literature

Crisis- Aftermath Chapter 7

Deviation Actions

DuskZephyr77's avatar
By
Published:
93 Views

Literature Text

Klaus brought his hand up to his face, half curled with his index finger pressed against his mouth.
He leaned against the wall in that posture for about a minute. Then he spoke.

“So, what happened afterwards?”

“I wandered the area for a while, running as far away from the town as I could. I got exhausted and decided to stay here, but then I realised bandits camped here.”

Klaus continued to listen with a passive look. Sydney didn’t quite understand how he worked yet, for all she knew he could be wait to strike at the right moment.

“It was too late, they surrounded me. I thought I was doomed, that I had failed. Then you came and saved me.”

Klaus stayed in silence.

“Can I examine the shard?” He said.

Sydney picked the rectangle from her back pocket and handed it to Klaus. It didn’t bother her now, because if he wanted to steal it, he would have done so already without asking.

He looked at the dark blue data storage, flipping it around taking in every detail. Even though all the data storages made in The Dome look the same, he handed it back to Sydney who hid it back safely in her pocket.

“I’ll help you take that to The Dome” he said simply.

Sydney had to take it in for a while before she realised what he had said.

“You’ll…what?”

Klaus peeled himself from the wall. “I said I’ll take you.”

“You realise how far away that is right?” Sydney realised that she should be convincing him, but the thought of getting back was so impossible, she couldn’t lie to herself.

“Yes and if what you say is true, then I must come” Klaus said. “If it means thousands of people are possibly going to die.”

He’s completely serious, Sydney thought. “I could be tricking you, why do you trust me?”

Klaus started laughing. “What would you gain from that? Besides you’re too much of a genuine person. People should trust each other more or it leads to conflict, especially in the present. ”Sydney noticed he had a distant look on his last sentence.

“Get some rest, I’ll wake you when it’s time to leave.”

Sydney didn’t feel it until he had mentioned it. Her body ached from the previous hours of continuous movement, even though she hardly moved for the time she was here.

“Right” she nodded, still unsure.

“Don’t worry” Klaus waved the air in front of him. “I’ll be watching for trouble.”

***

Sydney turned over to her left side.

She had switched sides for the fifth time, but still could not sleep.Her body was tired and exhausted, but her mind was still electrified.

“You know. Sleeping involves relaxing and not scrunching up your face.”

She realised she was too tense and was shutting her eyelids too tightly.

“And you know. Sleeping requires people to be quiet and not talk” she retorted.
There was a brief silence, until he replied.

“I’m just offering some suggestions.”

Sydney laid there and imagined she was sinking into the sand, trying to relax. It enclosed her and sealed her from the rest of the world and its troubles. That was when she realised she had pasted the point of sleep.

***

Chick-chick-chick.

Sydney shuffled slightly, trying to avoid being plucked from the sands embrace.

Chick-chick-chick, it sounded closer.

“Hrmm, go away.”

Chick-chick-chick.

“Sydney” someone whispered.

She woke up but didn’t open her eyes.

“Don’t move.”

Chick-chick-chick.

A blunt thud came from something in front of her.

“Ok, you can move now.”

She opened her eyes and felt a shiver slither past her spine, stumbling to getting up.

A snake was about fifteen centimeters from where her head was before; it had large circular shapes on its tail and was very pale yellow, nearly white. A knife with a black blade was stuck in its head, pinning it to the sand as it squirmed.

“Sorry about that, I’m just a bit tired” Klaus said somewhere to her left.
She looked over to where he was.

“You threw that, from there?” She asked surprised. Klaus was three meters away from the snake at least.

Klaus smiled and shrugged. “Lucky shot I guess.”

She breathed out in relief. “Well I’m glad either way. Thanks Klaus.”

“NP.”

“Umm, what?”

“No problem.”

“Oh. That’s strange, Abby said weird stuff like that too.”

“Well how old did she look?”

“About eighteen” Sydney replied. “Why?”

“Haha, never mind” he said as he lay down on his sleeping bag. “Wake me when you see the sun, even if it’s faint.”

“Right, but you still didn’t answer my question.”

“You ask too many questions” Klaus said as he turned to the opposite side away from her. “Just do as I say.”

Sydney stood there for a while then decided to sit on a block that fell from the roof. She was surprised the building as still standing, even if it was a skeleton of its past life. She stared at the sky as she had nothing to do and watched it, wondering if she would ever get back to The Dome or save it.

Sooner than expected, the sky had begun to glow.

Sydney walked over to Klaus. Had it been two hours? One?

She poked his face with her index finger and as soon as she did. He grabbed her hand with his and pulled a knife with the other, eyes wide open but mental still drowsy.

He let go and sheathed his knife. “Sorry, that’s the second time I’ve threated you with a weapon.”

“It’s also the amount of times they’ve saved me.”

Klaus got up and took the other knife from the snake’s head, which was now dead.

“There’s not much time left until we leave, so if you want breakfast I’m afraid snake is the closest option” he said holding his knife ready to skin it.

“Yeaaah,no” Sydney replied bluntly.

“Well I guess you can take your chances with the bandit supplies.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“That’s because it is” Klaus said while waving the snake in front of her, coaxing. “Come on?”

Sydney started walking towards the supplies, where they had talked.

There was enough light to see in the room without a lamp now, the supplies laid in the same corner.

Most pieces were already organised in groups, electronics, clothing, weapons, water and food.  

Sydney browsed through the small food pile. As long as it wasn’t strange she was fine with it, she picked up a bar which was familiar. It was in a plastic blue packet that only had the flavour on it, manufactured inside The Dome.

I guess raisins are better than snakes, she thought as she opened the packet which kept the food in its unaltered condition.

She took the backpack Abby left for her and walked back outside, munching on the muesli bar. Klaus was sitting on a concrete block roasting several strips of snake meat on a fire, skewered with sticks; next to him was his knife and snake remains.

“Hey” he said with glee waving a snake stick.

“How can you even eat that stuff?” Sydney said trying to sound more curious than disgusted.  

“Well when you’ve eaten everything from a coyote to an iguana, a rattle snake rates a good six out of ten” Klaus explained. “And if you can get around to butchering an alligator…”

“Please, just eat your snake so we can leave” she said covering her mouth, pretending to be disgusted, but really just covering her smile.

Klaus opened his mouth again as if to reply, but then just took a bite from his snake kebab.

Sydney sat there for about ten minutes until Klaus stood up and kicked sand on the fire. He walked back into the room with the supplies and came back out after five minutes.

“What did you take?” Sydney asked.

“Just stuff we absolutely need” Klaus replied. He took his small back pack off, took out a water bottle and handed her. “They have water so I’m guessing a source is nearby.”

“That cloak just hides everything doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, mostly everything” he replied as he put it back on under his cloak. “Let’s go.”
A week later and another upload. Hopefully you are all enjoying it and i get to my goal of ten uploads before the end of my school term (3 weeks ahead from now), i have the obstacles of prelims and Destiny full game. This is going to be a challenge...

Comments and suggestions are appreciated as always. Thank you for reading.

Next Chapter:

Previous Chapter: fav.me/d7wtqen
© 2014 - 2024 DuskZephyr77
Comments0
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In