Akeldama | lrh

three - blue eyes

behind the most beautiful eyes, lay secrets deeper and darker than the mysterious sea

- yld

•••

After a few hours of walking, my hopes that this was just an isolated attack crumble into a thousand pieces.

The farther we go, the more destruction there seems to be. Everything is in ruins, buildings are in shambles, trees are burning, and smoke and ash is everywhere. It takes every ounce of strength in my body to not gulp down every single water bottle we have. I know the others feel it too.

There have been no other survivors in sight, but there have definitely been plenty of bodies. The lack of living people is incredibly unnerving. Zay acts like it doesn't bother him, but I see the way his face pales every time we encounter any signs of death. At one point Jess stepped on a severed hand and screamed for a solid fifteen minutes until Ashton was able to calm her down. I just stared until Zay dragged me away from the grisly sight.

All cars on the highway must have been blown away by the force of the blast, because the only one we've seen has been bent in half around a tree. After a glimpse of red stained bark and what looked like brain matter, we decided not to investigate.

We find a torn up road sign that tells us we're in Forbes just as the faded blob of light behind the smoke that is the sun begins to disappear, and decide to stop for the night. The four of us are so exhausted that no words are said as Zay drops his bag underneath a crumbled traffic overhang and slides to the ground, coughing. The rest of us follow suit.

Jess passes out right away, her head on the concrete. Ashton lays down next to her and stares up at the dark sky above us, silent. Unsure of what to do, I just pull out one of the packages of beef jerky and tear it open with my teeth.

"Want some?" I ask Zay, chewing gingerly on the stuff. It tastes like cardboard, but that could just be the dust caked on the inside of my mouth. Zay shakes his head.

"No, I'm good." His eyes scan the landscape vaguely. "Thanks for the kick in the balls earlier."

"You were being a dick. Thought I'd remind you of the real one between your legs."

He sighs, leaning back against the concrete. "You know, when I woke up this morning, I didn't imagine that I would be sitting against a broken concrete wall with throbbing feet and shitty lungs by the end of the day."

I swallow the jerky in my mouth with a grimace and a cough. "Yeah, well, neither did I."

Xavier runs a hand through his hair, toying at his bottom lip with his teeth. "Still worried about your family?"

"How can I not be?" My voice almost cracks. "They're my life. And I don't even know if I can help them, or if they're even still alive." I look at him wearily. "What about your sister?"

"There's no use worrying. Even if she is hurt there's nothing I can do about it. Swimming across miles of ocean isn't exactly my forte."

My throat makes a funny sound, and I avert my eyes to the scrapes on my knuckles. "Jesus, Zay." I mutter. "What are we gonna do?"

He's silent for a moment, fingers messing with the hem of his ruined t-shirt. There's dried blood caked under his nails. The lump in my throat grows.