The Meeting

I woke up with my arms hurting like hell, while my head drummed, I attempted to get up, heaving my body, realizing I was unable to move. Then for the first time in hours, I felt unbearable pain. My screams and wails pierced the ash-covered devastation, as everything registered. I fought to sit up as every movement hurt like a bitch, in an attempt to get a better view of my injuries. I sobbed, unable to comfort myself, realizing the large debris had collapsed atop the bottom half of my body. I pushed, desperate to remove it, pain shooting at my back as I twisted forcing me to scream again. I couldn’t feel my feet, that wasn’t a good sign, it wasn’t any sign. Again, I pushed, and heaved, attempting to lift it, the pain becoming even more unbearable. But I needed to leave. Those people could come back to check for anything, and I didn’t want to be here if they did.

Using the remainder of my strength, I pushed back grimacing at my pain, until thankfully it fell backward releasing me. I couldn’t walk, my injury was too severe. I grabbed at everything around me, pulling myself forward, and still, I sobbed to myself triaging my injuries. My leg was wounded, my back and arms burned, and I was distraught. The worst combination to have in a crisis.

I limped, leaving my overrun home behind, and headed into the strange world of what lay beyond the gates. Everything my eyes landed on told the story of my home. Deserted homes, trashed stores. Everything had the mark of flames. Everything told me that things were never going to get better. At least anytime soon. People huddled in corners, pulling their cloaks over their eyes as if avoiding eye contact as if by some chance I would harm them.

What could I do? I was broken, bleeding, and probably might even die in seconds.

Unable to go any further, I dropped my body, coughing furiously, my entire body screaming in pain while my stomach argued for food. I hadn’t even gotten the chance to get anything in. My head collided with the bin behind me as I closed my eyes unable to do anything for myself. I was going to die here, I realized, either from hunger or an infection. There was just no way I could see around this. If I’d made it out without injuries, I could’ve more than helped myself. But my back felt raw, my head ached, and I was limping from the wound on my feet. I won’t last a day. Everything was destroyed and who knows how far I’d have to travel before finding a doctor or even worse, where would I get the money to pay for this?

∞

My body broke out in tremors, no longer screaming from hunger, waking me from my sleep. It was now two days since the last time I ate and even then, it wasn’t enough to last me through two days. I got up, my mind a blur, searching furiously through the garbage for something, just anything, only to fall back from it, as tears streamed down my face. I’d never had to eat from the garbage before, how could I now? How could I lower myself to such disgusting habits? I wept silently, unwilling to call undue attention to myself. Now, now I would die. This wasn’t worth it. I was free but I was in damn pain and miserable! It wasn’t right! It just wasn’t right! How could someone be so cruel to kill people?

Something nudged me furiously and I brushed at the irritation to go away, wallowing in my self-pity. It poked at me again and I swore I'd punch it, even if it was a stupid dog. My head lifts, finding a man wearing ragged clothes, his hair messy with an irritated look on his face.

“What?” I snapped.

“Well, it’s not like you don’t need it” He grunted glaring down at me. “You going to take it or are you going to act like you’re not starving like the rest of us?”

I eyed the piece of food he held out to me taking it slowly, wavering my mind about whether I really wanted to take something from a stranger. How did he know I was hungry anyway? The strange man stared at me for a while before walking off mumbling to himself. I hadn’t even thanked him, I realized. How ungrateful of me, I scolded. After finished eating, I helped myself up against the wall, walking around the bin hoping to tell him thanks, if it made any difference then. I was locked in a dungeon, but I wasn’t an animal. I knew what manners dictated.

People were huddled around a small fire, all wrapped up keeping out the cold. Some were dirty as I was, maybe having to scavenge what they could from the destroyed buildings. Every other crevice had more people like that together, people who had lost homes and maybe loved ones as I had. Loved ones, maybe that’s how they thought of their family. Mine were just people.

“Um, excuse me,” I said to a small group. “Have you seen a man, about yay high, dressed in scrubby clothes?”

They all shook their heads returning to the fire and their chatter as if I wasn’t even there. I glanced around at the numerous fires I’d have to visit, then down at my feet. I couldn’t go around hobbling from one place to the other like this. Feeling despondent, I turned to leave when someone pulled at my tattered clothes.

