Death By Dawn

➽Chapter 8

It was a warmth that one could not describe, yet it bore a chilling revelation.

A stream of light flowed into the room from a small crack in the ceiling, illuminating the blade in its spotlight. It was as if her spirit smiled down on him from the heavens and tried its best to comfort him.

A wave of peace splashed over him, raining down a sweet serenity that came from reminiscing. A smile played on his lips as the blade melted away his feeling of failure, bringing a sense of accomplishment for a brief moment to replace the horrid emotion. He wasn't happy, she was still gone, and finding a knife could ever bring her back. But for a second, he wasn't sad either and in the midst of an apocalypse, this was more than he could possibly ask for.

The sound of footsteps snapped him from his daze, forcing him out from the softness of joyful memories and back into the harsh nature of reality.

Crap! Where is the cover for this knife?

From the floor, he gathered the fallen knives and organized them back onto the table in a hurry and slipped the azure knife in between the tabs in his pants, covering it with his shirt.

His eyes darted around the floor, frantically searching for the blue cover that kept the blade protected, safely confided behind its plastic frame. He had to find it quickly before he was caught again.

The room had four cabinets, each one about a head shorter than him. There were two wooden tables, both lined with various weapons, ranging from rifles to pistols and then all the way down to knives. Underneath them laid crates of ammunition and different makeshift weaponry.

The footsteps intensified, smacking against the concrete. Time was running out and his search proved to no avail. He could not find it but he had to. He had to find it. At all costs. Quickly.

Louder.

His body rotated three-sixty, his eyes ransacking the entire room from top to bottom. He rushed around, searching under the tables for that familiar shade of blue.

He swallowed the blockade in his throat, concentrating on the areas he searched, hoping to discover a spot he missed but time was almost up. The footsteps were seconds away from the entrance and the possibility of finding it in time dwindled to the edge of nothingness.

Closer.

The hint of blue peeked out from between two of the metal cabinets, lodged in the middle where it was easily overlooked before. Alex rushed towards it, scrambling to get to it due to the tight space. Attempt after attempt, until finally, his finger caught hold of the smooth plastic.

Stopped.

"What're you doing in here lol?"

Alex spun around at the soft, delicate voice, coming face to face with an abundant flow of dirty blonde curls. Her pear-shaped figure stood at a medium height, not yet enough to stand above the cabinets. Small indentations dove into her cheeks, complementing quite wonderfully the line of golden-brown sprinkles speckled above them. Her eyes were warm and inviting, daring anyone to get lost in the graceful spirals of gold and green intertwined.

"Uh nothing," Alex fumbled, his fingers still yearning to clasp the cover in their grip. "I just dropped something, that's all."

She giggled, her pearly whites peeping from behind her pink, plump lips. Her hair bounced with all the grace in the world and her giggle contorted into a precious smile. "Don't worry cutie, I won't tell anyone you were snooping around."

"Cutie?" Alexander blushed, combing through the waves of jet black hair with his free hand. It swooped to the side, almost covering his deep brown eyes. "Think you dialed the wrong number there."