The sun hadn't been as glamorous as it had been the day before. Instead, grey clouds and menacing rumbles of thunder travelled above our heads. Rain beckoned and I knew that sooner or later, we'd be hit with torrential weather.
We pushed forward though, we didn't have a choice. Creatures lurked around us, day and night, along with humans that had lost their souls to the darkness. I couldn't blame them. My sanity had changed, and I wasn't sure if some of it were good, or bad. All I knew was things had infinitively changed, and change within me, was inevitable. I hadn't spoken much since the incident last night, which still lingered on the bored tongues of those around me. Austin was particularly getting on my nerves; he'd been shooting me daggers all morning and it was beginning to push at my tightly wound temper.
Keira and her female friends walked ahead of me, continuing their chat onwards, only now the topic on the army boy brats. It seemed they were smitten by at least one of the men each, which made me scoff. The boys were nothing to look up to, rather than to admire. Then, I supposed, they were all half decent looking, that I could not deny. It was solely their arrogant, rude and possessive behaviour that made me dislike them the way I did.
I then noticed Coby ahead of the girls, like before, like always, he held conversation with Jaxon, the weapon Nazi. This time, Jaxon seemed to be showing the stray how to use his knife with his left hand, a skill that was probably unnecessarily confusing.
I remained on my own, dawdling behind the group as I avoided all words at all costs. I found it was hard not to intervene at some points during the girls swoon over the boys, and it was hard not to scold Jaxon for teaching pointless moves to such an unexperienced kid. But I bite back my tongue and simply watched, it was as I watched on that my eyes began to notice an unwanted figure lurking slowing behind. He was edging closer to the back of the pack where I sulked bitterly. I rolled my eyes and attempted to huff loud enough for him to speed back up and join his friends, but it had gone unheard.
"Hey" He greeted once he now walked directly beside me
My shoulders fell and my face dropped "Hey"
"How you going back here?" He questioned
"Fine" I replied, empty
"Last night was a close call, wasn't it?" He persuaded conversation eagerly
"I suppose so" I shrugged
"When I saw them coming, I thought we'd be due for battle instantly" Mason shook his head as he waddled beside me, forcing words from his mouth to create some kind of bond between us
I didn't know what to say to him, I didn't want to say anything to him, I didn't care, so I remained silent
"Sure you're okay?" He instantly picked up on my unwillingness and hesitation "You seem quiet"
"Not a big talker" I told him, honest
"There a reason for that?"
"Is there a reason for discussion, for conversation?" I retorted
"Hm" He huffed "I suppose there could be"
"What reasons do you have then?" I played along
"Sanity" He spoke easily as he looked towards me, the sparkle in his eyes proud of his quick comeback
I thought about it truly for a moment as my eyebrows crossed. He hadn't been wrong, yet he hadn't been right.
"I've been doing fine so far" I told him
"Are you sure about that?" He quirked an eyebrow unbelievingly
I nodded slowly
"Cause it seems you've lost a little of your human nature"
"The ones that make me weak, the ones that put my life at greater risk" I argued
"No, the ones that make you strong, the ones that bind you to sanity"
He was beginning to sound like Jesse. I didn't like it. Why were so many people relaying this information to me, information about myself that apparently I couldn't' see yet so many others could.
"I can remain sane without some of those human characteristics, like the need for human interaction" I told him "When people become stranded on islands after their boats sink, they remain alone, they do not speak, yet their bodies adapt and react to what needs to be done to survive"
"They go insane Arrow. Have you not seen 'Cast Away'?" He smiled
I roll my eyes and move them away from his daring face
He had won this battle.
-
The day progressed faster and faster. It was us, versus the daylight. Nightfall, was bad, daylight was okay, those were the only times we knew of, they were the only times that mattered. And nightfall, well, it continued to close in quicker than any of us expected.
For the entire morning through to midday, Mason had attempted to persuade me with casual chit-chat. For a while, I had to admit, it had worked. I found myself, enjoying his tall-tale stories of how the creatures had become. He had studied some form of Science and Nursing in his teen years, and held masters in both fields. They were an odd mix, but an interesting one at that. He spoke of words that I couldn't understand, attempting to understand himself how something that had cured cancer had destroyed life-preservation itself. In the end, he couldn't fathom it, and neither could I. We didn't know how it had happened, or why it had happened, but it had. That was the reality now. Humans were greedy, and eventually we had both agreed as to our fault in the world.
