The Eyes Behind the Walls

Chapter Four - Ezra

Boom!
Thunder roared in the distance, echoing off the mountains to the west. A flash of jagged streaks burst through the sky, illuminating her brother's terrified face in front of her.
"Men! Grab your weapons and man the walls! If they break through we'll all be dead come morning. It's up to us to stop them!" Rowan shouted, his voice struggling to rise above the rain crashing into the tents, "Hurry, hurry. Women and children, get inside your tents and do not come out!"
Men scrambled up the walls, their faces showing nothing but fear.
Thump thump...thump thump...thump thump.
She looked back at Oliver and saw his mouth moving, but couldn't hear him over the pulsing of her pounding heartbeat. He pushed her back toward the tents, his eyebrows raised and his mouth repeating the same thing over and over again. She shook her head and looked around the compound, turning in circles endlessly. She put her hands on her face, panicking and unsure of what to do next. People were running frantically, elbowing and shoving people to push their way through the mass. Arrows started raining down from the walls, dropping bodies to the ground. She looked around and let out a shaky breath when she saw Jarren's face, relieved to see him. He was standing still on the other side of the compound, looking right at her with longing and worry deep in his eyes. A crowd of people rushed past her and whisked him out of view. She turned back reluctantly, tears brimming in her eyes, scanning the spot where Oliver had just been. All she could see were bodies running in every direction encircling her. It was too late. He had already gone.
She began calling out to him, but was swiftly knocked over, silencing her. Her head slammed into the ground, mud and water engulfing her body. Screams and shouts erupted from the chaos around her, ringing constantly in her ears. Pain overtook her as feet trampled over her frozen body, stomping her further down into the mud. She gasped, her lungs crushed and deprived of oxygen.
"Help!" she shrieked out into the muddled chorus, "Someone help me!" she closed her eyes and curled into a ball, wrapping her arms over her head.
"Please," she sobbed, "Someone, please! Please help me."
Bodies trampled around her in a convoluted dance, the steps unfamiliar and foreign. A foot stepped into the puddle beside her face, spraying water into her mouth. She choked, spitting up the mucky water and gasping desperately for air. Cold fingers wrapped around her arm and yanked her up from the ground, toppling her onto unsteady feet. Her eyes shot open, squinting to see through her cloudy, tear filled gaze.
"Go Ezra! Get out of here, it's not safe!" Evelyn yelled, motioning towards The Center, "Go now!"
She turned and ran, stumbling over running feet that were only trying to get to safety. She stopped suddenly, her eyes searching the area around her. Shoulders bumped into her and frantic bodies knocked her around. Crying rose over the panic, the sounds of helpless children sobbing for help. She turned and looked between a row of tents. In between two, a young group of children were huddled together, lost and forgotten in the pandemonium. She pushed her way to them and kneeled, her clothes were soaked through with muddy water, weighing her down to the ground.
"Come with me," she pleaded, "Please come, I can help you!"
She offered them a small smile, tears still running down her face. The children stayed still, paralyzed in confusion and fear. Slowly, the oldest boy reached out his hand. She held it and pulled them up from the mud.
"This way," she said.
She led them through the madness, trying to steer them from danger. A man fell from the wall and landed a few feet from them, eyes open and blood running down his torso, an arrow protruding from his chest. She pushed them away from him and rushed through the door of The Center, urging them not to look. "We'll be safe here. I promise," she said as she locked the door behind them. Her body was covered in bruises, numb from shock and exhaustion, worry splayed across her face. "We're safe here." She slouched, her back resting against the door, she was frightful and unsure of what was to come.
Thump!
The walls shook violently and the children screamed. Stark red blood spattered across one of the windows. She ran upstairs and grabbed the blankets off of Jarren's bed, covering the bloodstained window with one, and wrapping the children up in the other.
"We're safe here," she mumbled.
She wasn't sure whether she was reassuring the children still, or herself. Either way she no longer believed it. She sat with them, constantly muttering promises of safety and survival. She was grateful every time thunder rang out, covering the screams wafting in from outside.
"We're going to be okay."
Rain pulsed from the roof, mixing with the shrieks, creating a sound that would haunt them forever. The room reeked of mildew and blood, causing a wave of nausea, which was the last thing she needed.
Crash! The window shattered, spraying glass onto the floor below. An unfamiliar body fell through the window, draped over in its place. Straight dark brown hair hung through the open frame, red glass speared through her pale skin, drowning in blood. She gasped and pulled the children into her, covering their eyes and hugging them as they sobbed. A feeling of claustrophobia fell upon her, and the gray walls seemed to close in on her, no longer trying to keep people out, but trapping them inside.
She sat there with her eyes closed as tears streamed down her swollen face, and never stopped whispering to the children.
"Shhh...Shhh, we're safe here."
