Only when the plane had taken off, only when she saw their helicopter plummet to the leveled land by that wretched monster, only when the helicopters occupants made neither a rustle nor peep, did Lily allow herself to cry.
It was not a big, dramatic, soap opera, nose-dripping cry. It was just a silent, sad cry, with only the faintest of sobs and the largest of tears, which, if you thought about it, could be the most heart-breaking cry there is.
Jason…oh, god, Jason…when she saw him fall to the pitch, churning waters of the Hudson River, something inside of her glazed over in death. Her boyfriend, the man she loved, might've been killed on impact of the monster's tail, he might've died when hitting the rapids, or he might've drowned, cold, numb, and alone. That is, alone of comfort and familiarity. There probably was a good twenty-odd people floating beside him, having given up hope of resurfacing, and just awaiting the sweet shallows of their gracious death. That, to Lily, was the most horrible death imaginable. Alone amongst a group of loners.
Marlena. She did not know her well, but prayed for her nonetheless. Prayed she had already been dead when her chest exploded. Prayed she had not, god forbid, live a few seconds afterwards, like what happened on occasion when beheaded. How terrible. Just laying there, chest in splattered rags before her, a pain beyond recognition or belief weaving it's unmerciful web throughout her body, dying just as the tears begin to form.
Rob and Beth and Hud…how Lily hoped they had survived the crash…hoped they were alive…hoped, god, she hoped, that she would see them again. That, by some miracle upon any other, they could've caught another helicopter, one that had arrived late, and that, upon arriving at wherever their destination was, she'd find her three friends awaiting her arrival, so that they may hug and cry and exchange grievous whispers for the lost.
She forced herself to realize, to know, to tell herself, that that was not possible. She had watched them go down. She had watched them hurdle through the air, crash landing out of sight.
A firm hand awoke Lily from her thoughtful daze. Whipping around defensively, she relaxed when it was only a boy--no older than thirteen, might she add, and all by his lonesome.
"We've gotta go, ma'am." He told her, politely. Only then did Lily realize they had landed. Looking out the window, she found herself amongst a field of propped up tents and rushing gurneys carrying writhing and bleeding others. Person after person was dragged behind various screens, enabling them to explode with some privacy. Following the teenage boy and the other survivors out of the helicopter, Lily glanced at the horizon. In the distance, the island of Manhattan--once a city of pace and glory, now a barren of fallen structures and corpses alike--could be seen. Without the interference of cement trees, the…monster was in full view of any onlooker. It walked like an ape, supported by it's knuckles, tail--the very tail to slaughter Jason--swinging like a jointed baseball bat.
Lily hated it. With every fiber in her being, with every cell in her system, with every hair on every inch of her body, she hated it for the misery and destruction it has caused her.
The boy who had informed her of departure--he had long brown hair, nearly to his shoulders, and huge green eyes--had subconsciously fallen into step with her, for he, too, was beholding the spectacle of the previously great city that was his home.
Lily turned to him and asked, "What's your name?"
He looked at her for a moment before answering.
"Matt."
"I'm Lily."
He nodded and stared at his sneakers, hands in pockets.
"Where's your parents?" Lily asked softly. He shrugged.
"I dunno. Under the movie theater, probably."
Oh, god.
"Who you with?"
"Myself."
Ouch.
"Any friends around?"
"They're dead."
Despite her own story, Lily couldn't fight back the urge to throw Matt a telethon.
"How old are you?"
"Thirteen."
"Any brothers or sisters?"
"Why does it matter?' He snapped, spinning around to face her. His sad a fearful daze had been replaced with frustrated fury, grief and sorrow. Lily ceased her questions, allowing Matt to stalk off, to think. It's what she had to do as well.
Just think. What was she to do now?
Collect her thoughts. Make sure she never forgot. If she did forget, she couldn't live with herself. She mustn't forget this incident. She mustn't forget them.
She had started this venture with four others. Jason Hawkins, her boyfriend. Robert Hawkins, his brother. Hudson Platt, aka Hud. Rob's best friend. Marlena Diamond, their friend and Hud's crush--Lily smiled at how he had spent the majority of the party trying to impress her. Rebecca McIntyre, their friend and the girl who Rob's in love with--she wondered if they had told each other before they crashed. If they had died knowing their feelings for each other.
And she, Lily Ford. Lone survivor of her friends. Rob and Hud and Beth and Marlena and Jason--
Something struck her across the face. A realization, a horrifying one. She couldn't remember his face. She could remember he had a scruffy face she always begged him to shave.
But nothing else.
She sat down, leaning against the wall and bringing her knees to her chin to cry again.
Nothing else.
--
The next day, Lily woke up to find she was lying in a stiff white cot, with a flimsy blanket barely covering her curled-up body. She was amongst a row of similar situations.
She made to get up, to take a shower before a line started, but was intervened by a lump at the side of the cot.
"Matt?" Indeed, it was the young boy she had met the day previous. He wore the same clothes he had been, only now covered by a dirty wool blanket and a stiff pillow. He grumbled and cracked his eyes open, yawning. Realizing where he was, he began to blush madly and scrambled to his feet.
