Novel Jumper

Chapter Five

 Lilia gasped, gagging as she stopped a few feet from the door. Azca was inside, preparing for his trip in another direction.

"I can't do this."

Her numb grief at Thalia's death had protected her from the stench and the terrifying sights as they were burying the body, but now, there was no such emotional turmoil to distract her. Rather, the bodies and stink were the only things she seemed able to focus on.

"You have to, or else you'll be stuck in my house surrounded by corpses forever," Connor pointed out.

"I can't. I'm sorry," Lilia murmured, pressing her palms against her eyelids.

Connor sighed deeply. "Here."

Lilia opened her eyes to find him standing in front of her, with his back to her, arms out and glancing over his shoulder expectantly. "What?" she asked after a moment.

"Grab my shoulders. That way, I can lead you out of the city."

Gingerly, Lilia moved forward and rested her hands lightly on Connor's shoulders. She felt the strong muscles underneath her fingertips move as he placed his left hand on top of hers and let his right hand hold the strap of his duffel bag.

I'm basically holding hands with Connor, Lilia thought crazily, stifling a giggle and using her free hand to also anchor the strap of her bag in place. Maybe the death fumes are getting to me.

They started forward slowly. After Connor had forgotten to warn her about enough bodies, which she had clumsily stumbled over (one of them had given a sickening crunch and she was fairly certain that it was their nose), she pressed herself close to him, and they became an odd, shuffling creature, moving through the carnage. The heat radiating from his body was comforting, even with the sun already beating down on them.

After what felt like an eternity, Connor commanded, "Open your eyes."

Lilia did so and found that while there were a few dead bodies out here, many of them had most likely been trying to escape the city, and so had finally accepted that they were going to die and had enough sense to curl into the corners of buildings or hide in bushes. Lilia remembered having a cat when she was six that had been old and cruel - it had been feral before refusing to leave their yard one day. One fateful morning, it had just gone missing. Her mother had finally found it dead in the bushes lining their backyard, and that was when Lilia learned that a lot of animals liked to be alone and hidden when they died. She hadn't thought humans felt the same way, but by looking at all of these bodies, most of them curled into themselves and trying to hide in whatever little ways they could, she had to wonder.

At least they were at the edge of the demolished town. To their left, fields of wildflowers and prairie grass stretched to the horizon. To their right, a dense forest blocked whatever view might have been seen, save a large mountain towering up into the sky.

"Mount Fireborn," Lilia breathed, staring at the distant, snow-capped peak of the formation.

Connor shook his head ruefully. "I am never going to get over that."

"Over what?" Lilia asked. She figured he meant her having read about him in a book, but she didn't know what specifically was throwing him off.

Connor just sighed, shook his head, and started down the dirt road.

It felt odd that it was such a beautiful day. Lilia felt like that since no one else was going to, she was obligated to let the sun know that they had just left a massacred village behind as possibly the only survivors besides Azca. She could tell it to wear some clouds or something - not look so happy, at least.