The Lost Civilization

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟼: 𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗 (𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛)

  As I opened my eyes again, I blinked a couple of times and wiped my hand over my eyes to try and escape the cloudy feeling I had. Wait, why was my hand wet when I wiped my face? Why does my whole body feel wet? What is going on? I placed my hands down by my sides, placing them down to lift myself up. I could feel water flowing and glass against my hands. I could now feel the water flowing against my back and my legs as well now. I raised up slowly and screamed a blood curdling scream. "Oh god! Please, god no," I begged as I crawled across the, what I now realized was the ceiling of the vehicle. We were flipped upside down in the car. It didn't even hit me that we had crashed, until now. Serenity was lying on her back with her legs folded oddly, causing a panic to surge through my body. I covered my eyes with my hands as I began to sob.

  A quiet mumble stopped the tears from flowing momentarily. I moved my hands and looked down at Serenity, seeing her eyes slowly fluttering open. I bent over, gently lying my head on the top of her shoulder. "You're alive, Serenity. Thank God, you're alive!" As I lifted my head from her shoulder, I peered around the now destroyed vehicle with one or two inches of water flowing across the ceiling. Maxwell and Victoria! Where are they?!

  "Serenity, are you okay? D-Does anything feel broken?" I quickly asked these questions, trying to make sure she was okay before I hurriedly looked for Victoria and Max. After confirming that she was okay, just feeling a bit sore and legs hurting a bit, I lied on my stomach and scooted myself out of the back windshield of the Jeep. Dragging my stomach and legs through glass, baring the momentary pain to get out. Serenity slowly trailed behind, taking more time than I. She looked okay other than some bleeding from her forehead. I crawled out and found myself on my hands and knees in a fairly small stream. What caused us to wreck? How far are we from those things? How much time do we have until they find us? These questions raced through my head.

  I stood myself up and got myself out of the stream, climbing up a small embankment to the road. We had flipped over the small embankment and into the stream, but how? What went wrong? Now, we're stranded. I skimmed my eyes over the whole road around, seeing Maxwell sitting on the other side with his knees against his chest and his head buried in his lap. Victoria was not far from him, but instead of sitting, she was lying on her stomach in the middle of the road. I ran across the road and leaned down beside of Maxwell.

  "Maxwell? Are you okay? Maxwell! Please, answer me!" I begged as my hands shook. He raised his head up and his eyes were bloodshot with tears endlessly rolling down his face. He had blood splattered all over him. He started at me with a blank look in his eyes, like he had went numb. "Maxwell, are you okay? You're covered in blood?" I asked him as I watched Serenity run over to Vic.

  "I-I'm fine. The airbag.. busted my nose. I flew out of the windshield, and so did Vic," he muttered. As I began to reply to him, he spoke again and grabbed my wrist tightly while staring dead into my eyes. "Something ran across that road, Alden. I- I couldn't make out what it was. It looked.. it looked like a person.. or an animal. I can't remember godd——t!!" He screamed. A vein was popping out of his forehead and he was tugging on his hair.

"Maxwell, look at me," I said as comforting as I could, grabbing his hands gently and holding them. "I need you to hold it together for me. For Serenity. For Victoria.." Immediately after speaking, Serenity could be heard quietly crying. I looked over to see her sitting on her knees, crying beside of Victoria. Why was Victoria not getting up? I stood up to run over to her and as I got closer. It hit me. I realized why she was crying. I realized why Vic hadn't gotten up yet. She was dead. Her face was so disfigured you wouldn't be able to tell it was her if you hadn't known her and known she was with us. Her clothes were soaked with blood and you could faintly see a bone sticking out of her thigh. I couldn't cry. There were no tears left. I stood in the middle of that dark, eery road. Staring ahead with glistening eyes. Staring at nothing. Just staring ahead. Emotions weren't registering and I felt like I was dead, but somehow still living. Vic is gone.. she's gone. I continued staring, the noise around me even sounding muffled to my ears. Serenity sobbing and Maxwell having a mental breakdown. It was all silent though in a way. I couldn't hear it, but I could. What now? I ask myself..