Luz left for her shift an hour early and I've just been staring at the ceiling not exactly certain what I should do. Pushing myself up I let my eyes roam the room before sighing again. There was a knock at the door at that moment and I looked at it not believing it was Luz. Getting up I start to walk to the door, opening it cautiously. On the other side was the guard assigned to my door and Hunter.
"Hunter, is something wrong?" I tilted my head asking with concern. He smiled at me before waving my concern away.
"No, of course not. I was just wondering if you wanted to go explore for a bit. I could show you around if you'd like while it's still light out?" He offered and I felt my shoulders drop.
"You read my mind. It's too quiet in this room for me." I chuckled and he stepped back and to the side so I could come out. After that, we left the building as Hunter began to point out our surroundings and give details about The Sanctuary, its people, and the story of how it came to be. As we were passing the front gate I caught a glimpse of Luz standing high above watching the perimeter with the other guards. As if she felt my gaze she turned her head in time for our eyes to meet and she lifted her hand to wave toward me. I smiled as I waved in return.
"How did you and your girlfriend meet anyways?" Hunter asked me drawing my eyes from Luz. His labeling of Luz as my girlfriend made me trip over my feet before I fixed my footing and straightened my posture. Looking up from the ground I had almost personally acquainted my face with I saw him looking at me patiently waiting for my answer. He shifted to place his hands behind his back only moving them as he waved to passing members of the community.
"Right, well, she saved my life." I started and he looked toward me as his interest seemed to of peaked. "I had been running and I was so weak from lack of sleep and everything. In my escape, I had somehow managed to become surrounded though she came out of nowhere to save me." I looked off towards the sky as I attempted to recall further details. "I had passed out and when I woke up I was safe inside a building and she offered me food and water." The memory brought out a smile to grow on my face.
"Really?" He said in disbelief and I nodded my head at him. "Well, that's probably the most romantic way to meet someone during the apocalypse." He chuckled at his joke and I rolled my eyes, falling into the comfort of his genuine conversation. This reminded me how I hadn't spoken or interacted with someone besides my brother except Luz for a long time. It felt nice, normal almost, to just talk to someone else so openly even if the topic was about the world and how it stands now.
"Yeah, I guess so," I mumbled before smiling to myself. After that Hunter showed me the rest of The Sanctuary before guiding me back to my room. "Thanks for the tour, Hunter. I appreciate it!" I told him with excitement and he gave me a large smile at this.
"It was no problem." He looked down at his watch. "Luz should be done with her shift shortly. Have a good night!" He bowed towards me politely before heading away. I gave the guard outside the room a little wave before I shut the door gently.
Hunter wasn't wrong as after a few minutes I heard the door open and I pushed myself up on the bed. She came in still wearing the guard uniform; brown boots, cargo pants, and a t-shirt. Sighing, she looked over at me and I smirked. "How was your shift soldier?" I teased, jokingly asking her. Her face became neutral as she seemed to look back on things in her mind.
"It was nice. The guys were fun to hang with. Made me feel like I've been living here for years." She started to move towards me, taking a seat on the edge of the bed beside me as she started undoing her boot laces. "How was your little walk with Hunter?" She asked as she took her boots off and set them beside her.
"He took me for a tour around this place. It was rice. This community seems like it'd be a nice place to live honestly." I admitted before falling back on the bed to stare at the ceiling. Soon after Luz fell back to lay beside me also staring up at the ceiling. I turned my body sideways to face her and I watched as she continued to gaze at the ceiling before her.
I trailed my eyes along her face, the light from the lamp on the bedside table beside us blanketing her in a soft, warm glow. Luz gently closed her eyes as her face indicated the peace she had found in this current moment. It made her look beautiful and when I realized what I had just thought I felt my heart skip a few beats. I watched as Luz's brows furrowed and, once again, I had wondered if she could hear it. But that was impossible and I rolled my eyes at myself for thinking such. Though as my eyes fell back on her I watched her shift to face me.
Her eyes moved, examining all across my face as if she were trying to get a read on me. My heart skipped another beat at that moment as I raised a brow at her, my facial expression giving nothing away. "What?" I let out an airy laugh.
She looked between my eyes as her eyebrows pulled together. "I'm not sure." She mumbled quietly to herself and I gave her a weird look.
"Okay?" I shifted the pillow from the top of the bed to lay under my head and looked back at her. "Well, we should get some sleep. Hunter showed me the building where the food is served if you want to have breakfast with me in the morning before we leave." I said through a yawn as my body relaxed further into the bed.
"Sounds good." She agreed yet her voice sounded as if it were heavy with contemplation though I didn't have the strength to open my eyes again. As I dozed off I whispered goodnight not even hearing her response before I was out like a light.
