The winter was unusually warm. There was almost no snow, but nobody was complaining. In fact, it was almost like a blessing. Alak remembered last winter when it was colder and a member of their company had slipped running from one of them. The blood... They couldn't do anything to help him, just turn and run. Since then all of them had been more cautious, including of the people they met.
It was the middle of November when they heard the screams. Amal, without thinking, had sprinted toward the noise, only to be met in the face with a bat impaled with nails. Richter, the leader of their group, was following close behind. He caught the man who killed Amal shortly after, and Richter was not one to take mercy.
The screaming turned into muffled cries as the minutes dragged on. It took Richter no more than ten minutes until he reached a small building in a clearing. There he saw three men surrounding another man who was on the ground, naked and bleeding from his chest. He had his hands over his face and even from the distance Richter could tell he was shaking. He began to walk.
Alak showed an hour later, told to come by himself. It was almost dusk and he found Richter, who was wearing nothing but a ripped shirt and his underwear, and another man who was wearing Richter's clothes. Both were covered in blood, but there were no bodies in sight.
Alak carried the man on his back as they trekked back in silence. Richter wore his usual blank expression. When they arrived back at their camp they received mixed opinions, but most had agreed that they could not house another body. Chrissy, who was seen as vice, was beyond pissed. Her and Richter were half-siblings, but both could not stand the other. Richter said nothing, picked the man up and went to his room. They did not emerge for the whole night.
In the morning they still did not leave, but instead Alak was called again. The room was one of the smallest, and the man who they had picked up was asleep on the bed, while Richter had taken sheets and made himself a bed on the floor.
"Have either of you eaten anything?" Alak questioned, picking up the bloodstained clothes that the men had shed during the night. He found a couple of granola wrappers on the floor. They hadn't eaten much.
"It's enough for now," Richter replied, his voice almost a whisper. He gestured to the sleeping man. "This is Sieger." Alak paid no attention, continuing his way around the room picking things up. He looked to the sleeping body on the bed. Even though he didn't want to kick the kid out, he had to agree with everyone that they could not afford to take in another. But Richter was the leader, and whatever he said was absolute.
They took the boy in, and though it was rough in the beginning the rest of the house had grown accustomed to a new body in their presence, and soon it was like Sieger had been with them since day one. Even Alak, who still hated even the people who came before, treated him well. Sieger had very slowly moved his things into the younger's room, and even Richter was surprised at the sudden change of heart on Alak's behalf.
When the spring came and the grass began to turn vibrant shades of green and the group could finally travel longer distances without being stopped short, Richter himself left with Chrissy, Alak, and Sieger on their longest supply run of the year. They had usually taken a larger group, but Richter hoped that with less people there would be a better chance that all of them would return, more or less, in one piece.
They stopped first about four hours from the base, and sat amongst the weeds in a field that seemed vaster than the ocean. Beneath their feet, they soon realized, were pieces of concrete. After an hour of rest they continued east, Richter careful to go around the area that they had found Sieger.
When they stopped for the day it was in a large house on the edge of the field, where land met ocean. Chrissy and Richter scouted the main floor, Alak the basement, and Sieger the upstairs. The place was not dusty, which wasn't a good sign. The main floor yielded spare cans of tomatoes that they would-had to find a use for. In the basement, rolled up in a carpet, were the bodies of two children. Alak leaned in to look closer, and though the bodies were not there long enough to decay fully, there were holes in the skin where animals and bugs had eaten.
"Stop staring." The voice made Alak jump. He hadn't even heard Chrissy and Richter come down the stairs. What the hell... "There aren't any good people left in the world," Richter continued.
"What do you call Sieger, then," Alak stated, not moving from his spot. He noticed the bodies were both female.
"An act of empathy. I noticed you two were becoming close, but don't get too attached." At this point Alak was no longer listening, but remembering two winters ago when Kara had been killed after slipping on a patch of black ice. It wasn't her death that hurt the most, but the fact that no one turned around to help her until it was over, not even her brother.
"Shit!" Chrissy spat, taking off towards the stairs, but was slammed into a wall when Alak pushed passed her, because he knew that scream. He flew through the house, practically dragging himself up the stairs by the banister, and when he saw a man he didn't know hovering above Sieger he lost it. He jumped on the man with as much force as possible, knocking them into a tumbling mess across the room. Alak took the closest thing to him, a piece of a broken mirror, and brought it down on the man until he didn't know if it was his blood or the other's that drenched his arm. A familiar hand grabbed him, and Alak wasn't sure when he started to cry, but the tears wouldn't stop, because he knew, he knew, he knew what he would see when he turned around, and he was afraid. Richter released his arm, and Alak sat where he was, above a dead body and sobbing uncontrollably. His heart felt like it was collapsing, and he was gasping for breath. He hadn't turned around for Kara, and he didn't want to live with the regret anymore.
Somewhere in between Sieger had pulled himself closer and both Richter and Chrissy had disappeared. Alak saw him, and took in every detail he could. The boy he met months ago had long been gone, and in his place sat a man who had seen too much in his young age. His hair, matted to his face, outlined his features well, bringing out the dips in the cheekbones. The scar that outlined his sternum was more prominent because of his pale skin, and Alak wasn't sure how he had never noticed, but the other had earrings in.
Sieger struggled to push himself up into a sitting position. He was hunched over, however, and balling his shirt where the scar disappeared amongst splatters of blood. Alak drew himself closer, tears still continuing down his face. They looked each other in the eye and stayed silent and still. As the hours ran by Alak started to notice as Sieger began to force himself to keep his eyes open. When the sky turned grey and the birds began their songs, Sieger finally gave in.
"I'm sleepy," he croaked. His voice was no more than a whisper, and each breath he drew sounded painful. Alak felt his dry eyes become moist again, and it took all his strength to keep from crying.
"Okay," he managed. His body began to shake.
"You'll wake me up when it's time to leave, right?" Alak drew in his breath.
"Of course."
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The trio returned eight days later, and nobody asked any questions when Richter was carrying two backpacks. The three had managed to scrounge up enough food for six weeks, which was more than enough. Richter and Chrissy kept the others busy as Alak slipped into his room, stopping short when he saw the folded pile of clothes in the corner. He had always been such a neat freak... Everything was just as it was when they left, except someone had cleaned Alak's clothes and straightened them across the bed. Before falling too far, he began to pick the things that belonged to Sieger and placed them in a box, which he tucked away beneath loose floorboards. The room seemed so much more spacious, and Alak was just getting used to the company.
At the last light of the day did he creep out of his room to find a place for him still on the table. Richter was sitting alone with his own food, nodding off. He looked to Alak, eyes heavy.
"I thought you could use some company."
