We See the Same Sunset

1

Nikola doesn't like it when she's alone. In the ruined city and crumbling buildings, she hears footsteps when she's alone. She knows there are people hiding in the ruins, but do they know that she is out there? It doesn't feel like a good question—they must know. Soren and she have camped here for two days. Two days are enough to expose them.

They need to move on.

Even the silence must be a sign that there are people watching. Empty buildings are too quiet on their own. Where are the rats? The wildlife? Dead silence only meets her ears as she looks around.

Nikola only takes the rifle off her shoulders when she sleeps, but even so, she feels naked without it. Once in her sleep, she grabs for it, startling Soren awake when she rakes her fingers across his face. The scratches are shallow, but it still makes her stomach churn when she sees the fading lines on his face. How is she fit to be his guardian?

She doesn't voice her concerns to Soren, but she has a feeling deep down that he knew.

Nikola thinks it has been almost two months since she has met him, but she had lost track of the days long ago. Nowadays, she doesn't think it matters anymore. Everything is measured in a ten-day trek or two weeks' worth of travel. Point eins to point zwei.

At least, Soren is alive. Starving, but he is breathing, nonetheless. That's what his mother would've wanted, anyways.

Nikola then realizes that Soren has stopped behind her. When she turns around, the boy is staring at the collapsed building in the distance. Making her way over to him, she taps his shoulder, "Is everything okay?"

Soren gives a solemn nod that doesn't quite reassure her. His eyebrows furrow, as his eyes sweep over the ruins. "This used to be a school."

"Did it?" Nikola repeats hollowly, but then, there's the outline of a playground with the melted swings and slides. There's the faded words of Grundschule on the side of the wall, confirming what Soren had said, but she can't make out the name. Whatever it used to be, having this knowledge now makes the hairs on Nikola's neck stand up. This place must be a ghost town.

"Do you think," Soren's voice startles her, "there's a pile of bodies somewhere?" His thin voice barely carries in the air. Only her hand tightens on his shoulder, but he doesn't seem to have noticed it.

Nikola surveys her area with hurried purpose at those words, but there are no bones in sight. "No. They must've evacuated in time."

"Or the scavengers already took those bodies," Soren replies tonelessly, "and fed them to the dogs. Maybe they're all ashes right now."

"Don't be like that," Nikola tries to be optimistic. She doesn't want the young boy to be as cynical as she had become. Even worse, she thinks she can see Kit in him when he says those depressing things. And she doesn't want to think about Kit. His dead body had probably decayed to bones at this point, if there's anything of him left. "You don't know what happened."

Soren mulls it for a moment, as they follow the crumbling border of the school. "That's true. We don't know how the sun sent those flares. Or why the world ended."

"The world has not ended, Soren," The words are clearly a lie on her lips, but Soren doesn't seem to care.

"I guess so," The boy scans the horizon with a small frown between his eyebrows. "Are we stopping here?"

Nikola doesn't need to check her map for an answer. All of her checkpoints are fresh in her mind from how much time she spends poring over the map every night. It's an old, worn out thing that went through several people before her, adding in new routes and landmarks. One of them must've been a skilled cartographer, drawing everything out in full detail. However, all the cities blended into each other with many unnamed towns, no distinguishable country borders.

"No." She places a gentle hand on the back of his backpack and gives him a slight push forward. "I don't think there's anything to find here."

Nothing good, at least. Nikola's not sure why Soren has even entertained the thought, as they step over the jagged pavement and half-melted sign posts. This place is haunted with the children that had came through these walls two years ago. And if there weren't the ghosts to be scared of, she's certain that they would be easy pickings in the open like this.

The ground is too clean of bodies. It's a strange thing to say, considering how Nikola makes sure that they avoid all the bodies, unless necessary. But it's eerie how there's nothing in sight. There's miles of broken roads and destroyed buildings, but that was found everywhere. It was almost like all the bodies had been removed and cleaned.

And in this hellish wasteland, that was impossible.

"Nikola..." Soren stops mid-track, shoulders tensing.

The worry in his voice snaps her back to her senses and she grabs his hand, which he allows. Soren points to a dark stain on the ground several meters in front of them.

 It's fresh blood.