Earth: Book One (Elemental Series)

by Adams, Taeya

  “Wow. It’s almost as bad as your eye,” She said, leaning in to get a better view.

  Max walked in. “What even?” He held the palm of his hand over his nose and screwed up his face at the scent of the gas. “How aren’t you high?”

  Rayne recoiled. “Practice. I’m not some type of light weight,” She winked at him as she walked out.

  Max watched as she left. “Why is she weirdly hot?”

  “You’re insane,” Dean said, leaving.

  “True…”

  *****

  Day Two: March 29th, 2020; 7:15 pm

  “He’s watching,” She whispered again.

  Zander looked at her, confused. He looked at her as if she was insane, which could very well be the case.

  “Your father is watching us. That’s what Tracy spelled out. It was Forres code,” She removed the hand from his lips but put them on the back of his head. She pulled him close. “Look as if you’re kissing me.”

  Zander put his hands on her waist and closed the space between them. It doesn’t feel the same as when Ben did it. Of course, Zander was warm but she doesn’t feel any spark with him. “I kind of expect something like this from him.”

  Forres pushed up on her toes. “I remember things. Not a lot but only small things like Forres code, Bex, Sargent, Oliver and Rayne… I remember them. I remember the doctor taking me in when the rest gave up on me and treating me like one of his own; I remember your sister and… hearing a lot about you… Mr. Perfect…,” She turned on her heel and ran.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Day Two: March 29th, 2020; 7:32 pm

  The café was silence and everyone was enjoying their food and the silence.

  Zander walked in and broke the silent. Bex’s heart fell again but harder as she saw the look on Zander’s face. She was about to ask about Forres but couldn’t get pass the lump in her throat. Instead she stayed silent.

  “Where’s Forres?” Sargent spoke up for Bex.

  “Oh, she’s fine. I think she went up to the roof,” Zander said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Anyone got a plan?”

  Bex stood; relieved as if she was carrying weights for a long time and someone took them from her, looking over at Sargent. “No. We were waiting for you,” She wanted to go up with Forres but she resisted. Sargent got up for more of water. He looked weak but kept a stern face on.

  “Where’s Max?” Zander asked.

  “He stormed because of Austin,” Felix answered. “He drew the map though.”

  *****

  Day Two: March 29th, 2020; 7:35 pm

  Once Forres got to the roof, she saw Max. “What are you doing up here?” She asked.

  Max jumped and turned to her. “Trying to relax. Everything is really stressful.”

  Forres nodded. She goes over to the edge of the building and sat next to him. She saw a half full can of beans. “Are you going to finish that?” He swatted at her as he was trying she can have it. She stuffed some in her mouth. “You know, when things are stressful, I usually try to clear my mind. Want to?’

  He glanced over at her as if she knew his secrets. “No. My mind is too… dark and scary. You don’t want to hear it.”

  “No. I mean, blank your mind. Think of something else and take deep breaths and relax,” Forres laid on her back, legs over the ledge.

  “What should I think about?”

  “Lay down.”

  Max hesitated. “You’re not going to rape me or kill me or anything?”

  She chuckled. “I’ll try hard not to.”

  He laid down, as she wanted him to. He saw stars and without another word he was thinking about them and his body relaxed. “Why are you always so calm?”

  “I just found out my liker was murdered by one of my childhood best friends… I just found out the truth of this. Everything seems so fake and I wish it was. I wish I’d wake up and be next to my liker yet its reality… I think I’m so calm is because I like the beautiful truth. Death. It’s like I get a sense of comfort and peace.”

  Max raised to his elbows, eyes still on the stars. “How?”

  “I’ve been around death all my life and I knew what the cause was like cancer or kidney failure. And when I found out about Ben’s murderer, I didn’t want to believe it but now I have peace because I know who did it,” Forres explained.

  “What do you know about Rayne?” Max asked after a wave of silence.

