The Walk

Caleb halted beside his car, peering inside the vehicle warily. Charice was out of danger for the moment, but the fact of the matter was that the Purge meant little safety. His car had been raided while he was on his rescue mission. That meant someone was out here with a lot of guns. Caleb ran to the driver side of the car seeing that it was open and saw that the whole front of the car was bashed in. "Shit, now we're walking." Caleb led them along an alley; it was silent for a while, a good sign. Cherry shuddered when she heard screams in the distance. Many people liked to pretend that the city was worse when really it was not. The city had more deaths but all by bullet. The country had creepy deaths because it was so quiet they had more time to kill. Cherry had seen the remnants of a family getting decapitated and their heads put on sticks, blood-written words on walls, dogs murdered.

Caleb stopped at the end of their third alley and peeked out. There was an intersection surrounded by people, trucks and trashcans with the trash lit on fire. Girls were dancing and gunfire rang against the pavement. Cherry couldn't help but wonder if Caleb would have joined them, if he would have hurt them somehow were she not there. While they looked for an escape route, one of the Purgers spotted them, alerting his friends until groups of insane people were running forward. Caleb cursed and shot at the men, trying to keep their attention away from Charice and her father. "Go, go! I will cover you then run out last!" Cherry went first and then her father. Caleb was watching, firing, and he suddenly ran out of ammuntition. Instead of firing back the men wanted to play. One man against a dozen? Of course they would play. One man jumped but Caleb dodged, kicking at the attacker until he backed off, but another criminal was soon in his place. Caleb managed to push him off and get up. The first man who had tackled him was who greeted him when he turned. Caleb felt a knife rake his side but it didn't go all the way in. Caleb ended up getting hit and hit the ground not even realizing he fell. He looked over hearing screams, hearing his name, hearing shouts. Watching two familiar figures disappear, one person getting dragged away. It was Charice, trying her best to help him, but unable to get there in time.

The young man stayed on the ground until the hordes of Purgers found better prey. When the area was clear he crawled away, trying to keep his wounds from bleeding. Safe in the shadows, Caleb laid down next to a dumpster and only thought of one thing: Cherry, Cherry, Cherry, Cherry.

Little did Caleb know that his lover was fighting her hardest to get back to him. Charice's scream ripped through her throat until it bled, her eyes streaming with tears of horror. Her father grabbed her, dragging her backwards though she fought like an animal. Kicking and twisting, it seemed like hours before her dad finally got her away from the scene. Something told her to keep moving, or she and her father would die, too.

I don't care, let me die. Thought she, but the girl followed her instincts and kept moving. She moved like she was sleep-walking, her thoughts a swirling vortex of blood and agony. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe. His eyes had been so blank- emptier than a new canvas. Cherry sobbed, and she realized she'd been saying Caleb's name over and over again for at least twenty minutes. Her dad was practically carrying her, supporting most of her weight. The miles stretched endlessly, each block shifting into the next like a labyrinth, with no escape. Cherry's focus went in and out, one second black the next second full of color as her brain tried to process all she had seen. She almost didn't notice when they stumbled through the door. Her mother crushed her with hugs, but quickly realized something was wrong. "Where...where is Caleb?" Charice looked up at her, her face twisted with grief. "He fell, there was blood, I don't know! His eyes were so...so gone. He wasn't even there." She was babbling, panic enveloping her and taking control of her senses. Her parents were holding her, trying to calm her down but it wasn't working. After forever, her father carried her to her room, which her mother had cleaned up in their absence. Cherry was placed on her bed, and she cried again. Burying her face in the pillow, she hoped the soft cotton would muffle her screams.

Hours later, a blood-soaked man opened his eyes halfway. A light hit him like no other. Was he dead? No, he's seeing light, definitely not dead. His name was not on Heaven's list. Caleb sat up slowly, feeling a foreign pain and looking down to see an infected gash on his side. The Purge was over. He swallowed deeply "Shit," he muttered. "I Purged, right in front of her I..." he stopped talking to himself, not wanting to imagine what he did. He just lost it. He didn't remember exactly what happened. Did Cherry make it out alive? Did she see him fall? Did she think he was dead? He thought he was. Walking through the intersection he saw police picking up bodies. "What are you doing here son?" a police officer asked. Caleb coughed. "I don't know." he muttered trying to look innocent. "I, I was attacked. My girlfriend, did you see her here? With her father?" he asked quietly. "Go home son, there's no one here you're looking for." the police officer said obviously not knowing if his partner and her father were in here or not.

