Ashes to Ashes

Cara Rose-Miller

Cara turned in her cot and tried with all of her strength to get up. As soon as she heard Cassie speak about another attack, she had a horrible flashback to when she was attacked. Cara ached all over. It pained her just to move. But she didn't ever want to face those creatures again.

"We'll go," she said loudly, "Now. Carry me if you need to. We need to abandon this place."

She walked two steps and then collapsed back down on the cot.

Cassie

"Now? You can't even walk!" Alec said. "We'll stay here until - "

"Until they come back and kill us!" Cassie answered, starting to get angry now. "Who knows how many of those things are out there? You think five bugs are bad? What happens when ten attack? Fifty? A hundred? You really think we can kill all of those, with Cara and Kelsey to protect? Let's get the hell out of here while we have the chance."

"We don't even know if there are other bugs," Kyle said, clearly trying to be calm and logical. "We should stay here. This place is perfectly - "

"Forget about your stupid hideout!" Cassie snarled. She turned away and started to pace along the far wall, her hands balled into fists. "It's nice, but when it comes down to choosing between our lives and gadgets, I'm not picking a computer and a gun cabinet! Maybe you're right. Maybe there aren't anymore bugs. But are you willing to bet all of our lives on that? And who knows what else is out there? We're sitting ducks in here. We need to keep moving so we can stay out of danger."

Cara Rose-Miller

Although she was in too much pain to move, Cara could hear the details of the conversation perfectly. She wished that she could contribute something. But she found herself smiling. She had had her doubts about Cassie, but now Cara appreciated that she was sticking up for her.

She managed a moan, hoping to signify to the others that they were in dire need of relocation.

"See?" Cassie barked. "There is no way Cara will survive another attack. We have to move. Now."

Natalie

Natalie looked at everyone, then down at her sister, who was standing as close to her as possible. She sighed and put an arm around the trembling girl. She didn't want to risk moving, but she wasn't sure if her sister would survive another attack. And if she lost Kelsey, she would lose everything.

"I agree with Cassie; we should move. Cara won't survive another attack, and I'm not putting Kelsey into any more danger. I don't know about you guys, but Kelsey and I are going."

**Sorry it's short.**

Kyle

Kyle rubbed his neck and sighed. "Well, does anyone know a place we could go?"

He turned, looking around the room, wondering how he was going to take his stuff with him. There were his monitors, the towers, his modified weapons, his keyboards, tools, everything he had held onto for the past four years of his life. He didn't know how he was going to part with them, they were a part of him.

AMBROSE

They wanted to...leave? With Cara about to fall over backward in pain?! What was wrong with these people! They had shelter and food and...luxury things he never had before. They were as safe here as they were anywhere!


Amp had tried to stay out of the discussion, staying in the shadows, but this was just crazy! He had to speak up.

"Why do we need to leave?" He asked, leaning against the wall.

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. "Uh, I don't know," Cassie said sarcastically. "Maybe because I don't want to die from another bug attack!"

Amp grinned. "Calm down, kid, no need to get too excited," he sighed. "But why leave though? I mean, we'll be out in the open, exposed! There's just as good a chance that we'll get attacked out there than there is in here. And I'd rather be attacked in here with weapons and have plenty of food for energy then out in the open. We'll have to leave eventually, for sure, but we can't leave now. There's no point in it! We have...supplies here to defend ourselves and when we leave we'll have almost nothing. I say we leave when Cara's healed up. Besides, she'd only slow us down if we left now, leaving us without protection longer."

Alec

Alec couldn't believe what he was hearing. Leave? They wanted to leave? And Cara, of all people, had suggested it? What the hell!

"I don't see how you could be so thick in the head," Alec addressed no one in particular. "We have everything we need right here. Food, water, shelter, not to mention a cabinet full of guns! Jesus!"

"Yeah?" Cassie spoke up again. "Well how are we supposed to defend this tiny little hut if the bugs come back, huh? We'd be helpless! Any ideas?"

