At Our End

Ten

The thick arms around her neck jerked loose and she whirled to see a shaking Zale hovering by the door. Her features were froze in utter shock as a nauseating excruciating cry broke the air, and to her surprise Maddix lay crumpled on the ground. His handgun lay discarded among the floor, his face iced in pain and his finger clasping his right leg were all Roman and Fanira could see.
Quickly the three crouched to Maddix's side shaking as much as he was. "What do we do?" Fanira asked panicked at the sight of his blood hiring the freezing floor.
Roman looked at Zale and Zale shook her head nervously, "Wait Maddix!" Zale yelled, remembering him saying he'd taken a class on outdoor survival first aid. "You have to stay awake!" She yelled cupping his face in her shaking hands forcing him to look at her.
    Maddix couldn't hear or see, all he could felt was the hot blood trickling down his leg. He was shaking uncontrollably, and all he could see were Azalea's dark chocolate eyes. Her lips moved, yet he heard nothing.
     "You have to tell us  what to do!" Zale yelled, still attempting to speak to the incoherent Maddix. Roman looked fearfully at Fanira then slipped out of his jacket and tied it tautly around the wound hopping to stop the blood. Suddenly Fanira heard the scrapping of metal against the concrete.
Fanira was too fast for Aja, gripping the handgun Maddix had dropped she turned, kicking the softball bat out of the way in her wraith. "You can't negotiate anymore," Fanira said softly meeting the girl's eyes.
Silence filled the gap between the two girls before Fanira spoke again, "You leave now," Fanira snapped, stepping toward Aja.
"No way sweetheart!" Aja quipped, "Your gonna heal my friend."
"Why would we do that? You shot our medic!"
"Just stitch him up correctly and we'll leave."
Fanira grimaced and glanced at Roman who shook his head. "Drop the gun," he said wearily to Aja leaning to help Zale carry a knocked out Maddix.

--//::;;//--

     Three hours later Aja, Fanira, Roman, and Azalea sat in the living room. All four were nervous-very nervous-not only about the two teenagers that had just been shot that were passed out in the next room, but only three of them were nervous about the likelihood of having to resort to disastrous measures with the stranger across from them.
    Fanira sat ridgid, her back completely straight, her eyes the only movement visible. She found her mind blank as she stared at the hollow looks of the people around her, and she knew they had good reason to be. Roman sat next to her, his leg barely brushing against hers as she looked at his shaking hands. They both knew it would be a miracle if Maddix lived, he'd lost too much blood.
     With Maddix's help Roman had stitched up not only Maddix's, but also Tenor's-the boy who had accompanied Aja-wounds. Roman had been the steadiest of them all, and had somehow managed to do both of them. Deep down this gave Fanira some respect, some hope that there was some humanity, some human kindness left in the world.
    Across the room Aja sat nervously, her faced pinched up as if she smelled something funny, with her eyes staring the trio down. Fanira could guess she wanted an update, yet she was too hollow inside, too star struck to summon her voice. "He'll be okay," Roman answered quietly, his voice wavering, however Fanira could see his real answer, Maybe, he's lost too much blood.
     "Good," Aja replied suddenly with that flat, cold tone of hers, however Fanira could see the worry lacing Aja's dark eyes that told a different story. Fanira looked at Zale and at Roman, and somewhere felt a pull down deep that this was where she was meant to be, yet she didn't just yet feel comfortable enough to break the uneasy silence.
              :://;;:
Weeks had passed since their unlikely and detrimental meeting, and now Fanira watched as Roman pulled the truck over at a deserted Gas station covered in thick icy snow. Aja and Tenor had left as soon as they had, and luckily hadn't bothered them since. Fanira still didn't trust they hadn't followed them, but as of then she had to focus on helping Maddix get inside, for his leg was still giving him trouble. Maddix had been weak, extremely weak from the huge loss of blood he had endured, this of course cost them time also.
       Days ago the snow had isolated them and caused them to be jammed in one place for a while, and because of that the food supply was getting short, and so were the tempers of the four teenagers all trying to survive.
Roman got out of the car quickly, jamming the door shut with a flick of his arm and gripping the handgun he had found tightly. Then he turned and slung an arm around Maddix and pulled him out of the car. Fanira quickly came to Roman's aid as Zale turned back toward the road turning her gun toward the horizon.
Fanira kept her head down as she attempted not to look at the festering bodies and blood covering the street, the car wrecks, and the sights and horrors of the infected that cover the road before them. The place they were staying in was an old gas station and convenice store most likely for travelers. The glass was fully intact and the only wreckage in the place seemed to be in the inside. It was as if time had suddenly stopped, freezing the town just as it was.
Fanira was angry, so angry the base of her neck was a shade of scarlet. Why did we help them? All they wanted to do was kill us! We were trying to be kind, but... Fanira thought angrily, she'd been thinking about their mistake almost constantly since then. Roman hurried past muttering and Fanira couldn't help but think, Man had he changed. First a happy fella, then a concerned brother, and now a short tempered idiot.
That night no one spoke, most likely because they were all so absorbed in their own minds. The gas station around her was littered with all sorts of tings, including looted and destroyed cars. The convenience store's window had been bust in a few places, overall besides being picked clean it was most likely the neared thing to a shelter they would find in a few miles. 
Shelves were throw onto their sides and the cash register in shambles on the floor greeted them as they walked in. The desolate landscape and smell of rotted meat seemed to be the only items that were consistent in this place. Besides a few random salvageable items the rest was useless, so soon enough the four settled into the back room, all of them starving, tired, and speechless. Fanira hugged her coat tighter, her fingers rigid with the cold. She knew there wasn't much hope for them, for she knew eventually the gas would run dry for the truck, and that they need some food soon.
After a few moments the uneasy quiet ceased as Roman moved to take first watch. "Are you cold Fanira?" He asked slipping his coat off his arms.
"No I'm fine, just be careful outside," she shot back, however Roman didn't answer, he instead hand her his coat. Reluctantly Fanira pulled on his thick coat, savoring the remnants of his body heat left in the coat. Fanira tried to talk, but Roman grabbed her arm and said briskly, "Don't fight me, I'll never sleep anyway." Fanira frowned back at him and watched the space between his shoulder blades as he turned toward the glass store front. Roman had been strange lately, extremely quiet and rude, and he never slept. He didn't even speak to Maddix. Fanira couldn't help but be worried, and somewhere deep down she wondered if he had read some very destuctive information in the diary he had found.
With that Fanira sat on the grimy floor covering her nose from the awful smell and stared at her new found friends next to her. Zale said nothing, her face an unreadable mask, and Maddix wasn't much different. Her life had been just like this for almost a month now, and she couldn't stand it. The silence, the coldness, the Ice.
So this is the apocalypse. Fanira observed before an overpowering scent of gasoline filled her nose.

A/N: Hey readers! Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it! If you have any ideas, feedback, or thoughts feel free to comment them here or press that little star button if you liked the chapter