Love Apocalypse

4: Respect

I woke up to a thick feeling in my lungs and a scratchy throat. I pealed my eyes open and they suddenly burned.

A thick, grey substance was floating around me with the sound of crackling. It was hot.

Fire?

I gasped without realization and took in the smoke. I began having a cough attack.

My body went into panic mode and I started to frantically untie the thick rope. As the rope went loose I lost my balence and fell out of the ashy tree.

I heard a thud as my small body hit the ground. "Shit." I muttered.

I pulled my bag on tight and snapped the lock around my torso. I looked around to see that maybe a good twenty trees were blazing in flames.

I sprinted off into the direction with a gap of no fire.

The farther away from the smoke I got the more I started to wonder.

What caused that fire?

As I was running away from the heat, I heard a blood curtailing scream.

As much as I wanted to keep running I had to turn back.  My body wouldn't let me leave someone else in a state of trouble. As much as I hated it I un clipped my pack and threw it to the ground.

I dashed back to the growing forest fire and followed the screams and cries.

"Help!" Was the only word I could make out as the person screamed many words. The cries all jumbled together in a big mush.

I finally pin pointed the source the voice came from. I laid my eyes on a rather disturbing sight.

A man who looked in his late thirties was lying on the ground with fire consuming over fifty percent of his body.

"Please! Help me!" He was able to scream out during the pain he was in. My body flooded with sadness and anger for whatever did this.

"Stay calm and I'll get you out of here!" I shouted loud enough so he could here me.

I started digging a whole into soft damp soil until I reached the cool dirt. I start throwing handfuls of the dirt onto his burning body in attempt to snuff the fire out.

To my surprise it worked but the man was still sizzling with pain.

I picked him up bridal style and began running with him in my arms towards my supplies. I may be small, but I am very muscular. Back in highschool, I won the award of the most athletic girl in the school. Plus I was jacked. 

"It's going to be alright. Stay with me, okay?" I chanted to him over and over. I got tired as I ran and the smoke still filled the air. My throat was burning.

All the years of being in wrestling and mixed martial arts really helped the fact that I was carrying a lot of weight at the moment.

Once we arrived to my bag the fire was started to catch up.

I grabbed my bag and slug it over one shoulder and started to run again.

With all the weight I was carrying my body was getting exhausted.

What a way to wake up.

"Leave me. Save yourself, you're young." He croaked out to me.

"No, I won't leave you." I said hoarsely. My voice stung from the smoke that has been running threw it.

As I got far enough away from the fire, I set the man down on a soft bed of grass. I pulled my medical kit out of my pack and began frantically looking threw it.

All I could find was a medium sized tube of pollysporin and some large bandages.

I began to smear the pollysporin onto the bandages and I placed it on the man. He seethed in pain and I was fast to apologize. 

I honestly had no idea what I was doing but I couldn't do nothing. I just hoped that whatever I was doing would help.

"How are you feeling?" I asked the man. I wasn't sure if he would replied because he seemed to be asleep. I knew he was alive though because he was breathing and his heart was beating.

A few moments later he replied, "A lot better thanks to you." I smiled at his sentence and I put my hand on his.

"You will make it threw this, um."

"Ben." He said strongly.

"You will make it threw this Ben." I said with a sincere smile. He gave me a side smile back began to close his eyes.

As I laid there I began to get tired again. We were quiet far from the fire so I decided I would take a rest. I should've secured the area of biters, but I was to exhausted to bother. My eyes slowly shut as I drifted to sleep.

-

I could here an awful noise while I laid there. I seemed to be having a bad dream until the noises I heard were actually real life.

I abruptly opened my eyes to Ben who seemed to be choking.

"Ben! Are you okay?" He couldn't stop coughing and gargling. I was concerned about what to do.

Blood and puke were spewing out of his mouth. I started to panic.

"Ben! Breathe okay? Just breathe!" I screamed. My hands were shaking. I thought to do a jay thrust or something but it would hurt his burns.

I dumped my medical kit and searched frantically for something but nothing was good to my use.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I screamed grabbing my hair in frustration.

While I was ragging the noises stopped.

"Ben?" I stuttered. My eyes flashed to Bens face that was not moving.

"Ben? Can you hear me?" I whimpered. I know I didn't know him for more then maybe five hours but this was hard.. losing another person. I thought I might actually have someone to, well, hold on to.

I placed my head on his chest and listened for a beat but their wasn't one.

Tears fell from my face but I didn't make a noise. I hated that feeling. You are so sad that you can move or speak. Your eyes just.. cry.

I waited for him to breathe. I don't even know for how long. I was grieving. I was sad. Weather it was because I couldn't save his life or its all the pain from this whole world disaster.

As my head was on his chest, where it had been for a while I felt it move.

"Ben?" I asked quietly still laying in him. His body was cold and lifeless but it began to twitch.

I slowly got up and studied Bens face. It didn't look like him though, it look the same way my best friends did back in the closet. It looked... dead.

His skin was pasty and grey. His hair was frail and thin not like it was before, thick and brown.

His eyes and fingers started to twitch. That was my cue to finish what I started.

I knew I couldn't let him burn to death. But I also couldn't let him live on as one of these things.

I pulled my axe out of my bag and watched as he start to growl.

"Ggagggar." Before he could go on I aimed and swung. As each chop landed onto his head he eventually stopped moving for good.

I knew I had to get out of here. The fire was going to attract more biters so I had to leave as soon as possible.

I started to dig the whole I was digging earlier until I had a big enough hole to push Ben's body into. I filled it back up with dirt and picked a pink wild rose I saw in the bush and placed it on top. I knew it wasn't much but it was at least something.

I kissed my hand and touch the dirt and pulled my pack on. Every one deserved to be buried with respect.

I darted down threw the trees and I was off. Into the woods, without anywhere to go.