Hours had passed as we walked down the main dirt roads in between Laylor and Listhen. Thunder continued to roll, and we were still yet to feel its fierce demeanour. Mason had re-joined his two sidekicks at the front of the group, while I was left yet again on my own at the very stern of the human boat. I had zoned out entirely on the conversation ahead of me, I had given up on trying to piece together the normalcy of conversation between the girls and the others.
Again, I concentrated on the sound of birds tweeting high above, surging through the sky at a fast pace to escape the threatening rain. Thunder would roll directly followed by lightning that lit up the sky, the dark menacing clouds shrouding over us almost as warning. Faintly, as my mind and ears focused on the atmosphere around, I began to hear an indirect noise; a noise that I was having trouble pinpointing. By this stage, my ears had developed supersonic hearing, and I was pretty accurate at picking up when something sounded... off. My eyes were narrow, as if that would make any difference in locating the sound. As we continued further, it became more intense and within five minutes of me having first heard the sound, I had come to realize just what was approaching fast behind us.
"Arden!" I called out urgently; his body slowed "Someone is coming!" I told him confidently, this time my words halting his movements.
"What are you taking about?" He looked towards me as the entire group stopped and turned their heads in my direction.
"Someone is coming" I repeated as I turned my body around, facing the direction we'd come from in Laylor.
The noise grew closer, and I knew that soon, we'd catch sight of it.
"Listen" I told my so called superior as the voices of the others began to question my sanity.
"Quiet!" Arden demanded as he stood beside me, his eyes searching the space mine did.
Again, the noise grew.
"I hear it" Arden whispered, his eyes narrow
"It's a woman" I replied, waiting
Slowly, but surely, two distinct figures came into view.
Jaxon, Jesse, Ronan and Arden now stood beside me, their weapons either drawn or ready to be drawn in case of attack. I steadied myself, readying my weapon as they did with my hand on my bow over my shoulder.
The figures loomed closer and closer towards us, just like the weather.
"It's frantic" Ronan mumbled
"They sound scared" Keira spoke as she and the others could now distinctly hear what I had
My eyes remained narrow, intent on catching sight of just what neared us.
"They're injured" Arden caught on as quickly as I had
About seven minutes later, a few meters in front of us, ran two women. Both were tattered and torn, splotches of blood over their faces and clothing.
"Please!" The one of the left frantically called "Please help us!"
I backed off as Arden took a step forward
"Don't be so keen" I told him as he eyed me
I had been through traps like this before. Humans were cunning, not foxes.
The two women were now meters from us. Their faces became more readable, their terror clear in their expressions. I watched on, still unsure as Arden relaxed a little.
"Please help us!" The brunette on the left side continued to beg as she held her arm linked into her blonde friends arm "Please" She sobbed, noticing our full-fledged attention.
"What's the matter?" Arden roughly called toward them, the pure authority of his tone slowing their feet down suspiciously
"We were attacked" The blond now spoke, blood dripping from her forehead where a nasty cut ran from her temple to her eye.
"By what?" Arden remained vigilant
"A group of men and women, they had guns, and knives and they took our car"
"Your car?" Arden repeated
The brunette nodded "We found it in a Laylor shed, the keys still in the ignition"
"Where are the others now?" Jesse stepped forward as the two women clutched onto one another
"They drove off in the pick-up"
"In which direction?" Jesse spoke, seemingly frustrated
"Towards Kenton" Blondie answered back
Arden looked towards Jesse, then towards Jaxon before looking back towards the girls.
"Are you injured?"
"I'm not, but she is" The brunette spoke, pointing to her friend
"Injured how?" Jaxon now spoke
"She was shot in the arm"
It was then we all noticed the way blondie cradled her arm against her chest.
"We have a doctor with us, he will assess the injury now, then we keep moving, once we stop for the night, he can patch it up for you" Arden directed towards them, true relief taking over their bodies
"Thank you, thank you so much" Brunette sighed as Mason stepped forward.
"We're wasting time" I muttered to myself as Jaxon's eyes fell on me
Jaxon then turned towards his followers behind us
"Sit down, take a break, have some water, have a kit-kat" He called to the others who dropped their shoulders a little and began to flop down in the dirt as they rubbed their aching limbs.
