Worlds Apart

Abandonment

The walk back to our new camp, Camp Superior, is a blur if I am to be honest, and I cannot help but sense the unease of some of the Grounders as we further to the grand space station that actually stayed pretty well intact upon its landing here. The incredibly large ring stands tall and must be stable as those inside the electrified fence surrounding the entire camp, also having been put up right away upon landing, go in and out of it regularly for supplies and such. Eerika and Lakote walk hand in hand, war paint and all, into the fence with little hesitation as those from Lignum Cantavit and Nocte Cantavit who required medical attention were offered assistance here given our technology and proper training, those who did not require it going back to their own camps, that including Apache and Nahko who had greeted me with great concern over my condition after exiting the Mountain.

Outside the Mountain, I was actually provided with all my old clothes, gloves and all, as Eadric and others apparently managed to find a tribe in Lignum Cantavit who had looted plenty of extra clothes that they discovered outside of Mount Trident as they cannot bring contaminated items into the Mountain, or rather could not now.

The clothes, while familiar, I knew would not exactly fit as well as they once had, however, due to my apparent weight loss, and I had decided to switch out nothing more than my jeans and boots as my wound was still too dirtied to put on my tee and jacket and would soil all these items the second I put them on, this soiling upon the clothes I was currently wearing being something that would not bother me.

Eadric just stuffed my tee and jacket into a pack despite the objection due to the chill from others. The numbing sensation it had on my exposed arms seeming fitting if anything, and I even put my gloves in there as well as I numbly explained this to him outside the Mountain. He had slung the pack over his shoulder on top of all his sheaths and holsters without a word, ignoring the offers from those in his guard to carry the supplies for him instead. He had stayed by my side the entire walk back to the camp, constantly keeping a hand in mine and lifting me over any obstacles we had encountered. I guess he still keeping his promise he made in those vows then.

Now outside of Camp Superior, Eadric waits along the gate as all of those saved file in, weak and begging for medical attention, many of them including the ninety eight of us we managed to save from that horrid place. Ninety eight. Over half of them dead because I could not protect them. I halt in my tracks at this, posting myself a decent distance from the gate now that Eadric is distracted with another task only for Kyle to approach me as the last of those file into Camp Superior.

The words exchanged are brief, his expression saddened by the time we hug in conclusion, and shaky form only increasing the unspeakably awful guilt still eating away at me due to my inability to save them. In particular, I knew Mia's death was hard for him after she had helped us so much, and maybe because there was room for something more there between those two. But I destroyed their chances to ever discover that.

This single hug catches the attention of Eadric, and I cannot help but sigh by the time he slowly makes his way over the me, wincing at the sunlight fully exposed due to the plain cleared by Superiors landing.

The weather has actually warmed slightly since Winter, the blankets of snow in open plains like this having turned to slush in some spots and the air, while still containing a cold bite, is beginning to become balmy somewhat announcing that the eventual start of Spring, while not exactly just around the corner, is gradually coming. How ironic.

By the time Eadric is stood beside me, his hand still hovering over the sword at his belt, I have to look away. The burning in my eyes reveals too much vulnerability at this sudden moment as his pleas begging me to stop in the Mountain still echo in my head. Now I associate this unspeakable guilt with his face even more so than the others. Luckily, Eadric seems distracted some as he looks off towards the camp, both of our gazes now honed in on my mother who had been too weak to walk and is being carried in on a stretcher of sorts. David had held her hand the entire walk back to camp.