Alec couldn't rightly defend himself against that, so he changed his footing. "Well, whatever! Either way, this is the best place we've got, unless you have something better sitting around the corner? I haven't seen anything else since...since..."

I was running as fast as my legs could carry me back to the rusty bulkhead. It sat farther apart from the actual house, but offered better protection for my family from the deadly meteor shower that wracked the earth. In my hand I clutched Paulina's moon charm. The silver thing bounced against my wrist as I leaped across a flaming crater in the ground, caused by yet another meteor striking the earth. Only a few days before the sight would have intrigued me to no end, but in that short amount of time they had become commonplace. Now I saw such things as a curse...the reason for our exile.

Long, amber stalks of hay and grass struck my arms and face, causing minuscule purple welts to form across my skin. I was too preoccupied to notice much, too terrified. The only thing that I could think about was my own safety, how vulnerable I was out here in the open, how exposed I--

At that moment a meteor, one of the biggest I had seen so far, streaked over my head. I cried out and ducked, squeezing my eyes shut in fear. There was a metallic squeal as it struck something and exploded.

It was several seconds before I could find the courage to stand up and look again. Supported on shaky knees, I stumbled forward again.

As I reached the edge of the grass and the entrance to the bulkhead, a strange smell reached me. It was smoky and putrid...but at the same time unlike any other smell I had encountered so far. I had no idea what it could be.

As I fell into the clearing, I had my answer. Where the bulkhead had been just seconds before, a black pillar of smoke and fire now took its residence. Flames licked the edges of the newly-formed crater, making the ground extremely hot to touch, even through the soles of my shoes. That smell, that putrid, deathly smell, was the stench of burning flesh. Human flesh.

All at once, I screamed as loudly as my lungs would let me, fell to my knees, and loosed the contents of my stomach. Tears streaked down my face as I realized what had happened. The meteor had struck the bulkhead. The fire had taken my father. My mother.

Paulina.

"Alec!"

Alec was shaken out of his reverie as someone shouted his name. "Huh? What? Why are you yelling at me?"

Cassie

"This isn't the time to daydream!" Cassie snapped, throwing Alec an angry look. "Now, it's going to be dawn in a few hours. I say we get something to eat, and then leave at first light."

"But Cara - " Amp began.

"Cara wants to go," Natalie said softly. "It's her choice."

"First light," Cassie repeated. She looked around at them all. "Who's with me?"

Kyle

"Well, I would if I knew how to get some of my stuff transported. I don't know how I could function without these things. This is what I live for," Kyle ran a hand through his hair.

"Oh, stop. It's just a pile of junk any way," Cassie said.

"Apparently not, though. Because a little while back you were clutching that gun I gave you to save your life. If not for me, we would probably be dead right now," Kyle stalked over to his chair. "If I can't take some of my stuff, then I won't be going."

Cassie

Cassie exchanged a look with Amp, exasperated. Like Kyle's precious computers were more important than their lives!

"Look," Natalie said softly. "We know this stuff is important to you. And we're not going to make you leave it all. You can take some of it. But we can't carry a bunch of computers around."

"It's almost light," Cassie added. "If we're going, we need to hurry."

Cara Rose-Miller

Hearing that they were about to go, Cara frantically tried to get up. She tripped and fell to the ground with a thud. It hurt badly, but it was able to get Natalie's attention.

"Cara! We can't leave without her!"

She ran over and scooped her up like a rag-doll. "I'm not holding her the whole way," Natalie said. "We'll have to take turns."

"I don't want to hold her," Kyle said bluntly. "She's the reason we have to lave this place."

Cara moaned. If she was well, she would get up and give Kyle a piece of her mind. It wasn't her fault that was hurt. She felt so vulnerable and useless right now, having people argue about who got to hold her.

AMBROSE

"I don't think that you understand me," Amp said, angrily folding his arms over his chest. "Cara's hurt, yeah. But I'm not going anywhere. My staying here isn't all about Cara. In fact, I only used her as a reason for us to stay. I'm talking about saving my own skin. It might help you if you listened," he said, blunt and to the point.

