"Well, what do we do?" I asked quietly as she put her bag on her shoulder and grabbed a bat with a tight grip. Her eyes lingered toward the window as I watched emotions pass through them along with her contemplation. Tapping my foot anxiously I sighed while placing my hand on my forehead trying to fight off another dizzy spell. There was a distant slamming sound coming from near below us though she drew my focus back on her with a question.
"When's the last time you ate?" I heard her brash voice cut through my focus and I rolled my eyes to myself. Looking towards her it seemed as if she saw my actions and her grip on the bat increased. I let my face fall into a softer gaze to keep from acting so unfairly. She was only asking a question. I heard the bashing sounds growing closer and less distant to us as I went to answer her with a brow raised in concern.
"It's been a few days," I said while looking off to the side, avoiding her eyes. I didn't want to see the pity. Though pity is far from what I received.
"Okay, let's fix that then." She spoke tonelessly while digging through her bag. I went to argue but I'd found myself freezing when I heard a sudden and loud crash. The noise echoed thunderously down the hall that lay on the other side of the door. A sound once distant, now here. "They're breaching through the staircase door to our floor now. Here," She informed me bluntly before throwing something across the room at me. Catching it in my hand I saw it was some sort of granola bar.
Gunshots rang from outside only succeeding in drawing more attention to our current location. My heart rate picked up and I turned to see the girl walking up to the door and placing the same chair she had used earlier up against it underneath the doorknob. The way she'd moved so easily, almost careless in a way as if she had done this many times before, led me to start to question who I had found myself trapped in a room with.
She placed the bat on one of her shoulders and closed her eyes for a moment. Opening her eyes she turned towards me before walking in my direction and grasping my wrist in her hand tightly. "They are about thirty seconds from getting into this room. We'll take the fire escape." I was dragged towards the back of the room where a window stood. She let my hand go, squeezing her eyes shut and taking a deep breath before going to open the window.
Looking at her for a moment as she motioned me to step out through the window. I took a step out before looking down at the sheer height we were from the ground, a good five levels up. Looking towards her, my fear of heights somewhat outweighed my need for survival, my flight taking over my fight. She looked at me with a small smirk, "fifteen seconds." She shoved my shoulder and I freaked out finding the steel barrier in my sweaty hands as I looked at her in disbelief.
I watched as she turned away from me, my gaze following her figure as she went towards the cabinets in search of something. Once she'd found it, she lifted it in the air while shouting in achievement before the door to the room we were in started to get pounded upon. Frowning she ran towards the window and stepped out. "You've got five seconds to start running." She shouted and my feet moved on their own accord as I began descending the steps of the fire escape hastily. And somehow, just like she had said, five seconds later I heard the door give in as the sound erupted from the open window where we made our escape.
The adrenaline kicked in and I began to feel alive as my fear pushed me to run faster, further. Away from the unknown threat and into something even less known. As we made it to the bottom, I was out of breath and depending solely on the fear that was driving me. I was shoved to the side as bullets flew passed where I had just been. I rolled onto my back and the girl got up and offered her hand impatiently. My hand fell into hers and we took off running with me simply following her lead at this point.
Edric's words had rung out in my mind; keep moving, no matter what, and never stop running. So that's what I did. I took off running with a stranger away from dangerous people without a plan, but with a new appreciation for my life. This, living to find my family, was important to me. And I will stop at nothing to find them.
... ... ... ...
We had run for what felt like forever. That's how we ended up in a deserted part of town all too quiet to let our guard down fully. I had fallen behind her as she let my hand drop from hers at some point earlier. So I silently followed behind her unsure of what came next. It wasn't like we had made any plans to travel together but that didn't mean the thought hadn't occurred to me.
She had saved my life; redressing my wound, giving me food and water, and helping me run from a group known by her to be dangerous. I had felt safe with her, something I hadn't felt since I was in the presence of my older brother. And with thoughts of him, I felt my throat close up and my chest tighten. Not realizing that she stopped I felt myself run into the girl before me.
I fell back a bit before saving myself and looking toward her. Her figure was stuck, frozen still as I watched her shoulders rise and fall rapidly. "Your wound reopened." Her hands clenched into tight fists as she said this harshly through gritted teeth. I paused at hearing this and lifted my shirt to see she was correct. She turned towards me angrily yet froze as her eyes landed on me and I let my shirt fall back down.
"How did you know?" I shook my head at myself. "Nevermind, I've been meaning to talk to you about that anyway. You redressed my wound when I was out correct?" I asked noticing her eyes hadn't moved from the spot where my wound lay beneath my clothing. "Hello? You still there?" I waved my hand in front of her and she flinched back into herself, recoiling from me.
She turned away from me before going towards a gas station ahead of us and I followed in step behind her. "Are you going to answer my question? Where are you going?" I spoke while stepping over debris scattered about and walked into the building along with her. She walked towards the back as if on a mission as her eyes scanned her surroundings in search of something.
