The Devil's Blade

𝟼 || 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕: 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙷𝚘𝚙𝚎

Noé avoids eye contact at all costs, holding back his tears.

"Did you!?" Jude shakes him, even more angrily now.

Noé doesn't dare to answer.

Jude raises his fist, but just at that time Liam comes between them and pushes Jude off Noé. "Enough, both of you!"

Jude and Noé exchange fierce glares before Liam speaks again. "What is the point of this? In just a few hours we have officially lived a day on nothing but lunch food, leaving us with one day left to find ourselves something to eat and to drink or we will starve to death! So, tell me what's the point of this argument right now?"

Jude and Noé both drop their head to the floor, the realisation of the situation slowly making the tension between them subside.

"We have to survive this together no matter what, okay?" Liam says while exchanging looks to both of them.

Both Noé and Jude nod in agreement.

I envy Liam a lot in these kinds of situations. While I'm standing passively, listening to the heated argument, essentially a bystander, Liam manages to get control of the situation. It's as if he is never scared, but I as his friend know that's far from the truth. I just wish that I had a strong characteristic like Liam does.

Jude and Noé both retreat to their own side of the room, when I lock eyes with Liam, who then starts to walk up to me.

"You've been awfully quiet." Liam remarks.

"Well, what was I suppose to do when they're fighting like that?" I reply.

Liam chuckles a bit. "You're so awkward."

Liam sits down on the floor and pats an empty place next to him. I take the memo and join him.

He catches me off guard when he places his hand on my forearm. "You can express your struggles, you know?" He assures me.

I meet his gaze, finding his expression filled with reassurance as he offers a slightly forced smile.

You're having a hard time too.

"I know, but I can't really feel anything yet. I don't know, it just feels as if this isn't real. Like this is just a bad dream that'll wake up from tomorrow." I confide. 

Liam nods. "I understand. But I mean when do I not?" he says with a hint of pride and a grin.

"Oh, please." I reply, playfully rolling my eyes. 

As the night almost comes to an end, the four of us start to get in a comfortable position to sleep in. We huddled together in the cramped storage room, providing us with little to no room to lie down. Liam and I stayed next to each other. The weariness of the day weighed heavily on us all, and having a familiar presence nearby was a small solace. I lean into Liam's shoulder, finding peace and comfort in the warmth of my friend, eventually leading me into a fitful half-sleep.

In my half-sleep I was still completely aware of my surroundings. As time crept by I could hear the snoring of my friends, and I could feel the soft weight of Liam's head on mine. Everyone had fallen asleep. In my dreamy state I start to notice something within the dim light of the room. My shadow is extending, giving my body a stretched look. I figure I was just dreaming since I was already in a sleeping state, but that was before I started to hear the familiar sound of the ticking clock again followed by a loud chime that rings in my head. I flinch when the loud noise catches me off guard, pulling me out of my resting state. I squint my eyes in confusion, taking a good look of my surroundings while focussing on the sounds. My hands start to shake as I slowly raise them and a path of long, pulsing black veins start to spread over them. I'm now convinced I'm losing my mind. I close my eyes tightly, folding my arms as I try to ignore them continues shakes and twitches intensifying under my skin. The scene lingered throughout the entire night, preventing me from getting any sleep until the next morning.

I wake up to the sound of my friends packing up their things in order to go outside again. Liam turns to me, when he notices I'm awake. "Let's go sleepy head, we have food to find."

I get up, quickly grab my things and join the others at the door. Noé, who's standing in front of the group, carefully opens the door, revealing small rays of sunshine falling into the room. Noé peaks his head outside to check the situation. He swings the door completely open shortly after, making us all jump. Noé reveals the entirely empty and desolated schoolgrounds, devoid of any signs of life. We quickly glanced at each other in surprise, and soon all made our way outside.

As we stepped outside, the world unfolded into an endless expanse of abandoned tracks and overgrown vegetation. In our tracks, still no signs of life or crawling creatures around us. The sunrise, a fading orange disc in the hazy sky, cast long shadows across the cracked pavement. Our footsteps echoed through the silence, a haunting reminder of the fact that we're now all alone.

We trudged forward, our energy waning with every step, but we kept the words of hope in our heads. Head north. So we continued walking, the weight of the unknown future bore down on our shoulders, and the desolation was suffocating. It felt as if we were the last survivors in a world that had been forgotten by time.

As we slowly close in on Prestonville, the first few houses come into view. The harsh reality hits us like a brick when we witness the disaster in front of us. The houses have been reduced to ashes, flames surrounding the debris, and a trail of bodies reflects the scene laid out on the schoolgrounds. With vacant gazes, we step further into the village until we stumble upon what were once our houses. Liam falls to his knees, nothing but a gasp escaping from his mouth before he cries, calling out to his father, who is most likely crushed underneath the debris. Jude looks away, refusing to watch the sight of his dead family members scattered on the ground as tears stream down his face. While my friends are all grieving, I watch my destroyed house, waiting for the tears to come, but they don't.

The urge to keep moving slowly subsided after seeing the disaster before us. However, we forced ourselves to continued onward, our journey stretching into an infinite horizon. Each step sapped our strength, and exhaustion gnawed at our bones. And I could feel like I was getting sick, my skin boiling yet my body was shivering. Hopelessness crept into our hearts, and the uncertainty of our fate grew more profound with each passing minute, our bodies almost collapsing from hunger and thirst.

Just as we began to fear that our journey was futile, a faint silhouette emerged in the distant haze. We strained our eyes, and our hearts leaped with joy as we saw what appeared to be a small, abandoned building. Shelter, a glimmer of hope in this desolate world. With renewed determination, we quickened our pace, drawing strength from the promise of safety and refuge in the far distance.

Once we arrived at the abandoned building, we immediately noticed strange things that could prove wrong our believe of this shelter being an abandoned building. The front path was layed with bear traps, dugged holes and safety nets. There was smoke coming out of the chimney on the shelter. There was no questioning it. There was someone living here. In desperation, Liam started banging on the door, and calling out for help. With that, the door swung open, revealing a gun pointed right at Liam's head.