Red Rock

Always on the Move (Part 2)

Daire still hadn't moved from his lonely position. Ideas and thoughts on life, both explainable and not flew through his mind. At that moment, life was everything and nothing. The two extremes seemed like reasonable conclusions throughout the chaotic pendulum of his thought process. Black and white wasn't a choice, but a simple convoluted story that was boundless in finding its parallel.

"Hey, Daire," a voice said, causing Daire to have enough interest to look up.

"I know you," Daire said, intrigued. "You're the one who got away from the cannibals."

"Zack," the man swallowed. "Can I sit down with you?"

"Of course! Grab a stump!" Daire said. Zack was one of the only ones that could've possibly understood Daire's circumstances.

Zack sat down and looked deeply disturbed. His hair was as black as Daire's, but he was clean shaven. He sat with good posture and laid his chin on top of his two clenched fists, staring into the fire pit. "Kind of settling, isn't it?" he started.

Daire looked at Zack confused. "What is?"

"Staring into the ashes of a fire."

Daire nodded his head, realizing that he had been doing it for days. "It is isn't it."

"What do you think it is?"

Daire had never thought of the question, never mind the answer. He shrugged his shoulders, "Black is a calming shade I guess."

Zack nodded in agreement. "I think it's what the blackness represents. How it's just the remnants of the leftovers the fire left behind, whereas at one point that the burnt fuel was alive and inspiring life."

Daire could only nod at the accuracy of Zack's analogy.

"I can't seem to get what happened out of my head. I thought that talking to someone that went through the same thing might make me feel better."

Daire returned an understanding glance. He didn't need to tell Zack how cruel and devastating the situation they had experienced was. They shared a mutual understanding. "I'm still kneeling before them to tell you the truth," Daire admitted. "I'm still at their mercy."

Zack nodded. "That's what they wanted."

"Even so." Daire kicked some sand. "I should've done something."

"I almost wish I didn't"

Daire looked at him confused. "You lived. They were going to kill you. Slaughter you like an animal. You survived. There is nothing shameful about that."

"I survived by involuntarily sacrificing another human being. I knew that the man next to me was going to make a run for it when the cannibals surrounded us. I ran behind him because I knew when he would die, and that would give me a chance to get away."

Everything had happened so fast with the cannibals that Daire hadn't even noticed Zack's claim. "It was him or both of you. I don't blame you for picking the first."

"I know that. That's why I did it. And that's what bothers me as well."

Daire understood his dilemma. While he was torn between something he didn't do, Zack was caught in between the morals of what he did do. "I understand," Daire said. "I don't know what I would've done in your situation, even after I had time to think about it. I don't think I would've been smart enough to do something like that anyways."

Zack answered with silence. Giving them both time to reflect on their experience with the cannibals.

"Let me ask you something," Daire said, staring down at his fiddling thumbs. "Did you tell anyone that I had a gun pointed at Blud?"