Oliva couldn't move. She couldn't process what had happened and stayed on her hands and knees watching blood pool out of Dana's lifeless body. As she looked up, Corey slashed Arthur's throat. It looked like something from a horror movie. Unreal. Blood sprayed out of his neck like water from a busted fire hydrant and then crashed to the floor.
NO SUCH THING AS HEROES
Corey and Olivia looked at each other for a moment in mutual dismay, not saying a word. All Olivia could hear was the ringing in her ears and the banging coming from the other side of the door. Zoe ran to Corey and took his head in her hands. Crying, she held her face up to his before looking down at Dana. Olivia couldn't hear them. Everything sounded muffled, like she was underwater. Michael and Luke were still holding the chest of drawers against the door,which was being broken down from the other side.
"Dana." Olivia touched her arm, not knowing what to do for the best. Dana was still.
"You can't die. You can't die when a piece of shit like me lives, you hear me." She knew it was too late, but checked Dana's pulse and breathing, anyway. She couldn't tell whose blood was whose, only that it was more blood than she could ever imagine. "We don't die. We come back."
"She ain't coming back, and we need to get out of here," said Corey.
"I jumped off a cliff the other day without a scratch. You hung yourself for fuck's sake. You know we can't die."
Chips of splintered wood flew from the door as their assailants shot it from the other side. Olivia joined the other and crouched low to the ground. Corey ran to the window, hunched over. "There is no-one outside. This is our chance to get out of here."
"I'm not leaving her here."
The wooden door cracked open at the top as a hammer plunged through. Olivia could see the men on the other side through the gap. Another gunshot rang out, and she ducked down as low as possible.
"Where's Dana's gun?" Luke shouted.
"I don't know. I don't think it has any bullets," said Corey. "I'm telling you guys, we have to go out the window."
Olivia took one end of the mattress and dragged it across the hotel room floor in great, heaving motions. She pulled the handle up and pushed the windows outward. Grabbing the other end, Corey tried to tilt the mattress in such a way that it would break their fall. "It doesn't fit," she cried, and ran back to the bed, taking the duvet and the sheets and dropping them out the window. "It will have to do." She wondered if she was trying to convince them or herself. No matter the state of mind, the brain still had trouble with the concept of jumping from a great height. The image of snapped bones and sinew flashed in front of her eyes.
"I'll keep blocking the door," Luke shouted.
"I need to jump now. I'll chicken out if I don't do it now." Zoe hovered around the window, ducking with every sound. They must have been out of bullets as there were no more gunshots.
"I should check it's safe first, you know, test the height and all that. Check no-one else is down there. They you can go straight after me," said Corey, not giving her a chance to respond.
He took one deep breath and dropped in a measured, controlled manner. The duvet provided just enough padding that he broke nothing, but he fell hard. Zoe watched him pat himself down and stand upright, and then she jumped, screaming on the way down. A loud thud signaled her landing.
"Are you okay?" Olivia called down from the third floor.
"I think so." Zoe looked stunned and rubbed her leg.
Blood soaked through Michael's sleeve around his bicep. He must have been caught by the gunfire. She couldn't bring herself to mention it. They had to get somewhere safe before they could attend to their wounds.
"Michael ,I think you should go next she offered. Get someone to check out your arm. Luke. We're going to jump now. As soon as we do ,you need to run away from the door and jump out as quick as you can. We'll be waiting for you at the bottom." She looked at the gap in the door and couldn't see anyone there anymore. The banging had stopped.
"Luke I think they're going downstairs."
Luke got up from his crouched position and peered over the top of his cover. "We need to leave now." He ran towards them.
They’re coming downstairs. You need to get to the car now." She shouted down at the others.
Michael jumped first, followed by Olivia. She slapped the ground with a jolt and her bones rattled in her body. Once the shock subsided, Michael offered her a hand. Something appeared in her peripheral vision as she saw them exit the front entrance. "Luke hurry up!"
Luke hit the ground next to her and Olivia gasped. The sheer power of the impact shocked her. She looked him over and he seemed okay as he dusted himself off. The three of them ran after the others towards the car by the beach as bullets narrowly missed them. The bark of a tree exploded next to her ,and she weaved the avoid it. Brick dust blew up as bullets hit the wall and as they turned the corner the car was just meters away. Luke threw the keys and Zoe caught them so she could start up the car. As the central locking clicked ,Corey opened the back door and pulled Dana's body onto the back seat. Zoe started the engine ,and Michael, Luke and Olivia jumped in, slamming the doors behind them. The back window shattered as they drove away with a screech. Olivia looked out the back window and the white van came screeching around the corner ,parking up next to the men and they bundled in.
“Drive, drive, drive." Olivia chanted.
"What do you think I'm doing!" Zoe shouted. She span the car around and charged the car full speed towards the van. The men who hadn't managed to get in yet were hit by the front bumper and fell to the ground. She backed up and pulled around the van, making her way onto the road and picking up speed. Bullets fired behind them until they turned the corner. With no idea where she was going, Zoe traveled down a maze of roads and hurtled around corners, trying to lose them.
