from death we rise (borrowed time)

Chapter four part two: via stulti

Civilization has fallen around us, the clutter; buildings contended by fires and ransacking scavengers. Residences destroyed and spray painted with new world slang and warnings.
Mother Nature still prevails, the grass still lush and growing from the earth's scalp. The palms trees that surround the city still blow at the whistle of the wind; insects still pester about overhead of us.

Flashback

'What do you mean I'm adopted?!'

Crying out to my mom, bewildering me with the new information; pushing me a few steps back. Still lying in bed, in my pajamas on a Saturday morning in the process of posting my daily shit post.

'You adopted me as a single mother knowing how hard it has been for us financially?'

The struggles and hardships we faced start to flood in relinquishing my body numb, something I pushed out my mind for a long time.

My mom slouches her back placing her thumb and index fingers above the bridge of her nose, her simple way of relieving stress. She shoots me a pair of consoling green eyes. My rooms' environment stands still, the dim music still blaring through my headphones as she spills the news; time completely standing still.

How could she look at me every day knowing she is holding that secret? The guilt eating me up, knowing I caused her the pain in the end. Fastening the anger inside my stomach, feeling the betrayal in my heart. The fly that's been trapped in my room buzzing in and out of my ear somehow grieving with me.

"Through the years, I- I practiced how this would finally come out"

Her voice deeper than usual, hearing the tears shes withholding as her throat bulges around her words. The anger in my stomach subsiding as the tears finally fall down her pale, fragile skin. She swipes them away with her pinky, queen style. My mother releasing the thing that has eaten her up for years.

"Your father, my husband had government affiliations; he saw you, little you and knew he saw you for a reason. Much after we signed legal rights, you know the story of how he passed"

My mom confesses to me through sniffles, feeling the burden lift off her shoulders but placing it onto mine. Her face red from her stream of emotions, she passes me a tissue from across the bed.

"You were being experimented on, sold to them from your biological parents. We were your saving grace"

End of flashback

-

"Watch your step"

JQ announces, roping me back into existence reclaiming me from possibly falling to my extinction in a gaping pothole. The luminous blue sky surrounds us, penetrating my eyeballs as it lingers down upon us. My face scrunching as the two of us scope out the districts around the hotel.

"We are 'bout a mile from the hotel, this side looks good. We gotta check out the other three weak spots"

He points to the paper map, marking out our steps on it in ink pen noting our defense spot. Only a few useless businesses encircle us.

'So, we start this border wall tomorrow at light?'

"that's the plan"

He exclaims, folding the map up and shoving it into his back pocket. His jeans caked in mud at the bottom of his pant legs, his big toe gaping through his worn out sneakers.

'Not to dawn on your plan, but we have no real weapons and our food rations are thinning; not to mention Jase's medicine supplies'

I rant to him, realizing his stubbornness has left us stranded and in need. JQ has changed in the past few weeks, he is extremely moody and wears a stern attitude as a badge. He's ignored my pleas previously when the mass heard strolled by and we nearly died.

'I never realized we relied on the government so much'

I confess to JQ, trying to ease the tension from my attitude assault hurtled at him earlier
trying to give him my perspective of events.

"meaning?"

He questions me, marking the second entrance point we made it to. Shrugging off my comment as we survey the perimeter for how we can build the blockade tomorrow.

'No government, no water; no electric. No civiliantion'

-

Running down these dark, vague roads following the yellow dots that divide them. Blood is splattered all over my white top and blue jeans. Brain matter and guts hug my hair, my anxiety carresing my trembling body. The sobs pour from me as I struggle to run any further, my knees wanting to give out any moment. The sky above me star kissed guiding me from the massacre.

'They're after me'

I can't stop repeating the words, my mouth shivering as the message continues to come out. Twisting my ankle tumbling down a slight decrease in the road, landing inside the entrance of a wooded area.

"Aghr"

A zombie growls at me stealing my focus, she staggers towards me as I collect my thoughts.
I plunge to my knees in the black night, kneading my hands across the earth's surface searching for a rock or a sharp stick as the monster etches closer to me. Secrete drips down my body, the heat stroking my internal temperature; my shirt soaked in goop and stench.

I heave the stone above my shoulders, the zombie arms length away from me. Slamming the heavy rock on her face, hearing her bones snap under the heavy surface. I drop with her body to the ground, letting my trapped breaths escape. The smug air tightening itself around me as my ankle radiates the sprain in it.

-

There's a log cabin secluded in the middle of the woods, there's only a front porch light gleaming from a distance. The building looks abandoned now, I sit against the oak tree at the end of the lawn, spying on the cabin before I go breaking in. Ripping off the sleeve of my shirt to tie my ankle in place, trying to alleviate the constant stabs it induces.

- Enters abyss now -