  “Stay away from her if you can. She’s like a crouching tiger and you might be her next prey.”

  “What?” Max laughed as if it was a joke.

  Forres kept a serious face. She sat up and turned to him. “Rayne was my liker’s murderer… Jealousy can get the best of her…”

  *****

  Day Two: March 29th, 2020; 8:38pm

  Just as Max was leaving the roof, Bex was entering it with Sargent and Eleanor in tow. “Forres up there?”

  Max nodded as Bex goes up the stairs to the roof. “Hey bro, you don’t look to good,” he said to Sargent.

  “Just tired…,” Sargent lied.

  Eleanor put her hand on his forehead. The back of her hand burned against his skin. “Oh gees. Let’s get you to bed.”

  Sargent nodded to Eleanor as she led him away. She sends a worried glance to Max and he decided to help.

  Chapter Fifty

  Day Two: March 29th, 2020; 8:40 pm

  Bex entered the roof, oblivious to Sargent’s unfelt pain.

  “Hey,” Bex said to Forres.

  Still sitting near the ledge, Forres turned, “Hey,” she smiled.

  “So those pills really do work?” Bex asked. Forres just nodded and laughed. Bex points to the seat next to Forres. “May I?”

  “Go ahead but since when did you become all proper?”

  Staring out into the city, Bex said nothing as she took a seat on the ledge. “Remember the time we wanted to be a superhero for real so we started to build things… You probably won’t remember it…”

  “I do. We went online to figure out how to be one. We practiced a lot and never gave up. What were our names?”

  “Mine was Hurricane, yours was Hunter,” they laughed.

  “Remember we had to stop because you broke your arm doing a flip or trying to…” Forres laughed harder. After a while they settled down still smiling, “Did you guys develop a plan?”

  “For Saint James? No, Zander’s working hard at it. I think he likes you,” Bex said, bumping Forres’s shoulder.

  Forres threw her head back and laughed. “Yeah right, Hurricane.”

  Bex hopped to her feet. “No need to fear world, Hurricane is here,” Trying to narrate it, she said this in a deep voice.

  Forres laughed and stood, “Oh, we are saved because Hunter is here too,” she tried the deep voice.

  They laughed just as Max threw open the door. They looked at him, still giggling. But then he said three words that made them because silent.

  The world seemed to crash over their heads. Forres heart stopped. Bex felt weak in the knees as if she’d collapse to her knees but she started to run. Forres followed. They both race down the stair like their life depended on it.

  As they ran down the hospital halls, Forres can’t believe what’s happening. She can’t believe as they were laughing, it was happening.

  Sargent was dying…

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Day Two: March 29th, 2020; 9:01 pm

  Sargent sat in bed writing letters.

  What would you do if you alone had a few hours to live? Sargent chose to write letters to his sister, Marine, and for Bex and Forres and Oliver – where ever he was… He loved all four of them. Of course he chose to do something for them.

  When the door opened, he looked up to see Forres and Bex there.

  Forres looked like a little lost puppy. A puppy that was about to lose its best friend. She shuffled to him and climbed into the bed. She cuddled up and hugged him around the waist.

  Bex bit her lip, hard and goes on the other side of the
bed and climbed in.

  Even though the bed wasn’t that big, the three of them seemed to fit like they did when they were smaller. They used to do this when Forres or Oliver was dying or if Bex was feeling down. They laid in silences waiting for the end to come, hoping – praying – that it never did.

  So this is how it ends? With my best friends, well two of them and they’re more like family. With three unwritten letters. Without my sister who may or may not be alive… Sargent though. He resisted the urge to break the silence, the moment. He wanted to screamed; he didn’t want to die like this but it was the only way out. Luckily it was painless.

  There was so much Sargent hadn’t gotten to do but he doesn’t regret his choices in life. They were his choices and he is proud to think that.

  “I love you,” Forres blurted out, breaking the awful silence.

