badlands

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Sage lays on Calum's chest, the warmth that radiates off his body calming her down as the thoughts of dying race through her mind. She feels Calum's chest rise and fall, Calum being silent the whole entire day. Sage hasn't gotten any sleep from what they've said from last night, Calum still softly snoring as the orange sun starts to peek through the pink mountains. She sits up, looking at the boy she'd grew closer to in just a few weeks, a soft smile creeping on her face as the ray of sunlight that shines through the van windows enhance his features.

He really is beautiful, Sage thinks. His skin is a beautiful golden brown, his body tall and lean, yet still so fit; tattoos scattering his left arm. His hair is a dark brown flop of curls, a few strands of amber and gold streaking through. He looks so calm, so cool, so collected; but inside he's a hurricane.

He stops snoring, his eyes opening softly, Sage's heart skipping a beat as she makes eye contact with him, looking away automatically, out the van window and to the sea of pink sand. Calum stretches his arms out, Sage able to see him still looking at her from the corner of her eye.

"Good morning," says Sage, acting nonchalant as if she hadn't been checking him out while he was sleeping. "I would've made you breakfast, but we don't really have a kitchen right now."

"S'alright," Calum says, his voice all rough and croaky from the deep sleep he had. "I packed some snacks, we could eat them now," he pauses. "I find it sweet that you'd make me breakfast if you had the chance though."

"Of course," Sage laughs softly. "You've been so good to me the past few weeks. It's the least I could've done. Hell, if we weren't stuck in this hell-hole, I would probably take you to some fancy restaurant and pay the bill."

"You mean you'd take me on a date?" Calum smirks at her, breaking out in laughter after a few seconds as he pulls out the plastic bag he had used to store items in, pulling out the crackers. "How fancy. Except I think I would pay for everything. I would never let the girl pay, that's not very gentlemanly."

Sage blushes, attempting to hide it as she raises an eyebrow. "Gentlemanly?" she asks, amusedly. "No offense, but I find it hard to imagine you being a gentleman. I've seen you too much stained in car oils and sweat."

"Please, babe," says Calum, shoving a cracker in his mouth. "I am very gentlemanly. The biggest gentleman in the history of gentlemen. I will woo the pants off of you, Sage."

Sage laughs. "And how will you woo the pants off of me, Calum?" She takes a bite into the cracker, trying to ignore the fact that he'd just called her "babe", Calum's eyes boring into hers as he smiles softly. The air seems to calm around them as Calum opens his mouth to speak.

"Well first, I'd take you to a fancy restaurant, and because I'm me and you're you, we'll offend most of the customers in it, and then we'll get kicked out," Calum pauses. Sage opens her mouth to tell him that it isn't very gentleman-like at all, but his words interrupt her. "That's okay though, because we would buy a few sandwiches from 7-11 and head to the city, and we'll have a small little picnic of sandwiches and some store bought beer on the rooftop of a tall building, you in your pretty dress and me in my fanciest clothes. Then we'll look at the stars and you'd start geeking out over them, but I wouldn't listen because I'd be too entertained by your passion, and you'd notice me staring, and you would ask why I would be staring, but I don't answer you. I'd just simply kiss you and tell you that I love you."

Sage's cheeks start heating up, a smile creeping onto her face as she looks down at the single cracker she held in-between her fingers, attempting to hide her ever-so-reddening cheeks with her hair. "Your future girlfriend is very lucky then." She says, shoving the cracker into her mouth.

Calum smiles softly, watching Sage in admiration as he dusts the cracker crumbs off his jeans.

"She really is."

-

The once filled with life city is now dead, with nothing but a purple hue illuminating the empty filthy streets, foggy as the smoke and gases from the machinery and factories flood the roads. Michael's eyes squint in the fogginess, holding the crumpled up piece of paper in his left hand, the words underground printed in his own scrawny lettering, the lines so quakey since he was shaking as he wrote it down. Never had he seen a way underground in the city of Badlands, he never even knew there was an underground, he just thought it was a simple aboveground city full of teenagers and drugs and parties and alcohol.

He coughs as the smoke gets too much for him, pulling his shirt collar, stained with alcohol and his own vomit, over his nose, walking through the fog. As he walks through the blurred terrain, he hears a shift from behind him, tensing up as he hears footsteps other than his own. He clenches his fists as he starts to move his legs faster, not looking back at all as his heart pounds in his chest.

"Where do you think you're going?" the voice yells from behind him, low and deep but there seems to be a higher pitch in it, as if the owner of the voice was possessed. His heart skips a beat as he clutches the piece of paper in his fist, cursing himself, realizing he hadn't brought a weapon in case of emergency.

It grabs his shoulder, pulling him to the ground, leaving him paralyzed in a state of fear as he looks at the owner of the voice; a brunette girl with bright green eyes and sickly pale skin. Her teeth are bared, and she is stained in blood. She looks at Michael, a wide grin stretching across her face as her eyes show nothing but anger.

She withdraws a knife from her pocket, the knife still covered in blood, the liquid dripping down the sharp blade, down the shaft and onto the cement ground. She holds it up above her head, Michael watching her, gulping as he gets ready for the pain and the suffering and the end. She swings her arm down, the knife puncturing his stomach as he yells out in pain, his anguished screams mixing with her diabolical laughter, feeling the blood escape his body.

He feels lightheaded, the pain overbearing as it takes over his body. He watches the girl, making the most of the last thing he'll probably ever see, seeing a flash of blue hair from behind her, choking her as tattooed arms use their strength to snap the girls neck, the girl falling to the ground.

Ashley comes into view, running to Michael, profusely bleeding on the floor. "Michael?" Ashley yells, her voice muffled to Michael, tears brimming her eyes. "Michael, fuck, I gotta get you underground." Darkness frames her worried face, the darkness growing more and more every second.

"Michael, don't you dare fucking die on me."

He closes his eyes.

-

lmao 8)

also I posted the first part to that ghost!calum story so go ahead n check it out!