(Photo by Saliha)

Besides the overgrown paths and the rooftops being covered in moss and ferns, everything looked exactly as she remembered it. None of the buildings seemed to have been damaged from when the patrol came and took everyone away. A few of the doors were ajar and most of the windows were open.

“It was a hot day when they came for us,” Syn said as she and Pierce drew near to the first building. She didn’t need to tell him this, but somehow she felt driven to go on. “Last hot day of the year, we figured. That’s why all the windows were open.”

Pierce didn’t say anything as he followed her into the first building. The windows let in plenty of light to illuminate the interior of the building. There was only the one room; all of the buildings were like that. There was a space for preparing food along one wall, with bedding stacked up along another wall. In the middle of the room were a few chairs and a table.

“Was this your home?” Pierce asked.

“They were all my home,” Syn replied. “But I guess you mean is this was where my parents and I slept. No, that one’s another three buildings over.”

“So, what are we looking for here?” Pierce asked.

“Food,” Syn told him. “Tools, supplies, anything we could use, really.”

Pierce nodded and they set to work, opening the cupboards and going through the bits of clothing and blankets that had been left behind. There wasn’t much there but they did find a couple of shoulder bags and a blanket that wasn’t too damaged from its exposure to the elements. With each building, each home they searched, Syn found herself remembering her life in this place before the world had lost its mind and everything came crashing down. When it came time to search her old home Syn found herself hesitating. The door was still shut as well as the windows and she couldn’t see inside.

“Maybe we have enough,” Syn said.

They’d gathered some dishes and utensils, as well as some bedding and clothes from the previous buildings.

“Don’t we still need to find some food?” Pierce objected.

“We didn’t store food in there.”

Syn began to step away when Pierce caught her by the arm. His grip was so tight that at first she thought he must have seen a patrol. However, when she looked at Pierce to see what was wrong, she found him looking at the ground. She followed his gaze and for a moment she didn’t understand what had alarmed him so much. Then she realized that the path leading to the door was still worn and not overgrown like the others. Syn met Pierce’s eyes and knew he was thinking the same thing she was: someone was still living there.

“Don’t!” Pierce hissed with a quiet intensity when Syn tried to pull away from him.

“It could be my parents!” Syn struggled against his grasp but it was no use.

“It could be anyone,” Pierce replied. “For all we know it could be a trap.”

It was then that the door was flung open and a wild shout bellowed from within before a flurry of motion erupted through the doorway. Both Syn and Pierce cried out in shock and they fell back. Something struck Syn in the side accompanied by a sharp pain. The frantic form whipped past Syn as she fell to the ground, clutching her side. Moments later, Pierce was on the ground, the assailant on top of him and striking downward over and over again.

Syn felt warm blood on her side but resisted the urge to look down and see how serious the wound was. Instead, she pushed herself back up and ran to help Pierce. The person who was attacking them fought like a cornered beast and they let out frequent growls and snarls as they tried to stab Pierce with their knife. Pierce, for his part, had so far managed to keep from getting stabbed but also couldn’t seem to break free from the attacker.

Syn caught hold of their wrist as they prepared for another strike, giving Pierce the opening he needed to kick himself free. He had a few minor cuts along his forearms but nothing too serious. They didn’t have much time to regroup, however, since the person cried out again and charged at them once more. This time Pierce was ready and he caught the arm holding the knife and twisted it sharply to the side. The sound of bone breaking was immediately interrupted by a cry of pain and Pierce threw their attacker to the ground, followed by a solid kick to their head. They didn’t move after that and laid face down on the ground.

“Are you okay?” Syn asked.

“Yeah,” Pierce said and then looked down at her side with concern. “That doesn’t look good.”

Syn finally allowed herself to examine her wound and immediately wished that she hadn’t. The entire front of her stomach had been slashed open. It was deepest on her side where the knife must have first been stabbed into her before slicing the rest of the way across her stomach. The blood was flowing freely and now that she’d seen it properly the pain came crashing over her.

Syn’s knees buckled and she came down hard into an awkward sitting position. Pierce came to her side and looked her over with an increasing look of helplessness.

“Um, put pressure here,” he mumbled, his hands shaking as he tried to direct Syn. He glanced over to the side at the person who had attacked them and scowled. “Do you recognize her?”

Pierce began wadding bits of the clothes they’d found into her wound in an effort to staunch the bleeding and Syn turned her attention to the person lying not too far away from them on the ground. In all the commotion of the fighting she hadn’t paid much attention to the identity of the attacker. The woman’s face was dirty and her hair was matted and falling out in places.  Her scalp bore numerous, scabby sores. Her clothes were similarly in poor condition and dirty. It wasn’t until the woman opened her eyes that Syn recognized her.

“Mom?” Syn said.

The woman struggled to bring her eyes to focus on Syn as she slowly began to come around after being knocked unconscious. She mouthed wordlessly and her eyes rolled back and forth, obviously unaware of anything that was going on around her.

“Pierce, I think she’s my mom.”

Pierce only gave the woman a brief glance as he continued working on Syn’s abdomen, though he did take the time to grab the knife from where it had fallen and toss it far to the side of them.

“You think you can get her to calm down if she loses it again?”

“I…uh…yeah, I think,” her thoughts were coming slowly now and Syn began having a hard time concentrating.

“Hey now,” Pierce said, patting her cheeks and snapping his fingers in front of her eyes. “It’s not time to sleep yet.”

“Sorry,” Syn gave her head a small shake and blinked her eyes in an effort to chase away the encroaching darkness that had been creeping into her peripheral vision.

A pained whine, shrill and loud, surprised both Syn and Peirce. Syn’s mom was really starting to come around now and she had tried to push herself up without realizing her arm had been broken. She fell back down at once and cradled her arm that now stuck out at an odd angle a few inches below her wrist.

“Mom, it’s me. It’s Syn.”

Whether she didn’t hear Syn or didn’t recognize her, she gave no indication of having heard Syn and continued to cry louder and louder.

“If there’s any patrols nearby they’ll hear her,” Pierce muttered.

“I know,” Syn agreed, knowing that Pierce wasn’t just voicing a concern. He was also asking for permission.

Pierce wiped his hands on a piece of cloth and then grabbed a clean strip. In a flash he had turned and got himself behind Syn’s mom. Holding the strip of cloth in both hands, he pulled it tightly around her mouth, effectively gagging her. She struggled but without the same ferocity as before. Even with the gag, though, she continued to raise her voice.

“Mom, you need to stay quiet,” Syn pleaded. “Please, they’ll hear you!”

It was no use. The harder they tried to keep her mother quiet, the more she cried and fought back. While Pierce continued wrestling with Syn’s mom, Syn herself began to struggle once again to remain conscious. The initial adrenaline rush was all but gone now.

“Pierce,” Syn managed to say without slurring her speech too badly.

He didn’t seem to have heard her, though. Syn’s mom had just bitten through the cloth Pierce was gagging her with and had spun around and bitten down hard onto Pierce’s hand.

“I’m sorry, Syn.”

Pierce’s voice sounded as though it were coming from a long way away and the world around Syn was beginning to turn sideways. She was vaguely aware of more speaking going on nearby but her ability to understand it was gone.

“Pierce,” Syn thought she said but didn’t hear her own voice or even feel her mouth form the words.

She felt the ground against her cheek, unaware of when she’d fallen over, and Syn made one last struggle to stay awake. Her eyes fluttered, briefly giving her a view of Pierce still struggling with her mom, but her eyelids were too heavy. With her last ounce of strength spent, Syn felt herself lose her grip on consciousness and she slipped into the dark.