Chapter 88: The Weight of the Unknown
“One last question, what’s in the bag?” I request.
After unnecessarily staking his sword in the ground, perhaps to earn my trust, Cliff slings his backpack in front of him. Unzipping the large pocket, he flips his bag upside down and shakes out the items from inside. A large clump of clean and dirty clothes fumble out, a couple of bananas, a single loaf of bread, two canteens, and lastly, an empty, wrinkled sheet of notebook paper that delicately swayed back and forth until it gracefully landed on top of the pile.
Tossing the empty backpack, Cliff stretches his upper body, “Ahhhh, that’s a huge weight off my shoulders. Literally. My shoulders and back are killing me…”
Still strapped with his bow and quiver, Cliff places his left hand on his opposite shoulder as he rotates his right arm in a circular motion, “Anyway, on my way back this morning, I was forced to pass by the area where Blue and I had come across Ace and Crow. I saw that, along with my own backpack, Blue’s backpack was also still there… along with his corpse. Thinking survival-wise, I took some things from Blue’s bag, specifically the extra food and clothes.”
Eyeing the two canteens, one of which is labeled ‘BLUE’, I say, “Smart choice. Not everybody here would have the stomach to follow through on a decision like that.”
“Yeah… can’t say I did have the stomach for it, but I didn’t have much food or water to throw up anyway. I took everything I could, stuffed it all in my bag, and then powered through the rest of the walk home,” he says as he folds his two arms across his barrel chest.
“I understand,” I say, lowering my weapon and approaching Cliff with an extended hand. “Sorry for the hostility. You must recognize that from my perspective, I needed to take some necessary precautions after seeing the signal fires yesterday.”
Cliff paused for a moment but then shook my hand.
“No sweat, nothing has gone well for us since we woke up here. Your concern is more than justified. Now, would you mind if I ask you a question?”
“You just asked me one…” I joke. Not amused with my supreme wittiness, Cliff rolls his eyes, and for good measure, I clear my throat and add, “But sure.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“It’s a question that I had asked you earlier, but you sort of threatened me with that axe as a response. So, now that you don't think I'm trying to do anything rash… uhh, anybody else here?”
“Oh. Right. Sky, Faith, you guys can show yourselves now,” I say, and they both quickly pop up from behind the crates they were hiding behind. “Delta is here too. She’s resting in her tent. Also, Forest and Hunter returned a little while ago and headed to the stream to clean up.”
“Sky… Faith… I’m glad to see you're both safe,” says Cliff, focusing on them as they walk over. Sky and Faith were both wearing faces attempting to hide their solace, but it’s evident to me that they were rattled.
Sky dips her head and replies, “I’m sorry to hear about Blue. He didn’t deserve such a cruel death… nobody does...”
I look at Faith, biting her lower lip and meekly nodding in agreement, her braids briefly parting from their natural resting place on the front of her shoulder.
Glancing back at Cliff to see how he’s responding, I watch as he wraps his arms around Sky and reels her toward him, gently embracing her. Sky is startled at first, but after a few seconds, she embraces him back. It was clear that she was tired and in desperate need of some human affection. A smile briefly escapes my lips as I watch the two hug out their hardships.
“It’s okay. I have a feeling we both lost someone close to us yesterday," softly says Cliff, who recognized that I didn’t list Violet or Hazel among the returnees, the other members of Sky’s group.
Sky says, “I won’t allow something like that to happen again. I couldn’t do anything to help them… I won’t be able to forgive myself if another person suffers because I was too weak.”
Cliff consoles her, rubbing his hand on her back, “Neither could I. Seems we both have regrets… but we’ll be alright. We will…”
Standing back, I silently observed, letting the two of them have their moment.
“Feel better?” asks Cliff.
Sky chuckles as she wipes at her eyes, “Yeah, thanks, Cliff. And sorry, Ember, I already broke our promise…”
I hold my hands up, “Hey, as long as you’re not crying on me…”
Sky cracks a smile as she hums and separates herself from Cliff, “Thanks.”
Cliff and I then lock eyes with each other. As we did so, his gaze sharpened, and it felt like the atmosphere around them had shifted on a dime.
Cliff asks me, “What happened to you and your group? And where is Scar?”
The change in tone behind his voice implied that the second question wasn’t just a standard question. It was a demand. Still aware that I can’t trust Cliff because of his skeptical story about yesterday, I carefully reply with an expression matching his tone, “There’s a lot we need to fill you in on… let's have a chat."