We, who Survived

Sitting by the fire with my knees held to my chest, I watched the flames dance. Their colours melded seamlessly into each other, the coals burning the hottest. It was a beautiful sight that no one on the station would have been able to see at that moment, only the survivors. To have the privilege of seeing it made me grateful for witnessing its power, feeling its warmth on my skin. Only if I had a pencil and paper, maybe I would have something to freeze this moment in time with and chase away the thoughts in my head.

Our group was far from fitting into the world we knew practically nothing about, the odd ones out in the equation that made up the universal balance. The animals had all evolved to their environment and here we were in ragged, ripped clothing trying our bloody best to hold onto sanity after watching one our own pulled to the depths of a pool. The overwhelming thing about it all was the fact that Brandon would not be the first and last person we lose, he would be at the top of the list but certainly not the bottom. The only way to make sure the list didn’t grow was to find a safe place fast, before even more...

“Why are you not sleeping?” Glancing up, I met Joon and Charlie. The fire’s glow gave them an ethereal appearance. Charlie rolled his eyes with a small nod before coming to sit next to me, hugging his legs to his chest.

“Isn’t it clear, Joon? We watched a giant snake eat a kid and, dear Nate here, got bit by a nasty leach thingy too. Sleep can be challenging to get, though-” Charlie abruptly went silent.

“Though you are lucky. Last time you were by yourself Daniel and his gang kicked your ass,” Joon stated, making me roll my eyes and Charlie snort. “Seriously, they were just trudging around one of the firepits looking for trouble!”

“We might share the same brain cell for that but the bloke won’t step a foot next to Nate with two strong Asians and a hot-headed American,” Charlie mumbled, voice taking on a new tone. “How is your back? Sparky said that today was giving you a hard time...”

“Um... It still hurts just not as bad, I guess. Though, Joon, I will be able to carry my own bag tomorrow, so you don’t have to worry about that,” I lied, scratching the back of my neck. I hated that he was carrying my bag when his one was already so heavy. It made me feel guilty like he was being treated as a pack mule.

Joon nodded before crouching behind me. I glanced at him curiously. He bit his bottom lip before he pulled my shirt up. Immediately a breath slipped passed my lips as the cold air attacked my skin, easing the knotted muscles between my shoulders. Charlie chuckled, shifting so he could sit behind me before beginning to knead his nimble fingers into my muscles.

“Spark plans on leaving early tomorrow morning, seems that it will be the longest part of our journey by the looks of the maps. He wants to get as much of it behind us before sunset,” Joon said, stretching out as he lay on his back, his bag under his head. “Better get some sleep in before tomorrow’s torture.” It was not too long before he was snoring lightly, hands clasped over his stomach.

“He always falls asleep as soon as he gets comfortable. It pisses me off since I can’t even get four hours in on a good night. Jae has the same bloody habit,” Charlie huffed as he finished up, pulling my shirt down and came to sit by my side. He shook his head. “Might as well follow his lead or we’ll be Walkers in the morning.”

"Walkers?”

“Zombies, Nate, you know from that old-ass series, The Walking Dead? Don’t tell me you never rented it when you worked day-n-night in that library.”

Shaking my head, I gazed into the fire. Why would I want to rent out something about an apocalyptic world when we lived just above one? And zombies were such a cliched thing to watch and write about.

“Well, you missed out on some awesome gruesome action but I wasn’t joking about the sleep.” Charlie pulled his bag close to him before curling into a ball. “Goodnight short-stuff.”

“Goodnight.”

“Charlie must have worked his magic or something.” Maria’s voice woke me up, causing me to sluggishly open my eyes. I was next to the smouldering remains of the fire, my head resting in Maria’s lap like the first day I woke up on the lifepod. Her fingers were running through my hair as she gently combed it away from my face, bottom lip being chewed as she contemplated something. From this angle, I could see a thin scar travelling the length of her jaw. When she felt my eyes on her, she smiled down at me, rich brown eyes slightly closing.

“Look who’s finally awake.” She chuckled, brushing my fringe back to its normal place, dipping slightly to hide my blue eye. She then played with the hair at the base of my skull that formed a small tail there. She glanced up before smirking. “Sparky, come and get your boy clean up while you still can!” Maria gave me no warning as she pushed me up, my head spinning with the sudden movement.

