those remaining on the ground.
Lily, too, climbs the tower, but Ben is hindered by having to protect Maria. He tries valiantly, but a few zombies get at Maria and strike quick blows on her head, knocking her out immediately. Another three zombies hit her side, opening a ginormous gash. My heart plummets to my feet as Maria falls to the ground and Ben slings her body over his shoulders.
He carefully begins maneuvering himself up the ladder, and I stifle a cry at the sight of both him and Maria. The gash in Maria’s side is oozing blood, and the pallor of her face convinces me that she needs help quickly. Ben finally struggles his way up the ladder, and I watch as he hoists both himself and Maria up onto the platform.
He tenderly takes Maria, who is limp and almost completely, dreadfully still, and lays her on the platform. Lily is firing shot after shot onto each of the zombies that try to climb the tower, while I try to stop the blood pouring endlessly out of Maria’s side.
I’m only attentive to her needs, listening to her feeble breaths with a terror festering and growing in my mind. I barely notice as the tears brim over my eyes and she struggles to push herself into a sitting position.
I know she knows that any efforts to save her are futile, but hasn’t accepted it. Again, her eyes seek to find mine, and she moves herself painfully slowly to wipe away some of the tears that are rapidly coursing down my face.
“Don’t cry,” she whispers imploringly to me. “Just laugh, forever and always.”
Her face turns whiter and whiter as she says quietly to me, “Hold my hand.”
I grasp her hand, looking into her tearless eyes with a grief unable to placed into words. She squeezes my hand.
“I’m leaving now, S-Sarah. J-just d-don’t l-look away!” Her eyes look at mine even more imploringly than before.
I look at her again, squeezing her hand back. “Don’t be scared, Maria.”
She whispers, “I’m not.”
She takes one more deep breath. I keep looking at her till the end, when the hand that had been squeezing my hand grows limp, and her blue eyes see nothing anymore. Then I press her hand to my lips, before the tears come out in deep sobs I can’t stop from choking out of me.
I cry for all the things that might’ve been with her, for a beautiful life ended, and although eventually all the tears have dried up, an unutterable grief still remains. I sit vigil with her body quietly after that. Night ends, day begins, and all I can do is stare back in her now empty eyes.
I close her eyelids gently before I finally force myself to stand up. Her frail body looks vulnerable in death, and I carry it down to the ground gently and dig a grave for her. My tears mingle with the earth after I bury her.
I watch the sunrise the next morning, knowing she would’ve loved it. My eyes wander over the glorious sunset and I realize that, although she was cruelly robbed of life, I must instead remember the wonderful time she spent with us and know that it is not an end for her, but a beginning of something which people on Earth can only catch a glimmer of. It is mysterious and so immeasurably massive that not even the wisest man on Earth could fully comprehend it till their passing on.
I leave fifteen minutes later with a sense of finality, not letting myself dwell on what lay behind but forcing myself to look forward.
Chapter 7
We decide to head towards Butioret, an enormous city that Ben says will definitely have some food left over to scrounge from. Instead of the sobbing, noisy grief I endured last time, I just feel an emptiness in me that I can’t fill. It threatens to consume me, and I feel removed from life as though no one else was there.
Again, I endlessly dig until there’s an entire layer of dirt under and over my nails almost thicker than my nails themselves. It takes us three tedious days to reach Butioret, during which time
Lily, too, climbs the tower, but Ben is hindered by having to protect Maria. He tries valiantly, but a few zombies get at Maria and strike quick blows on her head, knocking her out immediately. Another three zombies hit her side, opening a ginormous gash. My heart plummets to my feet as Maria falls to the ground and Ben slings her body over his shoulders.
He carefully begins maneuvering himself up the ladder, and I stifle a cry at the sight of both him and Maria. The gash in Maria’s side is oozing blood, and the pallor of her face convinces me that she needs help quickly. Ben finally struggles his way up the ladder, and I watch as he hoists both himself and Maria up onto the platform.
He tenderly takes Maria, who is limp and almost completely, dreadfully still, and lays her on the platform. Lily is firing shot after shot onto each of the zombies that try to climb the tower, while I try to stop the blood pouring endlessly out of Maria’s side.
I’m only attentive to her needs, listening to her feeble breaths with a terror festering and growing in my mind. I barely notice as the tears brim over my eyes and she struggles to push herself into a sitting position.
I know she knows that any efforts to save her are futile, but hasn’t accepted it. Again, her eyes seek to find mine, and she moves herself painfully slowly to wipe away some of the tears that are rapidly coursing down my face.
“Don’t cry,” she whispers imploringly to me. “Just laugh, forever and always.”
Her face turns whiter and whiter as she says quietly to me, “Hold my hand.”
I grasp her hand, looking into her tearless eyes with a grief unable to placed into words. She squeezes my hand.
“I’m leaving now, S-Sarah. J-just d-don’t l-look away!” Her eyes look at mine even more imploringly than before.
I look at her again, squeezing her hand back. “Don’t be scared, Maria.”
She whispers, “I’m not.”
She takes one more deep breath. I keep looking at her till the end, when the hand that had been squeezing my hand grows limp, and her blue eyes see nothing anymore. Then I press her hand to my lips, before the tears come out in deep sobs I can’t stop from choking out of me.
I cry for all the things that might’ve been with her, for a beautiful life ended, and although eventually all the tears have dried up, an unutterable grief still remains. I sit vigil with her body quietly after that. Night ends, day begins, and all I can do is stare back in her now empty eyes.
I close her eyelids gently before I finally force myself to stand up. Her frail body looks vulnerable in death, and I carry it down to the ground gently and dig a grave for her. My tears mingle with the earth after I bury her.
I watch the sunrise the next morning, knowing she would’ve loved it. My eyes wander over the glorious sunset and I realize that, although she was cruelly robbed of life, I must instead remember the wonderful time she spent with us and know that it is not an end for her, but a beginning of something which people on Earth can only catch a glimmer of. It is mysterious and so immeasurably massive that not even the wisest man on Earth could fully comprehend it till their passing on.
I leave fifteen minutes later with a sense of finality, not letting myself dwell on what lay behind but forcing myself to look forward.
Chapter 7
We decide to head towards Butioret, an enormous city that Ben says will definitely have some food left over to scrounge from. Instead of the sobbing, noisy grief I endured last time, I just feel an emptiness in me that I can’t fill. It threatens to consume me, and I feel removed from life as though no one else was there.
Again, I endlessly dig until there’s an entire layer of dirt under and over my nails almost thicker than my nails themselves. It takes us three tedious days to reach Butioret, during which time
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