The Day The World Ended | ONC 2024 LONGLISTER

15| together we fall

They had let go of their weapons a long time ago—at least it felt like it was a long time ago. It was hard to run while carrying a rifle too. They made them slow down. So they had just thrown them aside without even stopping to look where they went. Mellie had stopped crying after a minute or two, her eyes red and puffy, tear marks clear on her dusty cheeks.

Kailyn was dead. Novah didn't know her much, she was just the woman on the bridge to her. But clearly, she had meant more than that to Mellie. The only one Novah was worried about was Simon. Was he alive? Was he dead? Was he searching for them? What if he thought they were dead too?

But they couldn't turn back now. Turning back meant walking straight into the Devil's mouth. They had to keep running until either a bomb or their exhaustion killed them. Novah could already feel her legs starting to give up. She stumbled every now and then. Her legs burnt and her lungs felt like they were going to burst. She could feel her heartbeat even without touching her chest. 

They weren't the only ones running in this direction. There were many people—some injured and bleeding, some covered in dust. Novah was sure none of them had any idea where they were going either. All of them were running aimlessly. They just wanted to run away from the helicopters above. Novah knew they were fighting a losing battle but she kept running.

"I can't," Lilah panted next to her. Her hair stuck to her cheeks with sweat. "I can't go on."

"Keep going," Novah gasped out. "Or you will die."

"I don't—I don't care. We are going to die anyway." She stopped suddenly, legs buckling beneath her and dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes. People jumped over her, some tripped on her but she didn't stand up.

Novah stopped running momentarily, turning towards where Lilah fell but grabbed her arm and pulled her along. "Don't stop."

"This is useless," She said through heaving breaths. "This is bullshit."

"We'll live as long as we keep running," Jordan gasped out.

"Only to die later. Both of us know that very well."

Mellie punched her arm but the exhaustion made it a barely-there tap. "Don't waste your breath. Keep... Running."

Their group was down to four now. It was just Novah, Jordan, Mellie and Lance. They won't survive much longer either.

Novah wondered why they kept running. What was the point of it? People were dropping like flies everywhere around them. They had to jump over bodies without even checking whether they were alive or not. No one was screaming anymore. No one had the energy to do so. Novah thought maybe everyone knew they were going to die but they were scared of it. They were scared of death so they stalled as much as they could to keep it at bay. Just like her.

The helicopters were still following them, the sound of their blades like a death toll but they had stopped dropping bombs. Yet people were too scared to stop. But for Novah, the military's sudden silence scared her the most. Why did they suddenly stop? But they were still following the crowd. She felt like this was the calm before the storm.

The crowd had started to spread now. They were running in different ways aimlessly. Novah had no idea how long they had been running. It felt like days but she guessed it should be around midnight maybe. The night had fallen when the air attacks started. It was also hard to guess by looking at the night sky because the smoke had covered everything above them. Novah couldn't even see the stars as she briefly eyed the sky above them. The only lights were the lights of the helicopters.

If she had the energy she would have laughed at the irony. They were running away with the help of their hunters' lights. To anyone who didn't know the situation, it would look like the helicopters above them were helping them—guiding them—to escape from the threat. But in reality, they were the threat.