The Third

Chapter 11 // Undiluted Shock

Every nerve in my body that tensed up and squeezed my bones, every off-beat pulse of my heart; it all just dissipated. I let out a sound, it could've been a squeak or a sigh or a gasp of relief. I was overwhelmed. The way his hand felt perched on my shoulder was comforting enough to stop everything.

But then I thought about it. "What do you mean okay?"

His expression went from joy to sorrow. I raised my voice.

"How can we ever be okay in this place? The world's gone to hell, there's nothing good anymore; how are we ever going to be okay?"

I felt a heat and a stiffness building up in my stomach. It traveled and maneuvered its way up through my throat and into my head. The heat tried escaping through my eyes; I tried to hold tears back. They spotted my vision, and soon enough I was practically blind.

Mattaeus rose his hand and ran it along the top of my hair, knotted and greasy, filled with sand.

"You don't get it, Kim, we're leaving."

Just the word broke me down. Leaving.

I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck and felt the moist warmth of his back. The heat was released from my head and tears streamed down my face like rain. He held me at eye level by my waist and stared at me. I watched him take off his light blue shirt and raise it to blot my cheeks and eyes.

All this time, his cheeky grin never left his face. I watched the corner of his lips curl up in response to the smile I'd developed.

I leaned closer to him and he pulled my body into a tight embrace. It had been the first real hug I've received in years. I let tears continue to run down my face; and he ran his fingers, smooth and seemingly untouched by the desert sun, from the small of my back to my neck. Despite the torching heat Phoenix donated to us, icy chills broke into my spine and radiated throughout my body.

"I know...I know." His voice made me more comfortable than I'd ever been. It was almost sedative, half lulling me to sleep; rendering me into a shallow state of tranquility. His French accent had a soothing twist to it that had me guessing his every next word. "This is Reid," he pointed to the commander who was sprawled out a few feet from us. "He is a good friend of mine, from when I lived in Boisbriand."

"But how c-" I was cut off by the surprising actions taken by 'Reid'.

He removed his black cloak, and underneath was an ordinary pair of blue pajamas, identical to Mattaeus's. I sat in awe, surprise, undiluted shock as I examined his minimally sunburned skin, long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, perfectly sculpted body. He was rugged, but he looked like a model straight out of a magazine. A rare sight in times like these.

I looked away quickly when he caught me staring. "I was trapped in the back of this truck, with my two buddies. One commander was in the back, two were in the front driving. We opened the door, kicked one out...then we went through that window," he pointed to a window leading to the front of the truck, "and we beat the others with anything we could find. Now my two buddies, James and Ricky, they're up front. They're driving the truck."

This was all overwhelming, and I was having trouble taking it all in. It defied all that we knew about The Third being invincible.

"So we drove to your district, and we crashed through the gas house and that's where we found Matt. We changed into these cloaks that the commanders left behind; and we scooped him up and threw him in the truck, we were about to leave. But he said he wasn't leaving without 'Kimberly'. I'm guessing you're Kimberly."

The light currents of blood in my veins turned to white-water rivers, crashing through their tunnels and making me go numb. "Yes. That's me."

A sly smile began to settle itself on his face and he looked over at Mattaeus.

"You're all he could talk about when we were coming to get you."

"Oh really?" I looked at Matt, smiling, and his face turned a bright red color. He held back a smile and kicked Reid in the knee.

"Shut up, man."

We laughed, and we talked, and we told our stories. The back of that truck became a comfort for me, and we enjoyed ourselves until it halted to an abrupt stop.

The door of the truck bed opened.