1.3
Inside of a rickety little radio shack, Skye and the three travelers–along with the old man who manned the station–were gathered tightly together, flipping through channels and broadcasting their carefully planned cryptic message.
This is how it went: "Follow Sasha's planned route 10 miles beyond its end. He was right."
Skye wasn't dead-set on keeping Bone Creek's location a secret, but she certainly didn't want to give it away needlessly. They figured that with this message, no unwanted listeners would be able to learn anything.
And this worked because of the group's careful planning before they had split up. Sasha, after searching the depths of his mind, had been able to draw a rough map of the cascade mountains and the surrounding area. Then, they'd planned out a route for each of them to take, one that would result in them never being separated from the others by more than about 15 miles.
Sasha was right because he believed that the hidden city would be east of the mountains, nestled somewhere in the dry, expansive shrub-steppe. The others knew the route that he'd taken, so, theoretically, they would be able to find Bone Creek.
"They might run into Yakima, you know," Skye warned.
It wasn't on the same level as Portland, but Yakima still used to be a densely populated city. Accidentally walking into it could be a disaster, especially for fatigued travelers who'd been trudging around for weeks on end.
"I think they'll find us," Sasha said confidently. In this casual setting, he was able to find some composure and speak to Skye without shaking.
"What do you think, Pete?" Skye turned to the old man and asked.
"Ah! They might!" he replied with a childlike grin.
Skye yawned widely, stretching her arms above her head and arching her back after a stressful morning.
"Alright, nice," she said. "I'll give you guys food and water, and then I'll go watch the tournament. You can come along if you want."
"Tournament?" Sasha asked hesitantly.
"I'll explain it to you on the way," she said. "It's the reason the city's so empty–everyone left to go watch."
When they stepped out of the radio shack, the travelers remembered how thirsty they'd become, and they gulped down the cold glasses of water Skye handed to them like there was no tomorrow.
But Sasha was hesitant about spending even a minute of their precious time idly. As Skye led the three newcomers through the city, his brow was tightly knit and his hands were clenched, mind always bent on the concept of war and death–it could strike at any moment, and no one would even be aware of its approach.
He felt a hand tugging on his shirt.
"Sasha."
Yumi pulled him back, and they fell out of earshot of Skye and Corvus, who had unexpectedly started some resemblance of a conversation.
"Are you ok?"
Sasha looked at her with eyes tense in fear and hesitation.
He nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine…"
He stopped walking.
"Wait… no…"
Yumi smiled at him. "Let's keep walking. We don't want to lose them."
Side by side, they stepped forward.
"Yumi… I'm sorry. You're always helping me, but… but I can never help you."
His head was tilted down, eyes set on the ground.
"Did something happen to you, Sasha?"
He inhaled sharply.
He'd expected her to comfort him–to tell him that he was wrong about himself, even when he knew that he wasn't. Or perhaps she would just pat him on the back and change the subject.
He could predict so many responses to what he'd said, but Yumi's wasn't among them.
"Do–do you really want to hear about it?" he mumbled.
"Sasha."
Yumi's voice was somehow different than usual… almost as if it was the first time she'd truly sounded human.
"Sasha, I haven't been honest with anyone in a long time, but I want to be honest with you, ok? Please tell me, 'cause I wanna hear it."
His eyes widened and he stared at her. He stared at her for a long time, and when he finally realized it, he blushed and looked the other way.
"I-it's not interesting, or anything… My parents were… not kind to me. School was hard too, and as I got older, I couldn't talk to anyone anymore. I know I should have been happy, because I had enough food to eat and I lived in a safe place, but I… I wasn't."
His voice trembled.
"I always felt like… there was no reason for me to be alive. I didn't help anyone… I only bothered people, just by being there."
He wiped away the tear that was rolling down his cheek.
"I realized when I got older that… it might have been my parents' fault, but I just couldn't… I couldn't change."
"...I s-still think about those things. I still wonder if… there's even any reason for me… ...sorry. I'm sorry, Yumi."
Yumi pursed her lips.
"Guess what I'm gonna say."
"huh?"
She looked Sasha in his teary eyes.
"I'm glad I met you, Sasha."
Sasha opened his mouth, but he couldn't find anything to say. Her words made him happy, but it wasn't enough to bring a smile to his face.
"Do you want to ask me anything?"
"What?"
Yumi grinned. "You told me about yourself, so I feel like I should tell you something about me."
"Oh. Uhh…" Sasha took a deep breath, trying to organize his scattered thoughts.
There was, in fact, something he wanted to say to her.
"Thanks for saving me," he finally mumbled, meeting her curious gaze. "From that fire in Portland."
This time, he was able to keep facing her.
"A-and, uhh, I do have a question."
A pause followed.
"Then ask me!" Yumi exclaimed eagerly.
He cleared his throat. "How'd you do it? How'd you save me? You also healed Nikki, right? Even though the healing powers didn't even work on your own injuries at first. It seems like… there must be something you haven't told anyone."
Yumi's face emptied of expression as she listened to him speak.
This is what I want, right? she asked herself.
She hesitated, wondering exactly what she was chasing after.
"...my injuries didn't heal because I didn't want them to."
She looked somberly at the ground, showing Sasha an expression he'd never seen on her face before.
"Why?" he asked, his voice hardly more than a whisper.
"Because I don't know what to do with myself."
Yumi sighed.
"My life was a dopamine rush. It sounds hilarious, but I drank my dad's whiskey when I was a kid, and then I went off the rails and did all kinds of shit–everything. Finding new highs was my life, so I kept chasing after them."
She looked Sasha in the eye.
"If you knew all the things I did, Sasha, you would never speak to me again."
In the midst of Sasha's shocked silence, she continued.
"But it gets old. One thing does, and then the next thing, and then the next. You can imagine what I felt like when I ran out–it probably wasn't so different from you, Sasha. I wondered if I had any reason to be alive."
"But I always thought there must be some other way, and then I had an idea: What if I just did the opposite? What if I stopped doing drugs, stopped using the elements, and went back to the way things were before?"
"That's what I did. Maybe it helped? I don't know. But it wasn't what I'd hoped. It wasn't the same. I realized that no matter what I did differently, I was still the person who'd done those things, and that's who I would always be."
"I realized that, but there was still something inside me that wouldn't give up. I guess I was hoping for a miracle… and I think it might have been you."
Sasha felt like corn kernels were popping inside his skull.
"Me?"
"Mmm-hm!" Yumi confirmed. "I got to live a whole new life because of you!"
"Ah–I mean, that was just an accident," he muttered nervously.
"Hah? Do you wish I never came?"
"N-no!" Sasha threw his hands up, blushing a bright red. "You also gave me… another chance."
"Hmmmmm." Yumi reached out and prodded Sasha in the center of his forehead. "You're too cute."