Volume 4 – Chapter 15: The Weight of Tomorrow

Date: September 21

Last 10 Days.

Sunrise painted the horizon in crimson; a cruel reminder, time had slipped away.

Every morning now felt saturated, as if the very earth resented their footfalls.

Kaito was already awake when everyone began to stir.

Standing at the far corner of the camp overlooking a damaged highway beneath which time fell away, he stuffed his hands deep into his pockets.

Rika went up to him quietly and wrapped her arm around his waist silently.

They stayed that way for a long time, not speaking, merely breathing, merely being.

Then Rika said something.

"Ten days," she said softly. The voice barely reached him against most of the dry wind.

Kaito nodded, glancing back at her. "I know."

By noontime, they were on the move again.

Their numbers had thickened and slowed, becoming heavy with burdened reluctance. Kaito did not want to leave anyone behind. Yes, that made them an exposure, but it also made them human.

Every tedious and monotonous step forward was against the white emptiness creeping at the very corners of existence.

Kanna rode on ahead with the scouts, sending intermittent updates on their progress with a radio.

“Road’s clear.”

“Nothing moving.”

“Gas station ahead, looks picked clean.”

Monotonous as it may seem, yet it was a blessing on this day. Boredom was definitely preferred over bloodshed.

They set up camp earlier that very evening; they had found an abandoned rest area smack in the middle of a thick wood. There might be some shelter for them and a rare few hours, undisturbed, for sleep.

Fire talk was getting lesser now. Rare were bouts of laughter; low murmurs replaced them, while silence reigned over gaze-after-gaze into the flames.

It was different for everybody — the fear, the grief, the guilt. Some forced it away and hidden deep. Others acted as if it were their second skin.

Kanna reclined by the campfire, sharpening the knife, keeping it across her knee, while she took her time.

"You know," she said without bothering to look up or say it all, "When it is all said and done… if there's anything left… what happens then?"

The question populated the air.

Rika was the first to speak, her voice strong.

"We rebuild. Even if it's just the two of us. Even if it's just memories."

Kaito took a long look at her, really looked, and saw something in her eyes he hadn't seen in days.

Hope.

Small.

Frail.

But alive.

And somehow, that pushed him through another night.