5 Million Years

Chapter 9: A Blast from the Past

"-you son of a bitch trying to corrupt these good people!" I hear someone shout.

My sleepy mind has a hard time comprehending the words.

I sit up slowly and rub my eyes. The corner I've been sleeping in is shadowy. The shadows flicker with fast movement, drawing my attention to a fire by the cave entrance.

A crowd of people stands around it. More sleepy looking people join.

It must be the middle of the night; it's still dark out.

"You want dem so bad, den I challenge you to a duel." The man from yesterday who shot the monster says through thick accent.

Lyle I think is his name.

I walk over to the campfire with everyone else.

People have taken sides, James and Lyle.

"So you decided to wake up," the person next to me. I turn to be met by Trey.

How does he keep turning up!?

"How'd you sleep, Sleeping Beauty?" He asks casually with a gleam in his eyes.

The name makes me blush, but as casually as I can I answer, "Well it could have been better, but this is going on. Plus, you know, it's a bed of rocks."

He laughs quietly before there's a loud thud and cheering and booing.

Lyle has knocked James to the ground and is punching at his face.

James rolls over and does the same. Lyle throws him off and the two men stand.

People begin to move away from the fire to give them space. They relentlessly go at each other.

Don't they get it? We are the last people alive and they're fighting like dogs over a scrap of meat.

Then I get an idea. I turn around and walk to a tall pile of rocks and begin to climb.

"What are you doing?" Trey asks, but I ignore him.

I get to the top and take a deep breath before shouting, "STOP!"

James freezes mid swing and everyone turns to look at me.

I get really scared for a moment. Public speaking really isn't my thing.

"Stop fighting! We are the last humans and you're trying to kill each other. The whole reason we are here is to preserve humanity! We need to be unified or none of us will survive!"

I see a few people nodding their heads and it gives me strength.

"Why don't we vote on a leader, that way everyone is happy. Because if we fight, soon there won't be anyone else left to fight with."

I take a deep breath. A moment later people start clapping.

"Now there's some good old fashioned democracy!!!" Someone shouts and I realize it's Trey.

He's clapping the hardest, and for some reason this means more to me than the applause of everyone else.

I climb down the rocks and easily walk through the crowd back to my bag, receiving many pats on the back.

"Well, now that that's settled I think we should all get some rest," James says from the fire.

I hear shuffling feet as people turn towards him.

"We vote now," a big African man says.

Atika suddenly appears by my side. "What you said was very brave," she whispers before disappearing into the crowd again.

"Aye, we vote!" Another man says.

There is a chorus of agreements from the people.

"All in favor of James say-"

"I think that girl should be the leader!" A woman shouts, pointing at me.

I feel my eyes widen. James looks at me in shock and Lyle looks pissed.

People begin to agree with the lady.

"No, no I don't want to, I'm not a leader!" I protest.

"You heard the girl! She doesn't want to!" Lyle shouts. "She's just a girl, how will she know how to make decisions?"

The crowd begins swaying to his side. They are very bipolar.

What have I started?

A hand lands on my shoulder. "It'll be okay, just let it happen," Trey says sitting down next to me.

He wraps his arm around my shoulders. I feel like I should brush him off or move away, but I can't bring myself to.

The chaos echoing through the cave is... well, chaotic. And I'm the one who started it.

I lean my head on Trey's shoulder, it's surprisingly comfortable.

James' voice sounds over the noise but I can't hear what he's saying.

A terrible wave of guilt has slammed into me. James. My brother James, I've been so caught up in all of this that even hearing his name so often hasn't caused me to think of him until now.

I bury my head in my hands in shame and grief, my entire family is dead and gone and I didn't even think about them.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I hear Trey whisper. I shake my head, I'd rather not talk about it.

He seems to understand and just begins to stroke my hair.

It's weird at first and I almost ask him to stop, but it's comforting.

I allow myself to tune out everything going on all around me. It gets darker and darker as the fire begins to slowly die.

Then it goes out completely.

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Ooh creepy, right?

Hey sorry for the wait, I haven't written much lately.

Please check out my nearly finished other book Pirate Princess if you haven't already!

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Love
Emma