Absolute Contamination

12/ An End Has A Start

CHAPTER 12: AN END HAS A START

“Keara,” Emily complained once again, pulling at my hand. “My legs are tired. Can we stop now?”

My own body protested against the endless walking as well, but my mind refused to let me stop. I knew we had to keep moving if we ever wanted to make it to the Safe Zone - especially now that it was getting dark.

The past hour and a half, we had been walking nonstop. The lack of sleep from the previous night was wearing off on me, only making it even harder to keep going. And Emily, with her small legs, had even more trouble keeping up.

All the while, Christophe tried to make small talk, but he didn’t seem to get that I was in a horrible mood. I couldn’t be bothered by Emily’s complaining, or this guy’s rambling for that matter. All I really wanted was to arrive at the Safe Zone in time, before worse things happened. Emotionally, I was a mess, and the walls I had used to keep all of my misery safely hidden away weren’t quite as strong as was necessary. There were cracks and holes, and parts that had completely tumbled down already. It was only a matter of time before the weak wall gave away and I wanted to be safe before that happened. I didn’t want to have to worry about my safety while mourning my parents and brothers. Even a blind person could tell that I was on the brink of an emotional breakdown, and once that happened, it would last for a while. That’s how I knew that I had to stay strong until we arrived at the Safe Zone.

Once again I got lost in sad memories - despite the fact that I promised myself not to - I couldn’t help but think back to home, and painfully realize how nothing would ever be the same again. It was only when Emily let go of my hand so suddenly, that I snapped out of my thoughts.

“What are you doing?” I wondered in alarm, grabbing hold of her hand again before yanking her back to me to keep her from getting any closer to Christophe.

“It’s alright,” Christophe tried to reassure me. “I just offered to carry her, she’s tired.”

“What part of ‘keep your distance’ don’t you get?” I snapped back while placing myself between Emily and him, shielding her from his sight.

Christophe frowned in confusion, raising his hands in a defensive way.

“What are you talking about? You just agreed only a minute ago that it was alright for me to carry Emily. If I carry her, we will be able to continue walking a while longer, which would be better than stopping now and waste even more time.”

“I did not agree to anything like that. I told you at the start that I wasn’t going to let…”

“Emily,” Christophe interrupted me brusquely. “Did Keara, or did she not tell that it was alright for me to carry you?”

I didn’t like how this guy, whom we only met a few hours ago, was trying to drag Emily into this. If anything, it was because he thought that he knew everything better that we were having this argument. However, before I was able to say anything about that, Emily nodded her tiny head – proving me wrong.

“See,” he said relieved, as though he hadn’t been completely sure anymore whether or not I had actually agreed or not.

“Well, I definitely didn’t mean it. The answer is no.” With that being said, I tightened my grip on Emily’s hand and began to walk again.

“Oh come on,” Christophe complained from behind us. “Why wouldn’t I be able to carry her? It would save us so much time.”

 “So, despite the fact that I won’t let you carry any of our food or water because I’m afraid you’re infected, you think I’ll just be okay with you carrying Emily?”