The Survivors

Chapter 24-The Night Comes

I made sure that everyone was armed. I made sure that everyone was ready for the attack at sunset. I made sure that we all knew the plan. But I could have never predicted what happened that night.

I sit in front of the blazing bonfire watching the bloody flames lick hungrily at the empty night air. The crackling and popping reminds me of the snapping of bones. Such a morbid display fire creates. It's so strange that it's so beautiful, yet so deadly. It could eat me alive and reduce me mere ashes, yet I stare at it like it's a harmless flower painted red and burning blue at the base. It has so many colors that intertwine within the main red that you never notice unless you look hard enough.

I grip my black hunting knife tightly, worried that I'll have to use it tonight. When Seth and his three minions attack. Mom explained their plan to us and now we're all on edge. Waiting for him. Ready to strike back with twice as much power. But I'm scared it won't be enough. He is already planning on slaughtering most of us, meaning he's ruthless enough not to hold back like we would.

Due to civilization and society, we won't have the heart to kill. We won't even have to heart to fight to hurt. When it comes to the end, I guess we're too domesticated to really kill. We've never been in mortal danger before. Nothing will compare to this.

"Hey," Bree walks up to my side and looks down at me with a weird look, "uh you look depressed, what's wrong?"

I sigh and look up at her, "Just thinking about sunset."

She rolls her eyes and slowly sits down next to me in the sand. She watches the flames for a moment and then looks over at me with a questioning gaze, "You honestly think they're coming?"

I nod once.

"But why? Surely they aren't stupid enough to take on all of us. We're armed and dangerous, we'll be able to win. Plus now we know their plan," Bree asks with a knowing look. She shrugs simply, "It doesn't ma-"
"Doesn't have to make sense for them," I cut her off sharply, feeling my stress levels skyrocketing. I look her dead in the eyes, "if they want to kill us, they don't have an ounce of reason left. You think a bunch of teenagers with a couple of knives can stop them?" I snap at her giving her an accusing look, "As if it would stop them."

"Hey, calm down, I didn't mean it like that," she answers in a half calm but offended voice. She sighs and leans back slightly, brushing her long maple hair from her face. She watches the flames and I watch the shadows dance across her face. Up her high cheekbones and across her narrow nose. Her icy blue eyes are pitch black in the dark. She still has that single red feather, stuck in her hair and sticking out slightly. I eye it for a while wondering why she has that.

She slowly looks over at me and then she reaches up, touching the feather, noticing my stare.

"What's that for?" I ask, switching topics knowing that this is getting me nowhere.

Her eyes widen slightly, "Oh," her head lowers seeming embarrassed I asked, "just something I did."

I know I haven't spoken to her much since that kiss yesterday, but at least I'm trying to be less awkward. I can't go on like this. I'm dropping it and forgetting it ever happened now. I have enough on my plate to worry about than a meaningless kiss.

"Why?" I ask trying to strike up a normal conversation.

"Well... it was actually a little bit of rebellion," she explains slowly as she meets my gaze, seeming shy. "My parents... they always seem to ignore me. I know they work a lot but still. So... I decided to get this to see if they notice it."

"And did they?"

She stifles a laugh and nods, "Oh yes," she kinda laughs, "they did and nearly made me go in for surgery to get it removed. It doesn't work like that but they thought it was the equivalent of a tattoo."