Now everyone looked over at Amp, exasperated. "Don't be stupid. We have to leave," Cassie sighed.

"Well I'm not. Once we leave there will be nothing around to help us. We have shelter here. Trust me, when you finally have something worth fighting for, you'll fight for it more than anything."

Amp looked away. Out on the street, when he found a home for Maddie which was normally a old basement under a house, he fought for it with his every breath. Out in the open...they were only fighting for their lives. In Kyle's house, they had to fight for their lives and everything there.

"What about your sister?" Cassie asked. Amp grimaced. That was way below the belt.

"She's a tough kid. If she's still alive, which I know she must be...well, she'll make it. I don't plan on staying here forever. Just long enough to build up my strength and all that. But, for now, I'm not leaving. It won't do anyone any good. You all can leave if you want."

He looked over at Kelsey. The girl was so small and sweet. He hoped that she would stay. She reminded him of Maddie. It was slightly unhealthy, but he liked being around the sweet girl.

It surprised him, but he had actually risked his own skin to save her. He didn't do that often.

Natalie

Natalie was about to argue when there was a tug at her sleeve. She looked down. Kelsey was standing there.

"N-Natalie I don't want to leave."

Natalie's jaw dropped. "What?!"

Kelsey took a deep breath. "We're going to die either way anyways, a-and I'd rather die in here where it's warm than out there in the dark."

Natalie hesitated. She knew that if she refused Kelsey would stay anyway, and she wasn't going to be separated from her. She sighed in defeat and set Cara down gently. "Alright. We'll stay."

Cara Rose-Miller

Cara screamed, not able to believe what she was hearing. She shook violently and began to cry. This wasn't happening. They weren't putting their own lives in jeopardy just to meet the demands of an incredibly stupid little girl. Why had Natalie not been able to argue, explain to Kelsey why they had to go? Cara was so angry that she thought little of her next few actions.

She wanted to force them to leave the house, somehow. Cara found the strength to stand.

"Get her, somebody, if she falls," Cassie cried.

But Cara didn't fall. She grabbed her book and tossed it out the window, and then she ran, her eyes on Kyle's computers. She just hoped that she would have enough strength to complete what she wanted to complete.

"Cara, what are you doing?" Kyle said nervously, starting to run towards her, but he cowered back. Cara caught a cord that the computer was attached to, and she drew her knife and slowly began to saw at it.

"CARA!" Kyle screamed. "Stop!"

He ran forward, but Cara punched him and the others screamed. They were too shocked to even do anything.

The cord finally split in two and beady orange flames soon began to arise, engulfing everything in the room.

"Get out!" Cara screamed. "GET OUT!"

She started to run, fainting into the ash as she exited the house.

AMBROSE

He was going to murder that girl! Murder her right in front of God and everyone. Amp walked into the house.

"What are you doing?" Kelsey screamed, as everyone ran out.

"I'm saving what I can. I'm going to fight to keep me - you safe!" He yelled over the crackling flames.

It didn't actually take long to put out the fire. Unfortunatly for Cara, she didn't know how to set a proper fire. Or keep it going. That was one of those things you learned on the streets and no fancy rich people school could ever teach you those little things you picked up from being homeless.

But most of Kyle's computer stuff was ruined. Though Amp had managed to save nearly all the food. That had been the last to get hit with the flames.

"You stupid, stupid girl!" Amp yelled, running towards her and yanking her up by her clothes. "You're just like any rich girl!"

"Don't hurt her, Amp!" Someone yelled. But he was blind with fury.

"A stupid rich girl! Throwing your stupid tanturms to get your way," he looked into her brown eyes full of pain and fear. Amp almost lost his nerve. What was he doing?

"Next time you EVER do that again, I'll throw you in the fire myself and make sure you always stay warm!" He yelled, shoving her away from him and storming off into the still slightly smoking building.

At least he and the others had managed to save most the supplies. They'd have to live without the technology.

Poor Kyle.