The Unbreakable Lily Rain

Chapter One

~Present Day~

Our makeshift tent sounds like it’s going to fall apart. The wind has been whipping through our camp for hours, tugging and tearing at the wooden stakes that keep our temporary dwellings grounded. Honestly, I don’t know why we’ve even bothered to keep them up. The amount of sand that has made its way through the cracks and openings in the fabric has completely coated the ground, making its way into our sleeping bags and mingling with the dirt on our boots. I look to my right. Laid out on our medic box is a total count of all the supplies we have left.

Two feet of gauze. Half a bottle of rubbing alcohol. A needle and about two inches of a spool of stitching thread. Some water.

Not enough for the five of us.

Next to the box, my uniform lays crumpled into a ball. It was just us now. I wouldn’t be written up for disorderly conduct.

And I didn’t feel like looking at the blood.

I know that if I make it back I'll never be able to speak of what I've seen here. Their weapons are from another world; more powerful and deadly than the ones we read about in school.

I’m sitting on my sleeping bag now. I feel drained, and my eyes are heavy. I don’t close them. I can’t. I don’t think I’ve moved at all since we’ve made camp. I’ve been thinking about Tessa and Johanna. And about Vivian.

You always hear that the things you miss the most about home wind up being the very same things you took for granted. Your bed. A shower. Homemade meals. Your family. Friends. Me? I’d like to think I never took anything for granted, but I guess like so many others, I’d be lying.

I miss the birds.