Luke!" Olivia turned to see him clutching his neck. Blood oozed out of the side of his fingers as he gasped.
"Luke's been shot," she screamed, not knowing what to do. She couldn't do anything. If he took his hands away from his throat ,he would be a goner. His eyelids flickered as the choking sounds gurgled from his mouth.
“Don't worry. We don't die. We don't die.”
“Why aren't the healing like I did?” Zoe asked from the drivers seat. Her hands clenched the steering wheel.
“I don't know. I don't know.” Olivia cried.
“It's because it wasn't by their own hands.” Michael spoke monotonously from the seat in front.
The sounds stopped as Luke's hands slipped away from his neck and hung limply at his sides. He fell onto her as Zoe changed lanes. There was no pulse when Olivia put her fingers on his wrist. She left him laying across her lap and turned to look out the window. She couldn't cry. The urge was there, building up like a pressure cooker but somehow unable to break the surface.
SACRIFICE
After two hours of driving, Zoe stopped the car for the first time. They had lost the van within minutes, but she could not bring herself to stop. The car stopped on a lonely desert road. Without a destination in mind, they ended up in the middle of nowhere. No-one spoke. Olivia slid out from under Luke's body and got out the car. She hadn't moved him for the whole drive. Her sweatpants were soaked through and through with inordinate amounts of blood. The blood had started out warm and gushing, but was now cold and sticky, and the fabric stuck to her legs. The cut to her side needed attending to, but she decided to ignore it. Facing the severity of the situation didn't appeal to her at this moment in time. She shakily lit a cigarette and slumped against the side of the car, watching the smoke drift up into the dry, still, desert air.
Michael was the next to get out. He could barely look at Olivia, but slumped next to her in solidarity. She passed him the cigarette which he took eagerly, and sucked in a long, deliberate drag. As he brought his arm out to pass it back to her, he winced as the sleeve of his t-shirt brushed against his wound.
"It hasn't healed either." Olivia inspected the wound. The bullet must have
been embedded as there was no exit wound. She took another puff of her cigarette and scraped the tip of her shoe against the earth, wondering what the hell they would do now, before flicking the butt onto the sandy earth and scraping it out with her shoe.
"Can you pop open the boot?" She called to Zoe, who still sat in the front seat, with her head against the steering wheel and Corey stroking her shoulders. In the trunk she found some tattered rags, which she wrapped around her middle to cover up the open gash. She considered wrapping up Michael's arm, but the bleeding had stopped and she didn't trust the cleanliness of the material. "You know, Michael. I heard somewhere that you can put a tampon in a bullet wound to seal it."
"You know what, I think I'll be okay." He smiled.
That smile, she hadn't seen it in so long, not a genuine one anyway.
"We need to get you out of those." He looked down at her trousers.
"We don't have any supplies. Everything was in the hotel."
"I'm sorry," said Michael. She wondered what he was apologising about. It sounded heartfelt, like he was responsible for all the world's wrongs and there was no redemption.
Corey pulled Luke's body out of the car and laid him out on the gravel. Luke's skin had turned white, like the blood loss had drained all the color out. Unable to look at his pallid face anymore, Corey covered him with a blanket but didn't leave his side.
Olivia lit another cigarette. She never understood the attachment to a body. Open caskets, people not sharing organs, visiting graves. To her, the person was their personality. Once that was gone, they were gone. The first time she saw a body, trapped in a box, lowered into the ground, that was when she felt it. Luke could be infuriating, a bit of a dick, but he could also be brave, hilarious and kind. He wasn't the lump of skin and bones lying on the ground like a CPR dummy. He could have been made of plastic for all she cared. If she had ever gotten around to writing a will, she would have asked to be cremated. The thought of her body sticking around, taking up space, and slowly decomposing didn't sit right with her. A screeching noise came from above as birds of prey started to swoop and dive around them, casting shadows onto the ground. One perched on a parched branch of a tree carcass, opportunistically waiting for them to leave.
ART
Back in the car, they continued along the desert road and apart from the mountains in the distance, all they could see was dry scrubland, shrubs dotted along the burnt orange sand for miles. The stifling silence suffocated them with its weight, so Zoe put the radio on in some vain hope that something would be playing. Anything. The white noise crackled as she scanned, but to no avail. They would have to make do with the gentle buzz of the engine, the wheels gliding on tarmac, and the sound of their breathing, labored with fear.
"It was worth a try I guess." She switched it off and looked at the empty stretch of road ahead of her. The thin sprinkling of clouds played with the lowering sun, casting rays that turned the desert the color of angry flames. The color seemed to change every minute as the sun changed its position in the sky and the shadows of the scrawny trees stretched down in fingers of running ink.
The trees grew in number the further they travelled, formulating, gathering. Olivia remembered a story she heard while travelling about cacti being mistaken for an army, and the other side retreating. If only she could remember the details or even what country she had been in. It seemed strange now. The thought that she may never get on a plane again made her feel like she was missing a limb. The world of bustling airports was a thing of the past. If only she hadn't taken it for granted. She wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her as the trees seemed to move in the shifting light.
