"I really wish you would just explain to me what you are talking about Luciano." Rosita sighed. "You keep talking about countries and all such nonsense but I don't understand any of it." The young girl put her head in her hands. Luciano held up the picture once again. They had been on the topic for over an hour now, and she just wasn't understanding it.
"That's me. Or at least, that was me, at some point. But he died, but because he was the same as me, he was reborn into me. Does that make any sense?" He asked her, leaning in close. She shook her head and scooted back a bit. He groaned and held the picture next to his head for a comparison. "We aren't human. We are called countries. His name was Feliciano Vargas, and he didn't just live in northern Italy, he was northern Italy... was..."
"I am afraid I still don't understand. So, what you are saying is, you are not even a human? But you look like one. How can you not be human. Are you an alien?" She backed away from him.
"What?! Are you crazy? I am sort of like a human, I'm just... A subspecies? Maybe..." Luciano stared at the ground as he spoke. He couldn't think of anything he could be. The only word he knew for it was country, and humans already had a different meaning to that word.
"Are there any more of you? I mean, if you are even telling the truth." Rosita crossed her arms. Luciano shrugged and looked at her. As far as he knew he was the only one in existence. If there were others, they probably died. There was a small ray of hope though. They could have been reborn.
"Will you help me find them?" He asked quietly. She stared at him for a moment shocked. He looked up at her, their eyes meeting."Please Rosita. I need your help." He whispered.
"I... I can't" she began, "I can't leave my family. They are all I have left." She felt something inside her begin to break as she spoke. Those magenta eyes had a hold on her. The longer she stared into them, the less she could resist. There was a longing desire to help him. She thought about it for a long time. Finally, her mind was made up. "We leave in the morning." She said quietly, finally breaking the gaze.
"Thank you." He let out a sigh of relief. "You should prepare your things now and say your goodbyes." He stood up outside the makeshift tent.
"No goodbyes. We leave first thing in the morning." She signed. "If we tell them where we are going then we will never get to leave. They won't let us. It has to be done in silence." She explained. Luciano nodded in understanding. "Well then, goodnight. I will see you in the morning." She pushed him out of the tent and hung a blanket between them.
"Goodnight then... I guess." He walked a little ways into the woods. He found a tall tree that reached for the heavens. Using the rope that was used to restrain him, he began to climb. Once he reached a wide, sturdy branch, he tied himself to the tree and began to sleep.
The first rays of morning Sun shined on Rosita's face. Her head was poking out of her makeshift tent. It was time now. Quickly and quietly, she gathered her belongings. Within the cover of a thick fog, she left the camp. The deeper she traveled into the woods, the darker it grew. She followed boot prints to the base of a massive tree, then they stopped. When she looked up to the top of the branches, she saw a brown shape resting on a branch.
"Luciano" she called out. The shape moved. It was him. Rosita looked on the ground for something to wake him. Resting against the roots of the tree was a stone about the size of her fist. She picked it up and threw it as hard as she could. Like a bullet, it sailed through the air, meeting its target a little too hard. Luciano let out a shriek and fell from the branch.
Rosita covered her eyes and looked away. Any moment she would hear the sick crack of bones and flesh against soil. It never came though. After a few seconds she looked up at the branch. Luciano was dangling helplessly by the rope around his waist. He saw Rosita on the ground 40 feet below him.
"Good morning" she called up, a small smile cracking at her lips. Luciano glared at her as he swayed in the breeze. The ground below him was swinging, making his head spin and his stomach turn.
"Oh yes, it is a fucking fantastic morning!" He called down sarcastically. He heard Rosita laughing on the ground. "I hate you!" He screamed down at her. She continued to laugh harder at him.
"So how are you going to get yourself down?" She asked once she caught her breath. Luciano was already working on his escape. He wrapped his legs around the branch until he stopped swinging. As quick as he could, he brought his knife out and began to cut the rope. Rosita sat on the roots and watched him. When the rope was almost cut, he put the knife away. Slowly and carefully, he put pressure in the rope by relaxing his legs.
"You are going to fall and kill yourself." Rosita called up. Luciano mumbled under his breath. Finally, the rope snapped. In the same instant, he grabbed the branch and pulled himself up. He walked to the trunk and began to climb down. Rosita watched him. When he was about ten feet from the ground, a thin branch snapped under him. He tumbled down the rest of the way and had the wind knocked out of him. When he reached the ground, he landed next to Rosita.
"Welcome back to earth." Rosita said as she stood up. Luciano glared at her from the ground.
"Once again, I hate you." He said softly when he could breath. Rosita nodded and threw some grapes on his sore stomach.
