The World We've Set On Fire ■ Wattys 2016

Dal

Dal and I walked into the forest, careful not to tread on fallen leaves. We weren't allowed to come here anymore.

Only Al and Hammad were sitting around the crackling fire. They stood up when they saw us approaching.

"Maze is dead." Hammad whispered. "And so is Phoenix."

"I'll tell Pixie." I whispered.

Dal was staring at the logs, eyes wide. "Where is he?"

"Dead." Al murmured.

Her scream of refusal echoed through the forest.

"I'm sorry." Al added.

She was shaking her head, leaning against a tree and crying. I walked over and hugged her. Her spots, more like patches, glistened in the firelight. I patted her shoulder and she cried into mine.

After a while, she became calm. "Where did you bury him?"

"He was cremated."

"The ashes?" She asked.

Al shrugged. "Weren't collected." He muttered, apologetically.

"Let's go." She said to me. Then, she turned to Al. "Thank you, boys."

I had never seen her so silent. She wasn't crying anymore but her face was still wet. She coughed.

"Gael... I think we should bail." She said, softly.

"What?" I frowned.

"Let's run away."

I didn't say anything. In camp, Dal talked to the other girls. Turned out, Heidi had similar plans.

"I think we should go to Africa." She suggested.

"Africa?" Lara made a face.

"We will kill the leaders."

Then, it dawned on me. There was a pattern and each girl had a different position. Lara was the leader, Sunita the victim, Najwa the saint, Marigold the martyr, Heidi the assassin and Lee the soldier. I was the ally.

Pixie didn't say anything. She sat in the corner. She didn't even cry. I figured that the silence was her own way of mourning her brother.

"How do we get to Africa?" Lara crossed her arms.

Heidi pulled out a map and pointed at where we were. We were near the Taurus Mountains.

"We run away, through the forest. Go East, we'll reach Alanya. That's where my sister Sylvia is... if she's alive. We take a boat to Cyprus and then, another to Africa. According to what I know, the leaders are in Libya. We go to Egypt and then, enter the Sahara Desert. With proper help, we'll get there. I don't care about the animals and everything over there. We kill them and then, go to Sierra Leone. No one is fighting over there. We'll find shelter. And... Everything will be fine."

"But why should we do this?" Pixie demanded.

"Because when the leaders die," Heidi smirked. "The war ends."