Sacrifice; Left Behind

To her surprise, the fields where Hannah had spent her childhood still remained so full of life, as if untouched by the spread of death over the country. The fresh smell of morning dew was uncontaminated by the stale odour of rot; the ground still held life unstained by blood; and the empty bullet shells that had been fired no longer littered the ground, swallowed by the Earth as if they were never there in the first place.

The familiar sensations of her childhood were almost enough to calm the hysteria as she ran; the sight and the warmth of the Sun showed no trace of shadow nor death, yet Hannah kept on running without looking back. Once again, she was alone, but safe as long as she ran.

And she ran with the wind chasing her, willing her onwards as if death were chasing her. The truth was that she was alone, there was no one around to hear her heavy breathing, no one to be alarmed by the occasional shriek that escaped her throat; not for a long time, until Hannah stopped running and saw for the first time that her childhood paradise was not empty.

There in the grass lay the torn and broken body of an old friend, and the heart Hannah had long left behind. Six months later and there he still was, a sickly trail of mud and blood behind him. His jaw trembled slightly, and his teeth chattered as the wind blew at him, no longer protected by his lips and left cheek as they had long been torn from his face by some monstrous beast. His hands hand had dragged him through the grassland he had died in last Autumn, whereas his left leg lay bent and lifeless behind him, black with the dry blood on his bare flesh, missing several layers of skin.

There was not a single inch of his body that wasn’t stained by the last 6months he had been alone. He wasn’t alive, but he’d been conscious.

“Douglas!” she whispered as the wind blew towards him, knowing he could not hear her, “No!”

Through the mess of black, red, brown and green, there was no mistaking the emerald eyes of the boy her heart had never forgotten. Drooling, growling and dragging himself through the grass, the bloodshot emeralds met Hannah’s gaze, and the two stopped in their tracks.

Just for a moment, there could have been flicker is recognition in what remained of Douglas’ mind, as he stared at his old friend. With slow, painful movements, he rose to his feet on a broken leg, protruding from his skin and began slowly to limp towards her, one arm outstretched, as the other dangled and swayed at his side, dislocated from its socket.

Breathing heavily to the point of snarling, Douglas advanced on Hannah, who knew her only purpose in his new consciousness would be as food, not a friend.

The wind behind Hannah blew stronger, as if forcing her onwards, but pushing Douglas away. She could easily have run around this creature, wounded and tired, and escaped once again but alas she didn’t move. In her mind, there was no need.

For anyone else she could have found in this situation, Hannah would have run, and never stopped. She would have gladly escaped without looking back. But for Douglas, she would stay still, unmoving.

As he drew slowly closer and closer, Hannah held out one of her hands before his nose and mouth in one last hope that he would recognise even the most primitive familiarly. He took hold of her arm and, without any pause for recollection, sank his teeth into her wrist, ripping open her veins and chewing the bloody flesh as he drew away. And as he made his way up her arm to her neck, Hannah did nothing to stop him eating her alive.

She had been left behind in an empty world, with only the monstrous shadow of an old friend for company, but Hannah wouldn't feel anything as she died in his arms, unwilling to live in an empty shell, but to be reborn as one.

Love is a sacrifice we make for those we care about too much, even though we know it may go unappreciated. Douglas didn’t know the sacrifice of her own life that Hannah made for him, nor would he go on to feel grateful for it. But there was no more suitable action she could think to make for the boy who, even in death, still had her heart.