry you weren't an exception, Wystan." I couldn't tell if the apology was genuine or not, so I pushed it aside.
I brushed my hair out of my eyes. "You know what?" I began, wanting to change the subject. If the news of her mother's death was so hard on me, I could only imagine how it had affected her.
"Some of the younger people around here get together in the Back Cavern every month. We... dance, sing really off-key, drink hard-core alcohol. Ya know, stuff we missed out on during our college years. Tomorrow's your last day here," I said out loud, all the while thinking that it was mine, too. I cracked a weak smile. "It could be fun if we went."
She frowned, considering my offer for a long moment. Finally, she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Fine. But only for the alcohol."