Insanity

Twelve

I hear a faint sound of running. Who's outside? I walk over to a crack in the barn and peer through. Someone is running around with... A gas can! They're going to light the barn on fire!
I grab my sleeping bag and fold it sloppily and stuff it in my backpack. I throw my backpack and bow over my shoulder and sheath my machete. I climb down and run to the door. I push on it. It won't open. I push harder. They locked me in! I look around for a different exit. I feel the heat seeping in from outside. I gotta act fast. I climb back up and scout for another exit. I take my machete out and hit the wall. Not working. I look around. I see a larger crack in the wall. I climb in the rafters over to it. I hit it with my machete. The heat is burning me now and I'm getting frantic. I see a hammer hanging on the wall across the barn. I get over there as fast as I can and grab it. I climb back over to the large crack and start pounding on the wall with the hammer. It started breaking. I finally broke the wall enough to climb through. I jump down from about twenty feet. I land on my feet and do a somersault once I land, so I don't hurt my feet to badly. I'm surrounded by fire now. I have to jump over it or through it. I jump forward awaiting burns as I go through the flames. I land on the other side. My shoulder has a pretty bad burn on it, but it could always be worse. I feel the heat on my face as the flames erupt, covering the barn. I stand there, still and watch the barn burn. I look through my backpack to see if I have everything. I look in the front pocket where my locket was. I can't seem to find it at first. I start to get frantic when I can't find it. I finally grasp it and pull it out of the front pocket. I open it and gaze at Christian's picture. "I miss you, Chris," I say. I put the locket on for the first time since Christian died. I tuck it under my shirt so it won't get torn off of me when I fight the next mutant. Macie runs over to me. "Are you okay? I saw the flames," she says out of breath. Kendall comes up behind her. "I'm fine, but whoever set the barn on fire was trying to kill me," I say. "How do you know that?" Macie asks. "The barn door was locked. I had to take this hammer," I say holding up the hammer. "And I had to break through that wall where there was already a crack in it." I point to the hole where I jumped down. Macie nods. "And not a scratch on you," Kendall says. "Actually I have a pretty bad burn," I say showing them my shoulder. Macie sucks a breath in and looks at it like it's the worst thing she's seen. "Where are you going to stay now?" Kendall asks. Macie elbows him is the ribs. "She'll stay with us," Macie says. "No. That's okay. I have to find whoever it was that was trying to kill me," I say. Macie nods. "Maybe we could come with you though," she says. "Yeah if you want to. I don't know why you would though," I say. "Well, our house was burnt down too. A few days ago, we were sleeping and I smelled something burning. The doors were locked and we just grabbed what we could and went out through a window," Kendall says. "Where have you been staying then?" I ask. "With a small group of three boys and a girl," Kendall says. I nod. "Do you want to come with us or go after the arsonist?" Kendall asks. I bite my lip and think. I should go with Macie and Kendall. Strength in numbers. But I want to go after the arsonist and kick his or her ass. I sigh. "I guess I'll go with you guys," I say. Macie squeals and hugs me. "Alright lets go then," Kendall says. Macie pulls away from me. We walk not far up the road. Ash, you recognize this house. Ash don't go in there! My mind is screaming at me. I stop dead in my tracks. "Ash, what's wrong?" Macie asks. "I-I can't go in here. This was my old group. I left them. I can't," I say. Macie gives my a sympathetic look. "Ash, I'm sure they'll welcome you back," Kendall says. "That's not the problem. I left on bad terms with, Will," I say. Someone grabs my shoulder, I grab my machete and put it up to their throat. Will is standing there wide eyed. "I knew you'd come back," he says with a smirk. I put my machete away. "I'm not staying. I was just walking these two here," I say. Will nods but gives me a look that says, 'liar.' "I'm not staying in the same house as you. You'd probably yell at me for mourning my brother again!" I yell. "Guys we should keep it down," Kendall says. "Well, maybe you shouldn't get so frustrated when I say that it's my fault for you not having a right forearm!" Will yells in defense. "Guys," Macie says. "Maybe you shouldn't be so full of yourself! It happened and there's nothing you cam do to change that!" I roar. "Guys!" Macie yells. We look at her. "What?!" we angrily yell at the same time. She points. We look at what she's pointing to. There is a group of mutants slowly approaching us. "Shit," I say.