The Blood I Carry

Dissapeared

The whole island is quiet. No birds, no Intelligent soldiers, no one. Dead corpses are scattered everywhere. It's quite a horrifying sight.

My arm is snaked around Judes shoulders because my thigh hurts when I put too much pressure on it. Hobbling in, we walk into the dining room, out of breath and both of us exhausted.

I see Sir Cassander, Valentina, Jaxon, Arlo and Milo. There are only 6 people here. We have 12 people in End Point not including myself. That cannot be good.

Valentina runs up to Jude, hugging the life out of him. I slowly limp away from them so they can have their moments, I look up and see Arlo looking at me. From what I can see, he has no cuts, no wounds. He looks clean in fact. He starts walking over to me, he gets quicker until-

We are hugging. His body covers mine and he's holding me like he used to. When we were close.

He holds me tight as if there is no tomorrow. He holds my head and gently strokes my damp hair. I can feel his heartbeat slow down the longer we hug, as if he feels safe finally knowing I'm alive. The beats are comforting and remind me that we all have hearts and can be warm, no matter how cold and unfeeling people act sometimes.

Arlo pulls away ever so slightly and kisses my forehead, its soft and it reminds me of him before we came here. It gives me a sense of calm, but also overwhelming. Overwhelmed because of all of this. Everything that's happened the past three, nearly four months.

"Are you okay?" He mutters, cupping my face in his hands. He looks down at me.

I nod, tears now streaming down my face.
"I'm okay. Are you okay?"

"I'm better now because you are. I don't know what I would've done if you didnt come back to us. I'm Sorry Olivia im sorry." He seems ashamed with himself. It makes me wonder if he has finally stopped not liking me for no reason i can think of.

"Stop, Arlo, stop." I beg him to quit apologising. There's no point. I understand how he feels right now and all I want to do is sit down and rest, breathe.

We both go and sit down, he grabs a cup of warm water and cotton pads. He starts to gently wipe the blood off of my face.

"Remember when I fell off my bike?" I start to smile.

"Mum wasn't home and you wouldn't let dad touch your bloody nose so I had to do it for you. Just like this. The only thing that's different is when you were seven you kept screaming at me everytime i would put the cotton pad on your face because you thought it would hurt, but it never did. You were dramatic at seven years old, and not just at seven." He smiles back, remembering the memories of when we were kids. "And then I had to do it again when you ran into a wall because I was chasing you. You blamed that on me and to this day, I will always say it wasn't my fault."

I smack his arm lightly, giggling as I do. "It was your fault! I will always blame you for that bloody nose."

We both laugh, but then go back into comfortable silence. Jude and Valentina are sitting together, speaking about who knows what. Jaxon and Milo are cuddling with each other on a sofa in the corner of the room, it looks cosy down there. Sir Cassander is sitting on the opposite side of the room, muttering to some of his blooded soldiers.

"Hold on,"

I come to the sudden realisation that 6 of us still aren't here. "Where is everyone?"

I stand up quickly, my head spins for a second and my thigh starts throbbing violently again.

"Liv be careful on your leg," Arlo stands up after me, holding his hand out for me to balance it on. I ignore it. Hobbling over to Cassander as quickly as I can, I speak quickly but attempt to stay calm.