Every part of my body aches. I've thrown up more times in the last thirty-one days than I have in my entire lifetime. And the regular sharp stabbing pains, pummelling my stomach, act as a constant reminder that my body has almost certainly started to eat itself. I should be worried about all the symptoms I'm experiencing. I'm not. My mind is preoccupied by a more important problem.
I think I'm in love.
I watch Zach's brow crease in concentration, his top teeth chewing on his lower lip as his hand glides across the paper he's holding. No, I don't think. I'm certain.
I'm in love.
I've fallen so hard for Zach it's embarrassing, especially as I doubt he feels the same. I know he likes me. I don't think he loves me.
Zach's pencil halts. Looking up, he arches an eyebrow and asks innocently, 'enjoying the view?'
'It's pretty good,' I say casually.
'It sure is.' Zach grins.
Neither of us are talking about our surroundings.
'It's going to rain soon,' he says.
'Let me guess, your rain detecting scar is tingling.' I roll my eyes.
'Has it failed us yet?' Zach looks at me seriously.
It hasn't, except I don't like to be reminded of the incident which led to the scar on his shoulder. Zach says it's not my fault. He's lying. It's my fault he found out his mother didn't want him. It's my fault he's living like this. Which makes me think, he must feel some anger and resentment towards me.
'No, but that doesn't mean it's true.' I lean over to get a better look at his drawing. Scratchy short grey lines merge together to form rough rolling waves set below a dark ominous looking sky. I smile. For someone who has never picked up a pencil before, he's amazing. Or maybe that's the lovesick teenager in me thinking everything he does is perfect.
He is perfect.
It's funny. I never understood how characters in the books I read went from not knowing someone to 'willing to sacrifice their own lives in the name of love'-love in such short spaces of time.
I understand now.
That sort of love happens in real life too. Especially, when you've spent every hour of every day for the last twenty-seven days together. It creeps up on you slowly until one day, the person you like will be doing something quite normal then you're punched in the heart with the knowledge you're in love and would do anything to save them.
It's an amazing feeling. It also scares the shit out of me.
I glance between Zach's drawing and the real scene laid out in front of us. It's not an identical copy yet his drawing captures the ferociousness of the waves crashing down, the gloomy sombre sky. It's definitely going to rain. 'Your drawing is brilliant.'
'I have no idea what I'm doing.' Zach shrugs, embarrassed. His eyes focus on the sea, a place I once said I'd take him to.
Now we're here, it isn't like I imagined.
The water is dark and thick. The chemicals once pumped in, to kill potential carriers of Virulence, have resulted in an uninviting dark thick liquid neither of us have dared attempt to dip our feet in, let alone fish in. The water looks empty, much like the rest of the world.
We've been cycling for twenty-seven days without any sign of there being others, not one indication of life. Not the breathing talking helpful variety anyway. The land is slowly being taken over by plants and although they provide hope for the future, a sign that the earth is beginning to restore itself, they're not much use in helping us to figure out how we're going to survive in the present.
'You enjoy drawing and it looks great which tells me you do know what you're doing.' I kiss him on the lips gently. Zach arches an eyebrow and I frown. 'What?'
'I like it when you initiate kisses.' He wraps his arms around me and pulls me closer. His mouth skims my jaw, along my neck and the familiar intense yet pleasurable throbbing rapidly spreads from my core, engulfing my body with a craving I didn't know I could feel. The sensation always takes me by surprise. It also scares me slightly how much I respond to Zach and his touch.
'I'm sorry I don't do it more. I still find it difficult...'
Zach stops me talking any further by pressing his lips against mine and mumbles, 'no apologising. I didn't say that to make you feel bad.'
'I know.' I sigh.
I may be in love but I still find it odd to initiate touch with Zach freely and without inhibitions.
It annoys me. I share cutlery and food with Zach, sleep next to him every night. I've rejected the baggy clothes all Naturalists favoured and dress in whatever I find. My style is a random selection of clothes I've salvaged from people's homes. I say salvaged because it would be a lie to say borrowed, however, it sounds better than stolen. Especially, when the people in question are most likely dead. You can't borrow from someone who hasn't given you permission, and I don't want to be stealing from the deceased. Yet, even with all the changes I've made which indicates I'm no longer a true Naturalist and even though everything suggests I'm not the same person I was, my upbringing clings to me. It influences my actions. It makes me more reserved than I want.
I don't want to be a reserved Naturalist anymore. I want to be free.
The temperature of the cool air drops abruptly, and large cold droplets of water start to fall causing us to break apart from each other. I pull two waterproof jackets out of a bag while Zach collects and packs the items strewn around us. We pull the jackets and bags on and jump on our bicycles to begin another journey with an unknown destination.
Twenty-seven days of it being only the two of us means sometimes we don't need to speak, we simply know what the other will do.
Author's note:
I really hope you like the first chapter... I'm not sure. I keep doubting myself and wondering what direction to take the story! Ahhhh... There are so many different possibilities, I'm not entirely sure where things are going to go. However, it will definitely be a faster pace than the previous one.
Dedicated to rafaela_bara ZaiAadh FirexIsxCatching sparkleandmagic who asked for a sequel (and to those who wanted one but didn't ask).
I hope it's good enough! <3
I'm aiming for a few chapters a week.
Don't forget to vote if you're enjoying it xx