World War 3 |Fantasy Edition|

Chapter 13

"Afalia." He looked up at me with surprise in his eyes.

"What?"

"Afalia..that's my name..my real name. I'm sorry for your loss..besides, I don't think you'll spill my name everywhere." I smiled.

"Why were you named that?"

"Probably the same reason as you. To be honest, I was born with a bad memory." We chuckled.

"Can we start over? I'm sorry for betraying you..I didn't want to hurt you, but Tarleo had other plans.." He looked down. He regretted it. I held out my hand.

"Friends?" He looked up at me, at my hand. He hesitated, then grabbed it.

"Friends."

A few hours had passed. Deep in the forest. Finally I saw the city from afar. I stood on the cliff that hung over it. There used to be a mountain here, for what I remember. I looked back at Erian. "Welcome to my home." He looked around.

"Wow..it's beautiful.." I opened my mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a loud whistle. It came from above our heads. I looked back up at the ash covered sky to see a black spec heading right where they were.

"Erian...run.." I kept my eyes locked into the spec that grew. Like I guessed. It's a missile. He looked up, too.

"Oh my god.." I didn't move or hear what else he said, but then hand clutched my arm. Erian. He grabbed my arm and was charging us back into the forest. I tripped over a rock, just like when I was young. My leg wound opened up again and I gasped as dirt filled my mouth. I got up. I held back the tears of pain as dirt filled my eyes and infected my leg. "Afalia!" He grabbed my arm and threw me aside, landing on my back in grass, protected by trees. The whistling covered every sound now. It was above us. The Whistler. Before I knew it, I couldn't look for Erian, for dirt and ash exploded everywhere. It went in my eyes and blew my tears to mix in with the ash.

I woke up and looked around. I was on the edge of a crater. The missile landed exactly where we had stood. On the cliff. Luckily, it only created a landslide that had drowned out a few houses. In the middle as the scraps of the middle and besides it, was the limp body of Erian. "ERIAN!" I ran down and grabbed him. I held two fingers to his neck. He was weakly breathing. "Oh no..I need to get him help.." then I remembered, my mother is a nurse. I grabbed him and held him in my arms, bridal style. He was heavy and strong, but I was stronger. I crawled out of the crater. I heard a ticking sound and looked back when I had climbed up with Erian in my arms. My short hair blew in my face when I saw a red clock. It wasn't just a missile. But a bomb. "Frick..I need to hurry..." I looked down at the landside. "Cover yourself, Erian." The body that limply laid in my arms didn't say a thing or move. I looked back, and then jumped down and slid on the back of my sneakers all the way to the bottom. Without looking back, I ran in the familiar streets, keeping my eyes on Erian. When I started focusing on the road, all I heard was the bomb ticking. After 3, I turned and stood behind a house.

3..

2..

1..

BOOM!

The bomb exploded and I closed my eyes, my short hair blowing into my face, rocks were thrown everywhere onto the road. I pushed Erian's face farther into my arm, to make sure he doesn't get dirt in his eyes or plug his nose so his weak pulse stops beating forever. After the wind died down, I looked past the brick wall to see houses drowned by the landslide destroyed and the crater at the top, was made into a cliff again. The trees, once filled with good memories, now lay broken and bent, all around the small, blown up hill. Bodied of pedestrians that tried to flee, lay half covered into the dirt as if an unfinished burial. I growled. Those Germans will pay for what they've done! No. Tarleo, will pay. I checked Erian's pulse again. Still breathing, but it was getting worse. You don't get hit by a missile and survive from it! "Damn it." I spat and turned, running back to where my location was.