Chapter Five: Walking (Nicoli)

Chapter Five: Walking

Nicoli

Sweat pooled on my back, slipping into crevices I never knew I had, sticking my shirt to my skin, muscles burning with strain. I felt the heat of the sun, lost behind the clouds, still strong, sizzling the world with abandon now that the electromagnetic field was gone, the burn of toxic air running through my veins, wishing to find purchase in my powerful lungs, touching with tender fingers for a crack, a point of weakness. Ragged breaths and wheezes filled the air, my ears, the only sound I hear, a twisted melody that reminded me of the task at hand.

I push on, feeling all the burns, feeling all the weights, the sins of the blade on my side, the blood of the gun on my leg, the memories of the shirt on my flesh, the deaths on the jacket on my bones. Faulty moments I would rather forget. Faulty moments that refuse to disappear. Si rammarica. It's silent going, hard work; my back creaks from the extra weight, the scent of blood and the sight of lanky limbs the only thing in front of me.

I feel the boys head against my neck, his soft hair whispering against my ear, his legs in the pocket of my arms, the top of his chest pressed against my back. I feel the gentle rise and fall that means he is alive, il soffio della vita, I feel the blood pump through his veins, a strong pulse that I now carry; so fragile, so strong, so easily destroyed, entrusted to me, me alone, and I would cherish it. I would carry this responsibility with an open heart, with no complaint, see to it that he remained alive.

Heavy footsteps that are my own, my seemingly frail form trekked across the nothingness, the destruction, a world now forgotten, l'inferno che è la terra, sent back to a time before the web eye was invented, the implant that connected every person to everything in the world. Language barriers were destroyed, we had finally achieved a unity humankind had never seen before, and then, it was all destroyed. Taken away in one fail swoop. Nulla è rimasto. Taken by the Other. Why though? That was the question that I didn't think would ever be answered.

Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. My feet carried me over rubble, past fallen skyscrapers, old monuments that told viewers of the world of old. Fallen monoliths that spoke of high achievements and of a society that would never die. What folly that was. What an intense irony, now that I could see what was left after it all ended. Since I had been left behind. In seeing what remained after. This was my desert, a large expanse of slowly crumbling earth, constantly moving, always running, always fearing the shadows, fearing what lay ahead, fearing what I had left behind. Temendo i fantasmi del mio passato.

Why had I been chosen to live? Why did any of us remain? What was the point of it all? There was nothing to enjoy. Nothing to love. E 'stata una maledizione. Nothing to trust. Just the curse that is life, the worst gift someone could give me. It's funny how four years of suffering can change your opinion on something so basic. I never thought I'd grow tired of breathing, yet here I was. The only constant in life is that it changes, and not always for the better.

I remained tense and alert, I couldn't let my guard down, you never knew what might jump out of the corners, what horrible atrocities the world would spit out next. Un mondo non è più il proprio. And not all of them were Animate or Golems. Sometimes the biggest monsters came from yourself. Humans. I had enough scars to act as reminders. Enough close calls and regrets to warn all against it. I was ready for a fight. I was ready to do what was necessary to survive. And the sad thing was, thoughts like that change you. You can't hold on to your innocence like that, you can't expect to remain the same. If you can't still feel the same way you did before. To the same capacity. 

If you did, you would go insane.

Perdere la vostra mente.

And unfortunately that was no longer an option. Whatever shreds of sanity you had left you had to retain. You couldn't fall into its freeing arms, there was nothing to cure you, no one who would care for you, if you became unaware of yourself, you had no protection. Choice didn't seem to exist anymore. Choosing your fate was a simple black and white choice. Live or Die. Kill or Survive. Your morals, your ethics, everything you knew was suddenly turned upside down. The world fell to hell and wrong became right and right became wrong.

Change wasn't a choice, it was a command, an order you had to follow if you were to remain in the new world. 

