Life After Death

Chapter 13

A little girl sat before us. Staring at us from where she was huddled, a look of unmistakable fear in her eyes. Eyes that looked like they were worn out from tears and trauma previously seen. Tousled lengths of blonde hair streaked their way across her dirt smeared face.

We stared at her, unable to quite believe what we were seeing. Not one of us had even considered the fact that children still existed. When the whole thing began, we were basically children ourselves, yet our childhood had disintegrated along with our parents. For a moment, we stood in pure bewilderment, just trying to comprehend what to do next.

Simultaneously, we all began to move forward, not sure whether we were heading for her or the door and exit, but when she scurried back as far against the wall as she could we came to a halt.

"What do we do with it?" Jace asked, looking around confused.

"Just wait a second," I said.

Taking the chance to go up to her, alone, I crouched down to meet her own current height.

"Hey," I whispered, dropping my tone to a more delicate level, "You got a name?"

But I was just met with a blank stare, reluctant to tell a stranger anything.

"Okay... You got any parents around?"

She just shrugged.

"You don't know?"

"I lost them. They were in there."

Her voice was soft and scared, but it was evident she had been crying sometime due to the croakiness that came from it.

Behind me the others were getting impatient, and by that, I mean Jace. I could hear the fidgeting of his legs as he kicked one up and down on the ground. And as I turned back to return to them, his gaze latched onto the girl, analysing her seemingly.

"We gotta go, we're pushing our luck."

"Jace, we can't just leave her," Nathaniel tutted.

"Why not!? We don't know who she, like, belongs too. She's probably a spy or something knowing our apparent luck."

"She's like an eight year old."

"And her parents are in there! Doesn't that scream Reaper?"

"Or prisoner," Jade finished for us all.

Both sides of the argument seemed just as likely. And there was no evidence to show which one was actually right- assuming one of them was. Though morally, none of us three could leave her there. Unless she actually was a well thought out spy- which seemed unlikely given the state and location of her- she would be killed if she was found.

"Jace, why would a spy be up HERE? And why would she still be here? She'd of run off to whoever sent her by now," she reasoned.

That seemed enough to sway him, figuring we should at least try and find her parents or guardians. In no world like this could a child that small and innocent have survived this long, there had to be someone she had been around.

I didn't tell her we were trying to find her parents, only because of the hope that would cause that may never be fulfilled. So, all I told her was that we were going to help her, which was most of ours complete intention- just hopefully it could be succeeded through finding them.

"Okay, let's go, but you gotta stay quiet, okay?" I knelt, taking her small hand in mine.

. . .

The lightweight of her whole body made her steps the quietest, even with us all tiptoeing exactly how we came earlier. Roaring and screaming could still be heard, edging closer as we moved, but maybe that was a good thing. It meant that the Reapers hadn't dispersed into separate locations or anything.