Page 9 of Famine
But in order to get over to those steps, I have to walk over the partially buried bodies.
Pinching my eyes shut, I draw in a deep breath, release it, then start to move.
Instantly, the pain sharpens, stealing my breath and making my movement almost unbearably agonizing.
I take one shaky step, then two, then three.
Just a little farther.
My foot slips on a bloody arm, and I fall. I hit the ground.
Blinding pain—
I think I pass out because I’m suddenly blinking my eyes open even though I don’t remember closing them.
Once again I’m lying on a dirt-covered corpse, my cheek nestled against something wet and sticky. The pain, the horror—all of it has my nausea rising. I barely have time to turn my head to the side before I retch.
My entire body is shaking, both from exertion, and from my terrible reality.
I let myself lay there for a moment, my face crumpling as I begin to sob. I don’t think I can do it. I want to live, but this is alltoo much.
Those awful flies land on me and that is what causes me to snap.
I will not be food for some fucking flies. I won’t.
I force down the last of my nausea and, gritting my teeth against the pain, force myself up once more.
Again, I begin walking towards those steps. And this time, I don’t fall. I make it up the steps and out of that deadly pool.
A relieved cry slips out once my feet touch solid ground. But it only lasts a few seconds. I can still hear the faint moans of the still living.
I glance back at the pool looking for anyone still alive.
Maybe Elvita survived. It’s possible.
I stare out at the sea of partially covered bodies. I don’t see the madam, but I do see the mayor, though he’s almost unrecognizable, his face drenched in blood. He’s one of the ones still clinging to life.
I wrap a hand around my stomach to stave off as much of the pain as I can, and then I begin to stumble over the edge of the pool nearest him.
He was an inconsiderate lover and a terrible tipper, but he didn’t deserve to die like this—and his wife and children certainly didn’t as well.
When I get close, I crouch next to the edge of the pool and reach down. I don’t know how I’m going to get an injured adult male out of this pit, but I can’tnothelp him.
He shakes his head, seeming to choke on air. Only now do I notice the tear tracks that snake down his cheeks.
“Take my hand,” I insist, pleading with him.
He doesn’t.
His dark eyes find mine. “Kill … me …” His voice is barely a whisper.
I give him a distraught look. “What?”
“Please …” he wheezes.
I rear back, horrified. My wild eyes look everywhere but him, and that’s when I see the back of Elvita’s blood-drenched body.
A sound slips from my lips. For a moment, the mayor’s plea is forgotten. I rise to my feet, then stumble over to the edge of the pool nearest her, my vision darkening from the pain. I don’t bother to muffle my cries, even though a small part of me worries that it will draw the attention of Famine’s men.
