Fusion {#wattys2019}

Chapter 2

We drove through the neighborhoods that surrounded the school first. The destruction was heartbreaking. You could see the remains of pink walls that used to hold music posters and shelves that held trophies and displayed achievements people had worked for. Their entire life has been erased.

For the first few houses, we stopped and got out of the car. But when we reached the end of the block, I decided to take the lead. I limped in front of Toby and started to brush off debris.

A corpse greeted me. A little girl with her eyes open and soot caked across her face. I gasped rather intensely and Toby yanked me away. I hit his chest and he turned me away from the bodies. He holds me to his chest, keeping me away from the corpse.

"I don't think we should get out anymore." He tells me.

"We have to see if anyone's left." I protest, trying to face the body. Toby stops me.

"We haven't met anyone else."

"But this is the first body we've found. Maybe no one was in those houses during the bomb." I reason and Toby's gaze drops. "What?"

"This wasn't the first body."

"What?" I ask meekly. And then I understand. "What are you talking about?" I nearly yell. His eyes are scared, tear marks dripping across his face.

"Ashleigh."

"Stop hiding things from me. I thought we were in this together. Don't try to protect me." I push his hands away from my body. I break free of him.

"I know I wouldn't want to see them. I'm just trying to save you that trauma."

"Well don't. I don't need you to decide that for me." I turn back to the little girl.

"Okay, I'm sorry." I go to the little girl and shut her eyes. They move easily and I stand there for a moment. A profound silence hangs in the air and Toby doesn't dare to make a noise. I limp to the car. Toby stands a few feet away, probably waiting to see if I can get in by myself. Painfully, I muster the strength to lower myself into the car. 

Toby finally walks away to the driver's side and gets in. He starts the car and drives slowly up the street.

"Where do you live?" I ask Toby and he shrugs.

"I doubt it's even there anymore." He brushes it off and I try to read his emotions. 

"You don't want to check?"

"No." He declares coldly.

"Okay," I drop it. "Turn here." I instruct and he stops in front of my house. The rubble is devastating. I don't get out of the car. The exterior walls have caved in and there is no longer a second floor. 

Inhaling deeply, I bring myself to open the car door. I get out and limp to the fallen walls. The piles of brick and mortar stack high and I don't see anyone in them. I drop to my knees and push aside the debris. I don't see anything, or more importantly, anyone. I take a limp around the perimeter and call into the pile a little.

They have to be here. They have to be alive.

I start to crawl up the rubble when Toby finally gets out of the car.

"Stop, Ashleigh." He says quietly. Toby holds a hand out but I pay no mind to him.

"Why? I have to know."

"You're tearing open your wounds. You're bleeding again." He reminds me and I don't look down.

"But I-"

"If they were dead, you would've seen their bodies." He reasons and I stop for a moment. I would've seen them, unless he saw them first. 

Either way, I buy what he says and begin to descend the mountain of brick. I fall back into what's left of the grass after I trip over some debris. Toby starts to pull me up and I swat him away.