It
My heart was beating so fast I felt like it could burst out of my chest at any moment. I began to shake badly enough that I didn't want to move, but I knew I had to. I knew I had to get away.
"What?" Aiva yelled. "What is that?"
"I said run!"
"I'm not leaving-"
"I'm right behind you!" I interrupted, getting frustrated that she was wasting time. "Go!"
With a panicking look, she took off running toward the ship. It surprised me how fast she was, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with her.
I took off after her. I was terrified, but I was grateful that my fighting instinct kicked in right then; I knew I had to protect myself and the others back at the ship. I ran as fast as I possibly could, maybe even faster than I ever had before.
I knew I had to get away, or else I would likely be killed. I knew what was behind us, it was the creature that was trying to get into the ship on our first night. I didn't know how I knew it, but I did. Maybe it was the noise that it was making, maybe it was just intuition. Either way, I knew what it was, and I knew that nobody was safe.
I just kept running. My adrenaline was pumping so hard that I barely even noticed the fatigue from running. I just kept going forward.
I could hear noises behind me, but I couldn't look back. I refused to look back. I don't know what exactly I saw, but I saw enough to know I had to get away.
First there was the original flash of black that I saw behind the bush. Then, there was the noise that it made. I wasn't scared until I saw them, it's eyes. They were yellow, and they were big, and they were brutal.
It was its cruel, unforgiving eyes that told me I needed to run. As soon as I saw them I was petrified. They lacked mercy, and that's was terrified me.
I kept running until I saw the ship. Aiva was already inside; she must have told him what happened, because Matthew was outside in a second.
"Olivia!" He cried out, not yet seeing me.
"I'm here!" I yelled back.
His expression almost made me forget why I was running. The look of relief on his face warmed my heart, but I knew that I wasn't done running yet.
As I sprinted toward the ramp, the doors began to shut. I panicked; images of the doors shutting on me and being mauled by that thing flooded my head. I shook them away and kept running.
Matthew stood at the door with his hand extended to me as the doors kept closing. "Come on!"
Merely a second or two before the door closed, I reached Matthew. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me inside.
We stood there for a moment, his arms around me pulling my body close to his. I clenched my shaking hands around the fabric of his shirt. For a moment, everything was silent.
"I thought lost you for a second there." He whispered in my ear, still holding me tight.
"Never." I whispered back.
He sighed a sigh of relief. "That's why I didn't want you going out alone."
"Oh, Matt. It's eyes-" I stopped. "They were so brutal."
"What did it look like? -Never mind it doesn't matter." He leaned back to where he could see me. "You could've died."
"I know." I admitted. "I won't go out alone again, I promise."
"Okay. It looked like it stopped chasing you once you got close to the ship." He said smiling. "I'm so thankful that it did, maybe it got distracted by something." He put his hand on my face and brushed a piece of hair away. For a moment, as we looked into each others eyes, everything was okay.
"Where's Tyson?" Somebody in the crowd called out.
I looked over to see a girl with long, brown hair and olive toned skin. She was walking up to us with a panicked look on her face.
"Who?" Matthew asked, pulled away from me.
"My brother!" Her arms were wrapped around her waist in a scared manner. "He said he had to go to the bathroom so he went outside."
"He went outside?" I repeated, now starting to worry myself.
"Yes! And he didn't come back!" She put her hand over her mouth. "Please no. I can't loose him he's all I have."
Matthew walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Hey." She looked at his face. "It will be okay. We will find him as soon as we open the doors."
She shook her head. "He can't fight. He's too weak. He won't survive long."
I could see the tears in her eyes. I could hear the desperation in her voice. She was begging us.
"Matt, we have to let him in."
"Please, he's all I have left."
He glanced at me and then smiled at her. "Give us a second."
"We can't leave him out there." I whispered to him as he pulled me to the side.
"Liv, we can't risk the life of everyone here to save one."
"Matt, please." I begged. "We have to protect everybody- every single person. We just can't leave people to die."
He sighed and flicked his nose. "I can't ask somebody to go out there, not knowing what that thing is."
