Dreamers- A Merome, Pooflan, Wroetostar and Minizerk Story

⋖Chapter 7⋗

Preston's P.O.V.

The book never left my sight, it was either clutched in my hands, in my backpack or my nose was buried in it, scanning the words on the page to try and make sense of them. The english used in the book was strange, dating back hundreds of years before the human population suddenly declined and it was some sort of religious book, laminated in plastic to protect it. Somehow it had survived that long, and I wasn't about to let it fall apart.

I had read it so many times but never fully understood it, there were so many words that I didn't understand and neither of the others understood it either, so I was slowly and painfully translating it, page by page. It was what took up most of my days while Rob took Lachlan further out into the woods, teaching him about the plants and wildlife. Rob was an expert on nature and was passing his knowledge onto the younger boy. He had tried to teach me but it wasn't really my thing- my area of expertise was in my bow and arrows.

My father had made me my first bow and sheath of arrows when I was less than 5 years old and since then I had had always had a bow with me. He had taught me how to make them, how to repair them and most importantly, how to shoot it. My aim was impeccable now and it was one true pride and joy, other than the book. Rob already knew how to shoot when I met him, at a very young age, but it wasn't his thing, he preferred hand to hand contact and my father and I had tried to teach Lachlan, but he hadn't taken to it. He could shoot, but was much more adept with small throwing knives.

But of course, my father was long dead. Our community had fallen apart from illness and disease, a lack of resources that could feed everyone and within a few years everyone was gone, leaving behind us three. We had been young when we were left alone and being five years older than Lachlan, we had practically raised him. It hadn't taken long for something more than a friendship to form between Rob and I.

Winter set in fast, leaving frost on the ground and the group of us huddled together at night to try and sleep comfortably. Lachlan was almost always the first asleep, tucked in the middle, and Rob and I took that opportunity to talk quietly about everything on our minds. We didn't want to burden the youngest with everything we thought about, it would destroy his childish sense of hope and wonder. We just wanted to protect him.

"God it's getting cold." Rob whispered, shuddering. He shuffled closer to Lachlan, his arms around his waist. "Does it always get this cold? I never remember it being this cold until the middle of winter at least." I shrugged.

"I don't know." I mumbled, closing my eyes. "I just want this season to be over."

We both looked down at Lachlan, curled between us. We both knew this was the time of year we were all the most vulnerable to getting ill and considering past years, when Lachlan had almost died, these next few months would be terrifying.

Rob leaned over and pecked my lips, smiling.

"Love you Pressy." He whispered.

"Love you too Robby." I breathed back, settling back down. "Love you too."

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We trekked through the forest, this particular section in what used to be a small town, now overrun by nature. Lachlan trailed us like usual, his mind off in another world as he wandered, arms outstretched. He really was such a child at times and this was one of those times, a time when he didn't have anything to distract himself with and honestly, it did get boring walking for miles.

Because he was distracted Rob took the opportunity to slip his fingers between mine, smiling.

As we passed what used to be a church I stopped, hesitating by its front entrance. It had almost completely crumbled, the walls were only partially standing, stone and brick work falling apart from centuries of wear and tear and it was surprisingly beautiful, something I didn't see often. Rob noticed I had stopped and hung back with me, waiting for Lachlan to catch up.

They pulled back as I entered the church, allowing me some space. They didn't understand why I was so obsessed with religion and its history but my spirituality was an important part of my life, as was the idea of devotion to a god or gods. Churches were apart of that.

My hand ran gently across the crumbling walls, the silence heavy on my heart. Was this the place my book had come from? Was this were a voice read this book aloud to an audience of people who believed the words to be true? There was a lot I didn't understand about the old world but there were things that I loved about it.

As I exited the church again Rob smiled at me. He was attempting to distract Lachlan to keep him from getting bored but we needed to get on the move again, continuing to move south and into hopefully warmer weather, where we would be less likely to get sick.

"Moving on?" I looked back at the building before nodding. As much as I wanted to stay forever I couldn't, we had to keep going.

I sighed, taking one last glance back.

Why couldn't we just find a place to stay, somewhere where we could settle down?

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I gently adjusted Lachlan's shoulders as he held the bow up, an arrow notched as he aimed for a tree. I was attempting to teach him again just in case he needed to shoot an arrow but he wasn't very impressed, pouting and complaining about how he knew how to shoot, he didn't need me to teach him. Yes, he did know how to shoot, but he certainly needed some improvements. Rob wasn't around to protect him either, off scavenging further in the forest.

"You need to practise Lachy, just in case." He sighed but complied, raising the bow, pulling back the string and firing- the arrow locked into the tree about 6 inches above his selected target. He groaned. "Practise, see?"

"I just don't want to right now Preston." He mumbled, placing the bow on the ground. "I'm tired and cold."

I took his hands, jumping at his freezing skin. His cheeks, nose and ears were red with the wind chill rushing through the trees and I quickly rushed him to our temporary shelter, not realising that he was so cold. I started a fire just outside where he was lying and made sure he was alright. I felt bad for pushing him, he had told me he hadn't wanted to, but I made him continue.

I stayed by his side, poking at the fire with a stick to make sure it stayed on, until Rob got back. It was getting dark by the time he appeared and the crackling of the fire was only noise, Lachlan's hand resting on top of mine. He was almost asleep too, eyelids drooping.

"Everything okay?" Rob asked, coming to sit beside me. I looked down at the half asleep boy, and then nodded.

"Yeah. Everything's alright here."