After the World's End

Chapter Eight

After hours of endless tortured screams, the looter's victim finally fell silent. Arden covered Max's mouth again, afraid that Max would try to save the boy or scream again. They couldn't risk making a sound now; not when the looters were being so quiet, or they would definitely be caught.

Arden didn't have to worry though. Max was too numb to do anything. Despite everything Arden had tried to do to protect Max from the reality of what had just happened, Max still knew what the looters had done, even though he was terrified to admit it. He couldn't believe he'd just let the boy die. It felt like he'd killed the boy himself. 'That didn't happen. Please, please tell me that didn't just happen. It didn't,' was all he could think as he silently cried against Arden's shoulder.

The looters didn't hang around long after they'd finished the atrocity they'd come to commit. They actually had the audacity to congratulate each other on their brutality.

Max just wanted them to stop; he just wanted it all to stop. Maybe if they stopped he could just pretend that none of it had happened.

Arden felt differently. Even as he was covering Max's ears, so he wouldn't have to hear anymore, he was thinking that it wasn't enough for the looters to stop talking about what they'd done. He wanted quite the opposite actually. He didn't want the looters to ever forget what they done. He thought they should be hurt a million times worse than what they had done to the boy.

Soon, the looters were gone and it didn't look like they were going to come back, but even then the group hiding under the vehicles didn't come out of hiding for hours. In their terrified state, they were irrational and couldn't stop thinking that the looters would be coming back or were setting a trap for them.

It fell to Max to be the brave one, or stupid, as he thought. He slid out from underneath the car, his eyes fixed on the dead boy in front of him in a trance. It was like Max's actions had broken a spell and everyone else was quick to follow him, only they were doing everything they could to avoid seeing what their lack of action had helped cause.

Max crawled over to the boy-- No, not boy--The boy who'd died for them was gone, leaving only his unrecognizable, mangled body behind. Max clapped his hand over his mouth and his eyes blurred with new tears. He stumbled away from the boy before vomiting on the side of the road. Max's legs couldn't hold his weight any longer and he slid to the ground, shaking violently.

Arden was behind him in no time, holding Max's hair back and secretly thankful that he had Max to take care of to distract him from what had just happened. "It's going to be okay, Max. I know how you feel, but you couldn't have done anything to stop this from happening. If you had done anything, you would have died too. This isn't your fault," Arden whispered, soothingly as Max continued to sob.

It seemed like forever, but slowly Max calmed down. He felt the shame of breaking down when everyone else looked fine, almost immediately. Max didn't even want to know what the others must think of him. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I shouldn't have broken down like that. It wasn't right when you must be feeling just as horrible. I acted stupid when I tried to go after him. Thank you for stopping me."

"There's nothing to thank me for," was all Arden had to say, before he embraced the distraught boy.

Max pulled out of Arden's arms suddenly as if he had been stung, but he reached for Arden's hand and led Arden after him. Arden quickly realized where Max was taking him and it took all of his will power not to rip his hand away. Max knelt next to the dead boy with the most tender expression Max had ever seen and whispered, "Thanks for not telling anyone about us and…and I'm sorry you d- I'm sorry that you're gone." Arden understood then and would have smiled at Max if he'd been able to after the abhorrent events that caused the boy's death. He just stood quietly behind Max as he paid his respects to the boy. Max was like a statue, completely still and silent with his head bowed, as he gave what would be the closest thing to a funeral the looter's victim would ever have.

Finally, they turned to look at the others. Caroline was sobbing quietly into Cohen's shoulder, who was patting her back awkwardly. Cohen looked at Max and for the first time, Max could see something other than hatred in Cohen's eyes. If he didn't know better, Max would have thought that Cohen looked guilty. "You're not a looter," he said.

"No kidding," Max snapped. A part of him wondered why he was getting so angry over a statement that would normally have thrilled him, but a bigger part didn't care. "I've only said it a million times before. Why do you believe me now?"

"No looter would have thrown up after seeing that body," Cohen said, his voice a curious mix of derision at Max's weak stomach and sadness for how he'd treated Max. Unintentionally, Cohen was still keeping the same cold voice he always used with Max.

