Just Survive

Chapter Sixteen

- Ashley Gray -

After walking and sleeping on bumpy terrain, coarse grass and sharp rocks for a week or so, the entirety of the group is grumpy, to say the least. We've snapped at one another at least once about something pretty petty (sore feet, blisters, hunger, you name it). We hadn't encountered any corpses by the cliff. They're like polar-opposites when you compared our cliff to the one across the river, riddled with corpses like fleas on a stray dog.

Charlie was still trying to find the main road that would put us back on track but the past eight days have left us empty-handed... and with very sore limbs. Jamie's poor toes had poked through the end of his shoes, coating the rocks beneath his feet with blood. We offered him socks to wrap around his broken toes and we used the last of our duck-tape to mend his shoes. They'll only last so long though. Charlie said there may be some cabins nearby so Cody and I agreed to search them as soon as possible.

Everyone's faces have sunken in further than we imagined to be possible, the lack of food and water at our disposal rinses us dry. With only me and Cody hunting and not many rodents attempting to face the decaying world, most of us haven't eaten any meat in days. All of our growling stomachs have started to sound like a horde of corpses, so much so that it's hard to distinguish between the two. We could pass as corpses ourselves with our rugged and ripped clothing, bruised and blood-stained skin and the miniscule amount of fat left on our bones.

"Oh, look!" Jamie calls out, his voice cracking with his dry throat and chapped lips.

Sometimes, I forget how young Jamie is, he's only thirteen but he handles the life of constant war like a pro, like a warrior. It's tough for us all, but for a child who hasn't lived his childhood, it takes a whole lot of guts to not fall apart.

Our attention turns to his small frame before he points towards a vacant lawn chair sitting dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. A bag sits by the chair's leg and a can of cheap beer sits in the cup holder in the arm of the chair. As we approach the mysterious seat I notice a dirty silver bowl on the ground, a few droplets of water left in the bottom.

In my desperation for anything to quench my thirst, I don't question the reason for the bowl. I just reach for the bag, pulling it away from the edge and opening it. My eyes scan for any sort of water bottle.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Cody asks from behind me while the others gaze at me expectedly. Some chat worriedly about the whereabouts of whoever owns the bag that I'm rummaging through. "What if they come back?" He continues, caution running through his tone.

"If they wanted to be hydrated they would be drinking this, not a can of beer." I retort, holding up a full bottle of water. I unscrew the lid and take a large gulp before handing the bottle to Cody. I then reach my hand back in the bag for the other two bottles, handing these to Jamie and Eloise to share between the group.

As the water is being passed around, I can't help but take one last look in the bag. My eye catches a small glistening object at the bottom of the bag. When I pull it from the bag, I realise that it is a dog's lead, dark burgundy with a rusted silver buckle. I furrow my brows in confusion and then it clicks - the bowl and the lead.

"Charlie, where are we? Are we actually going to Virginia any more?" A soft, desperate voice breaks my trance on the objects. I join the gathering of people, listening to the debate.

Their expressions are harsh and distressed, not a glint of hope left in any of their eyes any more, we're all lost. When you lose so much - your hope, your faith, your life, your love - you sink into a deep hole that takes immense amounts of work to figure out how to get out. It's almost impossible until you find that one thing, just one beam of light that warms up your frozen heart and finally the world brightens from black and white and into colour again. And I found my new filter, my muse.