The Endless Run

Chapter four | The Remains

CHAPTER FOUR

I slowly sank to the floor.

"Wake up!" I shrieked, to no one in particular. Before I knew it I was crying, all I could see were the remains of Rivergate. Was this really happening?

Soon people were rising and running to the door way, more and more people were waking up by the noise now. Mom rushed over to my side when she saw me sitting on the floor and sobbing. My mom covered her mouth when she caught sight of the view everyone was staring at. Dad had picked up Kayla and rushed to the door to see what all the fuss was about. Soon you saw the shock appear on his and Kayla's face as well.

"What is going on?" I asked, my lips quivering.

"I don't know honey." My mom replied.

Rivergate had a few tall buildings unlike Westfield but, they had chucks missing, barely standing with smoke rising from them. I saw a few people wondering around a bit farther away, surprised to see survivors. Were we still going to stop here, even though Rivergate was completely ruined? Soon I got my answer as the train slowed down and then came to a full stop.

People in Rivergate stopped what they were doing and watched us now. I quickly stopped crying and pulled myself together. After a while Greg Duncan appeared in front of us.

"Well, this is not what any of us were expecting... But, there are survivors here. So uh grab your things and lets go."

People were soon packing their few things together and climbing out of the train. There were a few houses that still stood but, just barely. I could see a big white tent not too far away and small red ones circling around it.

We walked through the long grass. Kayla clung on my dads arm, a bit afraid to enter Rivergate. A man in dark brown pants and a white shirt greeted us at the edge of Rivergate. He must have been in his early fifties. He had a square like face with twinkling green eyes.

"Harley! It's great to see you." The man exclaimed, giving Harley a hug. He had tears in his eyes, maybe by only the small group of Westfielders that had survived or maybe tears of joy that at least some had made it.

"This is Martin Roy, everyone. He's from Rivergate's council ." Harley said with a faint smile.

Martin cleared his throat and then simply said "Welcome." With a warming smile.

We followed him to the white tent. People were gathering things they could still use or eat. There were a few blankets and pillows on one side and a table with a few different chairs on the other side. Then guarded by two men were baskets filled with some food and other supplies.

"You guys must be starving." Martin exclaimed. "Feel free to have a small meal."

People were soon rushing over to the baskets and taking something to eat.

Martin, Harley and Mirella walked to the other side of the room and started a serious talk by the looks of it. My family had gone to eat, like everyone else so I stood alone in the middle of the tent. Surprisingly I wasn't hungry so I made sure no one was watching me and snuck back out.

Ninety percent of the town was burnt and destroyed. I sighed. What was going to happen now? Why had the two smallest towns been attacked? Were the other towns still okay?

I was about to go back in when there was a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to find a young guy smiling at me. I must have given him a strange or shocked look because his smile quickly disappeared and he started to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or-" he started

"You didn't."

"Oh okay."

"Yeah"

"Yeaaaahhh"

I smiled awkwardly and then laughed not sure what to say to this person who was standing right in front of me.

He looked around my age. He had blonde hair and gentle brown eyes. I always thought brown eyes were plain and boring but, his had changed my opinion in just a matter of seconds.

"You're staring at me." He grinned.

"And you're standing right in front of me." I replied, giving him a smirk.

I wasn't sure why he had tapped on my shoulder but, I decided to go back inside.

"I'm Miles." He called after me.

"And I need to go" I called back, disappearing into the tent.

He seemed so alright, even after all that had happened. I don't know how in the world it didn't get to him... Or maybe it did, he just didn't show it. I walked over to the baskets to get myself something to eat but, one of the guards lifted his arms up, stopping me.

"I haven't gotten any yet." I said, annoyed by how strict they were.

It took him some time till he lowered his arm. I snatched a little bag of crackers that hadn't been opened yet and walked away.

I spotted Greg eating some bread and talking to a small family, I walked close by and waited till he noticed me.

"Excuse me." He said kindly to the family and walked over to me.

"Well, Sienna I have some bad news." He said, putting his hands in his jean's pockets.

"I'm not surprised."

"There won't be a group going back to Westfield any time soon, since Rivergate is in the exact state as Westfield."

"I don't even know what to say." I muttered.

Greg shrugged and took another bite of his bread.

"What's going to happen now?" I asked.

"We were thinking about staying here for the next two days and then taking Rivergate's train and going to one of the big Localities."

"Seriously?"

"Yup."

"But Rivergate is bigger and has a bit of a larger population than Westfield, so don't you think there will be more survivors in the north of Rivergate."

"Well, here right now there are only thirty listed alive from the south of Westfield and they think the north got it way worse than them but, they sent a group of people yesterday morning to see if they could find anyone alive up there and they should be back tomorrow at noon."

"We should have done that back home as well." I quietly mumbled.

Even though from town to town people (when they had to travel in between towns) only used trains, inside each town though our transportation were cars. There weren't a lot, specially in our small towns but, that's what we used. And I was guessing that's what they did in Rivergate. Take the few cars that weren't destroyed and send people to search for any survivors. I decided to ask a question that had suddenly popped into my head.

"Why didn't they try to get to their train?" I asked.

"Well I guess it was too difficult for them. Our train was close by but, completely hidden in the dark by, our rocky cliff or whatever we call that thing but, their train is somewhere farther away which is about a thirty minute walk. Maybe some people took shelter there but, if they did they have returned now." Greg explained.

"I guess that makes sense."

"Well it looks like Harley and Martin need my opinion on something... again, even though what I say doesn't change anything." Greg laughed, as Harley motioned for Greg to come join them.

Greg waved bye and wondered off to them. I finally opened my bag of crackers and began eating. I couldn't believe we were going to one of the big localities. It would take some days to get there and I wondered why we didn't just stop at another locality before... Were they maybe also destroyed? No couldn't be but, still it did not make much sense.