Breath Of Death

Blossom tree.

8 months after Serene's death, me and Javier still never fully adjusted to life without her. I had the option to leave the farm but I chose not to for Blessing's sake. I helped Javier take care of her and he watched over me. I was 18 and old enough to take care of myself so I was able to help a whole lot more than when I first came to the farm. Sometimes I would take Blessing with me to visit the blossom tree because I tried to see Serene as much as I could.
I would cry imagining what life would be like if Serene, GG and Gabriel were all there to see little Blessing grow. I would cry knowing that she would never get to see them. I did my best to prepare for when she was old enough to ask about them. I wrote to Blessing in a book for her to see when she was old enough. I wrote every detail of her family and Serene that I could remember. I also told her about myself and how loved she was. I asked Javier to hold onto it so that I wouldn't lose it and he promised he would.
I would often catch Javier crying as well. Blessing was the perfect image of Serene and I know it hurt him. He held himself together though, and he made sure to never let Blessing see him in pain. I knew he was hurting inside and it hurt knowing that.
But time stops for no one and as usual, life kept going. Everyone in the farm did their duties, the seasons changed weathers and little Blessing grew even bigger. By the time winter came, she could crawl and reach for things. She even began to mumble "Lala".
Our community traded with another farm nearby for several years and during winter it became most crucial to limit our supplies, especially food. Meat was rare to come across during hunts but we still sent out our men to do so.
   During one of those hunts, Javier decided to go with the 6 other men that went. By the time that they came back, there were only three of them. Javier was one of them, however, I was shocked at the sight of him.
I was holding Blessing with me when they returned.
"Javi?" I looked at his bloody jacket and footprints in the snow trail behind him.
The other ladies came running past me asking for the whereabouts of their husbands.
"Riley..." He said with a defeated look on his face.
"What Javi? What is it?" My eyes widened as I began to think of how serious the situation was.
"It's bad." It was like he read my mind. He held his head down as the women followed him with questions.
   Soon everyone was gathered in the barn and one of the men spoke of what occurred. I checked him to see if he was hurt and didn't find anything alarming so I kept myself composed.
"As we were hunting, one of our men came across something that seemed to be a deer to him. He fired successfully and the target was hit. Only the target wasn't a deer, and instead a man. One of our men recognized him to be a man from our neighboring farms except it was too late to revive him. The man's son found him and began a shoot out with us and his men seeking revenge for the death of his father.  In doing so, John, Henry and Dominic were shot and killed."
   We were stunned. I looked back at Javier who looked as traumatized as the rest of the men that returned. I couldn't tell who's blood stained his shirt. The thought of who's blood it was flooded my mind.
"What does that mean for us?!" A lady yelled.
John's wife fell to her knees as she sobbed. Henry's wife held their daughters close to her as they screamed. Dominic's wife fainted.
"They're gonna come for us aren't they?!" Someone yelled.
   Then everyone in the barn was hollering and fighting but the loudness and chaos was disrupted when we heard a gun fire in the air. It was outside. I looked out the window beside me and saw Philip, the man who worked on the farm alongside Georgia's husband before the apocalypse, fall head first into the ground. He was shot by someone I've never seen.
"Javier!" I yelled holding onto Blessing's head.
Phil's wife screamed at the entrance to the barn at the sight of her husband. Everyone panicked while me and Javier ducked and made our way to the back door of the barn pushing through everyone else who ran along us. I could hear shots firing as we ran to the house and went to our room where he gave me the gun under his bed.
"What are we doing?!" I fussed.
"They've got a hell of a lot more people than us. We can't outfight them. Grab what you need and let's go." He said packing Blessing's things.
"But what about everyone else?! He didn't mean to kill that man! Why cant they understand we don't want to fight?!"
"It's too late for that now. Pack your things." He said sternly.
"What about Serene?!"
"Riley! Pack your things!" He grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me as he yelled at me.
"I cant leave her!" I yelled back with tears falling.
"We don't have a choice!" He yelled even louder.
Blessing started to cry and he let me go immediately. His brows furrowed and he turned around packing the rest of his things up quickly. I consulted her and rubbed her head calming her down. I sat her on my bed and packed up my things as quick as I could before me and Javier took her and headed downstairs. We ran straight into a man who threw up his gun but Javier took him out before he could do anything. I shielded Blessing's eyes and turned my back.
He took my hand but right as we reached the last step, we saw that almost all of the bottom floor was lit with flames. They were trying to burn the house down. I took the beanie off of my head and covered Blessing's mouth with it. We ran back up the stairs and got out of the window that was connected to the roof. Javier climbed down the post connected to the porch and held out his hands for Blessing. I got to the very edge of the roof and gave her to him. After that, I looked up and saw men yelling and pointing in our direction. I tried to hurry up and climb down the post but in doing so, I slipped and fell straight into the bricks of the flower bed.
I yelped in pain because my shoulder took all the impact. Javier kneeled down to me but I could see the men getting closer.
"Go Javier! Now!" I yelled pushing him away with my only working arm.
   He stumbled as he ran into the woods with Blessing looking back at me. I knew he didn't want to leave me but he knew he had to.
   I was so close to the house that the smoke started to choke me and my lungs but I managed to pick myself up. The two men that were heading my way caught up quickly to me and I pleaded for them to let me go. But my words did me no good as they grabbed me and threw me into the bed of a truck along with other women from my farm.
   I noticed someone sitting in the back with us holding a gun as the truck started to take off. It was dark but I could see in the distance the burning house lighting up the rest of the farm. I cried seeing and hearing screams of my community being burned to ashes. I couldn't understand why we deserved this kind of hate.
   I noticed a new light in the corner and when I shifted my eyes to see, my heart dropped. The blossom tree. It was completely engulfed in flames. When I realized what it was, the sadness and panic of everything switched to anger. A new anger filled my veins. I wanted to rip the heads off of everyone that did this to us. How dare they disrespect my family and think they can get away with it? I screamed pulling out my pistol and shooting the guy in the truck of the bed without a second thought. Then I jumped out of the bed of the truck landing on the side of a path. I landed in snow but I fell right back onto the shoulder I fell on before.
   The truck left me behind so I quickly got up and ran into the woods. I knew I had a greater chance of finding Blessing and Javier outside of the farm.