Kholvaria (The Color of Water and Sky Book 2)

by Andrew Gates

  Once the others were out of range, Selena took a few steps towards her husband and held onto him. Her embrace was strong and loving. Grey felt himself sniffle, trying to hold back the tears.

  “Let it out if you have to,” Selena said.

  Grey did not hold back now. He let the tears come. In an instant, he lost all control. It was hard to breathe.

  “That’s okay,” Selena said, comfortingly. “What you did was not easy.”

  “Did… did I do the right thing?” Grey wondered, speaking through his tears.

  “Yes,” she said, pulling away to face him. “Yes, you did. I’m proud of you.”

  Grey smiled at her. She smiled back.

  “Thanks,” was all he said. He could not think of anything else to say.

  “Where are we going now?” Kaitlyn asked, pulling Grey from his emotions.

  The father wiped his eyes and turned to face his oldest daughter. Both girls had been so well behaved during this rough time. Grey was proud of them.

  “We’ll be going back to the Megastructure now, that big building, remember?”

  “Really? We are?” Kaitlyn responded. Her face lit up. She seemed happy.

  “I like it there!” Misha added.

  “See?” Selena said. “Already making people happy.”

  Grey paused and nodded his head up and down, trying to reassure himself that he made the right decision. It was hard to concentrate right now. He simply stood there, nodding like a fool.

  Selena placed her right hand on his back.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked.

  Grey stared out into the desolate world and shook his head.

  “I… I don’t know.”

  He turned to face her again.

  “Splitting up like this… it’s going to change everything. I think I made the right call. I certainly hope I did. But how can I be sure?”

  “You did, Grey, you did!” Selena replied, reassuringly.

  Grey looked down to his boots. He kicked up the ashy dust below him.

  “Then why does it feel wrong?” he wondered.

  “You’ve spent your whole life with Dan. Nothing about this should feel easy,” Selena answered.

  Grey sighed. He supposed she was right.

  The father looked up again and faced his daughters. They were so eager to get going. He smiled at them.

  “Alright then,” he said. “Come on. We should find that cave before it gets dark.”

  It was not long on their walk before the burned, desolate forest turned lush again. It seemed only a portion of the woods was affected by the fire. It was comforting to be lost within the green foliage once more. The ash only brought out a dark, somber feeling.

  Walking through the forest was much easier now that Selena was in better shape. Grey still had to support her most of the way, but she was able to take small steps on her own for brief periods at a time.

  Kaitlyn and Misha had been surprisingly quiet and orderly. The drama must have been a lot for them. Grey had never seen them so well behaved. He welcomed this unexpected change, though he knew it would not last forever.

  The four of them had been walking for what must have been several hours now. They knew the general direction, east, of course. But finding a specific cave entrance was not an easy task. The group looked for any memorable sights or clues they could find.

  As they continued along, things eventually started to look familiar. Grey recognized some of the large trees and rock formations around them. He could even hear the roar of the river nearby.

  He stopped by a bush and leaned down to inspect it. This was a familiar plant, not unlike the bushes that bore them fruit. Yet this one did not have any berries on it. If any were there, they had been completely plucked.

  Grey spun around, taking in the area. A looming rock formation stood before him. He walked towards it, carefully. As he hoped, the inside of the rock seemed hollow. He peered into the hole, trying to see how far down it went, but the end of the cave was simply lost in darkness.

  “This is it!” he said, excitedly. He was so relieved. Part of him doubted he would ever find the cave again.

  “Are you sure?” Selena asked.

  “I am,” he replied with a nod. “This is definitely it. We found it.”

  Grey went in first. It did not take long before he felt the temperature drop. He held both his hands out, using his sense of touch to navigate. Without a torch, he was good as blind.

  “Should we follow?” Selena wondered.

  “Uh… no,” Grey answered as he held his arms out. “No, let me go in first. I will find something bright and bring it back out. I don’t want the girls coming in here and falling.”

  “Okay,” Selena replied.

  Grey walked forward. He could feel the cave sloping down. He almost slipped a few times, but managed to keep his balance. Eventually he could no longer hear the noise coming from outside. He turned. The light at the end was so far away. It looked like a spec or a single star in the vast night sky. The father turned back around and continued downward again. After a few minutes, he reached the bottom. Grey could see the light emanating from inside the shattered window of the Megastructure. So the lights are still working, he realized.

  He pulled himself through the window, trying to stay clear of any shattered glass. He felt his feet drop to the hard floor. It was a relief to stand on a flat surface again.

  The office room was dimly lit, but lit. To him, any light was a welcome change. He moved through the office until he was in the large hallway again, where it was much brighter. The remains of the burned desk sat in the center of the floor. It felt strange being back here and seeing it all again.

  I need to bring something back up, but what? Grey looked around, wondering what to use. Suddenly he saw a door marked Emergency Supplies. He walked to it and pulled on the handle. As he expected, the door was locked.

  Grey picked up one of the burned wood pieces from the center of the floor. It was black, but still in sturdy shape. It seemed like this piece had not been thoroughly cooked through. He carried it over to the door and smashed it repeatedly until he heard a cracking noise.

