tall saint

how close am i to losing you?

[iincarnatus]

Open/Mid-Day/Outside Somewhere

@dowstarter​

Cal had been minding his own business, whistling to the tune of some forgotten country song he’d known in his life before as he refilled his water bottle at the nearest watering hole, when a heaping splash of water shot him right across the face. His eyes shot closed on instinct, but he could hear the laughter of small children growing more distant. He grew a smile, and as he opened his eyes to assess the situation - he found a water-fight underway.

Shaking the water off of him like a wet-dog, he boomed a “Hey!” in his deepest voice as his face held a mask of seriousness, most likely scaring the little ones around him. Their sad puppy-dog eyes looked up at him, and just as he finished filling his bottle his voice sounded again; this time with a joking tone. “You guys know this means war right?” He splashed his bottle of water across their faces as quickly as possible and made a run for it, not realizing his beam of water also hit some of the surrounding ‘grown-ups’ in his peripherals. “Sorry!” He laughed out, continuing to run in circles with a gaggle of children chasing him; his shirt already soaked through. This was exactly the distraction he needed.

[santithewolf-blog]

Santi had forgotten this sound. Children laughing. It was rare to come from their own child, but the few times Santi had heard it, it was like pure sunlight in the middle of winter. Their child had grown up learning how to be quiet, to avoid noise, avoid drawing attention. Hearing this carefree laughter, Santi had to wonder if they had raised their child wrong. If they had deprived them of this innocent joy these children were reveling in by shushing them as they walked through the woods and they giggled at the crackle of leaves or a thousand other instances of them wrapping their hand around their child’s soft mouth to stifle their noise.

These thoughts distracted them as they filled their bottle and watched the children running around them with vacant eyes. Their child should be here, running after the older ones, splashing water and laughing. They were suddenly brought into the present by a squirt of water landing on them. They watched, hiding a smile behind their hand as they brushed off water that had landed on their face as the man who had gotten pulled into the water fight apologized. Cal, they were pretty sure, their fellow marksman and the blacksmith. Santi had to hand off their gun for the watch that night to Cal, so they would wait until Cal was done. “You know you’re wasting water.”

[santithewolf-blog]

six months later

Santi wasn’t yet in the Sanctuary when the Breach happened, Santi and their family weren’t even in the state yet. Their child was sick, and they were holed up in small town on the border of Colorado when the wall came down. They were picking their way slowly across the country, moving around roving gangs and trying to avoid as many settlements as possible. They didn’t trust any of them, and thought they would be able to protect each other and their child better than any group. 

When they reached the outskirts of Denver, they stayed four nights an empty gas station, debating on the pros and cons of going into such a big city. Santi didn’t want to, but their wife did, believing they would be able to find more supplies that they desperately needed. She pointed out their child now knew to be quiet, that they didn’t have to avoid the city like they did Las Vegas out of fear of their child’s cries being heard.

They decided it was best to avoid the center of the city and instead go along the suburbs and outer edges. It was there in one of the suburbs that they were separated by group that was chasing them. Santi tried to keep them close but despite all the effort Santi put into keeping them safe, they failed. Santi continued on in the direction they thought their wife had fled and found the Sanctuary. Santi observed them from a distance for some time, trying to judge if they were the people who had attacked their family but Santi couldn’t spot any familiar faces, so they supposed they were safe enough.

Santi joined the Sanctuary two months ago, and has been waiting for their wife to find them ever since. They had agreed long ago that if they got separated they would join the nearest group and find each other, but Santi is beginning to doubt if they will ever find their wife and child again.

[santithewolf-blog]

While he knew it was dangerous, it was all he had. The car was still warm, metal ticking and clinking as it cooled in the snow. Old Faithful, a Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty-Special Brougham, the car given to him by the previous Priest, Father O’Connell, of his parish. It felt like the only thing he actually owned, since this all went down. And like the corpses staggering about on the streets, it was dead. Some tubing breaking or wiring shorting out. And right in the path of the Horde. An equally old truck had rushed past them, and then the Horde was on them, and the car chose the fortuitous time to break down.

They had tried to wait it out, they did. But the mass was too much and they broke cover from the relative shelter of Old Faithful. The last two of his flock, gone, and his arm torn up to boot. He had caught it in the broken window frame of a door he had busted to seek shelter. And now, against all logic, he was here again. He knew he had to wait here, they would come back, they had to. Dawsey stared, blankly, into the streets around him, pressing on a hand towel he wrapped around his forearm. They were coming back. They were coming back. They were coming back.

And then, perhaps because of this mantra, this prayer, a figure appeared in the distance. It didn’t move like one of the creatures, it moved like a person. Daswey gasped, hopeful, and yelled out. “Over here!” As the words echoed, Dawsey realized his mistake. What if it wasn’t one of his companions? What if it was someone who wanted to hurt him? All he could do now was wait.

[dimpleskinard]