Lux

I lay staring up at the ceiling, watching the one fly in my room bouncing from one corner to the next. I didn't want to move, couldn't move. The heat had made me lethargic, and my limbs felt like they weighed a ton.
I closed my eyes and I was back at the altar. Directly in front of me, Redd looked at me with his alien green eyes.

"I do."

His perfect lips spoke the words that sent a blissful chill up my spine. He was perfect, even with his dark hair shaved so close to his scalp. My hands in his, they felt hard yet strong, calloused from handling weapons and multiple fist fights. It was like a dream.
And when I opened my eyes, it felt like a lifetime ago.
The fly was gone now. I sat up, leaving a slightly damp patch where I lay. My makeshift bed was starting to make my bones hurt.
I looked around at my room. It was in an old house, in a street the camp had decided to settle in.
The room looked like it had been a little girls room. It was covered in dust, the once pink walls looked gray and the paint was chipping away. Furniture was toppled all over, and a thick musky smell hung in the air.
I got out of the bed and put my clothes on. Skin tight jeans, worn out Timberlands and a black vest.
Then I brushed my fingers through my short afro, attempting to neaten it out.
It had been neat yesterday, I had found an old plastic comb, that I managed to force through my corse hair. Now it was back to being short, dense curls. And I was not willing to go through the pain of combing it again.
I closed my eyes again, and felt Redd's hands brushing it gentle. He always teased me about my hair.

"You should shave it off." He would tease, then he would laugh. I opened my eyes again just as they began to sting with tears.

There was knock on my door. The door cracked open to reveal Sevyn, my best friend. I smiled up at her and she let herself in and closed the door behind her.

"So? How did it go?" She asked eyes wide, her low voice barely hiding her excitement. I reached under my make shift pillow and pulled out a thin gold ring, and showed it to Sevyn.
She gasped, reaching out her boney fingers to touch it.

"Where? How?" Her blue eyes sparkled in wonder and awe.

"Forth camp. They're about two kilometres west from here. Redd heard of a priest in that camp." I smiled.

"And he admitted to being one?" Sevyn's eyes tore away from the ring to me.

I nodded in response. "We convinced him we believed."

"Does your father know?" Sevyn asked. I shooked my head furiously.

"And you have to swear not to breath a word to anyone." I said.
Sevyn held two fingers to her heart as a promise.
Another knock on the door startled both me and Sevyn. I hid the ring back under the pillow.

"Come in." I called.

It was Walton. He stepped into the room, bending his head in order to get his large frame through the door. Walton was one of the guards for Duke, the camp leader. Walton was large, standing at just under seven feet, and had a scar down his right cheek to add to his already hard features. I don't think I'd ever seen him smile.

"Duke wants to see you." He grunted. Then he turned and walked away.

My heart caught in my throat. I looked at Sevyn and she looked just as nervous as I was.
Duke was assigned as the leader of our camp by the regional Commander, but no one liked him. He was devious and slimy, and he sometimes abused his position of power. He particularily creeped me out because of the way he would look at me. I would always catch him staring; leering at me. He hated my father more than anyone at camp.
Sevyn stood and we both walked out of my room.

Duke and the other members of the small malitia our camp had, had set up in the lounge part of the house. There was an old dusty table in the middle of the room, on it lay old and worn maps, and other papers scattered array. Duke stood at the head of the table, while the other six people in the room stood on either side. Sevyn had gone out back. I stood at the door, which was really just a frame now. Duke looked up at me. He was Redd's uncle, and they both shared those green eyes.

"Give us a moment, please." He nodded to his people.

They all, in unison, turned and walked out of the room. I stood near the door.

"Lux, please. Come in." He gestured.

I didn't move.
A smile played on the corners of his lips. But to me it looked like he was snarling.

"The scouts have reached Zone One." He said.

My heart jumped.
Redd.

"We just got word. Before we lost the signal." Duke turned and faced the broken window, which had the view of the front yard. "They came under fire, as it turns out there were still some enemy inhabitants."

My eyes grew wide at that moment and I held my breath. Please don't say the words, I pleaded.

"But everyone is fine." Duke finally added after a dramatic pause. "Redd is fine."

This time he turned and looked at me.

"That's good." I croaked, looking away from Duke.

"Yes. Yes, it is." Duke said slow and deliberately.

"A man was killed last night at Fourth camp." He added as-a-matter-of-factly. "They believed he was a priest suspected of performing a ceremony?"

This time my heart dropped straight to the floor.

"You wouldn't know anything about that would you?" Duke started walking in my direction.

I couldn't move, my feet were plastered to the floor. He knew, he knew it was us and he was going to kill me now, my mind raced.

"No." I croaked again. Shaking my head to make my point.

Duke stopped meer inches from me and lowered his head so his face was in line with mine.

"Where did you and Redd disappear to yesterday?"

Duke's stare was menacing and I was frightened.
I looked away from his piercing green eyes. I couldn't breathe I was so scared. Duke put both hands up on the wall that was behind me, so that I was caged in. Then he leaned in, I felt his sour breath burn my face. I closed my eyes.

"Where did you two go?" He asked again.

Mustering all the courage I had, I opened my eyes and looked at his.

"I cannot speak for Redd, but I went out to the back woods. I thought maybe I could practise my bow and arrow." I said.

It wasn't entirely a lie. I had my bow and arrow with me. But it never got used.
Duke's eyes searched mine, trying catch a glimpse of any false truth. My gaze didn't waver, I needed to convince him.

"So you were not with my nephew?" He asked.

"No, Duke, I was not."

But I had been with Redd. I had been with him at Fourth camp where we got married and after, at an old cabin, where we made love for the first time. Even at the thought of that, my gaze did not waver.
Clearly satisfied, Duke straightened up and walked back to the window.

"You may go." He said, disinterested.

I didn't waste anytime leaving the room, and out the house so I could breathe again.
I stood out in the dusty backyard, which I imagined was once covered in green grass and flowers. Now it was just red dirt and rocks. Our camp was scattered in different houses in a crescent. An old neighbourhood, with large houses that seemed stable enough to house people. Everyone was gathered in the middle of the crescent where the street ended. That's where the food table was set up.
We were about fifty in the camp. Once we were two hundred. Two hundred dwindle down to fifty. Fifty strangers who have been through everything together.
Some have been together since the war began. And others even before the war.
I can't remember a life before the war. My father always speaks about it like it was a wonderland. Running water, lush green forests, restuarants where people served you food, and stores where you could buy food, cars and buses and trains. I've only ever seen the shells of cars and trains. Like skeletons of once great beasts, they lay broken and unused. Ghosts of once powerful machines. I can't imagine a moving car or train.
As I stood in the backyard, I thought of Redd, of the priest. He had been reluctant in the begining; to perform the ceremony. But I told him about how my father would tell me stories that his mother told him and how I, too, believed.
We never spoke of it here though. Not in these times. Even uttering the words of belief would get you killed. Look what happened to the priest.
How did Duke find out? Did he know that Redd and I got married?
A chill ran through my spine at the thought of what they might do to us if he knew. The whole camp would lynch us.
I turned and walked to the front of the house.
My dad and Cyan were sitting on the driveway, laughing about something. I hesitated for a moment, contemplating going to sit with them. Cyan was one of the docters in our camp that my father had taken a liking to. She was nice, I suppose, but being around them made me feel awkward.
Instead, I dashed into the house before they could see me, and headed back to my room.
I climbed into the makeshift bed, closed my eyes, and relived all of yesterday again.