Cold, but Still Human

Chapter 10 - Toula

[September 4, 2017]

“I think he's dead.” Olivia whispers, “I think they both are.”

Toula sits idly by her best friend as she watches Olivia slightly shake Isaac, the last male remaining to wake up. Everything that could possibly be going wrong is going wrong.

Toula, known by everyone in the grade as the smart, athletic, crazy awesome and super joyful girl now resides in her makeshift camp with her face buried into the palms of her hands.

“I don't believe so. They're our top male athletes. Especially Ali. We’ve seen his speed and his incredible skill at maneuvering around the terrain.”

“Who are you kidding, Toula? He's been gone since last night. What are the odds of him returning alive?” Olivia whispers. Despite her negative thoughts, the only thing she wishes for is the two boys’ return.

Olivia walks over and places her hands onto Toulas shoulder. “Look at me, Toula.”

Toula looks up, her heart beating violently. “What?”

“If we continue sitting here, the monsters will catch up to us and if Ali and Paul don't die first, we will.”

Toula sighs, “Olivia, the least you can do right now is stay positive and hope for the best that Ali and Paul return. We are all tired and hungry. None of us at the moment are in the mood to go find food. The best thing we can do now is wait.”

Olivia scoffs, now brushing Toula to the side, “What's the point. If we don't go out there to find them, they'll both end up dead. Or maybe they are already, but we’ll never know this way. If we only sit and wait for their return then we might as well dig our own graves and starve to death.”

“Toula, I’d agree with you but I'm with Olivia on this one.” Dennis, the group’s watchman, admits while walking towards the two girls after checking the perimeter. “We’re not going anywhere by sitting around.”

Toula spins her head around, ignoring Dennis and faces the group. “I want to leave as well. But Ali strictly told us to stay here and I feel obligated to listen. If he comes back the second we leave, it might cost him his life.”

The group tries to listen, but don't seem to dig her explanation too much.

“What are the chances of that happening? The chances of them being alive is already low enough. It would only be a miracle if they'd come back alive.” Dennis argues, still not yet persuaded by Toula’s thoughts.

“Those miracles only happen in movies.” a voice comes from behind Toula.

“Oh, so now you're standing on their side as well, John?”

John back up, his hands in the air. “Hey I was only, trying to lighten up the mood. Please don't hit me.” John, known as the jester of the group goes back to sharpening tree branches into makeshift weapons.

“Well it's not working.” Toula whispers in frustration.

“Why don't we send one or two of us to go find them?” Isaac suggests, rubbing his eyes and brushing the dirt off of his clothes as he wakes up from his slumber.

Olivia shakes her head, “We’d only be adding more to the death list. If we’re going to go, we’ll go together.”

After a few moments of silence in a tense atmosphere, Toula makes up her mind, “Fine. We’ll leave. As a group.”