Judgement (John Seed X Deputy OC)

17 - Locusts

Greed.Greed.Greed.Greed.

I didn't care. I didn't care if hugging John was greedy of me. For so long I'd desperately sought out his touch and fighting alongside him only fuelled that hunger. Longing overcame reason as my arms had pressed against his ribs. Despite the many layers of clothing covering my body, I could still faintly feel his rapid heartbeat dancing in his chest. I wished I could've stayed there just a little longer to relish the moment with him but duty called and I was now walking alongside the Captain heading North. A light burning sensation fizzled across my collarbone but it was undermined by the warm glow building in my stomach. Maybe John had always been the remedy to my problems after all but I'd never appreciated him.

'How could you Rook?'

That damned voice. It riddled my brain like maggots feasting on the corpse of a deer. Gnawing and wriggling, planting seeds of guilt. The collapse was my fault. The mounting pile of bodies littering the county were my fault. The looming radiation zone was my fault. Everything I did, it was all because of my pride.

Pride.Pride.Pride.Pride.

'I was about to say you're being awfully quiet but then I remembered it's you.' The Captain chuckled to herself, a hint of nervousness escaping from her throat. The landscape around us changed dramatically and I immediately saw smoke billowing from New Eden in the distance. Stopping in my tracks, I swallowed hard and balled my fists tightly. The Captain saw this and placed a hand onto my shoulder. 'I won't blame you for going back. I know it was your home.' Her words were almost lost on me, the sheer mass of black ash rising into the sky capturing something dark inside the pit of my stomach.

Wrath.Wrath.Wrath.Wrath.

Shrugging the Captain off of me, the red mist began to settle at the corners of my vision. A million screams of the village residents as flames consumed them in rapid succession echoed in my ears. The flock had been decimated by the locusts and I was not there to protect them. Perhaps I was the snake in the grass that Joseph had preached about for so long? The snake who abandoned the people who needed them most.

Wrath.Wrath.Wrath.Wrath.Wrath.Wrath.

An unhappy grunt escaped my lips as I yanked my bow from my back and approached the compound. Wild-eyed beneath my mask, I had tunnel vision as each decisive footfall took me closer to the church. Flames licked at the wooden houses surrounding us and my breath began to hitch violently in my throat.

'Breathe Judge.' Lara murmured quietly, clutching a rifle in her hands. My lungs felt heavy and tight, constricted by the vast amount of smoke in the air. Entering the church, a feeble figure lay on the floor.

'Please.' Their arm outstretched towards us causing Lara to run over and pull the woman to her feet. Her skin was flushed pink from the heat of the fire, hood casting over her eyes. 'Ethan brought them here. The locusts-'

'Hey rabbit.' Lou's voice made Lara's shoulders tense. She turned around slowly, her lip almost curling up into a snarl at the sight of the twins. I moved just behind the Captain, giving the villager a chance to escape safely. 'Thought we took care of you. You just don't seem to wanna die. So fucking stubborn. We're stubborn too.' Lou clutched a canister in her hand, Mickey draped over her sister's shoulders menacingly. The blue clad twin moved to the side, unveiling an identical object held in her own gloved fingers.

'The shame of it all is we coulda been on the same side. You and us, we really could've done something. I guess it wasn't meant to be.' Malice etched in her tone. Lara raised her gun, seething with rage. In perfect sync, Mickey and Lou tore the lids from the canisters. Colourful spurts of smoke burned from the tops, framing the twins in their respective colours.