Jaxon then turned back to me "We're making good time"
"So are the clouds" I smiled sarcastically as I pointed upwards
"I thought you'd be the least afraid of a little rain" He winked before moving towards Ronan who sat on the edge of the road.
Casual conversation around me picked back up again, as though nothing had happened. It was then clear to me that this kind of thing must have happened a lot. It's why the group was so big once I had first entered it in the bank. All these people, were strays, like Coby.
"What are your names?" Arden spoke a little less demanding towards the new recruits
"I'm Abbie, this is Nora" Brunette spoke for the less sociable blondie
"I'm Arden" He introduced himself before nodding towards Mason who took over, assessing the injury of Nora.
I forced back the urge to throw a dummy-spit. I didn't like waiting; I didn't like wasting time the way we were. Nora's legs were not injured, that didn't mean there was a need to stop.
"Find some sympathy Arrow" Keira stood beside me, staring at the new girls
"Sympathy is a waste-"
"Of time, of air, of space, yes, I'm beginning to get it" She cut me off
"It is factual" I shrugged
"They're quite pretty" Keira tilted her head sideways as she moved on
"Oh yes, runway ready" I sneered as I watched the girls movements carefully, still alert
Keira scoffed "Stop being so mean"
Keira seemed to be talking to me as though we had been friends for years, as though she could joke and insult me without consequence. I wasn't in high school anymore, nor was she in any position to speak to me the way she thought she could.
I opened my mouth to say something she wasn't going to like, but by the time I had decided on what to say to her, she had begun towards Mason and the girls, keen to introduce herself.
I shook my head and folded my arms over my chest, biting my bottom lip.
"What do you make of them?" A new voice replaced Keira's old one beside me
I shrugged "Not sure yet"
"You think they can beat us up, take our money and goodies?" He asked, his tone serious as I looked towards his face kept ahead
"Do you know them well enough to know they don't have some ingenious scam lying ahead?"
"I know that two injured women screaming down the street for help aren't scam artists waiting to pounce" He nodded confidently
"Great judgement call based on their acting skills"
"I didn't know you were so well educated in the performing arts field" He played back as he shifted his sword blade in between his shoulder blades.
"That's right, you don't know; just as well as you don't know them"
I could feel Jesse's eyes now on me, hard as I looked forward
"I can assume I know a whole lot more about you than you even imagine"
My face contorted "That's creepy"
"I assume you had a younger sibling, a sibling you felt responsible for when the world went to shit" He began as my face stiffened "I assume you made a mistake, a mistake that haunts you to this very day"
My jaw tensed and I grit my teeth. I couldn't think about the truth to his words that would mean thinking about Leo. I wasn't ready for that.
"You don't know anything about me or my life" I spoke in between teeth
Jesse eyes remained intense on my face for a further second before releasing. He sighed and his voice changed a little as he spoke his next sentence carefully
"You're right, I don't. But I know that that feeling all too well, it changes you, it changes your every thought process, it changes your every purpose" He almost whispered as I kept my eyes trained forward on Mason bandaging Nora's arm up.
My face hurt from the mere pressure I held on my clenched jawline. But as his words seemed to replay over in my head like an old record, I realized what he had said. I tried not to automatically assume he knew the feeling of despair, regret and guilt, but I knew it was safe to assume there was a similarity to something that had happened to him that had occurred with me.
Jesse had trudged away with nothing further to say. What more did he need to say? It had done what it had intended to, it had affected me. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't concentrate on anything as we re-grouped and continued forward with two new lost souls. I forced myself to stay at the back of the boat once again, my head swimming with questions as Nora and Abbie stood with Cara, Reana and Keira. Keira had instantly made good with her new friends, and I wondered why she even bothered. It was after a half hour of walking, as Keira questioned her new friends to their origin that I discerned as to why Keira was bothering to get to know them. Distraction.
I approached the girls at a quicker speed until I was beside Keira to her right.
"Hey you" She greeted me with an elbow and an unreadable expression "This is Nora and Abbie" She introduced
I looked towards the girls that now looked towards me with a small smile each
"Hi" I voiced
"This is Arrow" Keira told the pair
As expected both girls looked confused, their eyebrows crossing
"She refuses to give anyone her real name" Keira informed them, rolling her eyes
"Why is that?" Nosey Nora asked me
"She is the most cynical person you will ever meet" Keira answered for me
"Whatever you want to call it Keira" I told her with a sigh
"Arrow has lost her soul, she doesn't care much for us, for anyone but herself, she's been alone for a while since before meeting us, so she isn't used to human interaction as we are. Kinda like an angry gorilla that has been kept locked in a zoo enclosure after recently being captured from the amazon" Keira continued to inform the girls, none of her information real.