... ... ... ...
Luz and I had been sitting across from each other with trays full of our breakfast in what I'd say felt like a mess hall. The whole experience was weird as the end of the world lacked the sense of normalcy this community had been providing. I watched as people went about their day as if monsters weren't roaming outside the strong walls that bordered them. Kids were running about as they played and the sight made me smile. One of them had even run up to us and had been speaking to us animately for the past few minutes.
"It's said that if you stare at something beautiful for too long your eyes will just melt out of their sockets!" The kid screamed and started to make noises with his mouth depicting what I'd assumed to be eyes burning out of sockets as he had mentioned. The kid looked back up at me and I started to smile while shaking my head. After he stared at me for a few moments Luz's eyes went wide.
"Quick kid, avert your eyes!" Luz screamed before placing her hand on his eyes.
"Seriously Luz?" I looked at her incredulously as she began to act more like a child than the actual kid himself.
"What? Theatrics works great with kids! Ain't that right kiddo?" She looked towards the kid as he moved her fingers so he could peak through the gaps at her.
"I"m not a kid! I'm a king!" He argued while pointing toward the paper crown on top of his head. I raised my brow at Luz at this.
"Yeah Luz, listen to your king when he's speaking to you," I mumbled jokingly with a teasing tone and she rolled her eyes at this.
"You're right. My apologies your highness." She said to the kid while bowing her head and he took her hand from his face giggling. Distantly we could hear who we assumed to be his father calling for him.
"I have to go! My loyal subjects need me!" He exclaimed before running off and I just laughed watching after him. After that, Luz turned back to me continuing her previous thought.
"It's just that being in this place is too odd. And seeing these people acting as if everything about the world we live in now is normal? It almost feels..." She trailed off trying to find the words for it
"Cripplingly weird?" I offered not all too confident with my suggestion. I had yet to eat any food as I stabbed at the eggs with my fork absentmindedly.
"Yes, Amity. One day in here and my back is starting to give out on me." She answered back sarcastically and I chuckled to myself while shaking my head at her. Her hand brought up a piece of bacon to her mouth as she sniffed it and looked at it weirdly. Finally getting the courage to take a bite of the food I slowly brought a piece of the egg towards me. Suddenly though, I felt the fork being slapped out of my grasp and I watch it clatter on top of the plastic lunch tray.
I looked up toward Luz only to see pure, unadulterated rage. "Don't touch that food. Get up and come with me right now." Her tone displayed hatred and it scared all semblance of making an argument from my mind. I nodded stiffly and followed her without any question. She stormed up to the guard responsible for keeping an eye on us, although this wasn't the one we previously had. I preferred the other one better because he told terrible jokes that made me laugh, yet also shake my head. Luz's face fell into a fake smile difficult to spot by someone who didn't know her better.
"Listen, man, I understand you have a job to do and I am by no means trying to disrespect you in any way." She began before I noticed her take a subtle deep breath as she went to grab my hand, lacing our fingers together. I felt my heart stutter at the action yet I tried to remain casual and calm on the outside. "But I need at least five minutes alone with my girlfriend without someone watching over us uncomfortably. Please." She begged and even I started to find myself believing her.
"Luz, you promised you wouldn't bother him. He's only doing his job." I turned towards him apologetically. "I'm so sorry for her. We are very understanding of the rules we have to follow." Turning towards Luz I sealed the deal with a disapproving look.
"No, that is perfectly fine Miss Blight. I understand where you're coming from being watched all the time and everything. How about I make you a deal?" He started, looking toward the watch on his wrist. "I've been meaning to check in with my kids so as long as you two promise to go straight back to your quarters I'll keep this a secret between us." He leaned forward whispering the last part and I gave him a grateful smile.
"Of course, we promise! Thank you so much!" I said appreciatively before we parted ways, Luz dragging me off towards our quarters. It felt like it would be in my best interest to remain quiet and just follow her lead. I found my eyes wandering toward our hands which were still interlocked and I shook my head to bring my focus back. When we made it back to our room Luz began to pack things into her bag and I followed suit to help her.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" I whispered to her discretely still unsure of the situation. My gut feeling, the one I had before we entered screaming at me to leave this place, I forgot all about it. Now it was back with a vengeance and the way Luz had held herself right now only made it worse.
"That food was laced with something." When she said that my stomach dropped. "I have no idea why they would want to do that. I could've sworn that Hunter was being genuine, that he was telling the truth. If he had been lying I would have known and I wouldn't have allowed us to stay here." She looked to be blaming herself for our current predicament and I tried to reassure her only for my words to go right over her head as she chose not to acknowledge them. My mind began to wander in a panic until I realized something that made my heart stutter to a sudden stop.
