Miles, Beck, and Ace stumbled through the forest, pushing past vines and branches, the foliage dragging morning dew across their bare blistered feet.
"Are we almost there?" Miles asked, smacking a mosquito off the back of his neck.
"Yeah should be, it's just up ahead behind that tree line," Ace said, pointing up toward the top of the hill sprinkled with trees rustling softly in the wind.
"Good, I think my feet have been bleeding for the last two miles," Beck said joining in, taking light careful steps.
"Yeah, I meant to ask, why are y'all barefoot?" Ace asked, looking down at their feet.
"It's a long story- our shoes were so wet they practically dissolved in the lake," Miles said, shrugging.
"Didn't seem worth it to keep 'em on,"
"Didn't seem like a long story to me," Ace muttered under his breath.
The further they walked the more unbearable it became. The sun broke through the treetops and melted into their skin. Beck tried her best to keep moving but the sweltering beads of sweat and muscle pain in her legs begged her to sit and rest.
"I have to stop," She said, placing her hand on the trunk of a large tree.
"What's going on?" Ace asked.
"My feet can't take the pain anymore."
"Mine either, let's stop here for a minute," Miles suggested, letting himself pause under the shade of the large trees above.
Ace nodded his head knowing that if they rested now they would all have enough energy to make the rest of the trek to the cabin. Miles and Beck plopped on the ground protected and cooled by the large leafy canopy above. Beck rubbed her feet which were bright red and covered in deep cuts and yellow sores. Miles' feet were a little worse; the only difference was that his wounds were oozing with puss and blood, and his cuts were much deeper, nearly showing the muscle under his skin.
"Jesus, that's fucking gnarly dude," Ace said, as a look of disgust plastered itself across his face.
"Yeah just feel lucky you can't smell it," Miles snapped back, holding his index finger and thumb to his nose.
"Oh nope, I gotta not be here right now or I'm going to be sick," he said turning away from the grotesque foot. Miles chuckled to himself finding his disgust amusing and making the pain on his feet almost bearable. Beck didn't receive any joy from Ace's reaction she was too focused on the pain and burning to pay any attention to him. She winced as she rubbed her foot gently to avoid splitting open the puss-filled blisters on her cracked and jagged heel.
"I have some aloe at the cabin and I should have some cream for that infection," Ace said, trying his best to help the situation.
"Yeah, that would be nice," she replied, attempting to smile.
"I might also have some extra boots you guys can wear too," He said, thinking back to the pile of shoes nestled in the corner by the front door.
"It'd certainly make the trip easier," Miles said, smiling up at him.
"Well, I know how to get to the cabin from here it shouldn't take more than an hour tops," he said, optimistically.
"Maybe I'll just make the trek and meet back up with you guys with the stuff."
"Okay, an hour, sounds good to me," Miles said, nodding his head.
Beck agreed and continued rubbing her sore feet, excited she would not have to walk again for a while and hopefully not without shoes.
Before he left, Ace knelt to tighten his laces and straighten the tongues of his boots, after standing up and planning his journey out in his mind, he was ready to go.
"See you soon," he said.
"Good luck Ace," Beck said, forcing her lip to curl into a crooked smile.
"See you soon," Miles said, watching as the boy disappeared into the forest.
--
Amanda stood from her makeshift bed on the rough hay-covered floor, a wave of nausea reminding her of how long she had been in the overbearing sun with no food or water. She placed her hand firmly against the wall in an attempt to regain balance before slowly making her way to the door of the large wooden shack she was in.
The warmth of the sun and the smell of wildflowers made her feel a bit better. She was blinded for a moment, everything turning white and hot. She turned her head away and blocked it out with one hand as her vision focused itself. She looked up and saw the farm in front of her. Large wooden gates surrounded the area, a large silo sat on a hilltop in the distance and crops sprouted in the pastures behind the barn.
Boulder stood in front of her leaning against the fence post and talking with Ashur as they looked over the fields. To an untrained eye the two mirrored farm hands preparing for a long day's work.
"Do you think it's safe here?" He asked, whispering.
"I don't know," Ashur said, his voice, seemingly absent.
"You saw them, do you think that could happen to us?"