Caleb started to realize he didn't know if she was alive or not, she had to have made it. They had passed all the real danger, the intersection was the hardest part. The more he shuffled and held his side the closer he got. Time seemed to pause and wait for Caleb to catch up to it. His side was crusted over but started to bleed again. This was not pure pain, it was like a toddler getting a paper cut, it was annoying. Caleb saw her neighbourhood, then her street, then her house. He didn't even want to think her name. Thinking her name would make him think of her face and he would break down realizing that he might never see it again. Her face would slowly fade from his memory and the more he tried to remember every detail the less he saw and the angrier he would get with himself and the world. Caleb saw her window, pushed open, and wondered if she had opened it in the hopes that he would show up. Climbing in, his eyes saw a lump in the bed- Cherry. It was her, alive. He could hear her breathing softly. Caleb walked to the other end of the bed and slowly got under the covers, slipping an arm around her waist. He closed his eyes, knowing they would both be sleeping for quite a while.

The girl, however, was trapped in her dreams. She was reliving every second she had ever spent with Caleb, every word he had ever spoken perfectly etched into her memory. If she wanted she could write a whole book just about the way he pronounced the letter "s". Her name coming from his lips would be a series. As the dreams caught up with recent events she felt his arms around her waist. Knowing she was dreaming, she clung to the feeling and wished she would never wake up. She would rather be in a coma forever and see his face in dreams than live a second without him. She sighed in her dream and out loud, memorizing the warmth of his body and thinking that when she woke up the world would be colder than space. Stuck in the abyss of her dream-world like an animal in a trap, it was sometime in the afternoon before she opened her eyes. She could still feel his arms, and wondered if she was still halfway between awake and asleep. Gently turning over, her eyes widened when she saw his perfect face there before her. He was asleep, his skin pale but relaxed, his eyes shut tightly like he too was dreaming.

Charice was frozen. She felt she couldn't breathe, but he was all the air she needed. Still not believing he could be there, she forced her eyes downwards. There was the blood, soaking through his shirt and weeping onto the fabric of his sleeve. He was real. Cherry's eyes flickered back to his face, her heart beating faster than a hummingbird's wings before stopping completely when his eyes opened. "Good morning," he said sleepily, his smile slow and groggy. "Surprise. I am not dead." Cherry wanted to scream, but her voice was pretty much gone, and even if it weren't she could think straight enough to make a sound. All she did was wrap her arms around him, shaking like a leaf as tears of joy escaped her eyes. At last she found her voice, and she spoke in a whisper muffled slightly by his chest, which she had pressed her face against. "I love you, you're mine and I am never ever leaving your side ever. You could be married to some other lady and have four kids and I will still follow you around like the world's biggest stalker. You are not allowed out of my sight ever." She hugged him tighter, ignoring the pain in her arm but making sure not to touch his side.

"Hey, um I wanted to say sorry. About the other night. I said I would not Purge. But I... I knew all he wanted was to kill you and I couldn't have that happen. " Caleb looked down at her. "That wasn't me. I got what I deserved. Right here." He pointed to his side. "I am also sorry I scared you. Is everyone else alright?" Caleb brushed her hair with his hands. Charice sighed, her exhaustion weighing her down. "I don't even care that you Purged. In a way it's good that you did, or yeah, I would have died. Besides, I figure if the Purge is part of who you are, then I don't want it to change. I love every inch of you, even the inches that Purge." To prevent from dirtying her bed he sat up slowly prying her from his body. "I love you." he said, putting a thumb on her cheek. "Stay here." he said tucking her in. "I will be back I promise. I am not done hugging you."

Caleb exited her room, and though he promised to be right back she couldn't help shuddering when he was out of sight. As the minutes ticked by she felt a paranoia growing in her heart. She wouldn't be able to be apart from him for a very long time. In school she would be nervous and jumpy, constantly texting him to make sure he was still there. She knew it, and she hated feeling so weak and vulnerable. How long until she could be alone in her room without jumping at the slightest sound? How long until she could sleep with the lights off? She frowned, curling into a ball as she waited for her love to return. When he did she relaxed, glad for the warmth he provided as he came close to her again.

"You know, going back to class will be difficult," she said, voicing her pondering from just a moment ago. "Me worrying about you, you worrying about me. Not to mention you're in politics now. Gosh, this is stressful." She closed her eyes, pushing away an oncoming headache. "I think we should sleep some more. Sleep sounds like a good thing to do." She put her face against his neck again, something she'd done a lot lately. It was comforting to feel his skin against her cheek, his chin fitting perfectly on top of her head. It reminded her of puzzle pieces, just made to fit together. Puzzles took a lot of time, but once the pieces found each other they were locked in place. Smiling to herself, she pursed her lips and kissed the base of his throat, just going for whatever her lips found first. "You're going to get so tired of hearing me say 'I love you'. Soon you'll wish you'd duct-taped my mouth or something." her voice was a low murmur, her throat still raw from screaming the night before.

He just smiled, breathing her in. "I'll probably have problems too. One guy could look in your direction and I'd want to hurt him. I am worried something will happen to you and I won't be there to protect you, just like I wasn't quick enough to save you from him." Caleb tried not to think about it and held her tighter. "I will never leave you. I swear Cherry you are the love of my life. You will forever..." he started to doze off. "You will... hhmmm... I love you." he muttered again, and sleep overtook him.