With Stars In Their Eyes

Chapter 17: Runaways

Luna woke up to daylight shining in her eyes. Once her eyes were able to focus, she turned over, expecting to find Adam on the floor next to her, but instead found breakfast and a fresh water bottle in his place. Not even Stella was there to greet her.

She slowly sat up and felt her entire back crack in one swift motion. Luna winced, expecting pain, but it actually felt really good. Better than anything else that had happened recently, so she took the little victory.

The gym was empty, but Luna knew where they were. It was the place she never wanted to return to; the place she wished she could wipe from her memories completely. Although, a part of her was curious.

The sun outside was bright and blinding. It felt like she had a killer hangover. The last time she felt like this, it was after a night of tequila shots, never to be spoken of again. A hazy memory of dancing on the bar with a total stranger breezed through her mind. It took a second for the gears to start turning in her brain again. She felt laggy and dazed. Maybe she had a concussion? She had never had one before, but she imagined it felt like this.

If there was ever a time for sunglasses, Luna thought. She started to wander towards the police station, or at least what was left of it. The smoke was still escaping into the blue skies above her, the smell of burning wood filled the air.

Her pace quickened once Luna started to hear voices. She heard Adam's above all others with his deep serious tones. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying yet. She turned a corner and almost tripped and fell on her face in the middle of the street. Ripping her gaze away from her feet, she looked up to see the most confusing thing she had ever seen. And that's saying something considering the part couple of days.

The police station was reduced to rubble. Smoke was billowing up from parts of it, but that wasn't what caught Luna's eye. Big, pale green roots had wrapped themselves around the wreckage, weaving between walls and through windows. At the edges, they seemed to be reaching out towards the rest of the world, stretching out towards the other buildings.

Luna stood there, in shock, until she felt a hand on your shoulder. But she couldn't bring herself to look away. There was something even stranger, that she couldn't quite wrap her mind around. The roots seemed to be coming from bodies. The creatures from the night before appeared to have sprouted.

The bodies almost seemed to have melted into the ground around them, green roots escaping them in every direction. Like an explosion of tentacles trying to attach to everything in sight. As Luna inched closer, the air began smelling less like burning and more like freshly cut grass. Before she knew it, she was a couple feet away, hand reached out in front of her.

"Stop!" Adam grabbed her hand and spun her around. "Don't touch that! We don't know what it is!" He dropped Luna's hand and stared into her eyes. His were filled with concern and anger. Something she hadn't seen from him before. His gaze stung and her cheeks went red.

"We can't stay here." He turned back towards Freddie, breaking her gaze. Freddie didn't say anything. Luna could see the tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He lost his friend the night before, maybe his only friend in the world. Maggie and Gary were also staring at the mess of vines and rubble. The children were playing down the street a little, the eldest keeping the other two from wandering off.

Luna found a piece of wall on the ground that was untouched by the roots and took a seat before the dizziness took over. She felt defeated and tired. Adam was angry, Joe was dead, the apocalypse had descended upon them, and now they had a whole new problem at hand.

"We need to leave." Luna whispered. Leaving meant leaving their home behind, but nothing was left to hold on to. The world had ended, as far as they knew. They would also be leaving bad memories behind. The meteors, the fire, losing Joe to the creatures. Who was to say that the creatures weren't anywhere else in the world, but what was stopping them from finding out?

"We need to leave." Luna said louder, staring at her shoes. Maggie took a seat next to her, brushing her hair out of her face.

"She's right," she said, looking up at the rest of the group. Adam tightened his lips on his already angry face. "I know a place, a few miles away that we could check. A friend of mine owns a farm past the hill. Him, his wife and daughter have always been so kind to us."

"That's what I've been saying." Adam rolled his eyes and looked back at the rubble. Luna didn't know what she did to offend him so bad. She shook it off and looked back at Maggie.

"I think we should go. I can't look at this place any more." Luna's words were met with nods from every one. Everyone except Freddie. He was about six feet away from the edge of the roots, with a large stick in his hand. He was focused on one root in particular.

He took a step forward and reached out the stick in front of him, hand shaking. The tip touched the surface of the root and was immediately sucked in. It was like the roots were eating it, drawing it further in, consuming it. Freddie let go and jumped back, watching the stick disappear as the root ate it. Every now and then, they could hear a snap of it breaking.

"Nope!" He yelled, "I'm out of here!" He took off running toward the gym, not looking back. They all followed suit and walked back to the gym to gather their things.

Adam walked past Luna, refusing to look her in the eye. She brushed it off and focused on getting the hell out of there. She took her comforter and put her pillows and water bottles inside. She placed it all in one of the shopping carts, and moved on to packing food. They didn't know what you were going to find at the farm house, or even if it was still there.

Once all the carts had been filled, they stood outside, looking back out at the town. The place Luna lived for only a couple months, but she had made her home. The place where she decided to start over, and then end up starting over all over again. Now once again, she must start over.

Luna turned towards the hill, and with a deep breath, she started walking. She couldn't be there any more. The faster they could leave this place behind, the better.