The heat began to fade, and I blinked the stinging salty sweat out of my eyes, unable to wipe it away with my hands. The boy on my back snored lightly, having fallen asleep hours ago, unconsciously snuggling closer; I fought the urge to smack his head away, his hair was getting in my nose. Why was I even going through the trouble of saving this young mans life? I wasn't a good person, I'd taken more lives than I'd care to count; being with Victoria did nothing to save the innocence of youth, being with her killed it sooner. What was I to gain from helping him? Nothing I did was selfless. Everything I did had some sort of reward. Every job, every seemingly good favor had a price. There hadn't been a single selfless thing I'd done in close to four years. The feeling of doing something without any personal gain was as foreign as the Himalayas, forgotten along with so many other things. Una cosa da odiare.

A much needed breeze blew down the street, kicking up dirt and old wrappers. A Hershey one here, a newspaper there, shattered glass underfoot, chunks of cement in the craters they created; large things broken off skyscrapers. I watched a building crumble to nothing, another piece of the Earth sinking in, returning to the place it was born, returning the surface to its former uninhabitable state. Rocky and dead. Morti e roccioso. Gray shrouded everything, eating at the remaining life, refusing to let happiness shine through again. Only letting the darkness and despair grow.

The Earth was done with us. 

It was telling us to leave.

We had served our time.

Humans were just too stubborn to listen.

The boy on my back coughed and I was shaken from my reverie, my form switching out of its autopilot. Stopping, I set him down on the sidewalk, my body sighing in relief, bones cracking in release and I kneeled next to him, wiping the sweat off my brow, tying my red cloth belt around my head instead. I glanced up at the sky, the clouds were growing darker, the sunlight was fading; we'd have to stop soon, I didn't like travelling at night. It's when all the evils of the world felt it was safe to venture into the world of the living. For a long time I was one of them.

I unhooked my canteen, mensa, from my belt and placed it against the boy's lips. He resisted at first, but eventually I got him to drink. He was probably in a lot of pain and I felt bad for him but he didn't need to get dehydrated and be sick. He needed to make sure he kept enough water in his system. It would improve his chances of survival. Picking the boy up I continued walking, taking a small break to memorize the map projected off of Evon's suit, taking in the short cuts, and filling in the holes where they had yet to travel. It wasn't a particularly hard thing to accomplish, I had assumed it was in the general direction I was walking in, it was just good to know that I wasn't totally crazy. If we were lucky we'd reach the camp before noon tomorrow.

"We're going to stop soon, I don't like traveling at night." I felt the boy's body relax like a sigh of relief; I guess not walking for a whole day collapsed on someone's back was tiring. I walked a few more blocks, picking forward slowly through the depleting light, finally stopping at an old 7-11. I walked to the back and kicked down the door that led inside the musty probably slightly diseased shop.

I made my way to the employee lounge before finally stopping, laying Evon as gently as possible against the couch in the room. Luckily it wasn't too old and still had retained some of its spring and cushion, though if I was in his position I'd probably not even care; it beat sleeping on the floor. A fine layer of dust covered everything, hopefully he wasn't asthmatic, if he was I'd probably find him dead in the morning. 

"I'll switch your mask in a couple hours."

Evon mumbled something unintelligible and I grabbed a chair from the corner of the room, dragging it in front of him. I winced at the grating scraping noise it made but made no move to stop it. It wouldn't last forever. 

"...D-dude...what...the f**k...are you...doing?" Evon asked, his voice raspy and punctuated like every word was a strain, which it probably was.

"Taking watch, you just sleep." 

"Why."

I was silent a moment, my mind threatening to take me back to those times before. I quickly shoved them away, I couldn't lose focus here, I wouldn't lose to my inner demons now, breaking down would help anyone. "...You never know what you will have to face or when."

Evon fell silent, meno male, and with only one more incident, fell asleep.

I sat in silence, eyes trained on the door, noting the stillness, the unearthly peacefulness that plagued this building. Air touched nothing. Burned nothing. Broke nothing. It was air that was almost pure enough to breath without a mask, I could feel it in my lungs, how the feeling of acid had slowly faded to a dull ache, a pain almost entirely forgotten. 

