Faith had been gone too long. We were supposed to meet at noon and she hadn’t returned yet. I shouldn’t have let her go out on her own. I’d kept her close to me for six months now and she was getting tired of the constant company.
My stomach was nothing more than an acidic ball of knots while I waited. I should have remained firm, told her we had to stick together and that was that.
If I hadn’t gone on my own food run, she wouldn’t have had a chance to go out on her own. With every second that passed, my anxiety doubled. The city was a dangerous place now, any number of things could have happened to her.
Staying still wasn’t working for me.
I needed to search for her.
When I got her back, I would tie her to me so we couldn’t separate again. She wouldn’t like it but I had to keep her safe. She was my little sister, she was all I had left of my family. Our parents weren’t coming back, we needed each other.
I scrawled a note and left it behind, telling Faith to stay put and wait for me. Or Else.
The city was starting to get very cold, winter promising to be as harsh as ever. Everything felt cold now, not only because of the weather but because of all the dead too. They emanated an icy coldness that reached right into my bones and froze me from the inside out.
They were everywhere in the street. The dead continued to roam around day in and day out. They never rested and they never stopped talking to me. They pleaded with me to help them but I didn’t know how.
I couldn’t even completely protect Faith, how was I supposed to do anything about all the dead?
They rushed at me as I walked. I had to cover my ears with my hands in a feeble attempt to block them out. Sometimes there were so many it looked like I was facing a wall of them. I had no choice except to walk right through them, shivering coldness running through me.
The first place I searched for Faith was in the shelter. Oliver was standing behind the serving counter when I found him. Rows of kids lining up for food stretched out the door. More and more kids were making the shelter their home, the last shot they had at survival. Not all of us were going to make it in this new reality.
I waved to Oliver and he came over to me the moment I caught his attention. “Hey, Ev, how are you?”
“Worried. Faith went out this morning and she hasn’t come home yet. Have you seen her today?” My breath hitched in my throat as I waited for an answer.
Oliver’s head shook from side to side. “She hasn’t been in here, I’m sorry. Do you want me to help look for her?”
Oliver was needed at the shelter, I couldn’t take him away from all these kids just to look for one. Hopefully I was just overreacting. “No, it’s okay. I’ll let you know later if I need to take you up on that offer.”
“Anytime, Ev. I’ll tell her to go straight home if I see her. I hope you find her soon.”
“Me too.”
I circled around the shelter, checking to make sure she wasn’t making new friends and losing track of the time. She wasn’t inside, she wasn’t outside, and she wasn’t in the playground. All the places familiar to us were barren and empty.
Except for the dead, of course.
They were still everywhere.
I started to fan out further, searching the streets and trying to work out where Faith would have gone. She was only nine years old, and not in the best health, she couldn’t have gone too far. She had to be here somewhere and all I had to do was find her.
It sounded so much easier than it was.
“Faith!” I called out. My voice grew louder the higher my panic rose. I couldn’t have lost her, she had to be here somewhere.
She had to be.
The long shadows of people fell over the street. I prayed one of them was my sister’s. When I looked up, I only felt dread. It wasn’t Faith, but a gang of boys. They looked as hungry as I felt and as cold as the midnight wind.
“Look what we have here,” the redhead amongst them sneered. “A little girl all by herself.”
“Have you seen my sister? She’s about this high with the same hair color as me,” I said, pushing my fear aside. If it meant getting Faith back, I would risk my own safety a hundred times over.
They didn’t even bother looking at the photograph I held out to them. “Like we care what happened to your sister. What food do you have?”
“I don’t have any food.”
“Sure you don’t. You didn’t get that fat by eating dirt.”
I wasn’t fat, not by any means. But I wasn’t as gaunt and pale as they were either. Since the Event, I guessed we all had different standards now. If you couldn’t see ribs, then you were eating. There were plenty of kids that had starved to death by now.
“I told you, I’m looking for my sister. I don’t want any trouble, I just need to find her.”
The redhead sneered again. “And I told you that I don’t care. Are you demented? Do you not speak English? Tell us where your food stash is or I’m going cut you with my knife.” He pulled a shiny blade from his sleeve to make sure I knew he was serious.
