Fallen Ash

Chapter 3

The ash had gotten thick.

Mostly because it had started raining not too soon afterward. We were pretty quiet, no one had spoken, but the silence told us that we were all thinking about how impossible this is. I may have had a hobby of doing research on the volcano, but I never thought it would actually blow, without warning. Chris was right...it was a silent killer.

We had passed the hotel not too long ago, the rubble was moved around and I saw spaces of where people could have been, some people seemed to have survived and got away. But my heart ached when I realized some of those people will never return home to their families. Their parents won't ever know if their kids are dead or alive.

I don't even know if my family is alive or dead. It's so easy to just give up right now, to just let the ash consume me and let it all just go away, but my parents need to know that I'm alive and I need to know that my family is alive. That small thought is encouraging me to keep going. I looked behind me and saw the sullen faces of my friends. I didn't know how to make them feel better, I can't lie and say that "everything will be fine" because truth be told, I don't know. I can't say that and then find out that our families are gone, I would have lied to their faces. I swallowed. I wanted to apologize to them, but that wouldn't do anything. I had to lift their spirits, a joke would make things worse.

"Guys, I know this is rough, but...I can't tell you that everything will be okay. Because I honestly don't know. But even if our families aren't there...we gotta leave, the ash will bury us. It's a slow and painful death, suffocation is not how I plan on going out. And I won't let you guys suffocate in this stuff. We're friends, we can make it out of this Hell." I couldn't think of another word other than Hell for this. "I won't let a single one of you die, and if we get back home only to find our families gone, then we will stick together and make it through this and build a new life together. I promise." I turned and smiled at them, even though it was blocked by my wash cloth, but I can tell they smiled back.

I faced back around and kept walking through the ash.

"Take a right up here."

*****

I heard Scarlet cough again. We need to find a place to stop to clean our washcloths and eat. I had my eyes peeled for a house or a building. We were on the high way.

Finally a small town came into view. We walked down the hill that was there and into the town. No one was around...it was completely empty. There were a few collapsed buildings, but there was a gas station still in tack. We went there, used the bathroom, and cleaned our washcloths. I checked the sinks and saw that they were still giving off clean water. We quickly ate, got our washcloths wet again, put them back around our faces and kept walking.

After an hour or two, I pulled my phone out of my bag and checked the time momentarily. The screen was slightly cracked from earlier with the explosions. It was around 7, the sun would be going down in a little bit. We need to find a place to stop. I looked around, a rest area was coming up.

"There's a rest area, we can sleep in the bathrooms tonight. Maybe break the vending machines for a few snacks." I said. They nodded. It took about 10 minutes to make it to the rest area, we used the bathroom if we needed to and set up a little sleeping area.

"I'm going to see what I can do about the vending machine." I said. Chris stood up.

"I'll come with." I nodded and Chris followed me out. We went to the vending machines. I looked around and found a rock. I walked back over and threw it as hard as I could at the vending machine, it bounced off. I dodged the rock and frowned in disappointment. Chris walked to the side of the vending machine.