I watched in the dark, and I waited, waited for disturbances, or for the ground to give way, or for the building to crash on top of us. You just didn't know what was safe and what wasn't anymore. Everything on this Earth was a danger, it kept you on your toes like one of the sickest games I'd ever seen. A horrible parable yet to be recorded.

My dagger found its way into my hands and I stared into its cold black surface. My sister had made it for me a long time ago, at least it felt that way, time seemed to last longer when there was no one to share it with. It still held its original sheen, a dark reflection of myself could be seen in its depths. The blade was wide and slightly curved, the hilt molded to fit my hand perfectly, the weapon was the epitome of perfection for me. The blood that fell from it was the same as the blood on my hands. It was an extension of myself. Uno nella stessa.

"Angie, what are you doing?" A small boy asked in his native Italian, he still didn't feel comfortable speaking in English and refused to do so unless he had to. His hair was long and black, stopping just beyond his shoulders, the tips curling upwards slightly, his dark eyes staring at his sister in wonder. In appearance and stature he seemed barely old enough to be out of elementary school, but his eyes held the wisdom of someone much older. The clothes he wore were two sizes too big, his shirt hanging past his hands, his pants threatening to fall off his slim, almost emaciated waist. Angelica, his sister, looked at him with a sad smile, she tried her best, often times going without so that her brother could have, but it wasn't enough; she was dying. She couldn't keep up with the way things had been changing. She felt it in her soul, in the voices that spoke of destruction that slowly ate at her conscious. She wouldn't be there for her little brother soon.

"Ah, il mio fratellino, I'm making you a present." Her voice was smooth and sweet, full of love and kindness, yet...something was behind it, something that threatened to overflow from her, cracking the fragile mask she had put together. Her English was perfect, she switched between the two languages with an ease that always astounded the younger one. He always loved hearing her talk.

Her brother stared in awe, his mouth spreading into a wide smile, the smile of the innocent when they don't feel that anything could go wrong even with the world gone to hell. 

The young Italian made a grabbing motion with his hands. "Dammi!" Gimme! He whined, reaching forward. His sister pulled away and her brother pouted.

She smacked the top of his head affectionately. "Speak English, Nico, you'll never get any better if you don't."

Nicoli scowled. "Fine." He mumbled, his voice heavily accented. "I still don't see the point of it. You're the only one I ever talk to."

Angelica smiled. "That's not the point Nico, we're in America now, if something ever happened to me I want you to be able to call for help, communicate with others."

Nicoli frowned. "Why wouldn't you ever be here for me? You're not planning to leave are you?"

The older Dolore gave him a hug instead of answering. "Here, take this, use it only when you have to, I made it with some of that weird bronze tthat made you feel sick and smelted it with some of the metorite we found."

Nicoli felt something press into his hand and he looked down to see a shiny black blade resting in his palm, covered in cloth. The boy stared in awe at it's surface, it was crafted so beautifully; the obvious time and labor spent in making it was apparent.

"Come hai fatto a fare questo?" Nico asked slipping back into Italian, holding it up to the light.

"English, Nico." His sister reminded gently.

The raven haired boy sighed in irritation. "How'd you make this?"

She patted his head. "Like this." She held out her hand and small flame erupted on her palm. Nicoli stared, eyes, if even possible, growing wider, his beaming ecstatic smile all Angelica needed to see to warm her spirit. She put out the flame.

Her brother looked up at her and his smile faltered, her face was contorted in pain and brow furrowed with sweat. He reached out to touch her. "Ti senti bene?" Are you okay?

She slapped his hand away and for a moment her eyes flickered to a strange fiery color. Nicoli gulped and pulled away. "Angelica?"

She opened her eyes and tried for a weak smile. "Sto bene, andare a letto, ho solo bisogno di dormire." I'm fine. Go to bed, I just need to sleep.