“Might as well listen to the girl, plus that wound needs to be cleaned.” His low voice made me tense up as Maria pushed me to my feet. Spark had gingerly taken my hand, guiding me to the water. Dean and Charlie were walking back, too busy in a heated argument to notice us. What caught my attention though was their expressions. The bored one Dean generally wore was replaced by flushed cheeks, clenched jaw and balled fists. Charlie was letting all his anger show as he shouted at him before taking a breath which allowed Dean to cut in.

“Don’t get angry.” Spark’s words drew my attention back to him just as he yanked my shirt over my head. Being momentarily dazed by his actions, he took the chance and dabbed something freezing against my wound. Instantly, I arched away from him only to get his icy hand on my shoulder and goosebumps on my skin.

“What the actual fuck?” Growling, I glared at him over my shoulder, hugging myself. He smirked and poke my nose.

“I don’t have a washcloth so I dipped the shirt into the water. Out of the two ideas, this was the safest compared to throwing you in,” Spark explained as he cleaned the area around my wound. Droplets of water ran down my spine causing me to shiver and hug myself tighter. Gritting my teeth, I bared it until a dull throb was coming from my wound.

“Spark, please stop.” He ceased his actions and went to clean the shirt just as a cold wind blew off the stream’s surface, sucking out the remaining heat I had. Spark dropped the shirt and hugged me, his hand splaying just under my wound. My head was tucked under his chin as he held me closer to his body as if trying to give me as much of his warmth as possible.

“As soon as we are at the facility you can have a proper bath to get rid of any infections we don’t know about. A-and maybe... Maybe I could help you,” He whispered the last part, breath sending unwanted shivers up my spine as he moved his head to rest on my shoulder. “If you want me to.”

“Spark,” Stuttering, I moved my head away from his, feeling something bubble up in my chest. “I-I don’t need... I need to go, please let go.” His arms weakened enough for me to escape and hurriedly walk back to where my bag was. The cool air had me sneezing the whole way. When I got there, there was a large group of teens milling close by. I tried to act like this was normal, that I could walk confident and shirtless towards my bag but as soon as I felt eyes on me, the facade dropped. The urge to frantically dig in my bag took over as whispers erupted around me.

“Quit staring! Are you all that blind to not see how stressed he is?” A boy chided. Mumbled apologies were followed closely by the scraping of boots on the pebbles. As soon as they were gone, I found my second shirt and tugged it on, zipping the bag shut and slung it over my shoulders. Turning around, I was met with a pale face and choppy brown hair with thin eyebrows. Two rich coloured eyes gazed at me curiously before he was stretching his hand out. He looked familiar but then again, he was close to my height, I could have seen anywhere in the halls of the station.

“Thanks,” I said, taking his hand hesitantly and shaking it. He smiled shyly before letting his arm fall to his side.

“The name’s Max, uh, Carly’s older brother. I wanted to thank you for calming down the others yesterday.” Max tried to keep eye contact but it seemed like he was just as bad as me with other people. As he mumbled something else, I took in the rest of his features. He was definitely part of the defence force like Jae and Joon, most likely a lower rank than them. I could see the muscles of his arms being hugged snugly by his jean jacket and hoodie; his jeans were torn from possible our time here so far.

“I didn’t do anything really, y’know.” I smirked at his confusion. “What I said just happened to be the right things said at the right moment.”

“You still stopped the rising anxiety and even made a couple of my friends feel way better than Spark’s speech did.” Max finally made proper eye contact then, determination shining in them. “I-I know you have Jae and Joon looking out for you but-” He took a deep steadying breath. “Could I be your guard?”

His question made my eyes widen. Max had taken me by surprise with his offer, making me stare at him. He bit his lip as if this was the biggest thing that has ever happened in his life at that moment and it could mean life or death. A simple no would shatter him.

“O-okay.” Nodding, I gave him an unsure smile. “Just don’t get up in my personal space.”

“Got it, Nathan.” He smiled, eyes closing in joy.

“Might as well call me Nate.”