Nora and Abbie seemed to laugh a little at her informative description, something that also bothered me. Suddenly I began to question why I had decided to talk to the over-chirpy females. Then I remembered Jesse's words and it came flooding back.
My ears pricked up and I continued to listen to Abbie and Nora release information to us about their lives, about their pasts and about their future endeavours.
I needed to concentrate on what they were saying; I needed distraction from what Jesse had said, from what Jesse had said that had reminded me of memories of Leo.
-
Nightfall lingered about an hour away, and thankfully, we had made it safe so far with town in sight. The entire afternoon, I had remained at Keira's side, listening uninterestingly to the group of five women discuss various things from their hometowns, to their favourite hair colour, to which boys in the wolf pack they thought were the most appealing. Again, I saw no point in it, despite seeing a few valid of their points. Abbie spoke fondly of Jesse, while Nora spoke admiringly of Arden. I had agreed with Arden's sense of authority, it was attractive, it was something all girls liked, protection, yet it was something I could offer for myself. Jaxon had been spoken of for having amazing eyes, something I could also agree with. Ronan had incredible pride, but not to the point of it being overbearing. Then there was Jesse, I seemed to find a few of their points valid with him, which seemed to infuriate me further. I had been attempting to escape his words from my mind, which had backfired as they spoke of him. Jesse's build and bone structure was of perfection, his eyes were smouldering – yet not successful on me – his mystery, it was in fact intriguing, yet infuriating, but I couldn't help but find all of those characteristics somewhat appealing myself.
"Be vigilant, the sun is setting, creatures may start to wander" Arden called to us as we stepped into the town of Listhen.
A rustic sigh dangled at the very front of the small yet once ideal family town.
'Listhen'
'Population: 2,345'
I wished I'd had a permanent marker to change each population sign I'd seen, scribbling out the thousands to add a plain and bold '0'
It was a depressing idea, but a real one.
As we entered the first street of Listhen, it became obvious that the town had been used simply as a pass through. Windows and doors remained nailed shut over with wooden planks. Dirt, grime, dust and age had taken toll of the small buildings around the area. The entire town was silent, just like all of us had remained as we took in the remnants of what once was. All that could be heard was the multiple breaths of us walking through the tar road. It was eerie, just like the last, just like the next. Plants, wild flowers and grass grew up through the black cement beneath our boots. Cracks, divots, and holes painting the road, forced through by the roots of nature. It was then, to add to the eeriness that rain began to fall, slow and steady at first, quickly growing more frequent as the roll of thunder above us.
"We better find somewhere to camp for the night" Arden broke the silence five minutes later as we passed an old childcare centre. The once bright orange and purple sign sporting a rainbow, and a teddy bear, faded and hung by a single nail.
"It doesn't matter how many times I see it, it still breaks my heart" Keira spoke gently as she looked at the same scene I did.
"Imagine all the children, the babies..." Nora trailed off as she also took in the horror
I pushed the thought from my head. Leo was a child. He was my brother, my blood, my responsibility, my regret.
I kept my gaze forward, watching the direction in which Arden was leading us. Buildings were a no, no. Houses were sometimes a no, no. The town was small, and it didn't seem to matter where we hid, if creatures came in more than groups of three, we'd be discovered.
"There" Jaxon could be heard talking to Arden as he pointed to a street named 'Walker Street' heading towards middle town.
I concentrated on the conversation now being had in front of me by the men.
"There's a police station down there" Jaxon told his 'boss'
Austin had clearly been listening too "How do you know that?"
"The sign" Jaxon sighed as he pointed to the street sign and what stood beside it.
Blue and white checkers. A police station badge.
"Good idea" Arden praised him as he lead the group in the direction.
I had discovered that when unsure of safety in a town; find a police station, a bank, a pet holding facility, or a prison. Those were some of the kinds of places that held people in and locked people out. The choices of who went were remained up to us. Buildings, high risers, crematoriums, and funeral homes were bad, but the worst, were hospitals. They were the most fuelled place of creatures, for obvious reasons.