"I'll do it." I heard somebody say. I turned around, surprised that anybody could hear our conversation. He was tall, and muscular. He looked to be the same age as Matthew; his brown hair flipped over to the side in a style that would be considered to be rather stylish, not that it mattered. Both of his arms were covered with black tattoos. His appearance was rough and jagged looked, but his expression was honest and selfless.
"You don't have to ask anybody, I'll do it." He repeated.
Matthew gazed at him in astonishment. "Why? Do you know this guy?"
The young man sighed. "No." He admitted. "But I know what it's like to loose everybody. . I won't stand aside and let another person go through that without doing anything." He turned his head to the distraught girl.
Matthew looked at me. "What do you think, Liv?"
"I think we should do everything in our power to save anybody."
He nodded. "Okay." He said and turned to the girl. "What's your name?"
"Ashlynn."
"Okay, Ashlynn. We're going to get your brother back."
"Thank you both." She nodded and turned to the other guy. "Especially you."
He smiled.
"Okay." Matthew began. "Declan, give him your gun please."
I looked over at a dark skinned guy with black, buzzed hair as he approached us. He reached over his shoulder and took a rifle off of his back.
He took it and thanked him.
"What's your name?" I asked the man with the tattoos.
"Alex."
"Come on then, Alex." Matthew said, handing him the rifle.
Alex nodded. "I'll bring him back." He said to Ashlynn.
I gave him the knife Matthew gave me to protect myself with earlier. I figured it would do him more good than it would me.
With that, we made our way to the door. Leiana pulled a lever, opening the door, and exposing us to the outside world. He made his way slowly down the ramp and looked around carefully.
"He should be part of the guard." Matthew whispered to me.
"I agree."
After wishing him good luck, we shut the door and began to wait.
I sat alone and observed the others. People were mostly quiet, but there were a few conversations going. Leiana was taking care of the injured people. Aiva and Micah were arguing quietly. Matthew sat staring anxiously at the door.
I kept a weary eye on Samuel. His demeanor was terrifying me; he was pacing around, staring at Matthew from a distance, the way a caged animal watches food sitting outside his cage.
As I sat watching Samuel, somebody caught my eye, somebody familiar.
"Luciana?" I whispered to myself.
I saw a small, familiar face sitting among the others. Her auburn hair caught my attention first, then I looked at her face and realized I knew her.
I couldn't help but smile. I hadn't thought about her since I had first gotten to quarantine. It all felt like so long ago.
I guess I would have just assumed that she died either because of the virus or because of the serum. Either way, I didn't expect her to survive let alone be here.
Seeing her filled my heart with warmth. She was here, she was alive, and there was hope. There was hope for survival; after all, if such a young child could have made this far, maybe the odds weren't completely against us. Maybe there was a chance for new life here.
I wanted to go over to her. I wanted to hug her and hold on tight. I didn't really know why I wanted to do all of that, but I did. Maybe I was beginning to think of her as a little sister.
As I was contemplating this, and enjoying the warm, fuzzy feeling I had in my chest, the door opened.
First there was a commotion, then there was the sound of a girl's piercing scream, which I soon realized was Ashlynn's. I ran over and pushed through the crowd to see what the problem was.
As soon as I saw it, the breath in my lungs immediately ran out. Before me was laid a mangled, bloody body. It was barely recognizable as a human being. My head was spinning, my stomach twisted into a thousand knots, and everything around me was blurring.
I had to turn away to keep myself from fainting. As my surroundings began to clear up again, I heard Ashlynn's heartbreaking sobs.
"No." She kept repeating over and over. "Ty, no."
Everybody, except her, was silent. We all mourned for her loss; we didn't even know her, still we mourned. We were all family now and when one of us hurt, we all hurt. At least most of us.
I couldn't imagine the pain she was feeling now, the only thing I had to hold onto from my family was the fact that they were still alive on New Eden, and they still had a chance. This girl, however, had just lost everything. She said that he was all she had left, and he was gone.
Everybody stood in silence as she sobbed. Nobody knew what to do or say, so we did and said nothing. Eventually, I mustered up the strength to turn back around and face the horrid scene.
Ashlynn was slouched over and she held his lifeless body in her arms. She was covered in blood, but she didn't seem to care. All that mattered to her was her brother. Once I got over the initial nausea, I realized how truly heartbreaking it was. All she could do was sob and talk to her dead brother. Most of what she said was incoherent, but I understood what the tone of what she was saying was.
