It Was of Ash

Ch. 3: The Other Side.

I sat in my room after breakfast. I played with the bandages on my neck; Lori told me I’d be able to get them off in a couple of months, which made me happy. I still didn’t feel comfortable in that room alone, the feeling wasn’t right. Something was watching me; something was measuring me, measuring my strength, my speed, my sanity. My eyes wandered the room, eyeing anything that seemed to move, any shadows that didn’t look right. I pulled my legs to my chest; nothing was right about this room. This room was wrong, this room was hell.

Desmond opened my door, John was behind him. “Ash, would you like to go outside?” Desmond asked. I looked at my ankle and back at him; he seemed to smile a bit. “Don’t worry about that. Lori said that I’d have to carry you, but it wouldn’t be the first time, would it?” Desmond asked, taking a few steps towards my bed. He wasn’t asking playfully, he knew I remembered him finding me. He was testing me to see how much I could remember from that day.

“I…don’t know.” The module said. Desmond nodded and looked at John, he shrugged and Desmond picked me up.

“Now, we’re going out on a supply run. Don’t worry about shooting anything; John’s got a good eye. All I need you to do is hold what we get, okay?” Desmond told me as John opened a door all the way at the end of the hall. Desmond sat me down on a table and took a gas mask off of the wall. There was a line of them, they were all different. Mine sat alone on a table that sad below all of the others, Desmond gave it to me and I put it on. “That’s a fancy gas mask, I’ve got to say. We refilled your oxygen canister because none of the ones we have fit with it. You’ll have to ration your air until we find ones that fit with it.” Desmond told me as he put his own gas mask on. He put his finger to the side of his mask, “All its missing is a voice module. I’ll put one in later, you know, when your voice starts working again.”

“And if I stay that long.” I thought to myself.

I looked around the room; tools lay scattered around the room like toys and the occasional dead plant in the corner of the room. I’d still never know what a live plant looked like, they were all dead. The ground was cement, but the walls were still metal. There were posters that gave me a thumb up and said, “Do your part, save your oxygen!” and, “Ration for the ones who need it!” with a super soldier on it. The super soldier wore all black battle armor with a gas mask and a bullet proof helmet. You could tell the super soldiers apart from the regular soldiers because their eyes glowed a bright blue. The only thing on their uniforms that wasn’t black was the American flag on his arm. I looked down at the workbench I was on; it looked like it was recently used because someone’s project was still on it. I remembered someone telling me that Damien was a handy guy; he liked to work with his hands. Damien was up and he was around, where could he be?

“Are you ready?” Desmond asked. I nodded and he picked me up again. John nodded and turned, he opened a large metal door that led to a stair case. Looking up, I could see that it led all the way to the surface. “So George and Carl are also out, what are they getting?” Desmond asked.

“Well, Carl said he was still trying to find those infamous Grandmas Cookies he won’t shut up about and George just said he was going to find something to replace the air filters with. It sure looks like we’re getting the water again!” John told him, “Oh and no more hitch hikers.” John added.

“Oh come on, John. She was under a wall and her oxygen was so low I could have sworn I heard her choking.” Desmond said.

“You’ve got a big heart for a guy whose trigger happy.” John mumbled. I looked up at Desmond’s face, a large smirk rested on it proudly.

...

“Alright, firmly grasp it.” John told me as he put a crate of water on my lap. I held it as he picked up another and put it in a shopping cart. The shopping cart seemed to wane under the weight of all of the water. He took the crate of water from me and put it on top of all of the others. “You know,” he grunted as he picked me up and put me on top of all of the water, “They used to say that water was the most powerful thing on the planet because there used to be so much of it.” He told me. I watched him as he went behind me and started pushing the cart. He put his fairly large gun on my lap and I held it. “Did you know that water used to take up seventy percent of the planet? Crazy, am I right?” John smiled. “There used to be enough water for everyone, seriously! Everyone could have water, as much water as they pleased! There used to be seven seas, they used to be so deep that scientists had to make a special boat so they could go deep into the ocean to look at stuff. It was so great!” John babbled on.