  He dropped the piece of wood to the floor and pulled on the door. It opened. He smiled. Breaking the lock was easier than he expected.

  The door just led to a small closet, but it contained exactly what he was looking for. A flashlight sat on the shelf directly before his eyes. He grabbed it and turned it on. It glowed bright. Thank the Lord Beyond Both Seas, he thought, practically expecting the flashlight to explode.

  There were five more emergency flashlights in the closet. He turned each of them on to test them. Only two of them seemed to be working, including the one he started with. He grabbed both of the functioning ones and put the others aside.

  Grey went back into the office room, climbed through the window again and made his way out of the cave, this time with two working flashlights in his hands. When he got to the top, his family was waiting for him.

  The father smiled as he approached. The girls seemed excited. Misha held some sort of objects in her hands.

  “What did you find?” he asked.

  “Look!” she held her hands high. Grey could not really tell what it was.

  “She found some nuts by one of the tall trees,” Selena explained.

  “Good! Great job!” Grey replied. He held his lights up. “And I found some flashlights. These will make walking through the cave much easier.”

  Selena smiled and nodded her head. Grey could tell she was proud of him.

  “Are you girls ready to go inside?” he asked.

  The girls both jumped up and down with excitement.

  “Yes, yes!” they cried out.

  “Good,” Grey replied. “Let’s go. We’ll make this place our home.”

  DAN WAS RIGHT, RIGHT ABOUT everything.

  Jallah had not felt this comfortable in a long time. It had been weeks since the group split apart and weeks since there had been any sign
of the mantises or zombies. It seemed like the more they walked away from the ocean, the safer it became.

  At first it was still hard for Jallah to sleep. Images of zombies or mantises continued to enter his mind. But as time went on, those dreams came less and less. Each day, he slept longer and longer without interruption. He felt better and more rested during the day, as did the other members of the group. Dan no longer saw the need for anyone to stay up on watch. These days, they all slept at once.

  Without Grey and his family, the group was able to move much faster on their walks. At times it was hard to believe how slowly they used to travel. The young girls always needed to stop and rest or pee. Without them, they took half the breaks and walked twice as fast.

  The land here was not as flat as it was out east. Jallah could not remember the last time they walked on level ground. The terrain was full of steep hills and crevasses, though that was not necessarily a bad thing. He liked walking on slopes.

  Each day, Jallah could feel himself getting stronger. His muscles were all thicker and denser than ever before. He no longer breathed heavily when climbing steep hills, nor felt pain when lifting something heavy. To him, this terrain was a gift.

  He also became better at hunting and trapping. Catching food seemed easier by the day. Jallah was now able to fasten traps out of sticks and rocks or would sometimes just resort to chasing animals down. They were able to enjoy meat for dinner almost every day. Yesterday Dan hit a crow with a rock and Jallah caught a squirrel with a trap. They enjoyed both animals for dinner that night.

  The weather was also getting warmer. Jallah no longer shivered at night. It rained a lot lately, which made it easier to find drinking water. All around, things were just getting easier for them.

  Not everything was a joy though. Since leaving the group, Dan had been quieter and more serious. Jallah could not recall him crack a single joke in days. He understood why Dan would be upset. He lost his future wife, his future child and his brother all at once. Jallah remembered how sad he was when he first lost his family, but he had Margery to help him through the tough times. Dan had no one but three kids to help him with his pain.

  Ophelia was not doing much better either. She barely uttered a word since Iris’s death. When they traveled, she walked a small distance away from everyone else, still in a safe line of sight, but at a distance. Jallah tried talking to her a few times. She seemed fine once she started speaking, but as soon as the conversation was over, she went back to moping alone.

  Jallah was horrified when Iris died. Like everyone else, he struggled to get over it. The loss was just too much to handle. But as time passed, so did the pain. He was glad the torment did not linger like it had for Dan and Ophelia. Margery was able to comfort him whenever he felt remotely upset. She could calm him down from any situation. It was like she had a magic power over him that he could not explain.

  Overall Margery seemed content as well. She was still her old self. Despite being the youngest one in the group, she was easily the best problem solver among them, aside from Dan. At times, Jallah wondered how she was so smart. They went to the same school and knew the same people. Perhaps she was just born with a gifted mind.

  The more they walked through the world, the more Jallah started to wonder what else was out there. Sometimes during their breaks, Jallah would stare out into the distance and imagine a colony of human settlers somewhere in the west.

  The Pacific Station survivors might be on the west coast right now, he thought. Nobody knows what happened to them. Maybe they’re here in the New World with us. Maybe that’s where they went 190-whatever-years ago.

  He shared his theory with the others. They all seemed intrigued by the idea. Dan and Margery both said it could be possible and Ophelia simply shrugged. As far as Jallah was concerned, that gave him enough hope.

  “Hey,” Margery said, walking over to Jallah as they continued along through the forest.

  Jallah turned and smiled to her. Over the last few weeks, her hair had grown out. It looked so long now. Everyone’s had. Even Jallah was starting to grow an unkempt afro. He imagined it probably looked terrible, but nothing could look as bad as Dan’s lengthy beard and shaggy hair.