“You’re trying to find Thomas,” The little girl said. “He’s over there,” She pointed to the one place that had only a small spark of light. “He doesn’t socialize very much.”

I smiled expressing my gratitude as I headed in the direction she’d just showed me. Thomas sat immersed in staring into the fire, eating content with himself.

Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered to come, I thought. There’s probably a reason why he’s so far away from everyone else.

“What do you want?” He asked gruffly. His shoulders are broad, having soaked up maturity, hands corded with thick muscle, proving days of hard labor gone by, matched with long feet seeming strong enough to carry his enormous form around. His hair lays brown and dusty upon his head, yet his fifty-year-old beard sits like a lion's mane upon a naked ass. Out of place and terrifying to gaze at. Yet I can tell he should only be just a few years older than I. “You can’t have more than what I gave you already!”

Oddly, as he said it, my stomach started to complain on cue. I didn’t feel as hungry before but now he gave my stomach something to think about. Thomas glanced up at me accusingly, hearing the sound.

“I just came to say thanks, you snob,” I replied, raising my head.

How dare he accuse me of begging for more food!

I attempted to limp back when everything went black. Moments later I woke up in his arms, his face staring into mine, concerned. Using a finger, I pushed back from him sitting up then slid from his lap feeling my face burn.

“We’re going to have to get those injuries of yours cleaned and bandaged before you have a serious infection," Thomas mumbles, resuming his eating after he’d finished his inappropriate staring at my body.

“We?” I squeaked, mortified. Thomas nodded as if this was a normal conversation between two friends. “But I don’t have any money for that. In case you haven’t seen-”

He cut me off.

“We’re getting them cleaned and bandaged end of story,” His eyes met mine filled with determination. “None of us have money, but we’ve learned how to take care of ourselves.”

I folded my hands in my lap as we sat there, Thomas moved, poking at the fire to get it to blaze higher, for which I was more than grateful.

“What did this?” I asked as he returned sitting beside me.

“You mean who?” He corrected, his eyes darkening against the flames. “They just appeared and then everything started to collapse. People running for their lives, children crying, blood pouring through cracks.”

My god!

“Who are they?” I asked grimacing at the description he’d only just outlaid.

“People stronger than us. Much stronger.”

“What has the government done?” I inquired.

Thomas snickered, making a disgusted face. Hasn’t the government done anything to stop them? Were they that strong to overthrow our government?

“They did nothing other than comply,” He spat bitterly. His eyes glazed over with emotion. “Not that we could blame them. If they….if we yielded to their King we’d all be fine. That’s what they said.”

I glanced about me confused. “So, then what caused all this?”

Thomas took a long look at me as if asking if I was some form of an idiot. What he failed to understand was that I had not a clue about anything. I wasn’t even sure where I was at this moment.

One of the perks of being stuck in the study since the day I could read.

“Where have you been all this time?”

“Locked up,” I confessed.

Not like he’d understand anyway and at this point keeping secrets wasn’t worth it. We needed to trust each other if we were going to survive. If I was going to survive.

Thomas glanced back at the fire again, sighing. Maybe only thinking of my words at face value.

Which man would ever discard their blood and leave them to die? It was horror story that couldn't be told.

“Not everyone was happy with having monsters dictating what they should do. They were everywhere, we barely had freedom. The rich were fine.” He scoffed. “They always are. As long as you’re fine with the bloodsuckers nipping away at your soul, you’d be fine, those who weren’t up to it,” Thomas gestured to our surroundings. “This was the result.”

I nodded understanding.

“Is everywhere like this…..destroyed?”

Thomas shook his head, his brown hair swaying atop his head. He pointed to a high building, whose tip we could see some distance out.

“Everything within that area going backward is immaculate, no sign of desolation or starvation anywhere. That’s where everyone who joined their government moved to.”

I rubbed my arms together aiming to warm myself, thinking back at the fact that they’d only just burned my home likewise. Thomas threw a blanket into my lap as he laid back against the wall forcing himself to sleep. I looked out into the shattered world before me, I realized I was still alive. This, this was still nothing near to the heaven I’d expected.