Matthew walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "He'll be buried and given a proper funeral, just like he deserved."
She shook her head. "I want him to be alive."
"I know." He said sympathetically. "I wish I could do more, I really do, but the best I can do is give him the honor that he deserves."
She nodded. "Thank you."
He shut his eyes and took his hand off her shoulder. He looked at me sadly and motioned for me to follow him, so I pushed aside the horrible images that flooded my mind and followed him.
He grabbed my hand and led me over to the open door. Alex followed.
He let go of my trebling hand and began to address Alex in a hushed voice. "Where did you find him?"
Alex pointed his finger toward the left side of the ship. "That way, about half a mile. Must've been trying to enjoy the sights, poor kid."
As Alex talked I noticed a slight accent in his speech. It was just enough to where I could hear the difference between him and other people.
When mankind moved to New Eden they did their best to preserve all of the Earth's cultures. The best they could do, however, was separate the new planet into communities based on religion, ethnicity, and culture. This of course had its issues (like segregation and racist attitudes), but it was the best idea anybody came up with.
I decided that Alex must have been from one of the "Australian" communities, because of his accent.
I shook my head and forced myself to stop focusing on his voice. There were more important things at hand.
"I'm sorry, Matthew." Alex said. "There was no way that I could've gotten there in time." He looked at Ashlynn, as she still cried softly over her brothers body. By that time, the crowd had left the her alone to mourn. "That poor girl."
"It's not you fault. He shouldn't have been out there on his own." He shook his head. "Especially now, people need to understand the importance of staying safe."
"We need to find a way to keep everybody safe." I added.
The two nodded in agreement. "Do you have any ideas?" Alex asked.
"Everybody should have a weapon." Matthew stated.
"What?" I knew that I would love for everyone to have one, but the thought of people like Samuel having the ability to shoot someone in their sleep bothered me.
"I'm just saying. The guard can't be there all of the time, so the people need to have something in case they're ever in need."
"I don't know, Matt." I said shaking my head. "What about Samuel? There are going to be more people like him, you know that."
He sighed. "I know it's not perfect, but we need to do all that we can to keep everybody safe."
"I'm with Matthew, miss" Alex interjected.
"Thanks." Matthew said.
"You're welcome."
I rolled my eyes. I wanted to retort by saying Did I ask you? I didn't though.
"I see what you mean, Matt, but I just don't know about everyone getting firearms."
"It doesn't have to be guns. I know how powerful those weapons are and we would have to train every single person on this ship to respect that power before we give any to them, but I think knives and other, less powerful weapons would be a good idea."
I nodded. "Okay. So we lock up the powerful weapons and let everybody pick from the rest of them?"
"That seems like the best option right now."
"Okay! So it's settled!"Alex started. "Not to butt into your conversation, but I have a suggestion."
"Okay. Shoot." Matthew allowed.
"We are still going to need a system of defense, giving single people weapons won't be enough to fight that thing."
"So what do you suggest?"
"After setting up camp, we need to build a wall to keep whatever it is out of here."
"Great idea, but how what do we build it out of?" I asked.
"Well, that's the tricky part." He muttered. "I think, the sturdiest way of building a wall, is out of the ship itself."
"The ship?" Both Matthew and I remarked.
"Yes. I know it sounds crazy, but it's our best shot. We have no other materials to build, and it's not like we have enough time to cut down trees to build one."
"How do we protect ourselves while the wall is being built?" Matthew asked. "I mean, if the ships going to be torn apart we need to get this thing built fast."
"That's where the guard comes in. We have them patrol the boarders of the camp while it's being built, and to avoid fatigue we set up shifts for both the builders and the guards."
"Makes sense, but how are we supposed to convince everybody to put in the work?"
"Well I would think it'd be obvious." He glanced over to Ashlynn and her brother's body. "I think anyone would be ready to do anything to keep that'd from happening to them."
"Okay. When do we start?"
"As soon as possible."
"Tomorrow." I demanded. "The day's almost done, and we need to get it put up. Plus, we should have people setting up make shift homes for us to stay in, we will need shelter."
Matthew nodded. "Tomorrow then, we set up camp and build a wall. . Let's do this."