by J. Axbridge
It took us longer than we’d expected but we managed to make it to the water’s edge before sun down. Gazing out into the darkening open waters of Lake Michigan for any sign of my brother and sisters, concern once again coursed through my veins replacing Jax’s touch. The sun all but said goodnight setting brightly behind us sneaking below the low fallout clouds before completely disappearing in a magical blaze of glory.
“Do you feel that strong wind?” Jax lifted his arms from his sides letting the evening breeze envelope his body and cool him off, “If they made it this far down the alleyway they could have easily been swept into the open waters and be miles away from shore by now.”
“Can you see or smell anything?” I asked hopeful, my tearing eyes pleading in the new cover of darkness, searching the best I could for any signs of life.
“Unfortunately I can’t smell anything related to them, especially with this strong wind at our backs and with the nightfall being so dark, I probably don’t see any better than you . . . ,” Jax squinted, “Well . . . except waaay over there, can you see that large dark shadow?” Jax pointed southeast.
“I think so . . . what is it?” I whispered in peaked curiosity.
“It’s that half submerged sky scraper we saw just before we entered this crazy mess, remember?” Jax asked before turning his attention to the wind. “The wind seems to be changing to that general direction too. That’s odd. . . Maybe with a little luck they made it to that building safely and are waiting for a rescue?”
It was a real stretch and I knew Jax realized it too because even though he was trying to keep me positive, I could hear the subtle doubt in his strong voice. Still there was nothing else around and I was grasping for any hope to hold onto at all, so I took what I could get at this point.
“That’s it then, that’s our destination next sun!” I said determinedly, not willing to accept the fact that my siblings could possibly be lost forever among a sea of darkness.
“Addie, trust me when I say I’m with you on this and I’m not giving up on my friends, you are like family now. And I do agree with you, getting out there should be our new goal, but how do we get there, any ideas?” Jax yawned and warily sat down peering at tomorrow’s destination. I collapsed next to him taking a much needed break and leaned my head on his muscular, sturdy shoulder breathing in his new scent of fallen leaves and spring water. I loved his scent so much; it had become comforting for me especially since it somehow changed yet stayed connected to unfiltered nature. I was happy for the moment closing my eyes feeling his warmth, coming to the realization that we were surrounded by a smell of death and decay, yet it was only his scent I breathed in.
Chapter 22 – Surviving
Arthur
Mayumi and I battled a shitload of Red Eyes which pushed us further west than we’d wanted to go but we were giving them hell, killing as many as we could. Spending half our time running and the other half fighting we clashed for hours in rotting alleyway after alleyway, up and down mounds of uneven cluttered earth and through deep meteorite craters. We fought for survival, we fought for each other and thankfully we fought together awesomely.
Truly Mayumi is a Manga Princess from a comic book novel come to life, I would catch myself thinking as we fought side by side, mixing our blood and sweat not giving an inch even when the odds for survival were against us. That thought alone gave me strength and courage to go on because my body didn’t really feel like it could much longer and my sword was beginning to feel heavier with each swing.
“Arthur, if we make it out of here alive, I am giving you the biggest kiss – Do you hear me?” Mayumi yelled over her shoulder, her sweaty back glued against mine as we fought Red Eyes from both directions. She was a true fighter and was doing everything she could to motivate me to stay strong and keep fighting on as both of us were starting to wane. Unfortunately, even with her unethical flirting motivation our death seemed imminent.
That’s when it hit me like a punch to the jaw. Yu promised to kiss me. My Manga Princess was going to kiss me if we live and that somehow changed everything. I’m not leaving this damn world today, Yu promised to kiss me, time to kick ass Arthur. I willed myself to push on, my adrenaline suddenly spiked and my second wind kicked in just in time to save Mayumi and I from an onslaught of Red Eyes who’d thought they had us overpowered.