Max said nothing for a moment. All he could hear was the tone and he found himself wondering what kind of monster could manage to feel anything other than horror and empathy for the boy. How could Cohen imply that Max was weak for being sick? Biting his lip, Max tried not to say anything, but it didn't help. With supreme effort, he just rolled his eyes and turned away.

Even under the best of circumstances, Cohen had a short fuse and that day his nerves were already fried. "Roll you fucking eyes at me again and I'll-" He stopped mid sentence and glanced in the direction of the dead boy when he'd realized what he was going to say. "You arrogant, childish bastard!" Cohen hissed, shaking with rage. "I apologized and you still want to play the victim. I'm done. I'm not dealing with this." Despite what Cohen had said, he didn't look like he was done dealing with Max at all. He muttered something Max couldn't hear under his breath and his hands were bunched into fists.

Everyone was looking between Max and Cohen, waiting to see who would explode first. Max, with a long suffering sigh, marched over to Cohen and said, "I'm sorry I snapped at you, but are you really surprised that I'm angry? It's not like you've been treating me fairly. You tell me all the time that I'm a child, but you expect me to act like an adult while you insult me."

Calculatingly, Cohen watched Max speak. To Arden, it looked like he was trying to figure out whether it would be worth it to hit Max, and Arden desperately hoped he was wrong. In a voice of forced politeness, he muttered, " I apologize as well. It doesn't mean I like you and I doubt that you like me. It would be better if we avoided each other.

If the others expected Max to get angry at Cohen's words, then they would have been wrong. Max just nodded and said, "I can deal with that."

Arden was flabbergasted at how that had ended. Not that he wanted them to fight, but he also didn’t' want Max to feel like he had to back down to avoid getting cast out by the others. Arden wanted more than anything for Max to seamlessly belong with them and that hadn't happened yet. He knew Max was very aware of that and still felt like an outsider in many ways.

Sighing and knowing that it wouldn't help anything if he said anything to Cohen, Arden just let it go. A moment later, Arden wished the fight would have continued, rather than what had happened next.

As soon as Max had looked away, his eyes had been drawn back to the boy. Max's entire body went stiff when he saw that Alexander was rifling through the boy's pockets like he was looking for something. "Stop!" he yelled, furiously. "He's dead. Why can't you just leave him in peace?" He was by the boy's side in an instant and shoved Alexander away.

Alexander picked himself off the ground haughtily, while the others looked on in shocked silence. Not one of them would ever have dared to push Alexander and they were afraid to see how Alexander would react. "There are looters around and you still think it's a good idea to yell? How selfish are you? He's dead and he's not going to care if we try to find the place where people are rebuilding. Now shut the fuck up and stand over there."

Max, thinking that maybe his actions were a little rash, backed away even though he still wasn't happy about what was happening to the boy. "You won't find anything," Max said quietly and much more respectfully than before. He was a little afraid to see that Alexander was angry with him, but he still felt like he had to say something. "The looters would have checked him to see if there was anything about the place they were talking about." He was quiet for a moment before he started speaking again. "Can you please leave him alone? No one would want someone going through their things the moment they're dead."

Alexander eyes were like ice when he looked at Max, but he shook his head and turned away from Max like he didn't even want to talk to Max at that time. Max had no doubt that he would be yelled at later, but he was more than happy for that to be postponed. He finished checking the boys pockets, even going so far as to take the boy's shoes off to see if there was something hidden there. He got up some time later and left, leaving the boy's body disheveled as a 'fuck you' to Max.

"There's nothing there," Max heard Alexander say to the others. Max didn't say another word to any of them about respecting the boy. He knew this was something only he really understood and that he shouldn't complain that the others didn't have the same priorities as him. Max knelt on the ground and gently fixed up his clothes. The boy's body was still warm, so it wasn't hard for Max to pretend that he was only sleeping. He poured some of the water from his thermos onto a rag and washed off the boy's face and finished his self appointed job by crossing the boys hand over his chest.

