CITADEL (Updated Weekly)

Two - The Journey Ahead

    As Mikah and I made out of the devastated city I couldn't help but think of my now lifeless mother laying across the floor. Questions I had now joined questions I had earlier in a lengthy list. I attempted to accept the fact that they would never be answered. I could tell by the look on Mikah's face, who was walking directly beside me through the debris, that he was mentally occupied by the same thing. I replayed the horrific events of the hours before through my head. If they didn't have the possibility to answer some of my questions I would never be reliving these gory scenes. I started from the beginning, focusing only on parts I remembered clearly. Who were these men? I thought about their armor, the symbols on their right arms. Like Mikah had said, they were emblems we'd never seen before.

    Our community was pretty close with the ones neighboring it. About 150 miles in each direction we had near by villages we survived with. We often visited them a couple times a month to trade. I tried to remember the flags they all flew above their homes. None of their symbols came close to the one from tonight. Mikah took a few steps to the right, creating some distance between us before we walked parallel around an old military vehicle. When we simultaneously passed it he rejoined me. Did he grow a few inches since this afternoon? He looked taller now and stood more straight. His eyes continued to look forward underneath his angry and depressed expression. The men from the attack were tall like Mikah. All of them wide with muscle as well. Each of them looking like a copy of the next. Like they were all created from the same code.

    I hopped over a fallen city light, stealing Mikah's attention away from the path ahead of us. Although I landed perfectly on both feet he looked worried. "You okay?" He asked. I looked up to meet his dark eyes. "Yeah." I shrugged my shoulders. I had not tripped or fallen but his paranoia heightened everything since we started this trip. Our brief check up did not cause us to stop moving forward. Keeping up with his pace was almost as hard as running a couple miles uphill. One of his strides was equivalent to three of mine. I was not a short girl, five foot eight, and I often joked with Mikah that he was a freak of nature. "Where are we headed?" I finally asked. Without stopping or looking back at me, Mikah responded "We're headed to The Unity." He put his right hand on his left shoulder blade, rubbing like it was sore. The Unity was one of those near by communities, near the area where Vancouver used to be.

    An hour or two had passed in silence. Once every half hour Mikah had looked back to check up on me. Sometimes I met his eyes, other times I kept my focus to the floor. I wondered what he was thinking now. His breathing became heavier the longer that we walked. I thought of all of those evenings we had walked through the village together talking about our days, people we knew, and what our families had been up to. They could never be up to anything ever again.

    I looked up at him, his back in front of me. "Are you okay?" I finally asked. Throughout our life Mikah never made it a priority to discuss how he was feeling. His father, who left years ago, often treated his and Mikah's emotions as inconveniences. Anytime an emotional response was expected, Mikah turned to humor. Even when his older sister had passed away eleven years ago, Mikah only ever displayed a smile. There was no response to my question except for a change in direction. "We need to turn right, up here." I followed obediently behind him, watching each step now with caution as we endured uneven streets.

    I started to repeat my question. "Yeah- I'm fine Ari." he said, interrupting me. His tone annoyed like earlier before. I had never seen Mikah with such little patience. I felt a sense of anger rush through to my face. "Can we talk about it?" I returned the irritation. He did not stop walking at a pace that was difficult for me and grabbed a flask holding water in it. He took a sip, a few drops missing his open mouth, and returned it to his backpack. He did not respond when he was done and I pressed him a second time. "Mikah.." I started.