The stars were bright that night, poking bright holes in the steely night sky. The moon was absent, casting the forest into an endless pool of dark. I was there, huddled over a fire. I rubbed my hands together. Nearby, my best friend Ally slept. Her eyes were scrunched; her body curled up and tensed. Our colony of two was no stranger to this phenomenon: the nightmares. The swirling images often greeted us. The rule was this: if you woke up in the middle of a nightmare, the other person got to sleep. I had taken first watch. Suddenly, Ally's green eyes opened and reflected the silky flame's glow.
"M-my turn," She whispered. I nodded, turning so that my back was warmed by the fire's heat. I couldn't sleep. In the morning, we'd have work to do. We'd search the island once more for survivors. So far we'd only found bloated, discolored corpses washing up onto the shore. They didn't taint it with rusty blood. They had been drained of the liquid long ago. Probably dried up in their desiccated vessels. Parched.
Discontented by my attempts at slumber, I pushed myself up into a sitting position. I used my long, curved claw to absently run through my curly hair. It hadn't been cut in ages. We couldn't even manage to find scissors in this God-forsaken place. My claw, however, was sharp. Deadly. Perhaps, it was the only thing keeping us alive. My weird amnesiac past. I didn't even remember my name. Ally called me Wolf-Boy, or the name she gave me: Alec. Which was fine with me.
It was better than the things I called myself; things I tagged myself. Freak, unnatural, waste. I couldn't slice the voice inside of me. I remembered something about my past, though.
I wasn't supposed to be alive. I wasn't supposed to exist. When the world ends, your preconceptions seem to fly out of the window. But I knew the truth. Ally was my real purpose, for now. I had no other reason to live.
Pathetically, I scooted over to the girl. Her spine showed through her thin tank top. We had rescued it from a dead girl. She hated wearing it. Noting that she was shivering, I wrapped an arm around her. She smiled, lips curving upwards.
"You ever think that we're supposed to be here, right now, Alec?" she asked me.
Grimly, I shook my head. "No…I never think that."
She appeared confused, a thin line appearing between her brows. "Why not?"
"I was never supposed to happen, Alexandria. No one like me should exist."
Ally leaned into my chest. "You're perfect, I think."
"Yeah, but I'm also the only guy you've seen in who knows how long," I chuckled bitterly.
Ally's lips turned downwards. "So what?"
"So we're in this alone. You forget that quite a lot."
Her eyes closed, and she heaved in a breath. "It's easier to. People are still alive, somewhere. I know it."
I kissed her forehead. Momentarily allowing myself to smell her ever-sweet scent; a ghost of a smile haunted my mouth. "I hope you're right, Ally."
We turned our eyes upwards, staring into the endlessly clear sky. In unison, we hoped we weren't alone, we really did. It's what kept us alive. That, and something that couldn't be marred by time, or even life as we know it.
This thing that had grown threads tying us together, endlessly strong. I could never allow myself to abandon her….ever.
Because I loved her, more than anything or anyone else. The world could be empty, hollow without its residents. Maybe it wasn't, though, and we were gripping onto a cliff face, rooted from the top by the way we felt for each other.
I liked to believe that.