Page 31 of Desolation
How many lost to us?
I want to stop my feet from working, I don’t want to round the corner of our street, to face the reality I know awaits, but Beth needs us. I force my limbs to cooperate, though they feel heavy as lead, and almost fall to my knees. Tears spill unrestrained down my cheeks as I gasp for a breath.
Not one home on our street was spared from a semblance of damage.
Hissing between my clenched teeth at the pain screaming at me, I push through it, until we reach our destination, forcing Ash to keep walking when his steps slow in shock.
As the place we have called home for fifteen years comes into sight, I gasp, freeze and my heart stops.
I can see straight into the second story of our home, into the remnants of our safe place.
Half of my room, Zedd’s room and our joint bathroom has been ripped away completely. The exterior wall of the kitchen has crumbled down with bricks scattered through the immediate area. Water sprays out of the pipes, ripped apart in the wall, soaking the entire first floor.
Our home.
Destroyed.
Chapter Seven
Lana
“Lana,” is all Ash manages to say before he’s tugging on my hand harder than before. He climbs through the hole in the wall of the kitchen and I follow.
Immediately, I see the guys’ heads in the living room, visible over the back of the couch from their place on the ground. My heart drops.What the fuck is happening…
In a trance, I follow after Ash, dropping his hand. An eerie silence has settled over the room and I don’t want to acknowledge the sniffles coming from ahead of us. I’m half-glad that Ash’s massive frame is blocking my view when he stops dead in his tracks. I barrel into him, banging my nose against the muscles of his back. “Ash, what the fuck?”
“Language, Lana,” a soft voice wheezes.
Instantly recognizing the distorted voice as Beth’s, I rush around Ash and my blood turns to ice. “No.”
No, fucking no. This isn’t happening.
My chest feels like it caves in as I fall to my knees, not caring how the hardwood floors send pain shooting through me at the impact as my hands cover my mouth. Beth’s head is in Hale’s lap, a large and bloodied piece of wood sticking out of her chest. Her blood is pooled around them, soaking his lap, as she wheezes—
Mom. No.
There’s no fixing this.
There’s no ambulance that can get through the streets and with the state she’s in…
The twins sit on the floor near Beth’s feet, a hand on either ankle, their faces blotchy from crying.
“It punctured her lung,” Zedd says, almost robotically. I’m not even sure if he knows we’re here. “It’s filling with blood slowly. She’s dr-drowni—” His words cut off with a sob.
My hands fall to my sides, lifeless. It feels like my consciousness is hovering over my body and I have no control over myself as I crawl closer to her side.
Full body sobs wrack through me as I grab her hand with my own and notice that she has no energy to grip back. It stays limp in my grasp.
“I c-came home to b-bake f-for…birthday.” She trails off, her voice deserting her.
The sobs come harder than ever before.If she had just stayed at work, she would be safe. She’s dying because of my birthday. Because of me.
“Beth,” I plead. “Please. I can’t live without you. I need you. I need my mom.Please.”
She shakes her head as much as she can with a sad, weak smile. “I-It’s okay, Lana.”
I sniffle as my tears mix with the snot leaking out of my nose and I wipe my face angrily. This isnotokay.
