From The Ruins

Chapter 2 (Oryon)

"I get first dibs," I hollered over my shoulder as I sprinted towards the water. I tore off my clothes, leaving them scattered on the ground and grabbed the bar of soap from my pack. The water was cold but soothing to my burnt flesh. I waded further in until I was hip deep and then dove in. Under the murky water, I opened my eyes but couldn't see much further than a few inches in any direction. I didn't mind losing my sight for the momentary calm the water provided. A stillness settled inside me that nothing on land could replicate. Beneath the surface, I was free from the suffering I'd become accustomed to. If I had it my way, I'd sink to the bottom where I remain happily. But my pain demanded to be felt, pulling me from the depths and back to reality.

When I resurfaced, Kaia was standing guard, leaning against the tree. Her expression was solemn as usual and I tipped my head back, looking away. For as long as I've known her, Kaia has had a stick wedged so far up her ass I sometimes wondered if at the right angle, her dentist could see it. There was no denying she'd had it rough but at this point, there wasn't a soul in the country who hadn't faced suffering and loss. Rather than acclimating our new normal, she was hellbent on making life miserable.

"You're going to prune up if you stay any longer" she snapped.

My lips lifted as I flipped her the finger, but she had her back turned to me.

"I saw that," she retorted dryly.

I quickly lathered my body and hair, rinsed off and then walked to shore. The cool air raised goosebumps on my skin so I quickly grabbed my towel from my pack and wrapped it around myself. Kaia walked down from the hill, her soap and towel in hand.

"You've got to be more careful," she chastised. "The longer we spend out here, the higher the chance we get attacked."

I refrained from rolling my eyes and sighed. Nothing new. "Alright since I got a few extra minutes, you can spend as long as you want."

She didn't reply. We both knew she wouldn't take a second longer than the five minutes she'd allotted for us.

I took my pack and walked up the hill. I got changed into blood stained, but freshly washed clothes and wove my wet hair into two French braids. Then I pulled out the bag of hot Cheetos from yesterday. There weren't many upsides to the outbreak but my silver-lining was that I could eat whatever junk I wanted without having to worry about my appearance.

From the lake, Kaia squealed loudly. I dropped the chips and reached into my pack, grasping my gun but when I turned, she was dancing around, a look of disgust contorting her face.

"It's just algae, you big baby," I called out.

"It touched me," she whined.

"You'll survive," I replied, dropping the gun.

I settled against the tree and picked up my chips. From the corner of my eye, I saw something move. My head snapped up and I squinted, looking for anything out of the ordinary. In the forest I could never be sure that what I was seeing was an animal or something else. I scanned around quickly but saw nothing. Satisfied, I shovelled some Cheetos into my mouth.

Kaia finished her bath in record time and was wrapping her hair in her towel when I heard the sound of crunching leaves.

"Hey, I was thinking that maybe when we–"

I put a finger to my mouth signalling for her to shut up. "Do you hear that," I whispered.

She cocked her head to the side and then her eyes widened. "Do you think it's..."

"No, we'd have smelled them. " I replied in a hush tone as I scanned the surrounding area.

"Okay...we should go now," Kaia whispered.