Famished (7 page)

There was no road. Everything was covered by loose dirt that formed funnel clouds when tossed up by the wind. I spun around, taking in every angle of my surroundings. Earth had turned into this massive, bleak desert. But that wasn’t the worst part. No, the worst part was the human remains that lined each side of the road.

Skulls, rib cages, bones from arm and legs, stuck out, half buried in the layers of dirt. I couldn’t begin to express the amount of sorrow I felt at that exact moment. What made these people so different from me and Colin? Why did they have to die? Bending over, I lifted the skull of a child out of the dirt and examined it.

This child couldn’t have been any older than a toddler. A memory of Frankie flashed through my brain. The way she used to waddle behind me when she was that age. The way her cherub cheeks used to touch her eyes when she laughed. It hit me all at once. This could have been her.

Dropping the skull, tears flowed out of my eyes, streaming down my cheeks and resting in the corners of my mouth. They tasted like salt water. As more came out, I did my best to hold them back. I didn’t want Colin to see me being so weak.

As we meandered farther into what remained of the city, the piles of rock grew bigger and got closer together. These must have been some of the tall office buildings that were in the heart of the city. The frames of cars were parked next to the rubble. Their insides, hollowed out and charred.

Colin walked a few feet in front of me. He stopped, motioning me forward. “You need to learn to keep up!” he shouted, the sound of his voice muffled from his face mask.

I took longer, faster strides as I neared him. “Forgive me if this is a lot to take in!” I shouted back.

When I finally caught up to him, he pointed to giant pile of rocks to my right. “I think we should start over there!”

Setting my knapsack down, I fished through it, retrieving the list Mr. Baker packed for me. The only positive note about being up here was that digging for these supplies appeared to be some sort of game—almost like a scavenger hunt. Standing upright, a muffled cry for Colin escaped my lips. “Colin!” He wasn’t paying attention. He had worked his way up to the top of

the pile of rocks. He was bent down, his back facing me, rummaging through his knapsack. “Colin!” I shouted again.

He craned his head, glancing over his shoulder. “What?”

I lifted up my list, shaking it. “Is your list the same as mine?”

He held up his finger. “One sec,” he said. Then he turned back around and continued digging through the knapsack.

Less than a minute had passed, and he jumped up, his list, clutched in his grasp. “Read some of the items off of your list!”

I held my paper with both hands, spouting off the first few items, “Rope, a plastic tarp, batteries….”

“Stop!” he exclaimed, before I could utter another word.

“Our lists are different!”

“What’s on yours?”

“Why does that matter? The point is we both have different items to look for. I suggest we both start digging!”

Nodding, I folded up my list and shoved it in my back pocket. I memorized the first three items, deciding that after I found those items, I would take the list back out and memorize the next three. Then, after hesitating for a few seconds, I picked up the first piece of rock and tossed it aside.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
* * * *

Thirty minutes later, after moving several rocks, and finding none of the items on the list, I moved to my right, focusing on a another area. Sheer beads of sweat formed on my forehead and I paused for a moment to rest and wipe it away.
 
But, just when I lowered my arm, I saw
 
a massive boulder tumbling down the pile, heading straight for me.

Trembling with fear, I tried to jump to the side to escape the collision. But my foot was stuck, pinned underneath another rock. No…

I bent down, tugging at my foot, trying desperately to free it. No…. It wasn’t budging. Even worse, the sound of the boulder cracking against the other rocks was getting closer.

Standing, I tried running in the opposite direction. I hoped that if I put more force into trying to unpin my foot, I could free myself, but it wasn’t working. Now, I was panicking, using up all of my energy. The boulder was so close I could feel the wind from it, making the hairs on my arms stand up. “Colin!” I shrieked at the top of my lungs. I hadn’t seen him since we got started. And now the boulder was blocking my view of top of the rock pile. “COLIN!HELP!”

The boulder was inches away. I tried again to yank my foot free. There was nothing I could do. Finally, I just closed my eyes and waited for the boulder to flatten me. Better that I die by being flattened by a boulder than a cannibal feasting on my organs.

Then again, when the boulder flattened me, it was a sure thing that the cannibals that were lurking around here would smell the scent of my blood in the air. They’d have their makeshift knives and forks ready—to cut into me. And even though I was thin I would be like a Thanksgiving dinner for them. Yeah, either way I looked at it, I was as good as dead.

Chapter 6 : Save Me

My punishment is greater than I can bear.~ Genesis 4.13

A pair of muscular arms swept across both of my shoulders. I felt myself being lifted high in the air—almost like I was floating. Had the boulder already squashed me? If so, I didn’t feel it. I imagined that if I were crushed it wouldn’t be something that was painless. One time, when I was a kid, Frankie ran over my big toe with a toddler scooter. It hurt like hell. And that was only my big toe. The boulder would have flattened my whole body.

My eyes were squinted shut and I refused to look down. If I was floating up toward the great beyond, I didn’t want to remember what my mangled body looked like. Blood flowing out in mini rivers, bones protruding from my flesh, my skull caved in. I shuddered just thinking about it.

I went higher and higher into the air. The time sequence that passed by made everything feel like it was moving in slow motion. Like I was moving in slow motion. Shouldn’t this process move a little faster? Shouldn’t I be closer to heaven by now?