"He knew my name..." I mumbled quietly as the reality of the situation dawned on me further.
"What?" Luz stopped for a moment, slipping her bag on before looking at me.
"My name, he knew my name. The guard that was assigned to watch us, he called me Miss Blight." I looked at her with a serious face. "Luz, I didn't tell anyone what my last name was." After my words finally registered her face became stoic.
There was a knock at the door before it was suddenly bashed in revealing three guards including the one that had been watching over us today. I backed up not registering it fast enough to take action though I didn't need to. Luz's face became blank as she looked at them with murderous intention flashing in her gaze. She spun the bat in her hand once before two guards rushed at her.
She brought her open hand up to grip one guard's arm before bringing the hand with the bat down onto the other one. Letting the bat fall with the guard she hit, landing on the floor, she brought her attention back to the other guard she had stopped from landing a blow on her. Taking her hand forward and flipping the knife around in his grip to face him, she forced it forward, leading it to imbed itself into his shoulder as he screamed in pain.
The guard from the floor came up with her bat in his hand as he swung it with full force against her back. It wasn't just this action that caused me to gasp but Luz's reaction to it. She didn't even flinch, almost as if she hadn't felt it at all. She dropped the guard she had stabbed to the floor before turning towards the one who had struck her with the bat. She was breathing heavily as her hand shot forward to grip his neck as she began to choke him.
I saw the fear in his eye as he fought to escape from her hold on him. "You're...a....monster." I heard him choke out before I furrowed my brows at his choice of words. Everything she did was done with calculative motions and ruthless intentions. The way she did things, the way she had hurt others just as she did now when she was like this, was heartless. I do it to survive Amity. Words she had said during our first week of traveling together echoed in my mind.
Suddenly I was grabbed from behind and pulled back into the third guard I had forgotten was there while watching the chaos unfold before me. I felt the cold end of a blade being pressed against my throat and I stiffened my posture.
"Let him go or I slit your girlfriend's throat open." His gruff voice threatened from behind me and I swallowed hard, the blade's placement making the action hurt. Luz slowly moved to the side looking at us from over her shoulder. I thought I saw a reflection of red in her eyes for a moment yet it went away just as soon as I blinked. Her hand opened and his body fell heavily, lifelessly into a heap on the floor.
"My bad. It seems as if I crushed his windpipe." She said this without any care displayed in her tone as she turned to face us fully. The knife was pushed further into my throat and I choked a bit at the level of discomfort this action brought me.
"You're going to come with me or I'll kill her right now." My eyes went wide and I looked toward Luz with a pleading look in my eye.
"Feel free to do so. I couldn't care less." Her voice was dull as she said this and her words brought tears to my eyes.
"You think you're going to trick me with that? I know that she's your girlfriend so just do as I say and she won't get hurt." He said only pushing the knife, pressing it further into my neck as black dots began to form around the edges of my vision.
She sighed as if this whole situation was boring for her. "And as I said before," she bent down picking up her bat, "I don't care. You'd be doing me a favor getting rid of her." As she said this my heart shattered into a million pieces.
"I will kill her!" He screamed desperately feeling as if the situation was out of his control I would guess. None of it mattered though because of what Luz had said. It hurt me in a way I hadn't been hurt for a while. "I'm not lying!" He screamed next to my ear making me flinch.
She smirked at him chuckling menacingly. "But I am." Her next movement happened so fast I hadn't even processed it fully. Looking down as I heard the body of the guard behind me fall lifelessly to the floor the scene was hard to look at. Luz had thrown a knife into his head. The smell of blood spread throughout the room as I took a moment to fully comprehend what I had just seen. Tears blurred my vision as everything settled upon me at once and I blinked to set them free allowing them to trail their way down my face.
Looking towards me her whole facade fell as she rushed towards me pulling me into her arms. "I'm so sorry Amity. I didn't want you to see any of that but I had to protect you." She tried to explain to me in a rush. I brought my arms up to wrap around her tightly before crying into her shoulder. At this movement, I heard her take a sudden intake of breath before she slowly relaxed her shoulders."It's okay Amity. I got you." She whispered before pulling back and looking into my eyes.
"I thought...I thought you..." I forced out but couldn't finish while looking at her, she knew, somehow she knew what I meant. She watched as the tears slid down my cheek and her eyes filled with worry.
"I know. I'm sorry." She whispered before looking off to the side. She then brought her hands up and placed them gently on my face before wiping my tears. "I'm not sure what's going on. All I know is that we have to get out of this place before more of them show up." She took a step back away from me and I pulled myself back together knowing that she was right. And with that, she turned to leave out the door and I followed after.