The Last People // When Snow Falls in Neverland :: complete

Snow r e m a i n s

 BLOOD. BLOOD WAS WHAT ANA SAW MOST IN THESE MOMENTS.

Knives clashed against knives, blood merging with blood, and most of all, fear. Hand to hand combat seemed to be working until the man screeched, "retreat!" and they all left, sprinting away and hopefully never to be seen again.

"Good job," Nolan mumbled as they trudged back to their camp out, the sun beginning to set.

"Doing what?" Ana responded emotionlessly, "being an awful leader?"

"No. I think you did fine," he told her. "You're a beginner anyhow."

"I did a terrible job, Nolan. I basically blacked out." She looked down, watching the once white snow become dark with the sun.

"Yeah. Sensitive to blood? Gore? If you are, you'd better turn back right now." He paused to look at her, and Ana could feel his gaze on her back. "War has a lot of both of those things."

+++

When the two groups met up again, Ana found herself very guilty. Trenton probably did a whole lot better than she did, and Ana was supposed to be the leader. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

"Alright, men," she mumbled as she made their way back into the cellar. "What happened?" Trenton looked at her with an odd expression; something like pity, or fear. Ana wasn't sure, but it probably wasn't anything good.

"Nothing happened to my group," Trenton announced, his face plain. "Except for that we found a whole lot of weaponry a while down. Someone must've had to flee before they could grab their knives and whatever. But that means there's someone out there. Someone out to get someone else."

"Okay. I'm assuming you didn't grab the weapons?" Ana responded, glaring at the cans of rich food. She was very hungry, and she was struggling to contain her want.

"No, not this time. I didn't have anything to carry them in. They were big, too. Machetes and huge rifles. Shotguns. Everything. Whoever had it must have been spoiled rotten," he explained to her casually. Ana's eyes lit up.

"That's great! Now we'll have even more protection and we might be able to go and find a new hideout, yeah?" And everyone nodded in such a lively manner that she was certain this was the best thing that had happened to them so far. "I didn't do so good on my side. We ended up fighting... fighting..." Ana had forgotten what their enemy's name was. She really did have a knack for showing signs of good leadership.

"I believe the name you're looking for is 'The Blades'," Nolan assisted her. He was smiling, for some unknown reason. It seemed to Ana that Nolan was always smiling, like maybe he just liked to smile. Ana furrowed her eyebrows. "What? Aren't you gonna continue?" Ana just shook her head.

"Yeah. The Blades and us fought, and like I said, we were best at hand-to-hand combat, and it kind of worked out. They fled before anyone got seriously hurt --" But her eyes drifted down to where a cut remained, outlined in vermillion. Her eyes were now glued to her wound, like the pain was just now starting to really kick in. "I mean, I'm fine. Just a little cut is all."

"Looks like sarg needs a bandage," Nolan spoke. "Who has a first aid kit?" Everyone felt their sides, and one man pulled one out from his pocket. It was small and probably only held just enough bandage for her wound. "Here," Nolan volunteered, taking the bandages.

The bandage would need to be put around her torso, and Nolan realized that, so he pulled her to him gently. "Do you mind if I just, like, heal you?" he asked her with the same smile he liked so much. Ana's cheeks blossomed red, and she just stared at his hands as he worked.

His hands were those of a doctor's; soft and knowing. "I worked as a medic for a long time before finally getting the training for actual fighting," he told her, "I actually really liked my job, as a medic. Until the blood became much more plentiful..." And he trailed off, focusing on his fingers as he wrapped the gauze around her waist.

"Thank you," Ana praised after he was done, and he stepped away awkwardly.

"No problem." Their eyes met for a split second, but Ana made sure not to make eye contact. This boy, Nolan... she didn't even know him. If anything, she shouldn't even have let him wrap the bandages around her.

"Okay, so tomorrow we'll go out to get those weapons, all in one group. Let's eat quick and get some sleep. We'll be awake before the sun rises tomorrow, so be prepared. I wanna get all of those weapons as soon as possible so no one else has the chance to get them." She paused to look at all of the men. She grabbed a can of food and spread a little bit to each of them, and the buckets of ice had now melted into water.

She found a cap on the floor, probably from something her mother had brought down before the war, and Ana was grateful for it as she dunked it into the water and sipped it. She passed it around so everyone got an even amount.

After everyone was asleep, or at least Ana thought everyone was asleep, she selfishly reached for the can -- which was not yet empty -- and scooped out some food.

"Hungry, Sarg?" Nolan queried, smirking. Ana frowned, and her eyes glimmered with regret.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, but it was sincere.

"It's okay. I won't tell anyone," he told her. "Go ahead." Ana reached for the can once again, thankful for Nolan who had forgiven her for something that might not have been very serious, but was, in some ways.

"Thanks," Ana said afterward. Nolan just nodded and turned over on the ground, and soon he was snoring. Ana could only hope she would fall asleep soundly.

a/n:

I hate it. I hate this chapter. It's completely uneventful and frankly, very cliche. I don't like what I did with Nolan and Ana. This was not supposed to be some cheesy romance, so I'm sorry. please do comment about what you did and didn't like about what happened in this chapter! although, I don't really like this chapter in general... so I'm sorry :c

~ Mae