  “Hey, how are you?” Jallah asked.

  “Fine. Look at the sky,” she said, pointing.

  Jallah looked upwards to the cloudless sky above. From atop this hill, they could see the big triangular spaceship clearly. Jallah had never gotten a view of the ship like this before. He could make out some of the smaller ships darting around it like insects.

  “Wow, cool!” he said. It was strange to think that dangerous mantises lived there. Here he was, admiring how pretty it looked. All the while, it was filled with killer creatures.

  “I bet the higher up we go, the better the view,” Margery said.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

  Jallah turned to face the others. Dan and Ophelia were continuing forward. I guess they didn’t see the ship, he thought.

  “Hey guys, look at the view!” Jallah shouted, pointing.

  Dan and Ophelia stopped and faced the ship. They both admired it for a few seconds and then lowered their heads again, facing forward.

  “It’s pretty,” Dan agreed. There was no emotion in his voice.

  They don’t seem so impressed.

  The two of them started walking again. Jallah sighed and followed along. Margery stayed by his side.

  “Everyone finds beauty in different things,” Margery said, trying to be reassuring.

  “I think you’re beautiful,” Jallah said, keeping his eyes on her.

  Margery giggled.

  “Well thanks.”

  “Seriously, I do!”

  “I know, I know,” she replied.

  Jallah faced forward as they walked.

  “How long have we been walking today?” he asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe four hours?”

  “That seems right,” Jallah agreed. They continued along quietly for a few seconds. Then he turned to face her. “What do you think the others are up to?” he eventually said.

  “What others?”

  “You know… Grey and Selena and the girls.”

  Margery shrugged.

  “I don’t know. I guess they’re safe in the Pentagonal Megastructure.”

  “Do you think they still have power?”

  “Probably,” Margery said, nodding. “If that was a military fortress, they would want it to last for a long time in case of emergencies.”

  “But it’s been weeks!” Jallah replied.

  Margery shrugged again.

  “I don’t know! Do I look like an expert?”

  “Yes,” Jallah said, smiling. He waited until Margery saw his face before he turned and faced forward again.

  “Well I’m glad you think I’m an expert, but I’m not.”

  “You seem like an expert to me. You’re the smartest girl I know!”

  “You don’t know many girls anymore.”

  “Well, you’re the smartest girl I know including the girls I used to know,” he clarified.

  Margery chuckled.

  “Well thank you,” she said.

  Jallah nodded. It felt good to be able to have a casual conversation like this again. For so long, it hardly seemed possible.

  “We’ll probably take a break soon,” Jallah said.

  Margery nodded. Usually after about four hours of walking, Dan would stop them so that they had time to rest and eat.

  “Probably,” she agreed.

  “I want to spend time with you when we stop.”

  She turned and smiled at him.

  “I’d like that.”

  Suddenly Jallah felt something squishy beneath his feet. He looked directly down. His boots were stuck in thick mud. He took a few steps to the side to get out of the sludge, but froze as he looked at the ground.

  Footprints. There were footprints in the mud.

  Jallah looked up. Dan and Ophelia could not
have made the prints. They were too far off to the side. That meant someone else was here.

  “Guys,” Jallah said aloud.

  Margery was the first to stop. She saw the prints right away. Her mouth opened wide.

  Dan turned and saw the prints next. He ran over to Jallah and crouched by the mud, inspecting it. Ophelia followed slowly behind.

  “Good find, Jallah,” he said.

  “Who did this?”

  Dan stood up straight.

  “These prints are bare feet, not boots. It probably came from zombies,” he explained.

  Jallah felt his heart start to beat a little bit faster. It has been so long since he had anything to fear. Just hearing the word zombies changed everything.

  “I thought there weren’t any zombies out here,” Ophelia said, quietly.

  Dan shook his head.

  “No, I never said that. I said we’re less likely to find them out here,” he clarified.

  “What do we do?” Jallah asked. “We don’t have guns anymore.”

  Dan sighed.

  “We’re fine for now. These are just footprints, not zombies themselves. Footprints can’t hurt us.”

  “But that means they’re close to here!” Margery debated.

  Dan nodded.

  “Yes. It seems like it,” he agreed. He wiped some sweat from his face, looked around the area and took a deep breath. “For now, let’s just continue forward. There’s nothing we can do about it here.”

  Jallah felt himself shiver. He stared down at the footprints. His eyes were stuck on the sight.

  “Come on,” Margery said, pulling on his arm. Jallah looked at her.

  “Oh, yeah,” he said.

  The four of them continued along. They all walked slightly closer together this time. Suddenly the world did not seem as beautiful and comforting as it had.

  They walked down the hillside now, stepping carefully as they maneuvered down the slope. When they reached the bottom, Jallah felt a sensation in his bladder. It was strong.

  “Guys, I need to pee,” he said.

  “Okay, we’ll stop and wait,” Dan replied.

  Now that the thought of zombies was fresh on his mind, the idea of abandoning the group, even for a moment, made him a bit uneasy, but he proceeded nonetheless, knowing that the sooner he got it done, the sooner they could get going.