ANDERE SEMPER | FIFTH WAVE

Chapter 20

By the time dawn approaches, we're miles away, hunkering beneath a highway overpass.

Dumbo's kneeling beside Ben, applying a fresh dressing to the wound in his side. He has already worked on the blonde girl, Cassie and Nugget, who appears to have been called Sammy before he came to the base.

Teacup who's sitting across from where I am, holds and strokes and cuddles her M16 with a full clip. It worries me. Poundcake's beside her in utter silence, the usual. Flintstone is sitting few meters away from them, staring at the empty, endlessly highway.

Ringer's besides Zombie. Ever since she was assigned to Barracks 10 there's something between them, of course they are tight, but it's something else. They have been spending a long time talking since we got here.

I remain in silence. I watch the fiery hiccups of the fallen drones in the distance. I listen to the lonely wind whistling through dry tree branches. I feel the coldness of the frozen ground seeping up through the soles of my shoes and the coldness of the wind seeping through the pores of my clothes.

If only Alex could've been here to see this.

That's the way the world is nowadays, wishing upon if only's and finding yourself thinking about either... or situations. I hurriedly run my hands through my hair before wiping them over my face.

Someone's coming toward me. It's Flintstone. He sits beside me.

'Are you alright?" He asks.

'I'm fine." I say.

'Hey, what you did out there, was badass."

'Which?" I ask, 'The part where I knocked down that sergeant and stole that Humvee or the part where I drove that Humvee and almost got us all killed?"

'Possibly both. For once, I'm glad you are a reckless driver."

'Well if I weren't, we wouldn't be talking right now. Would we?"

'Maybe they should've given you that driver's licences afterall."

'That's different, Barnett. I almost hit three cars and nearly crashed my brother's car into the tree in our front yard. I didn't see any cars now, did I?"

"You dodged falling drones, a spreading sink hole and trees to get here. It counts."

'Flint, you're not stupid." Okay, maybe a little. 'It doesn't make sense with how the world was before it got drained from it's humanity and sources."

He chuckles, 'Alright, alright. I just wanted to thank you."

I look up at him, 'Thank me for what?"

He leans over and kisses me. A light peck, half cheek, half mouth. 'For saving my life."

I shrug and stare back at the fiery hiccups. "You didn't leave me to bleed out on the garage's concrete," I say. "So we're even."

Silence fills the space up between us, hearing the soft voices of the others echoing - against the sides and ceiling of the overpass.

'Flint?" I whisper, 'I was wondering if you remember... When we broke up last year, and you blamed me for losing your football captain position, and I told you if I couldn't change you no one could. - I wonder if you remembered that."

'I remember, meminerunt omnia amantes."

'Well," I let out a deep sigh and look down at my hands, 'I was wrong, Flint."

'Maybe we were both wrong."

'What do you mean?"

In the corner of my eye I can see him shaking his head, 'It's not important."

I lift my hesd up to look up at the horizon, 'Nothing is not important anymore."

The sun breaks over the horizon, obliterating the dark in a burst of golden light, obliterating the stars into the clarity of the reddish-pink sky.

Dum vita est, spes est.

✬

Thank y'all so much for the 13,5K reads and counting, you guys are incredibly amazing and to me it is surreal. I love each single one of you beautiful beings with all my heart.

I do not own The 5th Wave, all rights go to the incredible Rick Yancey. I only own Aurora / Vici and everything I make up.

{March 13. 2016}