Endless

“Show me your arm” Jared yelled above the sandstorm.

With a wince, Marie lifted up her sleeve to show the torn flesh underneath. With deft fingers, Jared quickly cleaned and bandaged up the wound. It seemed as if in a blink of an eye the shredded arm was in order underneath the stark white.

“I wish you would teach me how to do that” Marie commented, slowly drawing her sleeve back down.

“If I showed you, you wouldn’t need me anymore” Jared said grimly. There was no humour behind those words, it was the truth of this world. Find your use, stick to it, make yourself invaluable; those who were disposable didn’t last.

They both glanced out the single opening available in the old caravan they were using as shelter from the storm. The sand whipped across the glass which surprisingly held it’s own, that very same sand that would have skinned the two of them alive if they were outside for more than a breath.

“Those dogs are getting more and more confident now aren’t they” Marie said with exasperation “The dogs keep away the people away and the storms keep away the wolves, yet when all of them leave we're still stuck in this hellhole.” Her companion laughed “You sound surprised, as if we haven't been living in that hellhole for the past 3 years”.

Marie laughed as well and then sighed. “It really has been three years. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday that the world fell a part. And yet sometimes it feels like this is the only world that we have ever known”. Her hand unconsciously moved to her throat. The two sat in silence, waiting for the storm to cease, caught up in their own thoughts of what was and what could possibly be waiting next.

-

Jared pushed hard against the caravan door, straining to get it open over the pile of sand that had accumulated. As soon as the world collapsed, the weather seemed to mimic the chaos and terror that had befallen society. Marie remembered the scientists trying to explain it, the religious leaders preaching doomsday, but in her mind she simply believed this was the world’s revenge on their own cruelty and stupidity.

“It’s odd to see something so sturdy abandoned, I’m surprised it hasn’t been claimed by someone” Jared commented, shaking sand from his hair and clothing.

“Odd isn’t the word I would use” Marie answered “Unsettling though. It either means that Ravagers have been here too recently, or wolves have scared the owners away, or something else more terrifying the two has made their presence known.”

Jared and Marie stopped and looked at each other; something more terrifying than those two.

“And we are the idiot’s trying to figure out what that terrifying thing is” Jared snorted “Why did we ever leave our compound? Why did we think this was a good idea”.

Marie wasn’t sure if these were simple questions, or whether Jared was actually starting to dread their work. They had been wandering the wasteland for nearly three months trying to figure out what had been causing the people to disappear, and those who came to the compound after surviving were simply shells of people. Nothing could be said to encourage explanations from their lips, nothing could be given to bring any sort of animation back into their movements, they simply existed.

“You know we were the only logical volunteers for this job” Marie coaxed, unsure of Jared’s position “Young, strong, half a decent brain between our ears. We needed to do something to help.”

Jared sighed “Don’t worry, I know that we were and I’m happy to help them all but you have got to admit the frustrations of it all. Don’t you wish that sometimes you could just forget responsibility and journey across the wasteland and maybe, just maybe the stories are true and that there is something better beyond.” Jared’s eyes sparkled with hope, and just as quickly as the sparkle came it disappeared. “I guess it is all just a fools hope.”

Marie placed a hand on his shoulder “We are all fools Jared, hoping is the least foolish thing we can do”

Jared smiled quickly at his companion, covering her hand with his. They stood there, simply enjoying the feel of the other being close. Then the moment was over and they both realised they had work to do.

“Time to find whatever is causing certain death and destruction?”

“You know it, fools together you and I” Jared laughed, pack on his shoulders and leading the way into the wasteland.

-

“No!” Marie’s scream pierced through the sound of the Ravagers laughter.

Two of them were holding her tight, the fresh bandage already bleeding through.

Her distress only made them laugh louder. Her terror and their amusement were both directed on the open circle in front of them; Jared, battered and bloody.

“Leave him alone” she screamed again, fighting against the hold on her arms.

Her eyes locked with his for only a split second, but in that moment she knew. She knew every word he needed to say, everything he wanted her to hear. In that split second was a world of feeling, a lifetime together.

And a split second after that, the life left his eyes.

Marie screamed again. Screaming her pain, her love, her loss.

The man who’s knife had pierced Jared’s heart, walked slowly towards her. He enjoyed every slow step it took to get to her side, wanting to relish her fear but when he met eyes with her, he realised there was no fear. There was pain, yes, and fury and life.

He stopped in his tracks, and his eyes were drawn to the piece of silver that was catching the setting sun. It was a simple heart locket, swinging from his captive’s throat.

“A child?” the man asked. Marie was caught by surprise, until she realised what the man was staring at.

She simply nodded, fury being replaced by sadness as tears started to well in her eyes.

“A child no more” she simply whispered.

The man understood.

Before the wasteland, before the world of storms and blood and fear, there was so much more.

After a simple nod, his confused men let their captive go.

She looked into their leader’s eyes, and he understood the pain she felt in her heart and maybe, just maybe, there was the slightest hint of regret for the extra pain he had caused.

“Run” he simply said “We will bother you no more.”

No further invitation was required as Marie grabbed her pack and ran from their sight. Large sobs racking her chest, but she fought these as she left the nightmare behind her.

Because even without Jared, that beautiful idiotic man, she still had a job to do.

Marie still had something to find.

So with tear in her eyes, and pain in her heart, she turned blurred eyes and running feet further into the wasteland.

Burning.

Bright.

Endless.