Buzz

The Test

Matt POV

The sun was setting, casting a warm orange glow and painting the sky an admirable pink. When I look up at the sky from my five metre tall outpost I forget about everything. I forget about the Cannibals, the chaos, the fear. Will...

I was disgusted in myself. I left him on that rooftop out of fear - uncertainty. I was losing him right in front of my eyes. Eating food while he went hungry. I left because I hated myself, hated my incapability.

I went back for him though. I went back to the rooftop. Instead of finding Will, I found a massacre of Cannibals. Fifteen or so. I never thought Will was capable of such violence.

I tried finding him but he left no trail. There were no breadcrumbs, no sign that he went West or East - no hint at hope. Hope of finding him. I can't even imagine how he must've felt. I winced in pain. Here I was, asking him not to send me away only to leave him myself.

Valarie found me. I was sitting in a car surrounded by Cannibals. I was just sitting there, half hoping that they would get in and end my pain for me. I suppose its not healthy being so attached to someone - but I loved him. I still do.

She killed all those Cannibals by herself - making it look like a mundane chore.

"You're pathetic. Get out, let's go."

And she brought me here. That was three weeks ago. Things were somewhat better now. The pain was less - still there but less. People here were nice. Once they became accustomed to you, obviously. They're a very joyous group and I think that was Valarie's end goal.

There were whispers that she made a massive sacrifice for the group. No one spoke out right about what it was so I was still in the dark but everyone admired her greatly. In some sense, everyone here was like her family.

Despite her cold gaze and glacial attitude, every now and then you would catch a glimpse of gentleness. It created a sense of awe - like witnessing a miracle. She didn't stay out with the others though. She usually stayed inside the only house on the campgrounds - the house belonging to the previous farmer. Always planning, always training. Either that or she was outside the fence, in the city.

Sometimes she would get this look in her eyes. I remember I went to fetch wood from a pile for one of the many campfires. I was heading back when she passed me. I asked her where she was going. She didn't respond. Her eyes were glazed over - not frozen but...dead. Later I learned that sometimes she went out to the city alone. It worried a lot of people - they thought that one day she wouldn't come back.

Whenever she came back from one of those moods there was blood on her sheath and her eyes were frozen again.

I looked at my new watch - I lost my old one - and sighed in relief when I noticed there were three minutes until my shift was over and another guard would take my place.

There was movement down below so I took aim with my rifle, "Hey! We're survivors! Don't shoot, we're looking for shelter!", a blonde man shouted up at us.

"How did you know about this location?" Mark - the guard on the left outpost - shouted down. I kept my aim on the blonde man when a figure clad in black approached calmly behind the stranger. I watched from behind my scope as he removed the furry hood of a black coat and my breath got caught in my throat.