Keep Your Eyes Open

Broken

Harri's hand went limp.

A trickle of blood began to run from the bullet hole. The trees around me began to feel so distant and still. The whole world seemed to stop.

I placed my gun on the ground, and gingerly touched Harri's face. It was already so cold.

The stiff feeling in my throat disappeared, but I realised that I was balling my eyes out. I collapsed onto Harri's still chest and hugged him.

"I love you, I love you so much," I gasped, "I am so sorry."

I didn't know how long I was there for. But, when my throat began to feel sore and my tears didn't fall anymore, I sat up and took long deep breaths. I gently closed his eyes, which had lost all the life that was left.

I took the small radio that was given to us only in case of an emergency, and tried to speak.

"This is Starlight. Sunray is down. I repeat, Sunray is down." I sat patiently, waiting for some sort of response. It was Rhys.

"Starlight, could you please confirm your position."

"Zone Delta."

"Can you confirm if it is clear?"

"Yes. It is clear."

"Roger, I am coming over to assist you. Sit tight." The line went dead. I sat by the dead body, and thought about what will happen now. I no longer had Harri in my life, I no longer had any happiness in my life. My mind moved on to Rhys. He had lost his girlfriend and twin in this whole fucking thing. It reminded me of George from Harry Potter.

I sat with my back to Harri. I could not bear to look at him until I fully come to term with what happened. Every time I thought about it, large pangs of pain hit me. Each felt like a frying pan had come into contact with my face.

I would never see him smile again, I would never hear him laugh again. I would never feel him lying next to me anymore.

"Oh my God," Rhys' body came into view and I moved away. Rhys fell forwards and took in Harri's lifeless body. "No, no, no." I turned away, I didn't want to start crying again. Sobs escaped Rhys' mouth, and I felt so guilty. I was the one who killed him, I was the one who shot him in the head. I knew then that from then on in the guilt was going to eat me up and devour me from the inside out. 

"I'm sorry Rhys," I whimpered, turning around once the loud sobs had quieted down. I knelt next to Harri again and just watched his lifeless face.

"How did it happen? Did you kill him?" He asked, anger and sadness overpowering his facial expressions. Rhys pointed to the bullet wound.

"I was over there, where the group of zombies were. I was making sure they were all dead." I didn't want to bring up the fact I found Beth. "And I heard a yell, and then a gun shot. I turned around immediately and saw the dead zombie near Harri and Harri writhing on the ground."

Throughout my story, Rhys kept on shedding tears. They just didn't stop at all. 

"And I noticed he had been bitten, and he kept on telling me to kill him, and that he didn't want to become one of them. So I shot him."

"Is that what he really wanted?" Rhys asked quietly.

"Yes."

 Rhys paused for a second before speaking again.

"We should get him back to the Humvee, he could at least have a proper funeral," his voice never rose above a whisper.

"Should we call for assistance?" I asked quietly.