The young Italian looked at his sister quizzically, his eyes saying he didn't believe her but he obeyed, nodding and climbing up their makeshift ladder to the spot he slept in, a small crevice in the face of rock that had been cut away over weeks and weeks, now littered with a few blankets and empty wrappers that once held cheaply preserved food. Their supply was starting to grow low but the boy didn't know that, no the sister kept everything like that from him, she didn't want him to worry. She wanted him to be as comfortable as possible, but that was becoming harder and harder to do as her illness became worse and worse.

See, she had the enigmatic K-Virus.

And that amongst other things was slowly killing the girl she knew herself to be.

My head jerked up with a snap, eyes flying open, body instantly tensing, my knife clattering to the floor, neck stiff from how I'd been slumped in the chair. For a moment I was confused, I didn't recognize where I was, or remember how I'd gotten here, everything was dark and dirty making me edgy. Then I heard the light snoring and I remembered. Evon. I must have dozed off while thinking of my past.

I shivered, and not just from the cold. The memory had shaken me; I tried my best not to remember her smile, or her frown, or what she had sacrificed for me; it just made the guilt all the more painful. I pulled my jacket closer to myself, tightening it around my small torso and tying my belt made headband back around my waist. I couldn't believe I had fallen asleep, I was lucky nothing had happened or Evon could've gotten killed. I sighed to myself, this was why I traveled alone, I didn't have to worry about anyone but myself then. I didn't have to worry about piling on more guilt on my already mountainous mound. 

If I gained much more I would drown.

"Merda." I stepped over to where Evon was sleeping on the couch, brushing some of my hair out of my eyes, my rumpled shirt rising slightly as I stretched, waking up my muscles and rolling my neck as I did so. Tentatively as to not wake him, I removed the mask he had on his face and quickly placed the one I had met him with, on. I checked the battery on my own mask; more than seventy five percent of it's life had been used. I didn't know what I was going to do when both masks ran out of power, I could breath just fine but Evon couldn't. I bit my lip, that meant we would only have about eight hours of life left before we'd be in trouble, unless we found some more batteries. Those weren't good odds considering I had to carry his weight and if we stayed the rest of the night then we'd have even less time. We had to move out now then.

Reaching down I shook his shoulder gently. "Evon," I whispered, breath fogging in front of me, was it really that cold? "Evon, we have to get moving." I shook him again. The boy groaned in his sleep and coughed lightly. "Ah, per l'amor di dio-"

Something behind me broke. 

My hand instantly went to the gun strapped on my leg, my knife still on the floor about a yard away. My body tensed and I quickly picked my way towards the door I had kicked down, blood pounded in my ears, adrenaline knocking the rest of my sleep away and pulling my senses into high alert. More rustling, and a distant thump, I crouched down to the floor, remaining perfectly still, as still as a statue, still enough that I blended into the darkness around me. I cocked the pistol in my hand and raised it slowly, I had yet to see if these people were dangerous or if they would just leave.

If they were people.

Another crash and this time I heard whispers, quick and urgent. Two pitches, two people, two targets...unless it was one person with disassosiative identity disorder, you could never rule out the possibility, crazier things had happened in this new Earth. I crept closer, making sure I kept to the shadows; I needed to see who it was I was dealing with. I had to hear what they were saying. Maybe they could be of use to me.

"...-re that we should be in here? I mean what if it was Animate?" It was a female voice, scared, jumpy, lightly accented, probably Scottish, not dangerous unless I startled her and she had a gun.

"Relax, hun bun, we ain't goin' go in far," This voice was male, definitly male, probably the female's boyfriend, lover, significant other, whatever the term was for them; his voice drowned in a harsh country timbre. I knew there were supposed to be differences in the accents but I couldn't tell you what they were, I never could tell. "I just wanna' see what kicked 'da door down."