"I don't know, I have no idea what's going on and I don't know if we'll be okay," the smaller boy snapped.
"Saw who?" Amanda questioned, moving in closer to snoop on their conversation.
"Dash! You're up and moving," the large boy said nervously stuttering.
"Who did you see?" She repeated slowly. The boys stared at each other for a moment as a look of dread washed over their faces.
"It's more like what we saw. After the blast, the shelter was full and we had nowhere to go," Boulder said, emphasizing his words with his hands.
"So we decided to seek shelter just outside of town and hope for the best."
"Okay?" She said, nervously.
"Well, we ended up finding this roomy cave just outside of town where we stayed for what felt like days."
"After everything had settled down, we looked outside and headed back toward the shelter once we knew it was clear." Ashur chimed in, dreading the next part of the story.
"When we got there, the soldiers outside were burnt. they were completely fried and stuck in the position they had been in when the blast hit, that's our theory anyway. They had this black goop leaking from every hole in their body and mounds of sludge encapsulating their feet." He continued.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" She asked, shocked and frightened.
"That isn't even the worst of it! We collected ourselves, and that's when we noticed the door never closed - not fully anyway. That's how...Ashur found his parents and everyone else inside." He finished.
A tear jumped down Ashur's cheek as he stared into the dirt behind the fence. He quickly flicked it off his face with his pointer finger. Amanda sat back, the dread sprouting in her eyes. Any remnants from her stomach lurched back up into her mouth and out onto the dirt below her.
"It's okay Dash w...we get it. It's a lot to take in," Boulder said, placing his flat palm lightly on the center of her back as she coughed.
"No, you don't understand!" She yelled, slapping the large hand from her vertebral column.
"The shelter...it was...everybody?...we-"
"I know, I know it's a lot to process, but we have to remember we lived. Others might've too. The world just seems different, colder almost." he said, staring into the ruby-colored sky.
"Emptier too. But that doesn't mean that everyone's gone," He finished.
Tears streamed down the girl's cheek and her eyebrows creased, needing more information.
"No, they're coming for us. They're going to save us and we are all going to be okay," She said, optimistically.
"Dash...We're alone. As far as we know it's just us and the few that made it out of town. You saw the crowd of people on that highway better than either of us did. You know how quickly the shelter filled. Everyone from the city is gone," Ashur said, pessimistically.
"So what? We just sit here on this farm waiting to die covered in hay and marinated in cow shit?" she asked, angrily.
"That's just it; maybe we can rebuild, if there are more people out there we'll build a survivor's camp. Everyone can be welcome and safe here," Boulder said excitedly using his fingers to measure the land around them.
"Rebuild?" Amanda turned her ear, now intrigued.
"Think, if we take the skills that we've learned over the years we could make this a home, a refuge for anyone that needs safety anyone that made it out," he continued.
"Skills?" She asked, skeptically.
"Well, I'm strong. I can lift, pull, and carry. I did a summer in construction with my uncle who taught me the basics. I even helped him build a house way out in Washington for some rich asshole once," he said, proud of the accomplishment.
"Then there's Ashur, say what you will but he is insanely skilled, I've seen this guy use weapons in his martial arts classes; spears, swords, knives, and even that weird stick you spin around really fast." He continued, excitedly.
"It's called a bo staff Boulder," Ashure said, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah! That thing!"
"Okay, you guys have building and weapon skills - what about me?"
"I've seen you in school, believe it or not, I know that you are skilled in all things, along with gardening. You spend all of your free time in the garden club, you have the greenest thumb I've ever seen in my life. We could use that here, we'll need food," he finished. She looked at the ground for a moment. Dry vomit crusted in the corner of her mouth as her glossy eyes slowly gazed up toward him.
"Okay. I mean, I mostly just tended to baby tomato stocks and indoor plants, but I guess it can't be that hard, can it?" She was tempted, realizing it might just be a good plan.
"Where should we start?" She asked, looking over the valley they had been squatting in.
"Anywhere," Asure said, placing his hand on her shoulder. She smiled, filled with sorrow and grief but also hope and trust in the two boys she was with, knowing that for the first time in days, she felt safe. She had a plan and she was no longer alone.