  “Can we do something? Can we be kids again?” Sargent asked, a lump in his throat. He felt weak but that wasn’t going to stop him.

  Forres sat up. She looked at her friends. Everyone got one last dying wish and that was it. “I’ll get something,” She said, determined to find something fun to do. She left the room.

  Quickly, not wanting Sargent to die while she was out, Forres brought a wheel chair. “Race?” She asked.

  The whole night into morning, Bex and Forres did anything and everything they could to make Sargent happy: race in wheelchairs, run and scream down the halls, play baseball in the halls, drew on the walls and so much more. Even though his end was coming faster than theirs and even though he was weak, he laughed and smiled. Bex and Forres did the same as if today was their last days too.

  Sargent lived for those moments in life where nothing mattered: there was no life, no death, just happiness and trying to live in the moment. Nothing was on their minds; not Sargent dying, not zombies, and not medicine for Forres to live, not Oliver missing, not frowns or tears. Nothing.

  Sadly, those moments seemed to go the quickest, and theirs did. They wished it would never end. But before Forres knew it, Sargent was dying with his two friends by his side, with fully written, long letters, with happiness in his brown eyes and memories on his mind and wild brown hair with an ear-to-ear smile. A smile that Forres and Bex never wanted to forget…

  Death was infinite. And it came too fast like a train unable to stop. No one was going to stop it…

  Since Sargent was little, he believed that death doesn’t exist; it was just a change of lives into another world.

  Forres believed it is the beautiful truth. Life was harder and uglier by every breath. Death was easy and beautiful at times.

  Bex didn’t want to die but she isn’t scared of it. She wanted to be known even after death but she can never figure out how to do what she wants.

  Today we are here, living those moments we dreamt of. Tomorrow we might not be and I’m glad I lived it righteously. Sargent thought before the beautiful truth took him…

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Day Three: March 30th, 2020; 7:20 am

  Forres watched the sky turn into flames.

  That’s how she described the sunrise when she was little. Flames of orange, red and so many yellow bled into each other. Where the night left, she could also see faint shades of blue. As the sun rose it seemed to swallow all things bad in New York.

  Rayne put her hand on Forres’s and Bex’s shoulder, trying to reassure them.

  Forres does nothing except lick her dry lip. She was a mess. Her short, coal-colored, hair was wild from running around on the wheelchair. A small hint of a smirk seemed to light up her wild eyes as she remembered the night they just had.

  Bex shrugged off Rayne’s touch and growled. “This is your entire fault…,”

  “Excuse me?” Rayne scuffed.

  Bex’s jaw was set and tightened. “This. Is. Your. Fault.”

  “How in anyway is this my fault?”

  Bex turned to Rayne. “If you weren’t so selfish, Sargent Rojas will be alive,” Her fists were clenched so tightly she began to draw blood in the palm of her hands.

  “This isn’t my fault,” The murderer protested.

  “If you never left us to die, we wouldn’t have had to climb through the elevator shaft, Sargent wouldn’t have bitten off his tongue, it wouldn’t have gotten infected, and he wouldn’t have died!” Bex explained. All of it was true. “You’re a murderer.”

  “And you’re a robber. You rob for a living.”

  “And you kill to be alive. My reason for survival was better.”

  “You can’t talk to me like that.”

  Bex chuckled. “I can do what I like. All the things you have ever wanted, you got. You go to take the easy road: the back door to everything.”

  Max squinted when he heard the words back door.

  “Well at least, I’m not a drug dealer.”

  “Well at least, I’m my own gender I was born with.” Bex fired back.

  Rayne gasped. She looked at Forres for help but Forres still staring out into the city of New York. Rayne looked at the others who were pretending not to listen. “I hate you.”

  “Good. I wasn’t put on this planet for you to like me.”

  Rayne turned and stormed off the roof.

  “I got a plan on how to get in Saint James,” Max stayed. He wasn’t even listening to the fight, really.

