Episode Five, Part 5:
Knocking on Heaven's Door

The heat of the day had dragged on long enough; hours spent under the scorching sun, searching, seeking, some sort of fight alone to survive the day. But they hadn't found anything.

Sol had taken Wynn to the dam - the vast view over the horizon allowing her to reference key locations surrounding their home. From up there, the two could see everything: Basilisk, the Red Hills, the aching forests, and for the first time, where Blood Riders were positioned. Though they appeared nothing other then a small blur in the corner of his sight, in some crazy, sad way, it meant a lot to Wynn. It was like looking at a place and believing that he was looking at his family, too. However, they were still miles away from Blood Riders, and their journey would extend far into the next day. 

Unfazed by the sight of the world, Sol declared the conclusion of their day's search, meanwhile, Wynn's eyes lingered on the view as the light of the evening slowly faded into dusk.

By the time Sol had set the tents up, the heat of the fire had drifted its way to Wynn, luring him over to its warmth.

"Thanks a lot for helping," Sol remarked, rolling her eyes as he sat down across from her.

"Why are you like that?" Wynn spoke up.

"Like what?" Sol quizzed.

"Rude," he answered, his tone calm as if there was nothing spiteful about it.

"Says the boy who didn't set up his own tent."

"I've never done this before. I don't even know how to start a fire and I didn't exactly see you offering to teach me."

"You wanna learn how to survive out here? Don't wait. Learn while you can, even if no one's offering you. If someone killed me tonight and you were left out here on your own for who knows how long, you'll have wished you didn't wait around for someone to teach you things like lighting a damn fire. Besides, you hardly know me." 

Ignoring her previous statement, he responded, "I don't need to know you to see that. It's just a fact: you're rude."

Sol sighed, her patience beginning to wear thin. "I have duties as an upcoming Sovereign, and they require me to make decisions that a lot of people won't agree on."

"That's it? That's your excuse?"

"Sacrifices."

A blank look flashed across his face, confusion seeping its way in, but Sol continued before he could speak.

"I make unending sacrifices for my people. And I'm allowing you the chance to be a part of us... You couldn't even begin to understand the weight that is forced onto me."

Wynn shifted a little, debating whether to remind her of his own weight that he carried around with him without being able to set it down anywhere.

"Is that what that's about?" Wynn questioned, nodding to the bruising on her face.

Sol retreated a little, suddenly conscious of her marking. The last thing in the world she wanted was to appear weak. As if reading her thoughts, Wynn hurried to correct himself.  

"You don't have to hide. I just wanted to know... No big deal." 

Sol exhaled, her breaths timed and considered. She didn't look up at Wynn - too lost in thought to focus on anything else. She knew if Wynn told anyone else about what had happened, then she would be in serious trouble... 

"You wouldn't get it..." She trailed off, her voice almost lost to the blazing fire in front of her.

"I wouldn't?"

"No," she forced a little laughter. "You're just the boy from the Bunker."

"And you're the girl from the ground," a smile appeared on Wynn, flickering in between shadows over to Sol. The way he challenged her drove her insane, but tonight she didn't mind.

"In the Bunker," Sol was quick to divert the attention away from her injury, "did you ever have to make sacrifices?"

Wynn nodded. "Especially when the younger ones came around. It wasn't so much with Elara, but when Bas and Lyra's siblings came along, and Azha's daughter, then everything we had, which wasn't much at all, became less. Even rations; if I'm honest, it terrified me to think about the future. How long our food was going to last... And, maybe the worst part of it all, there was never anywhere to escape. If you got fed up with someone, you couldn't avoid them or find your own space. For 14 years, we survived like that, until you."

He looked over to Sol, trying not to blame her for all of the hurt that crept into his chest. "Why did you do it?"

Sol closed her eyes, breathing deeply, and still adjusting to the weight that had come along with opening his Bunker. "I'm a Sovereign, I had to advance survival - I thought I already told you all this..."

Wynn didn't say anything, but his eyes begged her to continue with something real.

"My Mom is in a Bunker..." The words spilled out of Sol softer than anything her lips had ever known. From them, a pain resonated in Wynn, but he was unable to say anything to her.

"She's been in one for as long as I can remember, but my Dad and I don't know where," Sol told him, shaking her head in disappointment. "There's supposed to be several Bunkers all the way until the DeadLands however, yours is the only one we've located."

Wynn nodded, the sight of the DeadLands unforgettable from the view he had witnessed earlier. A dead stretch which surrounded all they knew, going on as far as the eye could see.

"So when you opened mine..."

"Yeah," Sol confirmed. "I did it because I hoped my mother was in there."

"Why did she go? Why did you stay behind?"

Sol sniffled a little. She wasn't crying, but this was the closest Wynn had ever seen her to it. "I don't really know. I've asked my Dad a few times before, but his story changes every time. I don't think he likes talking about it. Would you survive if the person you loved was separated from you? If you didn't know if you were ever going to see them again?"

Wynn smiled in remorse, the pain all too real for him. And with the lack of empathy, the failure to observe how their pain were reflections of the other, Sol had missed the chance for the two of them to finally understand each other. 

"No. No, I don't think I could live through that."

"Whatever," Sol concluded. "I'm tired. I'm getting some sleep and you should get some sleep, too."

Wynn nodded, preparing to sit by the fire just a little longer as Sol wandered over to her tent. Just before she went inside, she stopped to say one more thing to him. 

"Hey," she called. "I hope we'll find them tomorrow."

Wynn smiled, a new warmth that was different than the fire before him. "Thanks. Maybe one day we can find your Mom, too."

"Yeah," she smiled, but it wasn't believable. "Maybe one day." 

Five // Part Five
The boy from the Bunker. The girl from the ground.

18/08/22.