Vines of Hunger | ONC 2024

chapter sixteen | sisters

•••

My breath is heavy as my body falls numb. Cold. Nothing. The embodiment of emptiness.

What's happening to her? Ho-how do I help her through this? How do I stop this? Can...can I stop this? Or is it a moment of my life that I'll have to reply in my mind, wondering if I could have changed something. A single moment I could have done differently, to save her from the fate we sit in in this very vehicle. Is this what that person ment? That the hospital couldn't do anything, because it's not human, because a human body or mind could not achieve such things.

What is happening out there? What's happening to us?

Is it just us? Or is the world around this city also falling? Burning within.

Eliana's head turns to the side and something in her gaze shifts as her eyes set on an object out the window. She reaches her trembling hand toward me, her blooded fingers graze my own for just a brief moment.

"Nas..."

Through the fog that clouds my mind, there's a screech on the road we sit ideal in and then a clashing of metal, scraping together, melting as one. She's before me one moment, and then she's not. My body is flung to the side, my head smacking against the window, and a crack, my head or the glass, I'm unsure as I slump to the floor of the car, slipping between the seats. Nothing but the reds of the lids of my eyes, the muddled clanging of doors being slammed shut, the muffling of steps grow closer as I will my eyes to open. Colours consume me for a brief moment, thudding behind my skulls as it blurs together, forming an image of Eliana lying atop the seat, her breath shallow as her hand reaches down to me, our fingers grasping together.

From the corner of my eye, a reflective mask stands outside of the car door, his arms lifted to the air, the butt of his long pointed gun barreling for window opposite to the one I'd just cracked against. I tighten the grip around Eliana's hand. Shattering glass spits across our broken bodies as we lay spread across from the stiff, bulky figure. His gloved hand reaches in the through the window, unlocking the car from the inside and ripping it open, his other hand gripping Eliana's ankle and dragging her down the seat toward him as he pulls a rectangular object from behind his back.

Her fingers slip from mine as she is dragged from the car, until her body falls upon the gravelled ground beneath the hidden person's feet.

My chest burns as he grabs at the top of her blooded shirt pulling her upward slightly, shoving the same object the person had from a few hours ago. The long, glossy white object hovered just above her face as her head hung backward. The bright red glow shines over her tired features, hiding the crimson that sticks to her sweaty, pale skin.

With a flash, it turns a blinding green.

"She's one of them," the deep voice turns to the three bodies standing ideal behind him as he keeps ahold of her shirt as she hangs over the ground, limply.

My hands shake as I grip the seat, pulling myself forward.

Somehow the pain wrecking its way through my body, seems to wash away as something flows through my veins. Coursing like a ravaging river.

One of the people in the back nodded their head.

"Chuck her in the backseat. And make sure to place the band around her wrist, I don't want what happened last time."

In one swift motion, he sweeps her into his arms, a grunt being ripped from her as an anguish washes over her face, and begins to take her to the dull, green, army guard vehicle that is pushed into the side of our stolen one.

His back is to me as I push myself forward, trembling out of the seat and onto the burning ground. Slowly, l lift my body, a heat consuming me as I pull the cold metal handle from the grasp of my jeans, and aim it at the back of him.