Ash found it incredibly hard to sleep through the pain and the smell of dried blood. She felt at least somewhat comforted by the fact it was her own blood she was laying in, but it was still unpleasant. Mikey had gone out to do whatever it was a post-apocalypse hero did while she laid in bed all day.
Though she wanted to get up and move around for herself, his doctor friend insisted she needed to rest and heal whatever she had done to her back. She had finally gotten some water, but her hunger didn't return until well after Mikey left. Once she gave up on sleeping, she stared at the table and started to convince herself it really wasn't that far away.
Outside, the sun was almost always in a state of cover from the amount of thick clouds and smog churned out. Mikey was grateful that the weather was consistently in a state of dreariness since it helped give him some cover during the day, but he still missed the freshness of a cloudless sky.
He wandered around the part of the city where foot soldiers rarely occupied, particularly in the early morning. The people they managed to enslave for their work would be switching shifts at that time, making travel safer for rebels. Mikey's main goal lately was trying to find the main rebel force that was hiding out in the east side of Brooklyn to see if they were in contact with anyone else. The only luck he had was finding people who were hiding, but not aligned with the rebels.
His second goal was to provide relief of some kind to whoever he found. The best way he did that was running errands and dropping food and other goods off. This was also how he managed to gain food or other goods to trade.
He started on his first goal, maneuvering around the depressing city he called home. The task was almost easy, ever since the foot rid themselves of unnecessary territory through demolition.
When Mikey arrived at the city's new trench, he realized he wouldn't be having any more luck than he had the entire week. He stood atop the building, staring at the scene and remembering the day it happened.
Anyone caught up in the blasts were lost. Mikey was separated from his brothers when he tried to save some of the others, and once the buildings and tunnels were gone, drones and mines monitored the areas. He was sure he could get by the drones easily, but after nearly losing a leg, too, he decided traveling across the trench wasn't a good idea on his own.
Besides, now he had someone to take care of.
He sighed and decided to try and accomplish a tertiary goal—finding painkillers for Ash. Dr. Harriet was well prepared for most things, but painkillers were one of the items she rarely had. Without much help from anyone else he came across, Mikey settled for entering abandoned buildings to search for any that were left behind. Unfortunately, small bottles were one of the hardest things to find in rubble and darkness.
As Mikey searched through a neighborhood, Ash was back to trying to move herself. As humiliating as it was, she found that crawling was the easiest way for her to get across the room. Once she was at the table, she was able to get herself up and sitting in a chair. Her hands and legs were shaking, but she was proud of making it that far. She had no idea when Mikey would be back, and she was going to need to use the bathroom soon. Unfortunately, she was already feeling exhausted just from moving across the room. She hoped the bathroom wasn't far.
Cursing everything that brought her to this moment, she clenched her shaky fist. The guy that had saved her left her alone there for hours to just sit and think. No matter how she tried, her mind kept drifting back to the attack. Her family was hiding after a blast that had ruined any chance of her brother being able to work, and then the very ones who had injured him arrived to punish him for it. They all tried to stand up for him, and they all ended up dead… except for her.
Why? She wondered as rage and grief filled her heart once again. Why am I still alive?! She pounded her fist on the table, wincing through the pain that shot up her arm, and cursed Mikey for his attempted heroism. And for what? A feeling of accomplishment? So he wasn't alone? The more she thought about it, the more disgusted she became.
There was no good reason for her to be alive.
She made small movements to stretch the muscles in her hands and feet, preparing for a small adventure through the mystery building she was in. No matter how she was feeling, she couldn't die just by willing it. Based on the concrete floor and walls in the hallway, she was almost certain she was in a basement. There was barely any light outside of the room she was in, other than a faint glow from a room close by.
She quickly prayed that it was the bathroom and staggered her way against the wall. Once she could see inside, she could tell it wasn't what she needed, but it intrigued her enough to enter. The small room had a big stick leaning against a far wall with dead and dried up plants surrounding it. Along the side wall was a small puddle from a leaking pipe overhead. There was another pillow in front of the stick and plant arrangements that had two distinct imprints in it.
The sight was strange to her, but she could understand its purpose. She continued along the wall once she saw another item among the dried plants.
It was a photo.
Curiously, she stumbled forward, eventually collapsing on the pillow as she made out the picture that sat atop the plants.
Suddenly, things made a bit more sense to her. Tears fell down her face again and she bowed her head to the altar she stumbled onto.
Mikey had a family, too. And now they were both alone. Her rage came forward again. She lifted her head to the stick while gripping the pillow underneath her.
"I don't know who you are, but I'm not you." She shook her head, tears still falling. "I shouldn't be alive! I should be with my family—not with yours!"
Energized by her screaming, she clambered out of the room while ignoring the pain entirely. She had to get out of there, and she didn't care what she hurt while she did it.
Please let me know how you are enjoying this! I wrote it for myself because I'm a freakin edgelord but I enjoy validation and constructive criticisms.
