Hiraeth

4.

~I could no longer hear the city's traffic nor the muffles of the people. It was drowned of its life. Empty~

With no shelter we all slept upon the leather seats of the truck. I didn't mind it. I quite liked the emptiness. The boys had gone off early in search of food. They had left me and the girls to rest in the backseats. I was first awake. I stepped out of the truck, my lacey tunic slipping off my shoulder as I yawned. The wind had settled and the sand was still. I took a deep breath in as I closed my eyes and puffed out my chest. I climbed the truck and rested upon its roof. I sat there for a while before I heard a sigh from inside the truck. Amora was awake. I tilted my head over and into the truck's edge, "Psst up here". I grabbed hold of her hand as I helped her up. We sat there giggling as we looked out at the mountains. We began talking about all the madness that had taken place in the last 24 hours. You see, her mind works differently to mine. She was talking about what she called her 'new life', which was how she could finally do many things now that she couldn't before. But I was thinking of far worse. I was thinking of what would happen next. Where were we going to go? I was still overwhelmed by my lucid dreams and hadn't quite pulled myself together. Plus I didn't have time to think about my 'new life', I was still trying to understand my past, And what type of messed up stuff happened to turn the world into this empty void.

Whatever happened was far gone. Most of the buildings that were left standing had mold and vines growing up all the sides. With trees and bushes growing within them. Amora placed her head on my shoulder as she sang. I didn't know this song. I don't think she knew it either. She just began humming a tune and pieced the words together. She began swaying back and forth and nodding her head.

I could see the silhouettes of the boys in the distance as I pointed them out to Amora she jumped up and began running towards them. "Amora wait!" I exclaimed as I chased after her. My feet are sinking into the sand. They boys had huge smiles on their faces. "A road! A road!" They shouted. Marcus pointed at some cobble that slipped in and out of the sand. We began laughing and the boy picked me up and twirled. Then I caught sight of movement from beside the truck.

Akira had woken up and was running after us. She looked frightened. We all froze as she jumped at us, her hands waving in the air. "Stop it, stop it!" She yelled. "Akira calm down, we are only having fun" Marcus replied. "No, can you hear that?" She looked up as the ground began to vibrate. I rolled on my feet as I began to lose balance. Then I saw them. Helicopters?!  There were 4 black helicopters with 'the offshore' branded onto each side. They were circling us and could feel myself falling back. I fell onto the boy, his arms around me. "RUN!" Marcus beltched. The boy pulled me back up to my feet, he grabbed my hand as he pulled me away. We all began running back to the truck. Tripping over our own feet along the way. I threw myself inside the truck and slammed the doors shut, we held our heads low as Marcus started the engine. His foot slammed down onto the clutch and we flew forwards. A few moments passed and I could feel the panic controlling me. My face was frozen and I could no longer move my arms. The movements of the truck colliding with the slithers of road jerked me into falling on top of Amora. Then the truck stopped and Marcus opened the door. He fell out as he starred. "Wtf was that?" he said. I felt off. Where had I seen that logo before? Then it hit me. That time in the lab when I saw the boy, what was on that ladies coat? "The lab" I whispered, didn't know what else to say. I was still trying to piece it all together in my head. I grabbed the lab coat from the back seats and pulled it onto my lap.

Right there in blue, bold letters it spelt 'the offshore'. I muttered it beneath my breath before linking eyes with marcus. His face was still and so was mine. "You're wanted, they're looking for you" he said. I knew he was right. But why were we so valuable. I could only imagine how many more teenagers they were testing within that lab, why look for us? I threw the coat onto the backseat as I climbed back with it. The girls sat beside me. We began driving south (away from the mountains) it felt like we were driving even further away from any life at all. I placed my head on Amoras shoulder as I closed my eyes. My head fell down onto hers as I looked out of her window. There were two butterflies chasing each other, dancing. They were following the window flying up and down, their azure wings fluttering as they glided. I felt my eyes become fixed on the creatures at play. And i began drifting off into a light trance. My eyes opened and closed every time the truck shook.

Hours had passed and I was finally asleep. I could feel a warm breath upon my neck along with 2 muscular arms around me. I assumed it was the boy, or Marcus. But it wasn't him. There was a faint light, and lumps of a dim shadow above me. My eyes shot open and I looked up. A boy with dirty ash like hair had me in his arms. His tan skin reflected the sun as he marched. He had a beige handkerchief tied around his neck that twisted and was tied in two perfect knots to cover his lips. My vision was blurry and I could hardly make out the rest of the figures. There were two girls that claimed to be Akira and Amora.  And in front were 3 more silhouettes. A boy with golden hair had another boy beneath his arm and to the left of him was Marcus and the boy. There was sand brushing over me as I lay limp in his arms. My eyes closed again and I felt myself falling again. What were they doing to me?