I slashed and swung my sword viciously from side to side in upward and downward movements with strength that seemingly came out of nowhere. Screaming at the top of my lungs I lunged forward taking off head after head now slashing sideways as Mayumi fought in hand to hand combat behind me. The number of attackers dwindled and the few remaining Red Eyes on my side gave up and slid back around the slimy corner they’d come from in retreat. Hurriedly I rounded to help Mayumi.
Together side by side now we pushed the remaining Red Eyes attacking on Mayumi’s side back through the maze killing an ungodly number of them. The few that were left, as if ordered, stopped their advance, turned and limped off grunting in all directions disappearing almost magically.
Tired and trying to catch our breath, intermingled blood and sweat dripped off our faces staining our clothes but we had no time to rest as midnight and the first darkness approached without warning. Thank goodness we’d made our stand just then otherwise we’d been fighting in the dark and that would not have been ideal.
“Arthur, we need to climb high and away from these things before they come back with a bigger group. We will not get lucky twice in this world especially in the cover of darkness,” Mayumi leaned on the back side of an old, once modern white princess dresser, now a permanent outdoor fixture in this apocalyptic world.
Slowly we climbed the largest pile of debris we could find, one we could defend easily from above and provided some shelter. Once at the top we dropped our bags and collapsed on our backs staring up at the blanketed dark gray sky, taking a much needed breather. Mayumi clearly needing to cool off a little faster than myself, slowly zippered down her tight black leather jacket exposing her toned stomach.
Where’s her zip coat? I thought, wanting to stare at her exposed stomach more than ever as it quivered in the cool evening air producing goose bumps as sweat rolled off her golden skin. But I just couldn’t force myself too, I felt too much like a peeping Tom.
At sixteen I talked a damn good game but was still shy when it came to being around girls, especially girls that infatuated me. Just like my first crush, Jennifer Blessing and now my so called “Manga Princess,” - Mayumi Gushiken. Although I was more positive than ever that I was in love with Mayumi, I felt I was invading her privacy and was embarrassed and grudgingly turned away. Immediately realizing that looking the other way didn’t work as good as I’d hoped. The more I forced myself to look away, the more I wanted to gaze at her. Life as a sixteen year old I guess?
The desire to watch her body regain its strength, lying underneath the dimming sky, her stomach rising and lowering with ease breathing in the cool air, was tugging at every nerve in my young body. I had no choice but to focus hard to clear my mind and forced myself to look in every direction except hers and from what I could tell; I don’t think she liked that one bit. It sort of seemed like she wanted me to gaze upon her. Girls . . . I’m so clueless! I thought. No matter the situation they’re hard as hell to figure out. Here we are fighting for our lives in the end of the world and I bet she’s thinking about us as if we’re in study hall. If this fighting doesn’t drive me crazy, surly Princess Mayumi will. This teenage boy/girl emotional thing is more stressing than the damn zombie fighting!
Chapter 23 – Kiss
Mayumi
Arthur seemed not himself as we laid down looking upwards into the terrifying beauty of the night; he chose to look away from me. At that moment I was confused and surprisingly saddened, for I wanted to be gazed upon; I wanted his longing eyes on me. I not only desired to be wanted more than a friend, I needed to be wanted more than a friend at this moment.
“Sit up Arthur, pleas
e let me see your back, you have some nasty scratches from those things,” I said, slowly rising to a sitting position. Leaning back on my palms, raising my chin and taking a big breath, I unintentionally exposed my black sports bra and bare stomach but I greatly needed to cool off. Great, I must look desperate! I thought rolling my eyes, but the cool air on my skin felt too good to cover up just yet.
Arthur did as he was told, a groan escaping his lips as he sat up in pain slowly then unbuttoned and peeled off his once blue flannel shirt now covered in dark red streaks of zombie blood and guts. Arthur’s eyes I noticed strayed away from my body, even though the tension in the air led me to believe he surely felt the urge turn around. At least I hope he wanted to turn around because it did feel like we were the last two people on earth and I know I felt a strong connection growing between us that was more than close friendship.
