Chapter 11: Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Browsing our surroundings slowly created an uneasy sense of mystery. I didn’t know where we were, nor did I know where to go from there. This eyesore of a place, similar to that of an absurdist piece of modern “art”, did nothing but confuse and overwhelm my senses. Though the outside air washed our noses of the stench from that room, the smoggy greyness of the junkyard we found ourselves in quickly replaced it.

“This place’s fuckin’ sad.” Ark, distractedly, remarked.

“Yuh, anybody know where t’go?” Jack questioned. No one answered. This place wasn’t a normal junkyard, it was stupidly big. Not to mention the height of the piles of trash and maggot-infested shit made it impossible to see anything. Any gaps in the piles were obstructed by murky skies, smoke and fog devoured anything once visible. It was so thick I couldn’t smell any of the garbage surrounding us; in fact, I could smell fuck all, see fuck all. And fuck it, I could hear fuck all, too. This place had me fuming with rage. So much time and heartache trying to get these people home and now here we were, in the middle of a dump with no visible way out. In that moment, I let myself buckle and hit the ground. Once again, rocks and dirt pierced my knees as I found myself kneeling uselessly, clutching the locket into my chest.

“Ashley! Get the fuck up and run damn it!” My head snapped left. Amos?

“Leave him and run! You have to run!” Right. Yvonne. They were looking through me, shouting past me. With confusion wrapping my head, I turned around to see myself helplessly on the floor staring back into a rapidly approaching horde. Was I about to watch myself lose you? Again? Like a child throwing a tantrum, I wept and threw small rocks and pebbles into the horde in some kind of hopeless attempt to stop them from tearing you apart. Incomprehensible groans through helpless tears. I pathetically reached out to you. In an attempt to see you one more time, to see that beautiful smile, I tried to focus in on the gaps in the horde. Like looking through the slits of a zoetrope, I saw someone collapsed on the floor with their long, black hair draped over their face. This person, it wasn’t you, it was a woman. Her head raised, the black curtain of hair fell behind her, and a cute smile brightened her face before I lost sight of her and screams echoed across the plains, pulsating through my chest and rattling my head.

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“Ashley! Wakey wakey Ashley. I’ve got a cigarette for youuuuu. God she's really out.” A sarcastic yet familiar voice crescendos in my mind, overlapping words until the chaos awoke me.

“Ahhhh there she is. Goodmorning!” Cheerful yet clearly mocking, she gave me a smile before averting her gaze and letting the mask drop. I knew how she was, I knew because she was me; when the satire erodes with the absence of friendly faces, she lets her feelings shine through her eyes.

“Oh my god, are you alright? Did you fall? Holy shit I thought you were dead. How do you feel?” My heartbeat so fast it drowned out the noise of Crystal’s incessant questioning, I just let my head rest on the dirt as her voice faded into the back of my mind. Can’t this just be over? I’m so tired. I thought. A foggy picture emerged from my mind, who was that? I sat there wondering but my memory was weak. It’s like my mind had blurred out their face intentionally, stopping me from seeing something I wasn’t supposed to; or something I wasn't ready for. Either way, I had to get up and keep going. Launching myself off the ground and onto my feet, it occurred to me that everyone must’ve thought I was still passed out.

“‘Da fuck was’sat?” Jack questioned.

“What? I was just resting my eyes.” I absently responded.

“Right.” A long silence followed. As they began to walk away, Aleena stuck behind and waited for me to start walking.

“You ok? You were kinda just tranced.” She showed concern.

”Huh? Yeah, don’t worry about it. I just had a strange dream.”

“Oooo I like dreams, what was it about?” Trying to get me talking again, she asked in a light tone.

”I can’t really remember, I’m sorry.” It was less of a dream and more of a vision, a vivid one at that. But I didn’t want to worry her further.

“Oh, alright.” She added with a fleeting half-smile.

Deafening screams like tornado sirens belted from behind a mound of garbage. I caught up to the group quickly and we rushed towards it. Turning a corner, we realised a horde had chased a weaponless, unmasked protector here. Standing between us and the exit, the horde hadn’t seen us but it was too late for him. Without dialogue, Ark drew his weapon as he emerged from cover. His shaky breathing could be heard over the noise of the horde, he said nothing yet I knew what he was thinking, feeling. Heat pressing into me, anger emitted waves of warmth from his mask as he raised his gun and fired one shot into the horde. We all looked on in pure disbelief as the projectile flew in and decimated the entire horde; the protector’s body along with it. Without skipping a beat, Ark walked slowly to the flesh covered clearing and knelt in the centre with his back to us. Somberly bowing his head, after a moment of silence, he reached for his mask and carefully placed it on the ground in front of him before rising, taking a breath, and turning back to us. He muttered one word as he walked back to us.

”Brother.”