Am I Wretched or Divine? ~*COMPLETED*~

Chapter 24. The Ruins

Andy's POV

Over the course of the next few days we spent most of our time planning on how to return home. Each of us remembered bits and pieces of the information the only problem was we had no idea which order the information was supposed to be in. We didn't want to try anything until we were sure it was right just in case we ended up doing something different than what we planned.

I was healing up pretty well and was able to take my bandages off now, revealing a large scab and if I wasn't careful it would start bleeding so I took it easy still. I lit up a cigarette and began walking through the compound checking out all the remodeling we had been doing over the past few days and I actually think it looks better than when we first arrived. I finally reached the other end of the compound and realized there was a gate over here as well which made me curious as to what was on this side of the desert.

"Guys! Any of you know what's out there?" Ashley, Jace and Jake ran up to me and looked out at the horizon.

"None of us have actually used this gate... Anyone who comes or leaves the compound use the main gates." Jace stuck out his arm and motioned for Casper and Kraze to come join us.

"I actually haven't been farther than the compound either." Zara had appeared next to me and I jumped back, shocked that she had been so quiet and seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"So should we go exploring?" I looked at each one of them and waited for their answers as the rest of the guys walked up to join the rest of the group.

"Sure let's go." Zara had already opened the gate and was walking out into the open desert so I ran and caught up to her.

"What do you think is out here?" I looked over at her then back in front of us.

"Who knows. There could be more Grims, another enemy, maybe another group of Rebels. We won't know until we look." Zara kept up her pace but looked around quite a bit. I wasn't really sure if she was just checking to see if we were being followed or if she was searching for something.

We continued walking and none of the scenery seemed to change, making me think that this was a lost cause until we came across what looked like a run down city toward the horizon. We quickened our pace and started running toward the city but slowed when we noticed how familiar it looked. We made our way through the deserted and broken streets realizing the run down city was a place we once called home and now it looked like a complete mess.

"What happened here?" Jake walked up to an old tattoo shop and tried looking through the dirty window before walking to the door and gave it a yank but the door wouldn't budge.

"Maybe this is some sort of time travel and we are in the distant future." I kept walking down the road looking up at the cracked buildings filled with shattered windows and then I was hit with a strange feeling.

Something about this place didn't feel right and I continued walking around uneasily. The others must have seen the change in my mood because they kept their distance and seemed like they were in their own thoughts as well. Zara looked like she was the only one who wasn't disturbed by any of this but I realized it is because she wasn't seeing the ghost of her home and what it had become.

"You feel that too don't you." Zara had made her way behind me and made me jump out of my skin.

"Damn it Zara stop scaring me! Yes I do... What is it?" I took a deep breath calming my racing heart and watched as she walked from one side of the sand covered road to the other side, looking in a few of the buildings.

"I have no idea but I don't think it is good." She shook her head turning back to the group and just then a overpowering gust of wind hit, almost knocking us down but we managed to stay on our feet, covering our faces in our jackets to shield us from the sand.