  “How?” Austin asked, seeming doubtful.

  “The back door…,” Max started to explain the plan.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Day Three: March 30th, 2020; 12: 57 pm

  “A wise man once said: ‘Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls, but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over walls; they don't demolish them,’” Austin started. “Let’s not demolish but jump over walls. Ready team?”

  “What does that even mean?” Dean asked. He was in Austin group with Zander and Max.

  “I don’t know,” Austin shrugged as he does so a piece of dead flesh falls off his lab coat. “It sounded good though, right?’

  “Who said it?” Zander asked.

  “Carlos Castaneda.” Max answered.

  Austin glanced over at him.

  “I’m not that stupid,” Max wasn’t stupid, but he often felt like he is. His plan was to get lab coats and lather themselves in zombie guts and blood.

  “Ready teams?” Austin said in the walkie-talkie.

  “Yep,” Chyler said back. She was with Eleanor on a bus that Eleanor managed to wire. Forres was also with them, though she still won’t move much.

  “Yes,” Felix said through a bandanna from Saint Hopes’ kitchen. Bex was with him but not in the kitchen.

  Rayne was not with them anymore. She left with some supplies.

  “Alright, we’re going in,” Austin replied. He started to walk in the woods near Saint James Mental Hospital. They slowly make their way, unnoticed, to the tunnel that leads into Saint James.

  Zombies seemed unware of them. They did look over at them but they disregarded it when they smelt the zombie flesh and guts.

  Max led the way in the tunnel, until a door came in view. They all sprint to the door, going through the maze of undead. Some of the undead looked where they were going, almost confused. Once they get to the door, Max threw it open and they all piled in.

  Dean was the last one and he closed the door behind them. He turned, nearly bumping into Zander’s broad shoulder. “What the-?” Dean started.

  The group was in a storage room; a meat fridge to be exact. But the meat was different; it was moving but tied down. Someone had tied down zombies.

  They – except for Dean – covered their noses from the foul smell of rotted flesh.

  “Let’s go, team,” Austin ordered. He sounded weird because his nose was held close. He took off the lab coat and threw it on a zombie like he was the coat hanger.

  The tied down zombies went crazy at the smell of human.

  The group started to leave the room besides Dean.

  Dean stopped when he
saw an undead girl. She was young, but not young than ten. Her head was down with her long blonde hair draping over her face. She looked almost normal besides the blood that was on her floral dress.

  Dean crouched in front of her and put his hand over his mouth as if he could smell the iron in the blood on her dress or the smell of rotten meat. He was really disgusted with this horrible world. A ten year old died. Her brain wasn’t even developed fully yet. She looked small and fragile so she couldn’t have put up much a fight. Zombies prey more on the weak and fragile, and Dean hated that the most. This girl couldn’t possibly deserve to die.

  The girl raised her head slowly and their eyes met. Her small eyes were pure white, filled with nothing: no life, no color or soul. They stared at each other for a second.

  She jumped forward and snapped at him. She recoiled because she was tied up.

  Dean’s heart stopped for a split second as he jumped up.

  She snarled at him and it almost looks like she was smirking.

  Dean blinked at her.

  “Come on, Dean,” Zander said, peeking his head back in. “I hope she bites your face off,” he joked.

  Dean jogged after Zander and pushed him playfully. Dean stayed in the back of the group. He looked down at his hand – the one that he covered his face with. Teeth marks were on the side. He sighed and pulled his long sleeves over his marks.

  “We should split up and cover more ground,” Austin suggested.

  “No, we really shouldn’t,” Max said. “This isn’t a horror movie. This is real. We should stay together.”

  “Fine,” Austin said, looking at the map on the wall.

  “I think we are here,” Dean joked, pointing to the red dot that said, “You are here.”

  Austin shots him a glare and Dean withdrew like a puppy knowing that it couldn’t win a fight. “I’m going to check over here. You guys go to the office and see if there are cameras there.”