Taking a slow deep controlled breath to avoid obvious pain, he slid off his white v-neck undershirt reluctantly and then carefully pulled down the black zip coat exposing his bare back and upper body, which sadly was full of deep gashes, blood and black purplish bruises.
Opening my backpack I quickly found antiseptic cream, needle and thread. I cleaned Arthur’s back first, and then shoulders with water I had saved in my water bottle for emergency. When finished I began wiping his back dry with a small towel, possible enjoying the process a little too much. During this time I did not only notice how badly he had been hurt; I also could not help but note what good shape he was in for only a soon to be seventeen year old boy. Touching his tight muscular frame I could feel my body heat as I finished prepping his wounds for stitching. I think he noticed my subtle arousal also but I did not care in the moment, it was a nice and much needed distraction from life.
Never did I believe I could handle stitching someone up, but it is not so bad from this angle. I thought, smiling like a teenage girl for the first time in a long time and I was enjoying the nervous arousal and excitement pulsating through my exhausted body.
“What are you smiling at . . . is something funny?” Arthur craned his head around towards me.
Nervously I wiped the long sweaty black hairs out of my eyes and pulled my pony tail tight, Huntra mode turned off. I reverted back to my high school teenage self which was a nice change of pace.
“Oh . . . I am jus . . . . Just happy we made it out of that battle alive . . . and Arthur . . .” I paused, “I did not forget the promise I made to you, remember, I owe you something for saving our lives,” I spoke softly, my almond eyes staring deeply into his young golden flecked eyes.
Arthur seemed ready, his apparent shyness moments earlier slipped away with the setting sun. I slowly leaned in towards his body savoring the feelings between us, as if I had tasted his kiss already; Arthur did not move feeling both hot and cold awaiting my soft lips in such a harsh environment. I turned my head slightly, leaned in ever closer, lips almost touching I could feel his hot frantic breathing. We were so close, almost too close and I quickly gave him a kiss on his cheek, lingering for a moment before gently pushing him to turn around once more, and then continued patching his wounds.
It was not the passionate, romantic kiss Arthur was promised or that I even envisioned but it was a start. Yet that simple kiss sent his hormones raging and young heart fluttering, wanting me even more and I radiated with heat. Together we smiled and made small talk for the rest of the short day and into the first darkness, our pains magically vanishing after that first, “kiss.” Amazingly I made it out of our fight for life with only a few minor scratches and cuts, none that I could not take care of on my own. Arthur seemed relieved at this fact too; I do not believe he could have handled patching my body quite yet seeing the way he had stared at me this evening. And I do not believe I could have handled it myself, having his strong hands upon me.
Although it came haltingly, a blanket of darkness finally snuggled in around the two of us. Another cold, pitch black night lay ahead as Arthur and I slowly inched closer to each other for comfort and needed warmth. Accidently touching hands our fingers fumbled over each other’s before intertwining as vines and we lay there together alone in the quiet night, surely dreaming of what life would have been like had the showers never destroyed the beautiful world we once lived in.
Chapter 24 - Change Direction
Ethan
My sisters and I floated in the endless waters of Lake Michigan over the once huge City of Chicago, the waves thumping off the bottom of the old aluminum boat that had just saved our lives. It was like everything in this once popular area was underwater and we were fully awake living in a nightmare that had gone from bad to worse.
The wind continued pushing us east from the reading on my compass. We tried hard to paddle our way back to shore with just our one oar but that was not enough. The current and wind were too strong for us and our muscles too weak and we continued to move even further away from the land. The twins’ faces were plastered with tears of worry but I couldn’t lie to myself. I was just as scared as we looked into the nothingness ahead and the land growing smaller behind.
