After our food had settled in our stomachs, we hit the grass-covered road. Over our journey, I attempted to overlook the bones we saw. In the woods, there weren’t many to see, since most people weren’t out in the wild when everything happened. In towns like this, it was hard to ignore. The drier climates without the humidity preserved them slightly more than the other side of the continent.
There wasn’t anything I could do about it now. The more I saw, the more I wanted to know their story, to bury them, and pray to the heavens that they found peace after dying.
“Keep moving forward,” Tor whispered as we passed a school bus crashed into a light pole. It had dried vines growing over it. A heavy feeling settled over me; my hands trembled at the sight. I knew not all of the kids on the bus had died that day. I also knew there were now bones left in the faded yellow tomb.
“Nothing I can do,” I whispered to myself and closed my eyes. I couldn’t change the past; I could only move forward.
We left the town and followed a back road that would skirt around the larger city and lead us to our new home.
Two hours passed, and I thought about how much I hoped our destination truly existed, and it wasn’t overrun, destroyed, or a lie. I didn’t know if I would be able to muster up hope if it weren’t true. Once someone lost hope, he or she lost everything. Hope pushed you, drove you to greatness . . . the lack of it would destroy you. I decided to let go of the worries and simply hope. We would make it, it would be there, and we would be OK.
“Hello, travelers.”
All hope I had crashed and burned like the planes falling out of the sky on the end of days. A group of three Dramens stood before us, armed with an axe, a bow, and a gun.
Chapter Six
My body froze in place; every muscle locked. I didn’t know what to do. We were outnumbered, and while we could fight, we couldn’t take all three of them.
They looked similar in size, maybe six feet, and tough. Cords of muscles bulged out from their leather and feather-covered attire. Signature black paint smudged their face and arms. They had weapons strapped to every part of their body.
What scared me the most was their eyes—the menace and the feral look in them that promised such awful things.
“I like the girl. Can we keep her, Dak?” the one on the left said to one of the others without taking his eyes off me.
“Nah. We’ll sell them both. I bet they’d pay a pretty penny for these two at the Iron Castle.” The man in the middle smiled, his yellow-stained teeth making me cringe even more.
“Sorry, gentlemen, we are already traveling somewhere else. You won’t be taking us.” Tor stood tall. His dominant hand twitched, ready to reach for his weapon, all the while keeping his eyes on the man in the middle named Dak. The leader, the Dramen who held the gun in his hands, aimed at our heads.
Guns were not something you saw often. They hoarded them in the Iron Castle with the king and queen, which meant the fools had found the weapons.
“Don’t think you can stop us. Let’s go peacefully to camp, then we will head to the city,” Dak said with the confidence of someone knowing he had the upper hand. I looked at Tor, just as he turned his gaze to me. We were going to fight; I didn’t think we’d win but we were going for it anyway. I sure as shit would rather die than be taken to the Iron City.
Faster than I’d seen him move before, Tor had his knife in hand and threw it at Dak’s shoulder. It hit, and it hit hard. His body fell backward, and a gunshot echoed around the woods as he landed on the ground. He had the instinct to pull the trigger, but the bullet missed.
The other two shot forward with weapons ready to kill. Tor took the one on the left, the one that wanted to keep me, and I found the one on the right with the axe. I knew how to fight. I could do this.
He swung hard, the sound of the metal slicing through the air buzzing in my ears. I kicked when he tried to right himself again, knocking him in the side, his feet staggering from the loss of balance. This time he swung up, to impale the blade in my throat. I moved quickly, dancing as if I was a warrior on a stage instead of the nutritionally deprived girl moving for her life.
My fingers gripped my sword and I arced it low. The wet sound of skin being sliced filling the air. His groan echoed against the trees before he dropped to his knees to press his dirty hands to his wound.
I looked over to my love and watched as time seemed to slow. Tor’s head was between a Dramen’s arms and the sight made my knees wobble. My stomach dropped to my feet and my throat ached from the tears brewing. The Dramen would kill Tor. My Tor.
I reacted. My feet were no longer frozen to the desert ground. I moved with an instinct to protect, and before I could blink, the Dramen’s head rolled on the ground. Blood dripped from the tip of my sword to the dirt.
Tor’s eyes were wide at what I’d done.
We ran and the booming sounds of gunshots rang around us. Dak fired at our moving forms, or maybe he was signaling for help. Either way, we needed to run faster than the dry wind that moved against our rustling clothes. Faster and faster, until my lungs wouldn’t expand beyond a short intake of dry breath.
“I need water,” I coughed out, the dryness in my mouth and throat making it hard to speak. I needed a break. Tor handed me the water and kept an eye on the surroundings. The three Dramens were behind us, one dead, two wounded, except I knew there were more out there. Mass numbers of vile humans hunting their prey, waiting.
For a moment like this.
Tor had an arrow in his leg before I could scream. They were coming from every direction.
“Sapphira. You run. You run there and don’t look back. I will meet you there. I will find you again, I swear it.”
I shook my head back and forth, again and again. I wouldn’t leave him. We could fight.
“Sapphira, I will see you again.” He gripped behind my neck and kissed me hard, a promise seeping into my soul. This was not our end.
I didn’t want to run and leave him. Tears rolled past my brown lashes, spilling down my cheeks, as the anguish of the choice inside me formed.
“We could fight,” I whispered as eight Dramens surrounded us, closing in slowly, tauntingly. They knew their prey had nowhere to go and wanted to play with our minds.
“No, you will run, and you won’t stop. Listen to me, Sapphira. You fucking run as soon as I give you the opening. I will see you again. I love you.” His forehead rested against mine, our eyes closed, giving ourselves this last moment before all hell broke loose.
“I love you. I’ll see you,” I whispered and kissed him softly, his lips wet from my tears flowing onto his skin. Our final act of love tasted of salty tears, with scents of bloody dirt and a promise to survive.
It happened quick. Tor wouldn’t give them a chance to take me. His arrow docked on his bow and released to my left. The Dramen went down and I ran. The opening was just enough for me to squeeze through. I heard yelling for someone to get me, and I heard a bellow of pain echo across the barren lands. Tor.
I wanted to go back. I wanted to dig my heels into the dirt and turn around. He was in pain. They were hurting him, and they would hurt me. My painful memories showed exactly what they would do if they captured me.
I told him I’d go; I’d find the community. Maybe he’d find a way to meet me there, or maybe I could gather an army and get him.