Approaching a cabinet I noticed how her breathing was labored and her hands were shaking. I'd caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror before she opened the cabinet door and it seemed as if she was fighting to restrain herself or something. The behavior was so concerning to me that I missed what she had said. Focusing back on her I saw her offering me a small thing of gauze. Taking it from her I smiled softly. "Thank you," I whispered gratefully.
"I need some air." She spoke out forcefully before going to the opposite end of the building taking deep breaths next to a window that had been broken open. It was a bit dusty in here leading the air to feel stuffy so I thought nothing of it. With my adrenaline no longer rushing through me I began to feel the discomfort once more as I rewrapped my wound with new gauze also becoming aware of how much better it had looked. She must have put something on it to clean it and help prevent the spread of infection.
After I was done I got up and headed toward her. Stopping a bit of distance before her I gave off a small smile when she turned my way. A look passed on her face and she rolled her eyes. She began to look as if she felt discomfort and I assumed it had to be the silence that fell upon us. I mean, we were still strangers after all.
I stared at her questionably before I remembered my manners. "You've saved my life twice and don't even know my name. How silly." I outstretched my hand toward her causing her to step back. "My name is Amity. What's yours?" I asked her with a smile. She looked at me with an odd expression spreading across her features.
I looked at her with furrowed brows as she just scoffed and walked past me. "Yeah, no thanks. We aren't exchanging names. The plan was to get out of there and then part ways, not get acquainted as if we're going to become friends." Her eyes held a hard look as she turned back towards me.
"Okay, rude. I was just trying to be nice and thank you for saving me, but I guess you're not a person for kind exchange are you?" I was frustrated with how she was acting.
A dangerous look passed through her eyes. A wave of anger that intimidated me and led me to back away in fear. Her movements followed mine until I was backed into a wall. I watched her as she slammed her hands against the wall next to my head causing me to flinch.
"No, I'm not. I told you I travel alone. Company doesn't work with me because they never stay too long and I don't want them to." In the heat of the exchange, I thought I saw a flash in her eyes. A glow of a familiar red I'd seen many times before. A glow I ran from, feared.
Her eyes kept looking between mine as she leaned closer to my face. Tension in the air grew as the feeling for the environment around me shifted. The tension was something I had never experienced before. I was terrified of the girl before me because she was starting to remind me of the monsters.
Not just the monsters I ran from, but the past monsters I had faced before. A single tear slipped past my eyes and traveled down my face. The memories, dark and intrusive, were being kept roaming through my mind. This sent me to a dark place.
"I guess now you know why people leave me." She was looking off to the side when she said that. However, when she turned back to see me her whole demeanor shifted. The look in her eyes was replaced with something softer.
Regret. I saw it on her face, in her eyes, and in her next movement. She backed away, shocked by her actions. There seemed to be a battle going on in her head. A battle within herself. Her face showed pain.
"I get it," I said, though my voice did not have much strength or volume to it. "I have my reasons for wanting to travel alone as well so I don't blame you for feeling the same." I looked off to the side but not before seeing her shoulders relax and her face lose its previous tension as she seemed to be surprised by my reaction. Then I looked at her as some of my bravery and confidence returned along with my newfound determination.
I watched her, stepping forward when I should have stepped back. "But you are the first person to help me and not want anything in return. And what you did, saving my life, gave me hope again. Something that I have not felt in a long time." I was breathing heavily as the weight of my words lay heavy on my chest. Tears, I had tried to hold them back so I could continue my next words with strength.
"So if you don't want to travel with me then that's fine and I will respect your decision." My shoulders fell as I began to feel stupid for saying such so openly. It made me feel weak, but I had to let it out somehow or this would eat away at me too along with everything else I had kept hidden within myself. "But it would be nice to not be so alone anymore." I finished before turning and making my way out of the gas station for some space.
I had started to make my way far from the building as I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. I was upset with myself for good reason, though that didn't help to anger me less. It would probably be better for us to part ways. She and I seemed to operate differently anyways. I overheard footsteps coming up from behind me and I turned to see her with the same dull face she usually held.
"We can't travel together. We're too different. I think and operate critically and logically, not emotionally like you. Emotions will get you killed. They almost did." She tried to explain her train of thought to me.
"Well, then why did you save me?" The words slipped out and this caused her to freeze. We were stuck in a staring contest for a while. One that she won after I gave up and looked away. I was unsure of what to say after that so I just chose to stay still and quiet.
"I've been asking myself the same thing ever since it happened." It grew quiet after that for a few moments and I just let it stay that way. "I don't know why I saved you. I just did." She admitted and I just let out a long breath of air.
"I'll just be on my way then. It's probably better this way." I looked back at her for a moment, her face still giving nothing away. "Good luck." I forced a smile before I started to walk away from her. I had only made it a few steps before I was stopped by a sudden voice.
"Wait!"