Complete Collapse

7

Lucilles POV:

Time seemed to be moving and shifting around me in mysterious ways. Minutes felt like hours, days felt like seconds as my body fought and struggled to recover from a pitiful mix of infection and exhaustion. For the most part, I found there was large gaps within my memory which were noticeable in the way that with each blink came a new time of day, a shift in the pen I was in far too different for it to have happened in a mere second. There were brief moments of terror through the thick sticky fog in my mind. A million and one things could go wrong and I would be helpless against any of it. I would be useless in protecting my sister from even a small bug now. The warm morning sun illuminated Jeremiah and my sister in the corner having a meal together, him sipping from a steaming hot mug. Blink. Jeremiah and Phoenix were gone, now Benjamin was standing over me, looking down with his typical unreadable expression, twisting a new role of gauze between his fingers and the jar of Vaseline peaking from his pocket. Blink. A warm orange glow filled the space where my sister was flipping through the pages of a weathered old book, chewing on a piece of dried meat, the chains around her wrist clicking together in a sick melody with each piece she tore off with her teeth. Blink. A new room filled my vision, warm water caressed my skin as swirls of floral soap filled my nostrils, my sister crouched beside the tub dragging a cloth over my arms and removing the caked-on dirt and sweat from my skin. Blink. Jeremiah was crouched beside me shrouded in the darkness of night gently shaking my shoulders to rouse me before dripping some deliciously cool water between my lips. Blink. Benjamin was sitting on a stool in front of me stirring a bowl of hot grains as he watched for me to wake up, moving quickly to get me to eat before I lost consciousness again. Blink. Again and again, this cycle continued in a way that my exhausted and feverish brain could not comprehend. How were they all moving so quickly, how did the lighting change so much? My body seemed to be swaying, a warm breeze brushing against my face, the wet strands of my auburn curls twisting and clinging uncomfortably to my skin. My eyes opened to the mid-afternoon sun brushing against Benjamin's skin like a soft kiss from the angels. His shirt was damp where I was pressed into his arms as he carried me back to the barn. I could hear two other sets of footsteps near him, one of which I recognized instantly as my sister. My vision felt a bit clearer now and I could make more sense of my surroundings. The barn came into view above me, the opening looming over us like a mouth ready to devour us the same way the dead craved to. The wooden exterior was painted a stark white and I could see all the places it was chipping and peeling from the weather and intense scrutiny of the sun over the years. I could now hear the crows of chickens nearby, and the shuffle of the tall crops as the wind ran through them like fingers over a flower. I could tell there was a deep ache deep within my muscles, but it felt far less tight now like I was actually able to move somewhat freely without wanting to scream. My sister's laugh cut through the space like twinkling bells for a brief moment filling the world with a sense of normalcy and a kindness that had seemed long since forgotten. I was now properly taking in my surroundings of the barn that I had been living in for who knows how long. there were eight pens, four along each wall. All were vacant of anything aside from miscellaneous piles of hay scattered across the wooden floorboards. The loft above us was hard to make out much detail of, but through the cracks, I could make out the shape of two cots, a pile of weapons, and a few stacks of clothing. I figured this was their temporary setup to keep an eye on my sister and I given that they had a house far more secure and climate-regulated than the drafty barn. There was a semi-large opening at the back towards the top where a worn-out lawn chair was perched. I assumed this was where they took turns on the watch given the binoculars that were dangling off the arm from the strap that was wrapped haphazardly around the metal. I could feel Benjamin's eyes shift to look at me like a predator sizing up its next meal. The gaze was intense and dangerous, and I could feel his body tense up against me with caution that had not been there only seconds prior. I turned my gaze to look back at him, our eyes locking with an intensity similar to that of the very first time we saw each other. I saw the switch flip in his head as he realized I was once more a threat to him and his brother. He pushed us through the door to the pen and dropped me back onto the hay bed without any care or concern. My back throbbed slightly from the impact as he made quick work of securing the chains back around my feet, stepping back once done and observing me with a hand on his hip holster. Jeremiah and Phoenix pushed through the doors a moment later, a warm smile on both of their faces as they engaged in their usual conversations. She looked to be on cloud nine, and it seemed as if he had reached Nirvana. They both stopped in their tracks when they noticed Benjamin's guarded stance while he looked at me unblinking.