"Victor, they...it, might not even be here still, why don't we just go?" The two figures were in my sight now. One was a mouse haired girl with small frantic eyes, the other, Victor, a tall brawny man, tanned deeply by the sun. It was hard to tell what race he was, he had so many features of other groups that he looked almost like a patchwork of genes. Though I suppose he was handsome in a body builder type of way. He must've done a lot of physical labor before the apocalypse, maybe he was a farmer that would explain the tan. Both seemed fairly young, maybe a year or two older than Evon was. 

"I doubt it Sally, people don' come 'round these parts, ya' know that, it's been just us for months now. Why'd they kick down a door 'n just leave?" Victor said shaking his head. "Makes 'bout a lick of sense."

The girl, Sally, stepped closer to Victor and grabbed his arm. "I know, but this is creeping me out, maybe they'll just go and we'll not have to make any trouble with them. It's not like we own this district anyway, we're just a couple Soloists."

So they weren't affiliated with anyone, that made things easier, if I had to kill them then no one would come looking, no problems would follow us.

Victor sighed and did a quick once over of the room. "Fine, les' go."

Sally visibly relaxed and kissed the broad mans shoulder. "Thank you." Victor grunted in response, I could tell he didn't take praise well, I could relate, I didn't either. It made me feel awkward, I wasn't worthy of praise, didn't they know all the horrible things I'd done all in the name of survival?

The pair of Soloists turned and began to make their noisy way out when it happened. Evon coughed.

They froze.

I held my breath.

Victor began to make his way over to where I was hiding.

I stood. Victor shouted. Sally screamed. Bullets fired. Loud bangs. Bright flashes. Hot pain flared in my body. On my head. Shoulder. Chest. Leg. The impact knocked me to the ground. I grunted as I landed on the floor with a thud. Glass shattered. Old stands crashed to the floor. Money flew in the air as the cashier was flung open. Air rushed out of my lungs. More screams. A flurry of chaos. I tried to get my bearings. The world spun. My ears rang.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, is he dead?" Sally sounded close to hysterical. "Why the hell did you shoot him?" She screamed.

"He had a gun Sally! He would've shot us if we hadn't shot him!" 

"Oh really?! How long do you think he'd been sitting there?! If he was going to shoot he would've done it when we didn't know he was there!!" I heard the sound of something slamming against the wall with a crash. "Oh god, oh my god, what the hell have we done?"

"We're survivin' that's what babe."

Sally sobbed. "Oh gosh, I just wish...I mean, I just don't-"

I coughed. "Not...dead." I groaned and got to my feet, brushing the dust off my jacket, wincing at the pain radiating through my body. "Merda. Che male come una cagna." I mumbled to myself before turning to the flustered duo. "Just shut up." I glared daggers in their direction.

Sally's jaw dropped. Victor eyed me critically. My unblemished flesh stared back at him with startling clarity. The holes in my jacket and pants peepholes into the truth, into reality.

Finally, Victor spoke, pulling Sally closer to him. "What da' hell are ya'?"

"A really unlucky boy."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "That ain't no answer kid."

I matched his stare. "It's the the only answer you're getting."

"Boy, I could wring ya' skinny little neck like a chicken, na' answer the damn question."

My gaze went steely. "I've dealt with worse than you, don't try to intimidate me." I growled out, taking a step forward for effect; the two backed up. I guess they got the message. "I'm human, and that's all that matters."

The silent air was tense, both parties frozen to our spots; Victor and I glared dangerously at each other, Sally just looked back and forth between the two of us with a mix of confusion and fear.  

Evon coughed again and I glanced in the direction of the lounge. "Who's that?" Sally finally asked, breaking out of her human cage after giving him a look. "Where are you going." She asked taking my cheeks in her hand and looking me in the eye, "It's okay, you can tell me." 

I bit my lip and looked away. "I-it's Evon...he...he's sick, I'm trying to get him back to his camp." There was just something so motherly about Sally, with her lilting accent and warm comforting smile that I felt compelled to tell her my problems. "I was about to leave when I heard you two walk in." I took a breath and looked her in the eye. "We only have eight hours of air left."

"Is the camp that far?"

