Poisonous Future

Run Boy!

"How-" She interrupts me again.

"You introduced yourself in your sleep,"

I nod my head, finally hit with the urge to take a nap. Dakota slaps my arm, not letting me. Those loud footsteps begin again, and I can see the tree trunk legs of the giant. The weird thing is, I see another giant, a bigger giant, following it. The giant has hairy hands. Must be the one that took the soldier. I run. Dakota follows. The giants grunt when they reach the treeline, and they start tearing at the tree's to get to us. I don't know how they got through the tree's on the other side. With great effort, they pushed through, bending the smaller and younger tree's, ending their future's. They have momentum on their side, and while we are stuck weaving through forest, they would later mow over with their giant bodies.

"Help me!" My head turns without my consent.

It's Dakota, held in the grasp of a giant. Something hits me in my side, knocking the life out of me, and the air. Suddenly I'm being squeezed so hard I feel like my insides are going to come out of my mouth. I try to make a sound, but the air is already gone. Dakota seems to be doing well. She's making noise and wiggling. I'm just slowly dying from suffocation.

I can see shock wave travel from the giants back, arms and then to me. I look over to Dakota with bulging eyes and clenched jaw, and see that she is still in the grip of the giant . . . statue. She looks at me and smirks, then I'm falling to the ground. The ground hits me, and I hit the ground, actually bouncing onto my side. Then I am being pelted by rocks from above. My eyes close, and my body shakes with the gasping breathes that travel through my still dry throat. I really need some water, and food. Maybe some chili, or taco's. Chipotle sounds good right now. Or Panera. Salad, no. I'm not a caterpillar.

"You dead old man?" The voice shakes me out of my beautiful daydream, and it honestly hurts me.

"Mhm," That is the only noise I could make right now.

"This is not new. They stayed in the sunlight too long I guess. The just crusted up, became concrete, then turned into dust," She confirms my suspicion.

I give a dry cough, and she gets the hint.

"You need water? Looked like the Behemoth was squeezing the jelly out of you," She tells me.

I nod my head and she gets the canister from her belt, which has nearly everything. I sit up and she hands me the canister.

"Don't drink all of it," She scolds me, taking the half empty canister.

I lick my lips and cough. Not dry anymore. Now all I have to worry about is my stomach growling and attracting the attention of another Behemoth. That would be an embarrassing story to tell.

"This place looks familiar-" I realize something and cut her off.

"You found me in a building. Then you decided to explore more land with your friends?" She has to process the question before answering.

"Ah-eh-yes, yes," She repeats her answer and her ears become red.

"What about the old woman with the graying. Who is she?" I can see the gears turning in her head now, trying to make a suitable answer.

"She leads us. She went with the other hal-" She covers the half formed word with a cough, "She went with the soldiers who were fighting with the Behemoths,"

"K then," I know she was going to say 'she went with the other half of the other group'.

"We should go back and see if anyone is left. Maybe we were special enough to be chased after when they could have taken out the soldiers," She tells me with a short laugh.

"We should hurry, it's gettin dark," My voice almost cracks when I say the word dark. I've always hated nighttime and the dark. It always felt like something was watching through the darkness.

                                                                                            * *

We could hear them before we climbed over the small hill that separated us.. Most of them were killed. I could see squashed body. Others were ripped apart or just missing an arm or leg, and I could see the blood dripping in slow motion. The destruction is bad. The one jeep that drove past me is now crushed with a puddle of blood under the driver's seat. There's people with shirts with a messy plus sign on their backs. Must be doctor's or nurse's.

"This is not a surprise," Dakota speaks up, and I notice she is covering her mouth while squinting her eyes against the fire from the jeep. "Your crying,"

"What?" I reach my hands up to my eyes and feel tears.

"Get used to it,"

"Yea, okay. I'll try. What are they going to do?" I ask.

"They're going to burn the bodies, collect the people and guns that are left, take them back, and try again in two days. And repeat,"

"How long have they been doing this," I sound shocked.

"I don't know. It's the norm. You'll be part of it once you're trained,"

"Is it an option?"

"Do you have any serious diseases?" She asks me with concern, looking at me with dark brown eyes that are framed with black eyelashes.

"No-"

"Then no,"

"Can you get pregnant?"

"Hell no! I am a man!"

"Then no breaks,"

She sighs "We aren't going back today. It's nearly darker than black,"

"Those Behemoth things won't die without light. What if they come back?"

I can see sweat gather above her lips. "Good point. Let's go then. They can handle themselves. Follow me,"

I follow so close behind her I can smell her sweat.