"Sorry. I just…um…"
"Had a nightmare?" Lily finished the sentence, which was, of course, embarrassing for a teenage boy to utter, no matter what the situation. He nodded sheepishly and made to slink away, but Lily intercepted.
"What was it about?" She asked. He stopped and turned, and for the first time tears formed in the corners of his eyes.
"Just…my friend." He mumbled. Lily shifted on the bed and patted the seat next to her. He easily took it.
"What about your friend?" She asked. Matt sighed.
"She--her name was Sid--was with me when that…thing came. We," He nearly choked on his words, tears beginning to spill, "Were going through the subways…when those things…that army guy called them parasites…came over…they bit her…" At that point, Matt was sobbing, and Lily had put an arm around him, letting him cry into her shoulder.
"And then she exploded?" She finished, softly. He nodded, lifting his head and squirming out of her arm. She nodded knowingly. "That's what happened to my friend Marlena too."
And so the too survivors--if you can call that surviving--sat on the cot, reminiscing their experiences, keeping their friends' memories alive through means of oral, sharing in each other's grief. Lily made a friend, a trust, that day, and though a relative came to pick him up that night, and though she never saw the young boy again, she smiled at night, knowing he would be okay.
Before leaving the tent, Matt turned to Lily, hugged her, and said a soft goodbye. She returned the favor, watching him and his aunt enter the helicopter, to leave the misery behind. Maybe one day she would find him, when he is her age. Maybe they could tell the tale together, to a curious group, those who want to know--in Hud's words-- "how it all went down".
But for that moment, the only thing they did was talk.
--
Her last day. Her last day at the refugee camp was a long one, indeed. Part of her prayed that Hud and Rob and Beth would emerge from the final arriving helicopters, that they could be reunited. That they'd be able to share their stories with those they would meet at wherever they ended up. Maybe they could even go over the tape--if it wasn't damaged beyond recognition, that is.
However, she knew it was impossible. She had seen them go down, she had seen the helicopter plummet to the ground, never to rise again. All she could do was hang around the tent flap, awaiting the helicopter that would take her to Nevada, where she would live with her father. Lily was looking forward to leaving this god-forbidden no-man's land. By the fifth day she had resided in the refugee camp, nearly everyone had been picked up by a relative or friend, with or without a reunion. But Lily had decided to wait. Wait until the last possible moment, in case they, by some miracle, had survived and hitched a ride on the very last rescue trip. Because Rob had told her to wait.
That hope had disintegrated with time, as the trips grew less and less, as the list of bodies grew and grew. The very last string had been cut when, one day, she had seen the newest count, with her very own Hud amongst the names. It was her drawing point, the point where she gave up and called her father to come and pick her up. Lily knew that, if Hud was gone, it was only a matter of time before Beth and Rob's ill fate became known, and she didn't know what she would do when she was to see their names on the list as well.
Never would she expect what came out of a helicopter she thought to be her ride home.
It landed silently, unnoticed by the army recruits and remaining saved.
Lily stood up from her perch leaning against a supporting beam, taking the small bag of clothes and recovered trinkets--including the locket Jason had given her for their one-year anniversary and a Slusho magnet from Rob--to walk to the helicopter, who's doors remained closed. She hit the window.
"Open up!" She shouted to the passengers.
And so it did.
Never has Lily's heart sung so merrily, never has she been so shocked, never, in all her days, had she been so happy.
Beth and Rob were the ones inside the helicopter, the ones who smiled down on her. Rob had a bandage wrapped around his head, Beth's arm was in a cast, but they were alive, alive and well and reunited.
Lily screamed so loud Rob had to cover his ears. She embraced Beth first, both girls sobbing in joy. Rob was laughing when he joined the embrace. He and Beth slunk out of the copter to give their friend a full-on hug.
And so, this story's ending may or may not be a happy one. Rob and Beth told of how they took shelter in a tunnel, of how Hud died retrieving their camera, of how they told their stories to it, in hopes that, if they died, someone would know exactly what happened. Lily told of her past week at the camp, of Matt, of the death list and Hud's name appearing. The three friends lowered their heads in memory of Jason, Marlena, and Hud.
They hugged and cried and shared fond memories of the lost, just like Lily hoped the week before, the day she gave up hope. When Lily's father came, Beth and Rob joined them, deciding to contact their relatives when in Nevada.
Lily was happy to find out that Beth and Rob had professed their love for each other when the bombings began. They survived by crawling out of their tunnel and taking further refuge in a final standing building, abandoning the camera under the rubble.
Only when they had taken off in a departing copter did one, final rescue come back. It held two things and two things only.
The first was a camera. A simple, silver hand-held video camera, with the memory card still in it's slot, undamaged, and only a few scratches. It was Hud's camera.
The other thing wasn't a thing, but a person. His hair was blonde, his face shaggy and unshaven. His smile was bright and his eyes were warm. He was cold, his leg was decapitated from his body, his arm in a sling, but had the threesome stayed even a few more minutes, they would've recognized Jason Hawkins, alive, looking for them.
Did they ever reunite? Was the video revealed to the public?
What, dear readers, do you think?
A\N-So terribly sorry that sucked rotten noodles, but I wanted to make something like this for awhile. Please review and I might continue (but most likely not).