I snapped back to reality, when something slammed me into the ground. My eyes flew open as the wind was knocked out of my lungs and I watched astonished as the boulder rolled past me, scraping the side of my ankle. “What the?” I coughed out.As the white spots faded from my peripheral vision and my surroundings became more in focus, I turned to the side to see Colin, lying next to me, his arms still wrapped firmly around my shoulders. “Colin?” A hoarse, raspy sound escaped my throat as I spoke his name. I swallowed hard, continued to steady my breathing, and cleared my throat.

Colin didn’t open his eyes. He remained on the ground—his body was rigid, frozen—like he was trapped underneath ice. I gasped as I poked him with my finger.
 
“Oh no. Colin. Wake up.”

He didn’t move. I pried his arms off of my shoulders and contorted my body to face his. “Colin! Please!” Still nothing. He was starting to scare me. Maybe he hit his head too hard and knocked himself out.

What if he had brain damage?

What if he was….?

No. I couldn’t even think of that. He had to be alive. He just had to be. I got down on all fours, gripped both of his shoulders, and shook him. “Get up, Colin! You hear me! Please get up!”

At first, I shook him softly, then when nothing happened I shook him so hard that his head started flinging back and forth. “GET UP!” After slowing down the shaking I sat back on my knees. A sharp sob left my throat as tears rained down my cheeks. “Get up,” I whimpered. “Get up.”

Those were the only two words I could get out. “Get up.”

At one point I was sobbing so hard that I couldn’t breathe. A dull ache formed in my rib cage and I had to press my hand against it to make it go away. Wailing, tears fell into my mouth and the salty taste from them tickled my taste buds. “Colin.” My voice was barely above a whisper. “Get up.”

As the waterworks kept flowing, I pulled my legs to my chest and curled up into a tight ball. I felt numb. And what made things worse was if he actually—I still couldn’t say it—this all happened because he saved my life. He pulled me away from that boulder. At that very moment, I would have rather been crushed by it. “You should have let me die,” I said with a detached tone.

Now I was alone. And now, more than ever, I was terrified. Colin knew his way around up here. He knew how to get back to the colony. I was completely co-dependent on him. How would I get back? What could I do? And I couldn’t just leave his body here. I could hear the council members in the back of my mind. “If he’s gone, leave him.” That’s exactly what Mr. Baker would say. His distasteful frown presented itself in my head when I came to the conclusion of what I had to do next.

Whether the council agreed with me or not, Colin was someone’s child. He was a person. Not just a scrap that you tossed along the side of the road and waited for someone to clean up. And he died—I finally said it—saving my life. He would not be a meal for a cannibal. I would not leave his body up here to rot. He was coming back to the colony with me. And I’d tell Mr. Baker, if he decided to put in his two cents, that he could shove his words right up his ass.

Sliding closer, I wrapped my arms around Colin and held him. I tightened my grip around his back and sobbed again.
 
If this was the last day I was going to spend with Colin Martin, I was going to make it count. Removing my face mask, I planted my lips on his forehead, allowing them to linger there for a moment.

After I pulled away, I pushed his beautiful, midnight colored hair away from his face and just gazed at him. He was beautiful in life and even beautiful in death. I brushed my fingers against his creamy, smooth cheek, finally resting them in the crook of his neck. I stared, lost in a daze, at his long eyelashes. The way the brightness in the sky reflected off
 
them made them shimmer. I took off his face mask and his profound, chiseled jawline was contorted at angle that made the muscles in chin flex.

Normally, I was a guarded person. I kept everything inside, too afraid that if I let out how I was really feeling, it might make me seem weak. In the world we lived in, the weak didn’t last. They were picked off one by one—either eaten before our colony was established—or cast out because they had nothing to contribute or because they couldn’t contribute.

It was safe to let it all out now. There was no one here to really hear me, except for Colin. And as much as I hated to keep thinking it,
 
I had to accept that, Colin was dead.

I nestled my head in the fold of his elbow and peered directly into his closed eyes. “I’m so sorry I was so nasty to you. I never meant to be that way,” I admitted. “I’ve never been really comfortable expressing the way I feel.” More tears rolled out of my eyes and I wiped the wetness off of my cheeks. “The truth of it is, that I have always liked you. I’ve have always felt something for you. Something more than anything that I could ever explain,” I sniffled.Finally, I snuggled up close to him, kissing his cheek. Then I leaned in, my lips right above his ear. “I loved you.” That was the honest to God truth.
 
I felt terrible that I couldn’t admit it to myself until now.

There were times when I’d see him and just a small smirk on his lips would make my heart flutter. And when he touched me, even if it was only him brushing against me as I walked to the mess hall, It felt like every one of my limbs was on fire, and like there was an electric voltage in my legs, causing me to charge forward, and at the same time my brain was telling me that I needed to be closer to him.

Exhaling, a wave of relief washed over me. I had been holding everything in for so long that it was really starting to bother me. I would have cracked eventually and it was better that I told him. Even if he couldn’t actually hear me.

Seconds later, I rolled Colin onto his back and laid down on top of him. Just a few more minutes. I just wanted to lay with him for a few more minutes before I dragged his body back. Before I dealt with Mr. Baker. And before I gave Colin’s parent’s the bad news, that their son was dead. “You’re lucky, you know,” I stated as I placed my head on his chest, “You’re free of this awful world that we live in.” I laughed. “You might even be able to float on a cloud if you want to. Imagine what that would be like?”

Sighing, I squeezed him as hard as I could, my ear to his chest, never wanting to let go. And as I inhaled softly, debating on when I should pry myself away from him, that was when I heard it. A soft, repetitive thumping. The sound of a heartbeat.