Abject in the Dust

Chapter 24 - Journey's End?

"Do you think she is happy?" Lykke asked as she plonked herself down by Rize and the two of them looked out over the vast expanse of blue.

"I hope she is." Rize replied with a warm smile as he placed a comforting arm around his friend.

"Do you think there is any hope that she might follow us?"

"There is always hope." Rize replied as a tear formed in his eye.

"But it isn't what you believe?"

"Weeks have passed, and we have moved much slower than Sam would. I think if she had wanted to follow us, she would have caught up with us by now."

Lykke nodded sadly in agreement. "I wish ..." She sighed heavily. "It doesn't matter what I wish."

"Go on." Rize encouraged his friend.

"You know what I wanted." Lykke sighed again. "But, if not that, I wish that we had ended things on better terms. Not in anger and sorrow. You know what I mean, don't you?"

"I do." Rize nodded solemnly. "Not always easy with Sam." He chuckled uneasily.

"I just don't understand her. I mean what she does. The way she acts."

"I think she carries a heavy burden."

"We all carry a heavy burden, Rize. We've all suffered. It doesn't excuse or explain her actions." Lykke flailed her arms in anger.

"True." Rize nodded thoughtfully. "But we have always had people around us, people we could count upon. Admittedly it's only the two of us now." Rize pulled Lykke closer into his embrace. "But, hopefully that will change soon enough, and we will be back with our friends and family. Sam has had nobody."

"She had us." Lykke muttered solemnly as the two friends otherwise continued to stare in silence for a moment.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Lykke asked as she allowed the cold water to nibble at her toes. Concrete structures poked out of the water a hundred meters in the distance. Hotels from when this area had once been a waterfront holiday resort. The rising seas now turning each one into an isolated island, where families lived seemingly unaffected by the blight and carnage which had been Lykke and Rize's reality for many months. The water sparkled in the midday sun as tiny silver fish darted around Lykke's feet with every new wave and fronds of seaweed danced in the soft currents; green vegetation unaffected by the destructive path of the nematodes.

"Yes, yes it is." Rize covered his eyes from the glare of the sun reflecting off the water to watch a small boat haul in a net with its bounty of larger fish. "Let us hope that the algae which has choked the seas to the North never reaches this far South."

"Why would she leave such a beautiful place, Rize? Why would she leave a land full of hope and potential into a land with none? It makes no sense. Why?"

A shadow fell over the two friends as a voice they could not fail to recognise spoke quietly from behind. "I had my reasons."