The crash of the waves against the shore, the tinge of bitter salt in the air, and the crunch of broken seashells in the sand under foot brought an instant sense of relief. It was faint, but the warm sun on my skin excited me as well. We made it. What thrilled me the most was that Aiden was true to his word. He simply could've done like the others wanted to do and led me back to camp with me none the wiser, unaware until too late.

But he didn't.

I dropped to my knees and raked my fingers through the warm, soft grains. Again, I attempted to open my eyes. The brightness from the rising sun alone blurred my vision, but my sight was sharper as I made out a flock of birds soaring beneath the clear blue sky ahead. I learned if I didn't blink so much or move my eyeball around under the lid, the pain was bearable. It took intense concentration to use my other senses to perceive my surrounding, walk a jagged terrain, and remember not to blink or move my eyes, but I enjoyed the diversion.

"Look," Aiden said. "There's an old lighthouse way up there. We can make it in, I don't know, thirty or forty minutes if we keep the pace." His voice had risen an octave, and his words came out rushed and nearly slurred. He sure was excited about an old lighthouse. "It's beautiful," Aiden went on as I stood to grab his shoulder. "The tower's tall, off-white color like a pearl or something. Have you seen this lighthouse before?" Something in his gentle voice made the corners of my mouth twitch until I smiled. There was a childlike awe and wonder in his tone. It transferred to me. The sense of strolling the beach on a great summer day, reminiscing good times with loved ones, came over me.

"No," I said. I'd never been to this beach. But some of the people from the camp had because they used to bring back what shellfish and fish they could catch, which wasn't much. Blaming Mother Nature and her disaster and seeing it as a sign of the water's health, they eventually stopped trying.

At camp, everyone had jobs; some were responsible for hunting, like Santos and his friend. They were naturals. Others gathered vegetation for consumption and medicinal purposes. Then there were those responsible for washing clothes, helping look after and teach the children, or making things that would come to use like dishes, clothes, and my blade.

I always felt safer near camp, keeping an eye out, setting guidelines, organizing and the like. People respected me. They trusted me. They had no reason not to. I saw it in the way they came to me with questions, suggestions, and concerns. They rarely questioned my motives, always sure that whatever I did was for the betterment of the camp. But now? Now I just gave them a reason to never rely on me again. My throat ached.

"Damn, it's fucking beautiful," Aiden went on, yanking me from my guilt. "It's tube-shaped but like an upside down cone. The balcony's small compared to the rest because the tower's huge!"

My imagination took me there. The inverted cone tower perched high on the tallest rock cliff, like a guard protecting the shores with its presence. The lens filthy and unkempt but intact. Without the presence of a bright beacon of light, it screamed abandoned, used and wounded in my mind.

"I really wish you could see this." Aiden's pace slowed with each step until we finally stopped.

I stood, listening, assessing, and waiting for something to happen. The sun's light behind my lids was eclipsed and the light touch of his palm on my chest brought my attention back to him.

"Wha― what's going on?" I asked.

"I'm just gonna take a look at your eyes." His voice was low, soft, and close. Then gentle fingertips grazed my cheekbone, his palm rested against the side of my face, and my breath hitched. "I'll be gentle," he whispered.

The heat in the pit of my stomach rose to nestle in my rib cage. Feelings stirred that I had believed I would never experience again, ones that I had wanted too bad for so long that in time I had learned to forget.

Standing still, eyes closed, my breathing became erratic, so I forced myself to take breaths as I normally would, becoming more conscious of my inhales and exhales. The pad of his thumb swept over my bottom lid, and I flinched, less from pain and more from the warmth it sent to my chest.

"Sorry," he whispered, the light wind from his breath brushed my ear. Beyond his voice, my heartbeat throbbed hard enough for me to hear the thump, thump, thump. What part of him would touch me next? Would I be able to suppress the electric shudder his touch sent through me?

"Open," he ordered, and I blinked. "You can do it." He chuckled.

I snorted, suppressing a smile. He shouldn't know how much he amused me, or how his touch made my stomach ache from want. He shouldn't know how good it felt for me to be on the receiving end of a caring hand, especially since my walls had been up for so long.

I opened one eye, fighting the urge to snap it shut again. Looking past the excessive moisture and to the hazy image of my helper, I made out his intense stare as he examined me.

"This one seems to have a jagged little scratch on the clear part above the iris."

"My cornea?"

"Yeah." His hand pressed against the other side of my face, and he gently opened my lid. "This one doesn't look that bad, but I see some gunk in it."

"Maybe a good flushing will clear it," I said, dropping my head from his cradling hands. "Or eventually it'll clean itself."

"So the scratch, it's not permanent, right?"

"It should heal in due time," I said. Hopefully, the healing would be sooner than later. "Let's keep moving." I reached out, and his fingertips held mine while he guided my hand on his shoulder.

We continued walking but closer to the shore. I knew because the crashing water roared louder as we approached and the moist sand kicked up in clumps from wetness. Clomps of wet sand stuck to my shoes, requiring more effort to walk.

"We're leaving a trail," Aiden said, as if reading my mind. "We'll walk near the waterline so it erases our footprints."

"If anyone wanted to track us, the first place they'll look is the lighthouse," I pointed out.

"Well, let's not just lay down for them or anything."

The roar of the crashing waves against the rocks hypnotized me. There was so much splendor left in the world, so much to celebrate still. I let my imagination gather images of the rushing white waves colliding with the large black rocks, creating a mesmerizing contrast of colorless beauty. The reflection of the sky shimmered off the surface of the water. In the distance, where the sky met the fiery horizon, I appreciated how they created an ideal existence.

"Things sure did turn to hell after, huh?" Aiden said, breaking the silence.

"It sure did, but―"

"Things are looking up," he went on, stealing my words. "The sun's still shining, ocean is clearer, people aren't as sick, plants and animals are thriving. Not much to complain about anymore."

"Hmm. You're a glass half-full kind of man."

"You're not?" he asked, a hint of surprise and curiosity in his tone.

I sighed. "I used to be."

"I know."

"How so?"

"Instead of giving up, you started a camp, invited in others, built a community. You helped bring some hope to many."

"Giving up?" I snorted. "I left both of the camps I started, that's pretty much the definition of giving up."

"You're smart enough to know when to move on. Don't beat yourself up for that. It's not a good look."

I sneered, but allowed a smile when his laughter filled the air. He definitely knew how to work that glass half-full angle. My life had been threatened many times in the last few hours, and probably wasn't the last, and here I was laughing. Who would've thought?

"Worrying gives you wrinkles," he went on. "If you have ever worried in your life I see no sign on that baby face of yours."

Baby face? Days old stubble, a rugged scar on my chin, dirt-caked skin and probably plenty of bruises to turn me completely black and blue. But he sees a baby face?

"It's a compliment. Lighten up," he said and patted the back of my hand.

"You do know that we have no food or water, and a handful of crazed men want me dead? Now you want me to lighten up?" Maybe it was the casual stroll on the beach that had us temporarily mixed up and upbeat.

"You're alive, aren't you?" Aiden said. "If it wasn't for all the really fucked up shit happening to you, you wouldn't appreciate the really good shit. And you escaping that asshole, walking down the beach with the sun on your face, and a handsome man at your side is really good shit. Might as well smile."

I couldn't help it. I did.