They sat in a pool of dirty water that had dripped off of their clothes, shivering and rocking back and forth to stay warm. The blanket had soaked through and was clinging to their bodies, wrapping them in a cold wet sheet. She couldn't think, couldn't move. Her head was frozen solid. The rain continued pouring, lightning striking in the distance, for what felt like forever. Gradually, the noises outside died down one by one. She heard the door unlock and creak open, heavy footsteps approaching her. This was it, the inevitable moment she had been dreading.
"Ezra! We've been looking for you everywhere!" Jarren shouted.
She opened her eyes when she heard his voice and ran to him, hugging him and burying her face in his neck.
"What happened to you...are you alright? You look awful!"
His lip was busted open and he was covered in blood, although she wasn't sure who it belonged to. An open gash stretched across his arm, cut deep into his skin. If she looked bad, he looked much worse, she thought.
'I'm fine, don't worry about me," he replied calmly.
"Thank goodness!" she remarked, turning back to the children, "You're safe now, it's okay. Go talk to his father, Rowan, and he'll help you find your parents."
She beamed down at them as they scurried out of the building. She was convinced the last things they would've heard were her false promises.
"What happened to you, and how did you hurt your arm? You weren't supposed to be fighting," she asked.
"Raiders attacked the compound and we were somehow able to fight them off. Most are dead now, but a few fled back towards the Port," he explained.
He pulled back from her and looked into her eyes.
"I was here when I heard screaming, so I ran outside. I started getting people out of the way when Raiders began scaling the walls. Eventually our men were killed and pushed over the edges of the walls, and the Raiders came over with them. I was helping get children out of the way when one of them jumped on top of me. I tried to fight him off, but he was much larger than me. That's how I got the cut on my arm. Oliver saw me struggling and came to help."
He paused fearfully, his eyes watering as he spoke,"Ezra, I'm so sorry. Your brother...he didn't make it. It's all my fault. I'm sorry, I tried but I just couldn't save him."
Thump thump. Thump thump... Thump thump..... Her heart stopped, overcome with shock, refusing to believe him. She stumbled backwards and out of his reach, hugging her arms around her.
"No, no. He's alive, I just saw him a few minutes ago. I just saw him," she stressed, shaking her head in disbelief, "He's fine... He's fine."
"Ezra, I'm so sorry," Jarren repeated.
"You aren't serious, you can't be. You're lying..."
She turned away from him, bargaining with herself. She was dreaming, she thought, tonight didn't happen. It was just a bad nightmare, that's all. She would awaken soon and her brother would be in his bed across from hers. They would eat breakfast and he would go to work in the fields as always. He would come home and tease her for spending all day with Jarren, as he always would. Any minute now, she was sure of it.
"Ezra, he's gone. You of all people don't deserve this and I'm sorry, but I had to tell you. It couldn't wait, and I thought it would be best coming from me," he explained.
She turned and stumbled out into the drizzling rain, wobbling around the clusters of mourning strangers. She had to get out of there, she was trapped inside with her thoughts, enclosed in a never ending cycle of pain. Injured men were carried towards the healers, and dead men, Raiders and Defectors alike, laid all across the compound. Bodies littered the floor, scattered around everywhere she looked. She spun in circles, trying to find her brother's body.
Just as quickly as she had started, she stopped and stared off to her left. She stood completely still, the world moving quickly around her. Slowly, muscle by muscle, inch by inch, she stepped forwards. Her eyes remained trained in the exact same spot, not blinking, not moving. She saw him lying there, unmoving, face down in a muddy pool of water.
The crisp cold wind whipped across her numbed face, taunting her with every strike. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, suffocating in the surrounding blanket of thick, melancholy filled air, willing herself to open her eyes and gaze upon her brother's face.
He was there, right there in front of her.
Alive.
And then he wasn't.
She fell to the ground, her body collapsing helplessly to the muddy floor. She pulled her knees to her chest, curling into a ball. Tears streamed down her face, stinging her cheeks as they crept to the ground below. She slammed her fisted hand into the dirt over and over again, imagining it wasn't dirt at all. Whimpered sobs rose from her throat, struggling to be let free.
From the corner of her eye she saw Jarren walking gently toward her. He stopped a few feet away from her, opening and closing his mouth a few times as if he didn't quite know what to say.
"I'm so sorry Ezra," he trembled.
She turned her head, staring at him through empty, glassy eyes.
"I'm so, so sorry," he repeated, knowing she was looking right through him.
He hesitantly stepped closer and sat next to her on the wet ground.
"He never should've died, I should've saved him."
He sighed and shook his head, staring at the ground below. Water dripped into his hair and ran down his face, trailing down slowly.
"I...I didn't see him coming, I didn't hear him. It's all my fault. I should've protected him. I'm so, so sorry."
She glanced up at him, watching the moonlight reflect off of his tear filled emerald eyes. He sniffled and wiped his nose with the torn-up sleeve of his shirt. She turned to face him and rested her head on his outstretched leg, closing her tired eyes. They sat there weeping, the sounds of their pain washed over by the wind, fading away into the night.