I decided silently to myself that I was not going to give up; I was a survivalist after all and my sisters counted on me. I sat straight up determined, searching the open waters for something to help us get out of this crappy mess we were in. My efforts were difficult without the full brightness of the sun to help me. The debris, ash, dust and smoke from the big storm still formed a blanket over this area most days, some days thicker than others, covering just about any hope for sunlight especially at its peak. Swiveling my head slowly from north to south I surprisingly spotted “hope” in the distance
“Look . . . , there’s that giant building we saw earlier, the one sticking out of the water,” I pointed excitedly. “From my compass reading its south of us . . . but we’re still heading east. Can you use the oar like a rudder Caelyn and steer us to the building?” I asked my sister, not taking my eyes off the compass.
Both of my sisters gave it a try but our boat seemed doomed from the start to only go east. Time was running out and we needed to change directions right away or this last chance to reach some kind of safety would be gone and we’d probably die in the open waters either from dehydration or some giant sea serpent and it scared me. That’s my punishment for reading far too many fantasy books, an over imaginative mind.
“Come on wind . . . blow south, blow south, blow south . . .” my sister Caelyn repeated over and over, rocking, as if praying to a wind God, her eyes glassing over as she began to cry once again. To our amazement the wind momentarily fluttered from a westerly to a northerly but couldn’t quite make up its mind then switched back, continuing to push us east. Did that really happen? I thought wide eyed staring at the twins.
Victoria’s glimmering emerald eyes widened just as mine had confirming my suspicions, “What the . . . , blow south, blow south, blow south, blow south . . . ” Victoria chanted along with Caelyn and slowly but surely the wind slowed down before rapidly picking up speed changing directions and pushing us south. It was the miracle we needed, the change in wind direction put us on a collision course to meet up with the last standing, half submerged scariest looking sky scraper in Chicago and possibly the world – how cool was that.
“HOLY CRAP!” I couldn’t help but shout in joy while fist pumping, causing my sisters to almost fly out of the boat. “You made the wind change directions! You actually did it! If I ever take a test again, I want you two right there next to me chanting, “Get an A, get an A, get an A.” We all laughed with relief as our aluminum fishing boat continued gliding across the cool dark blue waters, this time towards the dark menacing skyscraper.
“Ethan, honestly, we did not make the wind change, that’s impossible, it was a strange coincidence. But the power of positive thought and prayer never hurts. That’s what mom always taught us,” Victoria said staring at the building . . . “But yeah, that was pretty freaking cool bro. great job spotting this place,” She smiled and gave me a high fi
ve and I felt awesome!
“OUCH, SHIT, OOPS—SORRY! WHAT THE FUDGE! That hurts! What was that?” Caelyn said grabbing her right middle finger, “I think something just bit me?”
“What - wait - what bit you?” Victoria asked, nervously looking around the boat. “SHIT . . . , OUCH—OUCH!” Victoria dragged out her words slowly. “Sorry for my language . . . , but my finger freaking hurts too; it’s like . . . burning inside,” Victoria grabbed her middle finger on her right hand, the same as her twin. “Thanks a lot Caelyn.”
“What did I do?” Caelyn mumbled as she squeezed her painful finger.
“Well . . . we’re twins and you got hurt and now I feel your stupid pain.”
“Whatever sis, don’t talk dumb,” Caelyn replied, rubbing her finger, relief washing over her face as the pain slowly eased away. “It’s just an old tale that twins can feel each other’s pain and emotions.”
“No it’s not a tale, it’s true,” were the last words Victoria uttered as our boat floated up to the towering dark building, the water gently tapping its sides.
Sticking out our one oar and spear to slow down, the water level thankfully stood evenly between two floors and we easily floated through large missing office windows, ducking slightly as we sailed into the heart of the beast covering our noses to stop the smell of mold and mildew from invading our nostrils.
“Looks like someone’s office or what’s left of it,” Victoria said, as our boat scraped over the top of a large expensive looking desk hiding just below the surface of the water.