It was at that moment that I realized I’d made a mistake. I’d been so caught up in my mission that I’d forgotten how dangerous these gangs were. They hunted as a pack, making sure to prey on the weak to get whatever they had.
I started backing away but it only made them take a few steps forward. The street was all but deserted except for us. There would be nobody here to come to my rescue. It wasn’t like we still had a police force or justice system. There were no consequences for crime anymore. Kids could do whatever they wanted.
And they wanted to hurt me.
“I’m going to leave now,” I started, backing away faster. “I don’t have anything you want, only this picture of my sister. That’s all, nothing else.”
“You have a coat,” Redhead said, nodding toward me.
“You can have it.” I started pulling off my winter coat but apparently I wasn’t fast enough. Before I had a chance to run, the gang was around me. They each grabbed at my clothes and my hair. One of them kicked at the back of my knees so I stumbled forward.
They moved like a pack of hyenas, attacking me from all sides. It wasn’t just about taking what I had, they wanted to hurt me too. I felt each punch to the stomach, every sting to my scalp as they pulled my hair, and the boy with blond hair slapped me across the face. The taste of blood bloomed in my mouth and threatened to choke me.
“Please let me go. Stop!” The words came out as muffled sobs. I repeated them over and over again until my voice was hoarse and stung like a thousand needles.
My legs wouldn’t hold me up any further and I sank to the ground with the group still picking me to pieces. Redhead yanked my coat from me, shaking me free until my teeth chattered together. He stepped back, pleased with his score, while the others continued to inflict pain just for the sake of it.
I wasn’t going to last for much longer. My head was ringing from the repeated blows and I could taste bile in my mouth from the kicks to my stomach. It would have been a relief to pass out now, a respite from all the pain.
Ghosts surrounded us, pressing the group closer to me without them realizing it. They were all yelling at the gang to stop but their words fell on deaf ears. There was nothing they could do, even though they wanted to help me.
I was alone in this fight.
Far, far outnumbered.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable final blow.
“Stop! Get away from her.” The voice was louder than all the others. It didn’t come from a spirit, but a real person. Someone I recognized.
Oliver.
For a moment I was certain he was nothing more than a figment of my imagination. He was at the shelter, he wasn’t supposed to be out on the street like I was. He couldn’t get involved in this outnumbered fight.
“Leave her alone or I swear I will hurt you all,” Oliver shouted. Some of the gang members stopped and turned to him. I held my breath because I did not want them to turn on him when
he was only trying to help me.
“No,” I cried out. It came out more as a whimper than anything else. I could barely move from the all the bruises and pain plaguing my body.
“Leave. I’m not kidding around.” I’d never heard Oliver so angry before. He was standing up to the group with nothing more than sheer determination and will.
Redhead spat on the ground. “She’s got nothing we want. You can have her.”
They sauntered off and left me like a piece of trash on the street. Oliver helped me up. “Are you alright?”
“Thanks to you,” I replied. “What are you doing here?”
“I was worried about you so I came looking. I was also asking around about Faith, making sure nobody had seen her.”
Oliver was the best example of a good human being that had ever lived. If the world was filled with people like him, we’d all live in peace and happiness.
“You should stay at the shelter tonight,” Oliver said as he helped me limp along.
I shook my head. “No, I have to go home in case Faith comes back. She’ll wonder where I am.”
“Do you want me to stay with you?”
“They need you more at the shelter. I’ll be okay,” I lied. Until I had Faith back, I would never be okay. My insides would be twisted with worry and nausea until my eyes saw her standing in front of me.
“You know where I am if you change your mind,” Oliver said. We parted ways, both of us going in different directions. I had to fight the urge to call him back and tell him I did change my mind.
I had never been so alone before.
Before the Event, I always had people around me. I had my parents, Faith, my friends, and everyone else I loved. Now, it was just me. I’d lost everyone.
I went back to our apartment, stopping at the door and waiting for a moment. In my mind, I pictured Faith waiting for me on the other side. I pictured her little face being angry at me for making her wait for so long.
She had to be there.
She couldn’t be gone.
I pushed on the door and was greeted by the solace of the empty apartment. Everything was exactly how I’d left it, including a space where Faith should be.
There was nothing here for me now without her.
I curled up on the floor and waited.
For a sister that would never come.
Chapter Seven
Eight Months After the Event