"Come on, we need to get going. The best place we can get help for you is up north quite a ways." Rosita explained, taking a map out of her bag.
"Oh yes, don't mind me. I only FELL OUT OF A GOD DAMN TREE!" he shouted at her. She rolled her eyes and smoothed out the map for him to see.
"this is where we are, right outside of Milan. We need to get up here to Vienna. Hopefully the nation Austria is still alive." She ran her finger up north too the other side of the small northern nation.
"Why can't we go here to Switzerland? It's a lot closer." Luciano questioned. Rosita shook her head.
"Its to late in the fall to even attempt to enter the mountains. If we head to Vienna, we can go around them, also, Austria was our allie in the war. Switzerland wasn't." Rosita guided her finger along the rout again.
"How long will this take?" Luciano asked her, looking at their destination.
"About a week."
"A week!? We don't have a week we need to get there now." Luciano groaned and hit his head on the root of the tree.
"Sorry but that's our only option. We should stop somewhere and get some supplies for the journey. Its going to be a long trip." Rosita put her hands on her hips.
"Where is the nearest city?" He asked quickly. Rosita looked around them.
"Monteveccia is just south of us. It was spared from the big bombs. It seemed pretty intact when we passed through it for food." Rosita pulled out a different map of the area and pointed them in the right direction.
"Well we know where we are going first." Luciano stood and began walking in the direction with Rosita trailing behind him. Slowly, his walk evolved to a run. Rosita tried calling after him to slow down but he wasn't listening. He kept running faster and faster. When he looked behind him, he didn't see her. Unfortunately, he didn't look forward in time to see the house. He crashed into it, falling backwards and holding his now bloody nose.
"You didn't make it very far." Rosita snickered as she walked over to him. He glared up at her and moved his hand. "Oh my lord, your nose is broken." She bent down to get a better look at it. Blood was pouring down his chin. Rosita tore off a piece of her skirt and handed it to him. In a matter of seconds it was soaked.
"This has not been my lucky day." Luciano said as he tipped his head back. "How bad is it?" He asked as he moved the rag. His nose was bent at an awkward angle. Rosita felt a bit sick just looking at it.
"Doesn't that hurt?" She looked away from him. She was shocked to see him poking it with his finger when she turned around again. "Stop that." She ordered grabbing his hand. He began to poke at it with his other finger. "I told you to stop." She grabbed both of his hands. He went cross-eyed staring at his purple nose. "You are hopeless." She sighed and let go, standing up.
"This feels weird." Luciano grabbed his nose. "Is this what pain feels like? It's kind of throb-ish" He twisted, the cartilage snapping. Rosita let out a small scream and looked at him. After a bit of a late reaction, he let out a scream of pain. "SON OF A BITCH!" His nose was back in place. "OUCH!... holy shit, that's better." He stood up and walked into the road. "I thought we were going to a city, not few houses." Luciano crossed his arms and looked around.
"Hold on. You just broke your nose and... a-and just like that you fix it?" She was pale in the face. Luciano turned and looked at her. His nose was no longer purple, but was just slightly pink. The only thing left was the dried blood on his lip. "What are you?"
"Please, don't make me spend two hours on this again." Luciano whined. Rosita continued to stare at him. He began to wander through the streets. "Lets go find some food, I haven't eaten all day." As if on que, his stomach began to growl. Rosita walked to an old abandoned house. The windows were broken and the door was smashed.
"It looks like the place has already been cleaned out." She sighed. Luciano smirked and got low to the ground. His eyes were focused on a specific point. Rosita noticed his breath was shallow and his puples were dialated. He was an animal about to pounce on his prey. "Luciano?" Rosita's voice was cut off with a sharp shush. All at once, every muscle in his body tensed up. He slowly pulled a knife out of his pocket.
"I found food." He whispered. Suddenly, he jumped into a dead sprint. His arm raised and his knife flew from his hand. Rosita screamed when the knife buried itself in a rabbit's head. "There we go, breakfast." He walked over and picked up the fat rodent. " I'll clean it if you make the fire." He said as he carried the rabbit over to her.
"You... You killed it." Her face was pale. Luciano pulled the knife out.
"Yeah, that tends to happen when you hunt." Luciano said sarcastically. "We need more. This won't be nearly enough for both of us. Here, hold this." He shoved the dead animal into her hands. Before she could protest, he was back in the woods with his knife. Gently, she laid the rabbit in the street and began to gather wood.
Only 30 minutes later, he returned with another fat rabbit. Rosita had just gotten a small fire started. Luciano grabbed the first rabbit and walked to the side of the street. Rosita felt her stomach turn when she heard the cutting and slicing of flesh. After the rabbits were skinned and the meat was removed, Luciano walked back into the woods.
