Page 144 of A Silence So Divine

Chains of different lengths and widths are strewn haphazardly, some connected to exposed pipes while others stretch along the ground.

The display is so inhumane I briefly contemplate if I’ve lost my mind. Creed’s hand slips into mine, and if it weren’t for him, I think I’d have fallen to my knees by now.

They kept people here.People.

What I see in the back corner has me instinctively turning away, burying my face in Creed’s chest. His palm comes to the back of my head, pressing my face further into the comfort of his embrace.

Bodies are piled on top of one another like nothing more than trash. Some large, full grown. Others small, tiny toes and soft downy hair peeking out beneath the heap of the deceased.

If I had any tears left, I might cry. Instead, a chasm of emptiness breaks open inside me. How much can one person endure before there’s nothing left of them?

A firm grip on my shoulders forces me back a step and I look into Creed’s eyes. The void of sorrow I feel stares back at me.

“Do you hear anything?”

Angling my head towards the door, I hear nothing but the patter of rain and whisper of wind. I shake my head.

“We’re gonna go back underground. It might be safer.”

When I flip the switch, I welcome the lack of sight. I’ve witnessed enough death to last a lifetime. A hundred lifetimes.

There’s a moment where we stand side by side, bracing ourselves for whatever comes next.

Creed grunts beneath his breath before peering outside, the mist passing through the crack in the door. The cool moisture rolls over my bare skin, pebbling into goosebumps. The storm is heavier now, dumping water from above and side to side.

I prepare to run.

Wind whips my hair in front of my face, obscuring what little vision the pelting rain allows. Hand in hand, we race back the way we came. Water splashes around us, feet falling heavy in the flooded fields. The Earth is too dry, too barren, to welcomeany of what it so desperately needs. My clothes weigh me down, the legs of my pants clinging to my ankles and slowing my gate. Creed powers through the elements and I cling to him like a lifeline.

The heap of Earth is mere feet away, and we launch ourselves toward it.

In a blink, the rain vanishes. If it weren’t for the puddles and my own drenched body, I’d wonder if it’d ever been raining at all.

My hesitation has Creed turning towards me, face pinched in urgency. Looking to the sky, I just barely make out the movement circling the opposite side of the brick structure. A man, gun ready, wears a stunned expression.

My eyes widen in panic, and before I can alert Creed, he’s spinning on his heel and raising his own weapon.

A gunshot echoes throughout the still air, ricocheting through my mind and forcing my palms over my ears. Time stands still. The man’s gun slowly slips from his fingers and splashes into a puddle. He falls to the ground, the hole above his eyebrow proof of his execution.

My friend turns to me, eyes wide with elation. He finally hit his mark.

But he wasn’t the only one.

Sixty One

Creed

Cecil is going to be so proud.

Head snapping towards my friend, excitement sinks into confusion.

Eden’s eyes are bursting with a horror I’ve never seen. Warmth spreads through my abdomen like lava stretching over rocks. Slow, steady, eager to consume. I follow her line of sight, chin dipping to glance at myself.

Deep red blooms through the gray of my shirt. There’s no pain, and it’s so completely strange, that I can’t wrap my mind around what I’m seeing.

Legs buckling, I teeter backwards. Eden attempts to catch my fall, but she only stumbles with me. Her face hovers over mine, hair curtaining around us and blocking out the rest of the world.

The rain picks up again.