Ardor

Ten: Humans Are Inherently Stupid

(Author's note: sorry for the weird alignment; my computer's being stupid, which is kind of fitting, considering this chapter is about stupidity haha. Also, I apologize for the length of the chapter, but thawed the words were lining up just made me angry so I decided to cut it a little short. Eleven is coming soon)                                                                                                            

  We are so stupid.

We were so stupid.

We left the security of numbers, the comforts of semi-familiar surroundings.

When we finally found a safe haven, we left that too.

And now we're alone, we're scared, we're broken, we're lost.

I run my hands through my now-greasy hair, mimicking Kobe, because I don't know how react. My brain is severely lagging. It's too late to turn back; I'm not just going to continue walking back and forth.

"We are idiots," Kobe observes.

"That is humanity's epidemic, isn't it?"

"Are you some kind of fricking philosopher? Can it already. God, I'm so sick of listening to you go off like that all the freaking time. If you're so smart then tell me what the hell to do!" Kobe's voice cracks and becomes screechy, the sound of mortal terror. He doesn't know what to do and neither do I.

We stand in ruins that used to be homes, among bones that used to belong to bodies, right on top of the mountain of words that tumble from my dry, cracked lips.

"We'll figure something out, alright? There's gotta be some reason they all left," I say in a hopefully reassuring voice. Kobe shakes his head and gestures at our surroundings. I look, searching for whatever has him so spooked. And I see it. Among the dusty remnants of the once beautiful Brookfield I can see shred of clothing, glimpses of still-pink skin, shiny white bones glossed with crimson like lone grave markers. 

"What the hell?" I breathe, barely comprehending what my eyes are telling me I'm seeing. How'd this possibly even happen? the second bout wasn't nearly as bad as the first, so how are all these people just dead all of a sudden? Kobe walks towards one of the few carcasses that isn't smothered by some kind of building material. "Crap. Rhys this wasn't an accident. It was freaking murder," he says, sounding shocked. I feel just as surprised as he sounds. 

Careful not to fall as I walk along the unstable ground, which is now just essentially a whole bunch of broken crap covering up the soil, I make my way over to his crouched form. The victim in question is an young, unmistakably pretty woman--probably only about twenty or so. Her torso was hastily covered with a cement block, but the blood slowly extending from a very obvious bullet hole in her chest gives the guise away. "Holy crap...." I mutter because I can't think of another way to express my disbelief.

"We need to get the hell outta here," Kobe says, getting to his feet. He grabs my elbow and yanks me up with him. I'm still balking, but obey. 

"Where are we gonna go?" 

"Back to that God-awful bunker. It's better than here."

"Kobe, it collapsed."

"What are you talking about?"

"It collapsed. There was a crack in the wall that I saw when we were leaving. When we were like a mile away I heard a crash and thought it must've been the bunker," I say, none of which is true. I'm totally lying because there's no way in hell I'm going back to that place. My last days on earth are not going to be spent underground, hiding. 

"You're lying. Why wouldn't you tell me?" Kobe accuses. "I didn't think we'd need to go back," I say, shaking my head solemnly. The thing with lying is that you don't even know you're doing it after a while. This seems to convince him because he sits back down in the rubble. "We should keep walking," I say softly. Kobe nods but doesn't move. "Why would anyone do this?" He asks to empty air.

Who knows? Humans are inherently stupid. We are cruel, thickheaded, stubborn, and soulless. It's a wonder we've even made it this far.