I shook my head. "If I was by myself I could get there in under three hours, but I have to carry him and be careful not to jostle him, it takes away alot of the most direct routes."

Sally stared at me in surprise and Victor scoffed. "A shrimp like ya' carrying a grown man? You ain't got the balls for that son."

I glared at the bulky man. "I'm seventeen, I can carry my weight just fine." I spat back.

"Really? I thought you were fourteen." Sally's mouth made an O shape.

I scowled, mouth contorting into a grimace. "I'm gonna go now, addio."

"Oh no you don't. We're going to help you."

"What?" I said.

"No." Victor interjected.

"Yes." Sally countered, staring pointedly at Victor.

"I couldn't-"

"He's in bad shape right?" Sally asked looking me in the eye.

"Yes." 

"You want to get there in time right?"

"Yes."

"Then you'll accept our help, okay?"

"Fine."

"Lead the way."

I nodded and made my way back to the employee lounge, careful not to disturb any of the bulletins on the wall, it just felt wrong to mess with them after all this time. We stepped through the open door and I picked up my blade, still on the floor, sheathing in its case on my side. Evon stared at the three of us in surprise. He was sitting propped up on the couch, probably in the process of getting up, looking worse than hell.

"Ah! Cosa credi di fare! Lay indietro!" I reprimanded.

Evon gave me a weak grin. "Dude...you...know...I...don't...speak Italian...right?"

"That-that's irrelevant, lay back down what were you doing anyway." I was glad it was dark, they couldn't see my blush as easily.

"Heard...gunshots...thought...you...were in...t-t-," He coughed and I saw the mask speckle red. "Trouble."

"You're an idiot, now shut up." Evon nodded, probably more than happy to agree.

"Okay, Victor will carry him, and you'll lead, got it?" Sally said, taking charge. I just nodded in agreement.

"Do you have extra batteries? If we run out of air there's no point in doing this."

Sally shrugged. "He can use mine if it comes down to that, I have a pretty good immunity to the air around here, I can probably last an hour without a mask."

I felt my eyebrow rise slightly, I'd never heard of a normal human who could survive off the air that long, maybe she had the virus too?

"Okay then. Let's go." Sally walked out the room and Victor gently lifted Evon into his arms like a baby. I made to follow Sally.

"Boy." Victor put a foot out to stop me. "You may have Sally fooled, but I'll be watchin' you. Don't expect any less from me. Whatever game ya' got planned ain't gonna work."

I smirked and looked up at the hulking man, giving him my most devious smile. One advantage to memorizing voices is that I got to be good at imitating them too, you'd think that would apply to when I spoke English in my normal voice but it didn't. Just a strange irony of it all. "Why sir, I don't have a clue 'bout what'cha be talkin' bout sugar." I said, my voice falsettoing into that of a southern belle. 

Victor glared, looking like he ate a sour prune, and I turned on my heel, sauntering away with a light chuckle. I heard Victor curse and Evon coughing trying to cover up his laughter.

I got the feeling these next hours wouldn't be too dark. 

Maybe I'd actually have fun.

Perish the thought.

.

Author's Note

enjoy~ COMMENT PLEASE!!! Fanart totes welcome lol

Reviews

[Anthony Q Armstrong]

I wish I was immune to Death, it would be cool.

Anywayz, yet another amazing chapter my friend, keep it up. I plan on reading even more today then usual, hopefully you will have a nother chapter up before i finish with 10 :p

Just keep the suprises coming, they are well worth it :)

[Tsukin Archangel]

oooooooo yesh I shall try mah best to get chap 11 p today >;3 and lol he's not immune to death, he can still die cause he can still age, he's just virtually invulnerable, there's stuff that can hurt him, but not much >;3 AND I SHALL TRY MAH BEST!

[Anthony Q Armstrong]

what can hurt him besides the all bad a*s Evon?

[Tsukin Archangel]

lol If u don't have a clue by the end of chap ten I'll tell ya, I'm pretty sure I say one of the weaknesses in there >:3