Rosita watched him walk away, covered in blood. Quickly she ran over to what was left of the rabbits and began to them. It took everything she had not to get sick in the process. As soon as she finished, she heard the bushes rustling. Luciano stepped out with two sticks. He had used his knife to sharpen the ends.
"Rosita, is the fire ready?" He called out as he walked over to her. Quick as she could, she ran back to the fire and put more twigs on it. The flames rose and blackened the bark.
"Yes, it's ready." She said shakily. Luciano glanced at her and began to gather the chunks of meat.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he began to stab the chunks of meat onto the sticks. She gave a gentle nod as she stared into the fire. "Rosita, we needed food, so I got some. It was either these rabbits died or you did." He said as he put the sticks over the fire.
"Its not that it's just... I've never seen something die before. When we were out in the fields, I hadn't seen them die so my mind just assumed they had always been like that but I saw the rabbit alive one second and dead the next." She saw the meat beginning to brown. "I guess I am just strange." She muttered. Luciano stood up.
"I uh... I am going to go gather some herbs." He said quietly. Rosita nodded as he walked away. She sat in silence, staring at the meat. Her mouth began to water. She had not realized how hungry she was. She waited for Luciano to return with the spices, praying he would get back soon.
Luciano wandered around the houses. There was no food or any spices left. Cabinet after cabinet he searched, finding nothing. He was just about to give up until he walked outside. The house had a large herb garden out back. He ran over to it and began to pick. His pockets where filled with rosemary, basil, thyme, and cilantro. He was beginning to walk back to Rosita, when he heard small noise. His head swung around, looking for the source.
"Hello?" He called out. Slowly, he brought the knife out for protection. He heard the noise again and began to move towards it. He saw a body on the ground. It was a woman in an old brown dress. Luciano walked over and gently turned her over. There was a trail of blood from her mouth down her cheek, and a bullet wound in her chest.
"Help me." She whimpered. Luciano jumped with surprise. He thought she was dead. Her eyes slowly cracked open to see his face. Swiftly, he knelt down and cradled her firmly in his arms.
"What happened?" He whispered softly. Her eyes closed and her breath began to get shallower. "Please tell me."
"Raiders." She mumbled. "In the woods. They are still there. Run. Get out of here. They came and ate-" she was cut off as uncontrollable tears began to run down the sides of her face into her messy black hair. Luciano stared down at her, then at his knife.
"Who are you?" He asked her quietly. "What is your name?" His finger gently brushed a few loose hairs away from her young face. After a few moments of silence, she answered.
"Alexandra." She whispered to him. "Are you an angel of death?" She asked as she gently put her hand on the side of his face. Luciano slowly nodded, as long as it kept the woman calm in her final moments. He felt the blood from her hand begin to drip down his face. "Please angel, end my pain." Her hand fell from his face onto the handle of the knife. "Send me up to our lord so that I may join him in the promise land." She whispered. Her breath was shaky and pain filled. Every moment she lived was spent in agony.
"I-... I can't." He said softly. He was at a loss of words. He couldn't bring himself to end her life. She was just an ordinary human living an ordinary life, but that is what made her extraordinary. His mouth hung open, waiting for his mind to think of something, anything, to give her hope. She opened her eyes again and looked at him closer.
"Feliciano, please save me." She whimpered. Luciano froze up. Before he had time to correct her, she was gone. Her blue eyes were lifeless and cold. All at once, a wave of emotion crashed into him. Anger, sadness, regret, fear, and relief filled his heart. Tears streamed down his face as he stared at her. She was gone. Maybe if he would have acted sooner, he could have saved her, or maybe if he had the strength, he could have ended her suffering sooner. Her body was placed on the warm ground in the sun while Luciano searched her house. He found a shovel, exactly what he needed. He put all of his strength into digging a grave for her. Once he was done, she was wrapped up in a blanket and placed gingerly in the hole. After awhile, he had her buried and a large rock was placed at the head of the turned up earth. He looked up and noticed the sun was pretty high up in the sky, and Rosita was left alone with the fire.
With the herbs in his pockets, he walked back towards their small fire. The smoke was billowing up towards the blue sky. He stared at the swirls of grey for a few seconds. When he left, it was just a small fire with twigs, and he knew Rosita wouldn't have made that big of a fire for rabbit. A warning flashed in his head. It was the same one Alexandra had given him. Raiders were in the woods. They could have seen them coming. Luciano broke into a sprint as fast as he could. A few moments later, the campsite was in view, but Rosita wasn't.