The Fire

The night sky was illuminated by the dancing flames of the safe house, wood creaking before tiles, debris and long columns fell through every floor. A crash echoed into the darkness, drowning the crackling of the fire. Under it all, I saw charred human hands reaching out towards us, as though begging for someone to save them. Splatters of blood caked the ground, pools of it slowly drying up around the corpses.

A cold slither ran down my face. I touched my cheek, the teardrop smeared onto my trembling fingertip. My lips parted, a sob escaping and wracking my body.

"How long do we have until the zombies see this?" Danika asked from behind me.

I could imagine Sacha tapping his stubble whilst looking up at the stars painted across the navy canvas, slowly being blotched out by the billowing clouds of smoke. "Not enough time to roast marshmallows, that's for sure," he quipped.

"Stop crying," she demanded, turning her attention to me. "You didn't even know them."

I couldn't bring myself to face her. It was useless to argue without the energy to do so.

Sacha sighed exasperatedly. Silently, he kneeled beside me. "Imogen, what happened in there?"

I jolted at the question, the innocence of it.

One moment, I was reliving a memory. The next, I was sat in front of the toasty fire. Whatever happened in that time I had no recollection of.

"I don't know," I admitted quietly. "I was just thinking, then I saw this."

Danika bristled. "Maybe you should stop, then," Danika said sharply. "On our end, it looked like you were having a seizure."

Slowly, I turned towards her. Where I found the courage to do so, I couldn't fathom it.

There was no mockery written on her face. Her sharp eyes narrowed at me whilst her usually pale face gave off a pink tint. Underneath the cool façade, there was something bubbling within her. I could sense it. Whatever it was, I was certain I didn't want to find out.

Sacha squeezed my shoulder. "We'll keep an eye on you. Won't we, Dani?" He glanced sidelong at her, waiting for a reassuring reply. It would never come.

"If it wasn't for her," she began slowly. "We wouldn't have had to kill them." She shot a pointed look at Sacha before storming away.

It took a moment to fully process what Danika said. Was it really my fault?

"Ignore her," Sacha advised, holding his tanned hand out for me to take. "You know how she is."

I grabbed it, letting him drag me up. "No, I don't."

He chuckled as he began to take the first steps to follow her.

Lagging behind, I allowed myself to breathe in the last of the toxic fumes before the clean air tickled my nostrils. All of my thoughts were drowned out by Danika's words, the bite in them that sent a shiver down my spine. The ice that lay between us would take a long while to thaw, I could tell. This would not be an overnight miracle.

If only.

Moaning and groaning echoed from the dense treeline of the forest, the collective stagnated dragging of feet moving ever closer—a death march of the living dead. The fire must be like a beacon to them, calling them to come closer towards the wreckage. I could just make out the stench of rotting flesh. They were still far away. We would be long gone by the time they arrived.

In all honesty, I didn't want to meet one.  

Word Count = 584