Apocalypse - 5. Chapter 5: From Decimation to Destruction

We walked along in silence for a while. I'm pretty sure we were both just tired, well at least I know I was. I'd just gotten my face gashed open, hit my head pretty hard on the ground, and gotten my neck chewed up; all in probably less than.. a few hours (I hadn't been keeping track of the time). So I was pretty much ready to rest. I wasn't in a lot of pain though, just a dull ache in my head and neck. I really didn't feel my cheek anymore, I think my body just got used to the pain there, so I just had the pesky throbbing to deal with. Oh well, at least I was alive and so was Ashi, and Terku.. well at least Terku was.. around.

“Hey Panah?” Ashi said, interrupting my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“Are you sure you're okay?”

“Hell yeah,” I replied, managing a weak smile, “Are you just trying to get me to sleep so you can steal my awesome hat?”

“Well.. that thing is a little creepy, don't you think?”

“Psh, no way, you know it makes me look bad-ass,” I said in a sarcastic tone, making him laugh.

“How can you stay so.. upbeat.. with all of this? I mean it seems like you're not taking it seriously.”

I paused and carefully constructed my response, “Well.. the way I see it is.. it keeps me.. sane.”

“Sane..?” He was clearly confused.

“Well, if I stopped making jokes I might actually realize what just happened.. and not just the man, the classroom too, and that would make me like.. well.. not be in a good mental state.. I think.”

“But that's not healthy is it?” We had stopped walking at this point and he looked at me with concern.

I laughed, “Ashi, I think that should be the least of our worries now. Don't worry, okay? I promise I will be perfectly healthy.”

“But how do you know you will?”

I smiled, he had fallen right into my trap, “Because, as long as you need protecting, I'm not going anywhere,” I said as I pulled him closer.

“Wait,” he said, and I could feel a sting in my chest thinking that he had just rejected me. Instead he took a scrap of fabric from his pocked and wiped off my mouth, “I can't believe you let that blood stay there so long,” he laughed and then pulled me in for a kiss.

After we broke the kiss I pulled him into a tight hug, but instead of relaxing I scanned the area around us. It seemed to be a pretty.. safe location. We were on a road with no houses near us. Between the school and town is a stretch of rode in the middle of a pine forest that goes for about ten minutes by car ride. My guess was that it would take us about thirty minutes to walk the distance, considering how worn we were and factoring in the added burden of carrying the two backpacks, which we still hadn't gone through, and Terku. On top of that I was weary from my injuries, and I'm certain Ashi was as well, considering he had been punched pretty forcefully and I could see a small bruise playing at his jawline.

I assumed that we had already walked about ten minutes because I heard the storm sounding off behind us and could see the glow of the lightning and cracking of trees, but it was far enough away that the sound was no longer deafening. In the other direction, towards the West section of the town, I heard the faint sounding of car alarms and screaming of people, you know, standard end-of-the-world sounds.

So, I decided for the time being, we were in the safest location we would be in for at least a day, assuming we wouldn't stay long in the town. Looking around I just saw thick and dark forest on either side of us, level with the road. To the sides of the road, the ground was loosely packed sand, with various grasses springing up in random locations. When the ground met the line of trees, everything turned black in the already darkened landscape and I could see nothing more than the eerie bare gray branches of the towering trees. All it needed was a little fog and then it would be a scene perfect for some werewolf movie..

“Hey Ashi, let's rest here for a few minutes and sort through our supplies,” I said, pulling away from the hug that had lasted about two minutes, either because we were both terrified or both lost in thought.

“Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I grabbed a couple water-bottles when I filled those backpacks. I don't know about you, but I’m pretty damn thirsty.” After he said this, Ashi and I walked off the road to the right and he took Terku off his back, letting him lie in a patch of grass, well weeds, but close enough. We then took off our backpacks and I went to lie on the sand while he sorted through the supplies. I just leaned back peacefully, trying to drown out the sounds of thunder, screaming, and other various destruction (sadly I was beginning to get used to it), and tilted the brim of my new had over my eyes.

I only got a few seconds of tranquility when I heard, “Shit!”

“Ashi?” I questioned, quickly taking off my hat and snapping my eyes in his direction. Ashi was holding his right hand close to his chest and backing away from the backpacks, not taking his eyes off them.

“Bugs,” he said, “There are.. bugs. Flaming.. Like maggots or grubs.. but burning.”

“What?” was all I managed to say after several seconds of tying to think over what he said. Surly I misunderstood him.

“Come here, but be careful.. and don't touch them! One burned me.” With that I quickly stood, but calmly strolled over, my mind seeming to be unsure whether I should trust what he said or not. When I reached him, I was stunned to say the least. Sure enough crawling all over the inside of those bags where dozens of little worm-like bugs. They moved at the pace a caterpillar moves at and had the same segmented body-form, but what really shocked me was that they seemed as though they glowed red. Not a very bright red, but it was obvious that their milky gray bodies were pulsing a vibrant red around the edges.

“What are they?” I asked, completely stunned.

“Panah.. I have no idea, but I don't like them. Not even a little. Look what one did,” he said, holding out his hand to me. Right on his index finger, apparently where the bug had touched him, his skin had turned to a bright red blister, about the size of a dime. I lightly took his hand in my hand and gently touched the skin around the blister.

“Does it sting?” I looked at him with concern.

“A little.. It felt like a thousand little needles were entering my skin when it touched me,” he said, sticking his finger in his mouth.

“Ugh, take that out of your mouth, it's going to get infected!” He laughed at my tone and concern, but did as I told him.

“Well, there goes our supplies,” Ashi said and then shrugged, “It's okay, I didn't really find much except some Tums, mints, food, and water-bottles when I packed them.”

“But we need water Ashi. We have been through a lot, and I know if I'm getting a headache from no water, you must be about to pass out, considering you have been carrying Terku and got punched.. We need that water before we go on.”

“Panah.. What are you hinting at? Please don't do anything stupid.” But he was too late. I had already pulled in my breath, held it tight, and then plunged my hand into the backpack full of those burning little bugs.