The Land After Tomorrow (Completed)

Chapter 15: Humane

Blair ducked and felt the force of the punch rush past her head. Blood dripped continuously onto the ground as Blair wiped away sticky ooze from her nose. The guy spun around ready to blow another punch towards Blair. Blair was on her toes ready to duck and counter attack at any moment. The man looked exhausted and defeated as it was, but he wasn't giving up yet; he couldn't for that matter. His group depended on his win, but so did Blair's.

He made another jab towards Blair's jaw which she quickly jerked away sending a counter punch to his temple. Blair watched as the impact landed into his head and then his eyes suddenly dropped to nothing. He tumbled to the ground unconscious and defeated.

She could hear screams from both sides. Cheers and screams of joy could be heard in rejoice to Blair's win, but on the other side, screams of panic rang throughout the crowd. They had just lost everything they needed to survive. It was the deal they had made. Blair would fight one of their own and whoever lost must give the remains of food, medicine, water, and other necessities to the winner.

Blair slowly squatted to the ground staring at the man that lied before her. She felt the remorse build up inside her. She looked out to the crowd that had now been stripped of everything they needed to survive. Blair could only imagine how they would end up. They will either be dead or on the verge of it.

The wind picked up sending a gentle breeze up against her skin. Jacob stood behind her as she stood still standing over the man in front of her. "Leave him," he proclaimed.

She continued to stare looking at the vulnerability over his body. Blood streamed from his face and hands, but that wasn't why she pitied him. It was because that was her not too long ago. She knew what it was like to lose everything she protected and the disappointment to be reckoned with. It was an unbelievable amount of pain. Letting everyone that she cared for lose hope in her, but mostly in the confidence of herself ate inside her. It's almost impossible to come back with the full confidence that you once had. It takes years of practice to build that back up again.

"It's not right," she said.

Jacob moved so that he was now standing next to her shoulder barely brushing up against her, "What's, not right?"

"Everything," she responded back.

Jacob pondered the response unable to understand what she was getting at. "Define everything," he stated.

Blair sighed to turn to look at him. She saw his hallow eyes revealing the dark side behind him. The light reflected off his face showing the dirt that laid on his face. "These people are just like us. They fight, they cry, and they try to survive. Instead of killing them off, we should be protecting them and rebuilding our society as human beings. We should come together not continuing to fight one another. We need to bring back what we once were and who we as people once were. Instead of fighting like animals, we need to be who we were in the past. We just sent those people on their death beds just like we did with the others and to us."

He looked straight into her eyes, "Its either us or them. I choose us. I will not let my people suffer and die for those that are weak. As far as the past, we as "people" have always been this way. Instead of fighting for food and water, we fought for money and power. Even now, we still fight for power."

"There's no point in it," she retorted.

"There's no point in power?!" he exclaimed. "There is always a point to power. Power gets you what you want. It gets you everything that is needed and more. Having power is like being a god."