Max stood up and stumbled to Arden, blinking back tears. Arden held Max against his chest for a moment without saying anything to let him calm down.

"We need to leave now," Alexander said.

"Just give him a minute, alright?" Arden said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.

"It's nothing. I'm fine now," Max said, shyly.

Alexander nodded slightly, barely acknowledging Max. "We'll stick to the woods and we won't stop tonight. If anyone has a problem with that, it's too bad because I don't want us getting caught. We need to get as far away from the looters as possible." Without another word, he turned to the woods and started running. Stasia was right behind him, as she always was. She was followed closely by Cohen and Caroline, with Arden and I right behind them.

Arden still wasn't entirely convinced that Max was alright, but he knew Max didn't want to talk about it now and filed it away to discuss later. Just as he had given up on the issue for now, Max looked at him, gratitude written all over his face. Arden half-smiled in understanding and shook his head as if to say that it was nothing.

Max turned away and watched Alexander at the head of the group. It was almost like he was studying a cornered animal. It didn't take much for him to realize that Alexander was operating in survival mode. He recognized that Alexander's behavior wasn't normal for him and that he would never have lost his temper with Max otherwise. Alexander's eyes flickered in every direction even as he ran and every muscle was coiled up and on red alert, like he was expecting the looters to jump out at any moment.

An instant later, he stopped without warning and spun around to look at everyone else. He didn't say a word, only motioned for everyone to keep following and to not say anything. He turned around again and started running. Exchanging glances, the others hurried after Alexander…all except for Max. The boy was suddenly forced into remembering that he had hardly been able to walk less than a month ago and that there was a reason he appeared much younger than his fourteen years. He was tired already and they had only been running for about ten minutes.

Arden realized that Max wasn't with him and stopped after only a half dozen yards. He turned and looked at Max questioningly and motioned for Max to come with him.

Max didn't want everyone to know how much weaker he was, but he found himself faced with the likelihood that he wouldn't be able to hide for much longer. He decided to put it off for as long as he could.

Max ran for the next hour, trying to convince himself that he would only have to take one more step and then he could stop. 'Just one more step,' he told himself. 'Just one more step.' His entire body hurt so bad and he felt like his lungs would explode at any moment. 'Hurry up,' he told himself 'They'll leave you behind if you don't hurry.' Max tried everything he could to convince himself to keep going, but it could only work for so long.

Arden, who had been getting increasingly worried about Max, could see that Max was on the brink of collapsing. "Stop," he called out to the others. "We can't run like this anymore."

Alexander stopped, which signaled the others that is was okay to as well. Arden knew immediately that Alexander was going to argue. The rest of them were much stronger than normal people would have been before the war, but Max hadn't grown up with them.

Caroline knew immediately why Arden had asked them to stop. Arden didn't look very tired, but there was no denying that Max was about to pass out or be sick. He didn't seem to be able to do anything more than stand up at that moment and even that looked like a challenge. Max was doubled over, coughing violently.

"Are you all right?" Caroline asked, taking a step toward Max.

"I need a moment alone," Max said, abruptly. He half-ran from the others until he was out of sight.

Alexander sighed, looking more annoyed by the second. "We don't have time to stop for the kid to get sick. We need to keep going. The looters had at least a few hours head start and we have only gone about 10-12 miles. We should be able to run for more than a hour and a half."

"You're right that we can," Arden agreed. "That doesn't mean that Max can though. He didn't grow up with us and don't you dare tell me that we should leave him, or that he should suck it up. He can't. Max hasn't complained once and he would have passed out before he asked us to stop. We agreed to make him one of us, so we should treat him that way."

"Besides," Caroline said, leaping to Max's defense. "How far do you think the looters could go in about…four hours now? I think they could only go like 12 miles max and that's only if they weren't as drunk as they looked. Max is doing as well as he can."

Max stumbled back a couple of minutes later. He looked half-surprised that we were still there. "Thanks for waiting," he mumbled.

"Of course, we'd wait for you, but we need to keep going. We'll walk for a while now and try as hard as you can," Arden said.

With that, they continued their escape from the looters.