I wrapped my ocean blue hoodie around me and walked towards the door. They had her. They had her! I told myself angrily as I pushed past the objects in my way. They would pay Camila! I had sweared. They will pay for what they’ve done to this family and this world.
***
I rushed outside, not caring if the cold was biting my flesh. Not caring if my time to die was about to come. All I wanted to do was see that face of hers one last time. One last time. I tried hard to fight away tears as I ran through the fields of dead grass with my backpack and change of clothes but I couldn’t. She was the last thing I had that they didn’t take away from me.
You can do this Bree! Get her back or wait for her to die then float up to heaven with her. Which one would make more sense? Let me think… I pulled out my gun and clicked a new barrel of bullets into the magazine. I aimed the fire target at my head. Before I could pull the trigger something stopped me. A touch. A shiver ran down my spine as I turned around. I saw my mother. Her face was faded and pale, and her eyes glittering with fear and hope.
“Don’t do it honey.” she says calmly. “Go and save your sister. Your father, brother, and I will watch you and keep you safe. Just go save her for us.” she continued, crying now.
“Don’t let those wanna be’s get into your head and break you into pieces. Break them.” Her words stuck in my brain like melting honey on a tongue and soon her voice started to fade and my mother was gone. I pulled the gun down and slid it into the back pocket of my jeans, sweat beading down my forehead. I was nervous and scared. Especially scared. I gulped and continued running. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just running. Then I saw holes. Holes like the ones in Barley’s. I followed them the whole day. I followed them all night too, until I ended up in these woods. These woods were the only thing between my sister and I besides the army of the future and everything… Ok maybe not the only thing… But all I could think about right then was Camila’s grasp slipping from my reach.
***
That night I camped in the woods, shooting down birds and rabbits and saving them for stew like Camila always did. I was always the student and she was the teacher.
That night I watched the stars shine brightly, I feel like I can almost hear them scraping against the sky, making the sound a cat’s claws do when hitting chalkboard. I flinch at the thought of that sound. My ear’s, like my mother’s, were very sensitive.
***
When I wake up the next morning the sun’s light has faded and the sound of crunching leaves under my body couldn’t make anything better. My hair was filled with twigs and more crunched up leaves. I yawned, I was tired and hungry and was trying my best to save most of my food for times when it was most important. Not like that would ever happen. When I was younger I would consume the most amount of food out of my family. My parents nicknamed me Caterpillar because of my hungriness. They had joked with other families about their plum like child, Bree. Ever since the future swept over us things started to change. I became less plump as the days became weeks and the weeks became months. I don’t even remember when I was as plump as a tomato. Maybe the future brain swiped us of our latest memories. They probably thought the old ones wouldn’t help us survive. That was one thing they were wrong about.
***
Every day I have at least one regret. Today’s regret is that I didn’t stop the future from killing my parents. I let them fire their lasers and took them down.
That night after a bit of leftovers I watched the night sky and saw a star shine brightly. That star was where I had to reach to get to Camila. I promise I’ll find you Camila. I promise. Just hang in there and don’t leave me. Don’t let them take you. I stare at the sky until my eyes start to burn and bury myself in the ground.