Blue Through the Grey

Violent storms have plagued the colonies for a week now. Floods drove people into a corner, killed members, and disabled our transport systems. Right now, I take refuge in the school we won over from the aliens. I walk up and down the halls, remembering the carnage that unfolded. Just last week I was elected to be the leader of Whiterock, I still don’t know what I’m doing. I rest my arms on the table and look down at my food, it’s not the best but it’s what we have. I’m so grateful for this cafeteria, all the communities can gather here and have a nice meal together. Most of Treehill, which is now West Athens, Island Park, Borden, and Madison’s people are here riding out the storm. I feel like I should be out there, out doing something to protect our kind...our humanity. I take a bite of the dry mashed potatoes and swallow hard, I force a smile at the cook, I don’t want to be rude.

“Sasha!” Abigail says ecstatic, like she’s super happy to see me. She drops her tray beside mine. “How’s leadership?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing.” I shove more food down my throat.
“You’ll figure it out, I’m sure.” She smiles slightly. “Food any good?”
“Not really,” I say.
“What’s wrong? You seem a bit...distant.”
“I wanna be out there, Abi. I want to be searching for Hannah...I wanna make sure she’s okay.”
“You still think she’s alive? Even after the mothership blew to pieces?” She asks.
I can feel the heat radiating from my skin. “I have to believe she’s alive...I have to keep hope in my heart.”
“I’m sorry,” She looks down at her plate. “You’re right. Hope has to stay alive in order to function.”
I scoot out my chair, stand, and walk away, leaving Abigail at the table. I can’t be around anyone right now, I need to focus on my duties, and my thoughts. The only thing that runs through my mind right now is Hannah. I have to find her, I have to get her back. I go into the armory, grab a few guns, a set of fresh clothes, a raincoat, some food, and head to the front doors where two guards stop me.
“Let me through,” I say sternly.
“You can’t go out there commander S.”
“I need to.”
“State your reasoning.” The other man says.
“I don’t need to give you a reason. Let me out.” I clench my fist.
“Please, go back to the cafeteria. Wait the storm out, then you can leave.”
I’m so gonna get my title taken after this. I punch the man to my left in the chin, then I kick the other one in the balls.

The sky is dark and the rain pours down and splashes into my face as I stomp through the mud. If she was anywhere, she’d be in the Burnt Forest...God, I hope she’s not there. The forest carries most of the infected, they’re drawn to the crashed mothership for some reason. I should’ve taken an exo because this trip is exhausting. If she’s not there, I’ve wasted a good hour. I finally make it to the poorly put up wall and leap over it. There’s no rain in the Burnt Forest, just the quiet breeze and the smell of rotting flesh, it must be the infected. I flick on the flashlight attached to the shoulder strap on my bag and walk a little deeper into the unknown. I gulp hard and breathe heavy. All the little sounds send tiny pricks up my spine. The forest is so strange, it went from raining outside of the walls, to not raining inside. This place is so dark, so scary, and full of nightmares. The charred bark still smokes, even after the fire subsided a few months earlier. I make out the faint shape of the mothership. I can’t believe Hannah and Shai brought down the only thing keeping the aliens connected. I’m suddenly tackled to the ground, I can feel something drip on my cheek, maybe blood. It’s a viral, a fast, mutated version of an infected. I push it up so its teeth can’t reach me. I reach for my pistol and blow a hole in its head. The gunshot alerts the others. I can hear a horde of screams in the distance. I grab my machete and prepare for battle. One leaps at me and I slice it. Another jumps from hiding and knocks me to the ground. We wrestle for a few seconds, it’s life ends when I smash a rock into its head. A viral attacks me from behind, I toss it over my shoulder and stomp my boot on it’s face. Then something happens, a barrage of bullets fly around me, I drop to the ground and hold my hands tight over my ears. Something touches my shoulder and I look up at a man. He’s handsome, and dressed in steel armor. He looks badass.

“Are you okay?” He asks.
“Y-yes, thank you,” I reply, dusting dirt from my clothing.
“We’re from a colony called Broken Steel.” He smiles and shakes my hand.
“I’m the leader of Whiterock, where are you stationed?”
“Airport. We’re a highly trained group of mostly military. We have heavy artillery and plenty of food. What brings you out here?” He smiles, can’t resist a good smile.
“Looking for a friend. Her name is Hannah, seen her around?”
He smiles as someone pushes their way to the front and pulls me into a deep embrace. It’s Hannah. She smells like roses and her hair is much longer than when she left. I pull back, just to take her all in. She has a scar on her cheek and a busted lip, she’s also in armor.
“I thought you died.” Tears fill my eyes.
“I thought I did too. But Ryan and his group found me. He knows Marlene actually. They had a falling out so he separated and made Broken Steel. Their base is great and secure.” She hugs me again and I don’t want it to ever end.
“Come with us and see,” Ryan says.
It’s all so weird, finding Hannah, finding a group, keeping hope alive is what got me to this point...to this happiness. We hop into a truck and take off down the road.
“So how many people do you have?” I ask.
“72, the number gets higher each day. This armor is amazing isn’t it? It’s armored exo. The military left tons of it when they pulled out.” Hannah says. We can’t stop smiling at each other...the world isn’t okay, but we are.