Halo | 18+

chapter thirty six

- AURELIA JONES -

Jace's lifeless and cold body hadn't left my sight for five minutes.

I kept waiting for him to move, but he never did. Not a breath or blink of an eye. He's really dead. The man I loved, then mourned, then loved again. Only to mourn him for a second time, but only this time it's true. And I have proof.

I took a shuddering breath, peeling my eyes away from him. "Where are you putting him?" I asked.

Rez sighed, "I haven't got that far yet. I want to have a proper burial but-"

Rez stopped mid-sentence when the sound of footsteps pattered outside, a shadow making it's way across the floor.

Shoju pulled me behind him instinctively, glaring his eyes as he slowly reached for his knife. I make eye contact with Ollie, who's already watching me.

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, until we looked down at the small human who walked inside the house, a small backpack on her back with muddy jeans and a rain jacket.

I pushed in front of Shoju, "Lyza?" I said, "What are you doing here?" I asked, bending down to her level so she can see who it is. "I saw you in the woods, I wanted to come play!" She smiled, "Where's your Mom?"

Lyza's smile faltered drastically, she pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and showed it to me, "She died. I've been trying to find you because my Mommy said to find people who care about me!"

Hope sparkled in her eyes and I looked back to the boys, all who gave me displeased looks. "You hungry? When was the last time you ate?" I took her hand into the kitchen and out of view from the three men who were shooting daggers.

I heard them talking amongst themselves while I fixed Lyza something to eat. She swung her feet against the cupboard while I tried to light the gas cooker with some old matches and an empty gas bottle.

While Lyza stirred the warming pot of soup, I looked over the paper she handed to me. It's a hand-drawn map of all the safe quarantine zones around the border and other parts of the city. It's basically a gateway to surviving.

It was signed by Doctor Jacks, co-signed by Marion.

"Uh- Ollie, can you come in here a sec?" I called. Ollie made an appearance and I showed him the paper. He took it from me and looked over it, sending me a look.

"Figure out a way out, we can't stay here and we can't keep running." I kept my voice low, "She found me for a reason, it's not safe for her here."

"I'll do my best, no promises I can convince Rez, though. What about your guy out there?"

I shrugged, palms flat against the table as I avoided the question, "That's up to him." I shrugged, "He's only here because he saved my life once, and now we keep— bumping into each other."

I cleared my throat and went back to Lyza, ignoring the boys for a moment to focus on something important.

She's taken my mind off everything scary.

+ + +

I lay with Lyza curled against my side, wide awake and overthinking.

We need a car, and enough supplies to last weeks. Food, water, ammunition. There's so much we need, with nothing available. Besides, if we try to escape, whoever's running the so-called 'government' will be on our asses.

No one gets in, no one leaves. It may be 'free reign' for those who have no desire to live, but for those of us who have tried to move on and rebuild our lives, it's trickier to survive when you have people after you.