Drabbles and Containment by A Forum User

Containment Part 11

Part 11

~Sang~

Ben opened the door, letting me out first onto the street before following.

My eyes skimmed over the greyness of the Quarantine Zone. Building that once were bright colors were now bare, chipped concrete. People with hollow cheeks and lined faces sat in the doorways.

The soldiers were stood severely upright, visors hiding faces and semi-automatic shotguns in hands. My hand rested protectively over my own 9mm pistol. God this put me on edge. But I hid it, and relaxed, trying not to let my eyes look too shifty.

If you do that, you'll tend to be investigated.

"Which street did the Burster pop in?" Ben asked quietly. I thought back. I'd heard it from Lillian, a woman that lived near us.

"Redwood," I replied. I was pretty sure that was it.

We changed course, avoiding that street and veering onto a thinner more private path. A girl in little to no clothing leaned forward to give Ben a full view of her cleavage.

"Want to have a round, pretty boy?" she called, pouting. A lot of women now earned their living through prostitution, and the amount of people willing to pay for a short time of fun was immense. And disgusting. None were arrested, since soldiers either paid to use the whores too, or were bribed with sex.

I looked over her face. Raven black hair, dark eyes and a sly smile. Did I know her..?

My eyes widened. Jade. She survived? By the looks of it, she wasn't doing too well. I almost didn't recognize her from how thin she was. You could count each of her ribs.

Ben wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Fuck no," he reached into his bag and tossed out a ration card, "go find some clothes."

The girl- Jade- scrambled to pick up the piece of paper, and as she stood she caught my eyes. Her mouth dropped slightly and she mouthed 'Sang?'

I turned away from her, grabbing onto Ben's arm and we walked on. Jade was still calling out offers to passers-by as we took a path through an alleyway.

It didn't take us too long to reach Johnny's house. Johnny was the Quarantine Zone's sort of... Black market dealer. He specialized in things from getting you some drugs or medicine, to acquiring you jobs for cards and trading materials, like today.

His building was part of a row of small typical houses. Nobody inhabited the others. Johnny didn't get much attention, he was pretty discreet, but no one wanted to be in the crossfire if the military found out about his service.

Ben knocked on the door before stepping back beside me.

"You gonna tell me what you were lookin' at back there?" he said suddenly. I blinked. Looking at what?

Oh. The diary.

I raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't care to, no." I settled back into my silence, but apparently Ben wasn't satisfied. He turned to me, his face contorted into a frustrated expression.

"Sang, you realize that we can't have as many secrets now, right?" he demanded.

I pressed my lips together. "We'll be fine. We survived in here."

"We'll be relying on each other every second of the day. I need to know that you will tell me the truth!"

"Don't you trust me?" My frustration was growing with his and I glared at him.

Ben stared at me. "I've always trusted you, darlin'. But do you trust me?"

I opened my mouth, but my voice faltered. Did I trust him? I looked at him. His strong jaw, brown eyes and the way his hair curled slightly and fell on his forehead. His southern accent, his kindness despite everything and that somehow he'd managed to keep basic manners throughout all of this.

Did I trust him?

I wish I did. I really do. But in the end, I know that everything that I could possibly love or want in my life will leave. Everything so far in my life had taught me that. All good things must come to an end. So...

No. I didn't trust him.

He must have read it on my face because his eyebrows creased and hurt shone in his eyes. That in turn made my heart twinge. I never wanted to hurt him.

"Ben, please-" my reasoning was cut off when somebody opened the door. Johnny was leaning against doorframe, pushing short blonde hair out of his eyes and smiling charmingly.

"Come in, beautiful. You too, Ben."

We both stepped forward to enter and Ben looked into my eyes quickly. Just enough time for me to see the promise.

The conversation wasn't done.