Back to Basics

The soft crunch of the dirt under our feet calms me.

Aria and I keep on walking, our new goal being to return to the hospital. After many hours, we find a cabin at the edge of a forest. From the outside, it seems to be in terrible condition—a tree has fallen through its roof and it’s covered head-to-toe in leaves and moss. I would guess that this place hasn’t been used in many years. The inside isn’t any better; squirrels and chipmunks scurry away as soon as we step foot in the door. It seems that we’re stealing someone else's home.

“This will do,” says Aria, content with our new lodgings.

“Ain’t perfect, but beggars can’t be pickers.”

She gives me a strange stare. “That’s not—whatever, it doesn’t matter.”

“Huh?”

Done with me, Aria orders, “Go survey the area, I’ll clean up a space in here for us to sleep.”

“Okay.” I decide not to press any further.

There isn’t much outside, just trees everywhere. But there is a small shed that seems intact. Opening the door, I find the inside is not so intact. There must’ve been some gasoline in here because most of it looks blown to pieces. It’s a miracle that the shed didn’t burn down. Pushing shrubbery and unidentifiable parts of equipment out of the way, I find another room in the back. A wide smile spreads across my face.

“I guess we’re back to basics.” I head to the cabin to tell Aria about the spoils of my surveying.

Inside, Aria has already cleared a space for us to sleep and grabbed moss for bedding.

“Damn, you’re efficient,” I say.

“If you trained harder, you would be too,” she responds. I mean, she’s not wrong, but it still hurts.

“More importantly, guess what I found.”

“Just tell me.”

I smack my forehead. “That’s not how you… You’re supposed to actually guess or just say ‘What?’”

Annoyance flashes across her face. “It shouldn’t matter,” she remarks. And she’s right, it shouldn’t, but it does.

“You can help me become stronger. In return, I can help you become more sociable.”

“Okay.” She has an awkward look to her, like she understands that she isn’t great socially, but doesn’t want to admit that she needs help with it.

“Anyways, getting back to the topic at hand, I found bikes.” Aria raises her eyebrows, the only excitement she can muster. “Come on, give me more than that.” Wagging my finger at her smugly, I say “You may not have as much experience with them as me, but bikes are life changing and, in my humble opinion, the best form of transportation.”

“I wasn’t aware you were a biking master.” I can’t tell if she’s serious or making fun of me.

I put up my hand and say, “Don’t even get me started,” while shaking my head.

“I see,” she says. I swear I saw her lips curve a little.

After spending the night at the cabin, we continue the journey on our newly found bikes. They took a bit of cleaning off, but they’re usable. It seems like whoever stayed here since The Incident used the shed as storage for them despite the condition of everything else in there. To make the trek to the hospital a little safer, I suggested using the tunnel at the This is Our Town Faction. At least we’ll be able to stay hidden for a little bit then. The Soulless probably don’t know what we look like, so it’s unlikely they’ll be able to spot us.

Even though I won’t be able to hang around or catch up with anyone, I’m excited just to see the town again. Knowing them, nothing will have changed.

It takes us five days to reach it. As we near where the town should be, confusion takes over. Are we lost? We should be able to see the town by now… my stomach drops.

I pedal as fast as I can. Aria yells something behind me, but I can’t make it out over the wind and my beating heart. Getting close, I throw the bike to the side, sprinting to the edge of a perfectly shaped half-sphere hole.

“What… was this my fault?” I fall to my knees, dazed. “I had friends here.”

My head feels hollow; the weight of what I’m seeing is too much to bear.

Aria walks up behind me. “A novacide. I haven’t seen one of these since… since…” I look back and see her stumbling back and forth, trying to stay upright. But she falls to her side, breathing very heavily, the pace quickening.

A strange blanket of calm wraps itself around me. Turning my back on the thousands of deaths likely caused by my actions, I walk to Aria and grab her.

“It’s gonna be okay,” is all I say. I feel like my sins have stacked too tall for me to handle, so I must focus on what I can still help.

Aria’s breathing continues to quicken, but all I can do is hold her until she calms down. Trey, Spencer, Harold, Tony—so many—are gone forever. Silent tears flow down my cheeks like a river.

So this is how it is? Wherever I go, The Soulless take it. I guess… I don’t know what to think.

With each tear another thought passes. I try to grab onto them, but every one slips through my fingers.

Ten minutes pass before her breathing finally evens out, slow and steady again.

Staring at the ground, she whispers, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing to be sorry about,” I say, making sure she knows I mean it. I wipe my eyes and stand, once again facing the aftermath of the novacide. I’ve seen this same sight before, but the emptiness is still unbelievable. It’s like nothing was ever here—but I know that isn’t true. “This will probably haunt me forever, won’t it?”

Aria looks at me, bewildered by my blunt question. “Yeah. It will.”

After regathering our wits, we bike the perimeter, but without the town, I can no longer find the tunnel entrance. Forced to take the surface, we continue our journey without cover.

About an hour in we spot another town with a building just outside of it that looks like a bar.

“Let’s stop over there,” I say, pointing at the building.

“Why? That would waste time.” She doesn’t need to be so frank.

“We haven’t been making great time anyways. I’m hungry and thirsty—I know you must be too. Even if we can’t get food from them, I’m sure we can get some water.”

“Alright, let’s do it.” My flawless logic can’t be beat.

Walking in the entrance, the popularity of this place is pretty apparent. There are people everywhere. I see a bar in the back, countless people ordering drinks.

“Seems like this town has some connections to the alcohol business,” I remark.

“I’ve never seen a bar this packed,” responds Aria.

I begin making my way over to the bar when I spot a familiar face cleaning a table.

“Is that?” I say under my breath. “Could that be?” No, that’s a stupid question—I know it is.

“Harold!” He turns around, looking for who yelled his name. “It’s me, Terr!” He finally spots me, astonishment flashing across his face. As I run over to him I’m so overcome with relief and delight that I hardly register the way his shock quickly twists into something… else

Wham!

I hit the ground, looking up I see Harold standing over me, anger written all over his face. He grabs my collar, cocking back a fist.