"Look, there's a person." Zoe slowed the car. "Should I turn back?"
Olivia was fed up with running. Why couldn't people just accept the inevitable? It would happen to every single one of them at some point. Why not now? Why prolong the uncertainty? "Keep going."
"I agree. It's just one person. It'll be fine," Corey agreed.
As they got closer, the figure became clearer. The man walked wearily along the roadside, carrying a huge backpack. When he noticed them, his demeanor changed, and he ran towards the car waving his arms in a burst of energy which seemed to come from nowhere. His shaggy beard and stained clothes indicated he had not been in civilisation for a long time. Zoe hit the brakes.
"Hey there." He called as she lowered the window.
"Who are you?" Zoe asked.
"The name is Ben." He swept his long hair out of his eyes and slicked it back.
"What are you doing all the way out here?"
"You could say I'm a bit of a wanderer. I've been hiking for the last three months." He flashed a friendly smile like he didn't have a care in the world.
"Anyone with you?"
"Not a sole. I haven't seen a single person in over a month. The trail is really quiet this year."
"You need a ride?"
"I'd really appreciate that." He wiped beads of sweat from his forehead.
"Where to? We're kind of lost actually so maybe you can help us find somewhere to stay the night."
"I have no fixed abode. You could just drop me in the nearest town."
Zoe popped the trunk for him and he slung his backpack in. Just as he opened the door and went to sit down, he noticed the blood-soaked upholstery.
"About that. There is probably something that you need to know." Olivia broke the news to him, but the man did not seem bothered or surprised. This was a huge red flag, but there was something about this man. She could just tell that he was good. The others all seemed to accept his presence without a second thought, like he had been one of the gang all along.
"You know what." He sat forward on the edge of his seat. "There is this amazing art installation close by. The guy just made it in the middle of the desert. The government wanted to take it down as it was on someone else's land, but people loved it and now it's there to stay."
"What is it exactly?"
"I saw some pictures on the internet, it looked amazing, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. If you go into it with no expectations, it will blow you away."
LUCID
They had been driving for about 30 minutes when the hitch-hiker asked them to stop. He had spent that time sharing tales of his epic trek across the Mojave desert and beyond. The happiness in his voice kept them going. The stretch of road was desolate except for a small wooden house and a large Joshua tree that overlooked it. The tree stood alone in the desert like a solo actor on stage, spilling their monologue. It had probably been there for hundreds of years, witnessing generations of people living in that tiny wooden shack. Or maybe it was always alone, with nothing but the dry earth.
All the windows were boarded up and prickly desert holly grew up from the foundations, capturing it and keeping it captive in this empty place.
"It's behind here." The hitch-hiker got out of the car, and the slamming door echoed into the void.
They walked around the side of the house in single file, weaving around the spikey foliage that scratched at their ankles, and as they passed the house, Ben pointed to the hill in front of them. "It's just over that ridge." He picked up his pace and ran ahead of them.
Zoe stopped. "Should we be following this guy? He seems a little unhinged. What if he's one of them? I mean come on, what are the odds that there is some random art project behind that hill, in the middle of nowhere."
"I don't know. I kinda like him. He just has one of those faces. You know he's a cool guy." Olivia watched him run off.
"Sorry if I don't fancy putting my life at risk because he, 'just has one of those faces.'"
"I seriously need a joint," said Corey. "The minute we stop I am lighting up."
As the land sloped up, loose scree gave way under their feet. Olivia used the gorse to get purchase as she climbed, as it was steeper than it looked from the roadside. The sun was getting even lower now, and its concentrated rays shot into the atmosphere like lasers. As Olivia got to the top a
nd stood on the edge, a blinding light made her turn her head away and she shielded her eyes with her forearm. She slid down the other side, holding her arms out beside her for balance until she reached the bottom. Huge shards of glass in varying shapes, colors and sizes projected from the soil as if they had burst up from the sand like a plant trying to find the sun. The light bounced from one shard to another and spread out in all directions, glowing all the colors of the rainbow. None of them said a word for ten minutes and just gazed at this foreign thing in front of them. The oasis in the desert.
"You were right. This is literally the most amazing thing I have ever seen." Zoe dipped between the different layers.
"I hate the word literally," said Michael, unphased by the beauty around him.
Zoe walked and talked, looking in every direction. "Well one, I don't care. Two, I literally mean literally. I have never seen anything this amazing ever."
It seemed to shift and change depending on where they stood, and they explored it like a kid who had never seen a play park before. Rushing from one thing to another.
"I never want to leave here," said Corey, as he put his hands up to the surface and held them there. "It's really warm."
Olivia went to touch it. The warmth radiated through her hands and she could feel energy coming from it.
"Your hair," said Zoe.
Olivia looked at her head in the reflection in the glass. Her hair stood to attention, reaching towards the sky. She tried to smooth it down, but that just made it worse.
"It's like one of those plasma balls." Zoe hovered her hand over Olivia's head and giggled.
"Have a go, Michael," Olivia pleaded. He sat on the incline watching disinterestedly. "Do I have to?"
"Yes, you have to."
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