End of the Line

Gold sliced through the light pink like a knife. The gold exploded where it was, filling more of the sky.

It looked fabricated, too good for the conditions we had been facing. I knew it wasn’t though. It was a perfect time to die. While the sun was still young.

“Wow,” the girl next to me murmured, her hazel eyes widened and her eyebrows raised.

I laughed at her, and she turned to me, laughing too. “Haven’t ya ever seen a sunrise like this?” I asked her.

“Yeah,” - she nodded and slapped my shoulder, her lips pursed - “course I’ve, idiot! But this... it’s just... it seems so sinister, you know?”

“I get it, this isn’t right. But why don’t we try to enjoy it while it lasts?”

She smiled at me with cracked, dry lips, then said, “Hell, mah throat is drier than paper.”

I shook my head and rested it on the makeshift pillow below it. Then I did all I could do: stared at the muck tan walls of the house in which we had been staying. Dust rose from below my sleeping bag as I did, and I watched as it floated away.

❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

I awoke to coughing. My eyesight was dizzy at first, but I adjusted to the light.

Dust rose from the dirt-covered wood floor, and pieces of cement made crunch sounds as boots crushed them into smaller pieces. The wood creaked as Alyona paced back and forth.

“So bored,” she groaned, kicking the dust into the air and watching it fall. “Nothing to do here!”

She sang a song that I had never heard and I listened. Her voice was so soothing, like a back massage or knowing that you’ve paid all your bills for the month.

Alyona hated it here, I could tell. She wanted to be with everybody else. Unlike me, she hated being alone.

“Someone really wants you here,” I joked, yawning and reaching for my toes.

“Yeah, I dunno why, but whatever.”

She had tried to leave so many times. Starved herself, suffocated herself, attempted to drown herself (but when our water source dried out, she didn’t bother, even when we found another one.)

We were so different. I could’ve stayed there for the rest of my life, slept through it all. I didn’t need people. Though Alyona had been nice, I’d forget about her right away.

She was like a fluffy baby goat. She attracted everyone. Alyona refused to live without people, so I didn’t have a clue on how she survived this long here. Especially with the new psychos.

Because most water sources had dried out, animals acted like bees after they sting.

The only things left to eat are rotten food and human flesh, and some-most have gone with the latter option.

My finger grazed the flamingo pink scar Alyona has on her leg. It ran from her hip to her knee. She didn’t react, just pressed up against me.

Cold air pinched my cheeks, and my bare feet froze like the icicles that hung off of the bit of roof we have left.

I nudged Alyona with my elbow. She opened her eyes and stared at me.

“Here,” I said, handing over the thin sheet of fabric. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

“Thanks,” she whispered in my ear, sharing the fabric with me. Her freezing skin was pressed against mine, and we were holding on.

The gold had faded, and light blue took over the sky. It was officially daytime, and we’d survived. I expected nothing during the day. The night was by far the most dangerous time of the entire day.

At night, monsters and psychos emerged from their hiding. They lurked and hunted for their next victims, waiting in the emptiness. Nighttime is torture, and the numbers got smaller every night.

Every night, there was a greater chance of Alyona and me being targeted.

We have slept during the day so that our energy could keep us alive through the night.

I drifted off to sleep, knowing that Alyona would wake me up when the night fell.

❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

“Gosh, we already have homework!” Dajaun groans, setting his backpack down on the cement and shoves his books inside.

I stand by him, looking around.

No no no, please, not this one.

A puddle of red caught my eye. It was hidden behind a staircase to an apartment next to us.

“Guys,” I say, my eyes wide. All of them: Dajaun, Asong, and Matias all turned toward me, furrowing their eyebrows.

The barbed gate, hidden in the shadows of the alleyway next to us, shook viciously.

“What the hell?” Asong exclaims, jumping back.

“Guys, look,” I say, pointing at the puddle behind me.

Matias’s eyes widen. “We gotta get away from here,” he says, picking up Dajaun’s backpack.

The gate rattles, and a scream comes from the other side.

“Help-” someone croaks, then another scream.

Asong and I glance at each other, our eyes wide.

“Hello?” I say as Asong gets his phone out, “is anyone there?”

Asong points his flashlight at the gate. I was afraid to look, but I did it anyway.

My jaw drops and my eyes widen.

Asong and I glance at each other again and let out a tiny scream.

Behind the gate is a body. Blood is pouring from the fresh stab wound.

“Hey, what’s going on?” a voice asks from behind us. Asong jumps, his skin paler than normal.

Dajaun and Matias are standing behind us, their eyes on the body.

Standing in the far corner of the alleyway is another person, and they grin at us, taking the knife out of the body and licking the blood that comes off.

I can’t move. My feet are tied to the ground.

They smile at me, then reach for the body and tear the clothes off of it. Then satisfied and proud, takes a bite of the flesh.

The rotten smell of the dead fills the air.

I felt sick.

Why would someone do that?

I run away, toward my home, where everyone is civil and safe to be around.

“Gosh, I can’t-” Asong whispers, his voice cracking. “Why? Why would-” he broke down into tears.

“It’s okay, dude. Don’t worry, we’ll never end up like that. Right?” Matias says, wrapping his arm around Asong.

❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

“Wake up, Cason! Wake up!”

I open my eyes and see Alyona’s face on my chest. Her tears have made my shirt soggy.

I sit up, stroking her hair behind her ear.

“What’s wrong?” I exclaimed, my eyes wide.

Alyona looked up at me, her eyes glossy like plastic wrap. “You were screaming in your sleep...”

“I’m okay, Alya.” I smiled at her.

“Alright...” she stared at me, her eyebrow cocked.

Silence filled the air, and Alyona fidgeted with her fingers and glanced at me occasionally. Once I looked back at her though, she turned her head.

“Also,” - she turned herself to face me - “I-“

Alyona coughed violently, and her breaths sounded more like gasps.

“Alya!” I exclaimed, my eyes widening.

Her hand slid against the wood floor, and some dust floated off her fingers as she balled her hands into fists.

“It’s okay! I’m fine, I’m fine!” she said to me, giving me a shaky smile.

She coughed again, and this time, blood spurted out of her mouth.

“No, you’re not!” I exclaimed, forcing her to lie down. “Do you need water? You said your throat was so dry, maybe this’ll help!”

“This is good, Cason!” Alyona said, pushing me away. “It’s okay, this is how it’s supposed to be.”

I stared at Alyona, my eyes wide. “Please...” I said, my voice weak. “I couldn’t help anyone before, I’m not making the same mistake.”

She touched my lips with hers and started coughing again. Her mouth didn’t move, she said nothing as the coughing stopped.

❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

The reflection of the moon on the lake was distorted, yet so beautiful.

I sat on the dirt in front of the lake, my nails digging into the soft dirt.

It was a full moon, and it reminded me of Alyona, but I didn’t know why.

Maybe it was a sign.