The ashes we left behind

Chapter 20

We leave the back of the building and get to the main street where a nightmare takes place. Asher and I exchange a last look before he goes his way.

I run to the first people I find. It's a man on his knees next to the body of a dead woman. He's crying. I put a hand on his shoulder which makes him jump.

"You should leave", I tell him. "Now!"

In the beginning he refuses to let the person he loves alone but I convince him by threatening to kill him. I don't even have a weapon for that. But it seems enough for him to run away.

Then, I see something completely different. It's a little girl and her grandfather. There's a masked person who threatens to stab the little girl. There's no time to waste! I run as fast as I can from behind the person. I grab their hand, the one with the dagger, and approach it to their throat.

"If you move, I won't hesitate", I say. Even I get scared of my voice.

The person laughs before taking a gun from their pocket and shooting the grandfather without hesitating.

"No!" I scream. The little girl seems not to understand. She's still too young...

"Grandpa, are you ok?" she asks in a childish voice as he's losing blood. He won't survive. The little girl looks frightened. And it's enough a diversion for the masked person to push me away and stab my left hip. I cry of pain before falling. The person doesn't wait a second, hurrying to the girl and stabbing her too. Two times! The screams coming from her mouth will never stop haunting me. Then, the person leaves to attack another person, leaving me with two innocent people dying.

I crawl to the little girl, groaning at each movement. She's still crying. Blood runs down her pink coat. Her face, her face... Her face is full of pain and fear. Tears are running down her face. Her lips are trembling. She tries to say something. I finally understand. She's calling for her mother. I put a hand on one of her wounds.

"Everything is going to be alright, ok?" I say.

She doesn't listen to me. she continues to cry.

I want to scream. I want to tell her that I won't let her die. That she's going to stay alive. That she still has a long life before her. If I do, I would be lying.

So I grab her hand. Her other one is holding a small teddy bear, firmly. I lay next to her and play with her hair as her screams become less frequent. She's slowly dying. 

Now, only small moans and breathing come out of her mouth. I wait. I wait until her heart stops from beating.

Then, I get on my knees and look at her innocent face. She wasn't supposed to die. It takes me all the efforts of the world to raise my head to what lays forward: a massacre. I scream of fear. I scream of pain. I scream of sadness and madness.

Everything is falling apart. The city my sister promised to protect is getting destroyed. She did everything in her power. But she failed. Just like I'm doing. We lost the game.

"Mackenzie!" I hear someone shouting.

It's Asher voice. He's coming to me.

"We should leave", he tries to say despites the horrific noises around us. He shakes my shoulder.

I nod at my hip bleeding with the knife still in it. Asher's eyes widen for a second before he comes back to his cool face. He grabs my arm and puts it around his shoulders so I can walk easier. The pain can't stop itself from burning every art of my body. I want it to stop now!

Before we leave, I order Asher to stop in front of the girl's body.

"Take the teddy bear", I say.

He frowns his eye brows but obey. He bends and takes the teddy bear to give it to me.

We slowly walk to the back of a supermarket, at least what used to be one.

"Who did this to you?" Asher asks while observing the wound.

"Myself", I reply sarcastically, something I'm not used to at all.

Asher rolls his eyes. "It's going to hurt", is all he says just before taking the dagger from my hip. A scream escapes from my mouth.

Asher puts his hand on my wound.

"We can't stay here", he says. "Put your hand on your wound and come with me." He removes his hand from my hip and puts mine on it. "Ok?"

I nod, holding tightly the teddy bear in my other hand.