Ruins of the past

Chapter 20

I'm shaking, forcing myself to search for the other two beasts.
One of them is eating her leg, bones snap in half. The other one seems to be gone.
A sound, painful and shocked.
The third wolf, now covered in pulsating green blisters, runs towards the other ones, one leg dissolving, thick black blood dripping down.
About twenty feet ahead, two palm leave huts! Farther away, a third one.

No fire, no sounds, nothing.
Gas, it has to be gas.
Then I smell it, worse than everything I know. Diving under, I hear the other two wolfes howl, it sounds awefully close to a human cry, then it's quiet again.
I stay here as long as I can, my lungs already hurting. Then I dive up again, taking a careful breath. The air is normal again.
The sand is covered in blood, a hovercraft comes closer, wants to take what is left of Aqua's corpse.
I can't look at it, even if she has supplies I just can't get myself to search for them in this pile of half eaten flesh.
She was a careero, why was she alone? Did they split to search for us? Are the other two close?
I shake myself, soaked, it's starting to cool down.
My backpack and jackets are dry again, just my cotton shirts are still wet, water is dripping down.
I'm close to the desert, I need a fire, to dry off. Quickly.
The palm leave huts are my only chance, I can just hope that the wolf activated all traps, that they're safe now.
I look back, her corpse is gone, the dead animals still there.

I was right, they are safe.
I searched the first one, completly empty, but the second one had something.
A big room, no windows, it protects me from the wind outside.
At the entrance, a fire place.
Some pieces of wood behind the hut, I tried to start a fire for a few minutes, it didn't work.

Now I'm back at the corpses again, I need food, even tho it looks absolutly disgusting.
My knife from the beginning ready, I start taking one of them apart.
This one seems to not have any visible wounds caused by the trap, but it still died, and I'm glad it did.
Pure luck. That's why I'm still alive.

I return with a few pieces of meat, stop. There's a fire. Somebody is in there.
Slowly I approach it, a small boy sitting besides the fire, leaning against the wall, his skin pale, dark bags underneath his eyes.
"Hi", he whispers, forces a smile on his face, "I thought you might need a little help."
I stare at him for a few seconds, then nod. "Thanks."
Sitting down, I start putting the meat on some wooden skewers he made, I know them from home.
We used to grill a lot, at least when I was little.
It was a nice tradition, being together and having fun.
Later on we stoped, but then I continued it with Res and a few of her friends.
Is she even alive anymore?

Eating is hard, we of course we share the meal. It's stiff but luckily doesn't taste like anything, just a bit sour if you really pay attention to it. For a short moment I close my eyes.
Res. My family. They have to have seen me, we were the main attraction at that moment. A fight and mutations? How exiting for them.
What did they think? Was my father even worried?
"So", I finally try to start a converstaion, wanting to distract myself, "where are you from?"
"Three", he starts, pausing for a moment, laughts quietly, "but does that really matter?"
I shake my head. It doesn't matter at all. The only differences between the poor districts are what they do, where they are and how people look. We all think the same, have the same struggels.
He caughts, is clearly ill. A small wound on his arm bleeds a bit, yellow stuff oozes through his ripped shirt.
"You're sick"
"Oh really? I didn't knew that yet."
He sighns, closes his eyes.
Light brown eyes, blonde hair, cut very short.
"I know that I'm going to die soon", he starts, "don't waste it on me."
He points towards my medication that I used to treat my wounds, after I warmed up my leg started hurting again, I completly forgot about it.

"You know, they knew I wasn't going to survive", another caugh, "and to be honest, I knew it too. I'm just a thirteen year old boy from dristrict three, you can't even expect me to survive the first day", he laughs.
"But here I am, watching the holographic stars at night and sleeping during the day, starving but having all the water I need, a slow death. Pretty boring for them."
His voice breaks, "I'm sure the mutations were for me, you just had bad timing."
His eyes close, a canon shot.
Five of us left.

I never thought I would make it this far, thought I would die at the bloodbath, which I nearly did but I managed to survive until now.
Are they proud? Do they hate me and will never talk to me again like Vastus parents did?
They had a good relationship before, were not as poor as most of us, had time for him on the weekend.
Honestly, as weird as it is, I wouldn't care too much.
What I care about is what Res, my only real friend, thinks.
I don't know why I only have her, but most others were just too busy to get to know them, I guess.
She wanted to say something, her voice broke. Did she plan on telling me not to murder? That she would hate me if I did?
I sighn.