Death

The pain left behind never quite heals. We live, we die. Whether you feel pain when you die

depends on how it happens. Everyone who lives on will have to cope with the pain. Death comes

for all of us— some sooner than others.

It was another day. Another day in this hell—hole. We wake up and, if we’re lucky, we

won’t have to fight for our lives. That day, we weren’t so lucky.

Rob, Trevor, RJ, Rose, and I were headed into one of the towns nearby. It was a standard

supply run. We were prepared for anything, but preparation means nothing in this new world.

We talked and joked as usual. It was a little too loud. Trevor was driving, with RJ riding

shotgun. Rob, Rose, and I were in the back of the truck with the supplies. Trevor had a Zack

Brown Band CD blasting, and RJ was complaining because it wasn’t Lil’ Wayne. Rob talked to

Rose and me. I pretended to pay attention, and I think Rose did the same. We just wanted to get

back to base. Rose had told me earlier she had a bad feeling about today. I had the same bad

feeling.

“Hey, guys,” RJ called back, “We’ll be at base in twenty minutes. Don’t let your guard

down just yet.”

I never do.

“Hey, RJ. Why don’t you put some good music on? This hick music is torture,” Rob

joked.

“Screw you, Rob!” Trevor yelled back with a not-so-polite hand sign.

Everyone laughed. Everyone but me.

You enjoying your last moment with your friend? He will die. It won’t be long now.
 “Shut up,” I mumbled to myself. No one heard me.

The truth is hard to handle. You should get used to me being right. There is nothing you

can do to save him.

“Who is it?” I asked in a whisper.

Rose glanced over at me. She’d heard.

Now!

A large explosion came from under us, and made a crater behind us. The back end of the

truck fell into it. I grabbed Rose’s hand before she could fall out of the back with the supplies.

Rob gripped the side to keep himself up. Trevor floored it, trying to get us out. RJ opened his

door and jumped out.

“Throw her to me!” he commanded me.

I looked at Rose. She nodded. I swung her back, and forcefully threw her up toward RJ.

He caught her and staggered back. “Now you! Jump!” he ordered.

I turned to Rob. He was about to jump from the other side.

He glanced back at me, winked, and jumped. He landed and rolled. “Wolf! Jump!” he

yelled.

I scanned back into the truck. Trevor was still trying to get the truck out. It was a lost

cause. I could feel the truck falling back more and more. I banged on the glass. “Get out!” I

shouted.

Trevor nodded and jumped out. Trevor is a fairly wide guy, so it was surprising that he

was able to jump farther than anyone expected.

I was the last one in the truck.

Jump!!
 “If I die here, so do you,” I mumbled.

If you die, then so do they— all of them. If you live, then they might not die… as soon.

The car jerked down and stopped. I was below the surface. The car was being held up by

some exposed large tree roots. I would have to jump upward now.

Jump now!!

“Damn it!” I said to myself.

I put all of my force into jumping upward toward the exposed roots. I grabbed onto a

long, thick tree root and climbed.

Good. Now you can witness his demise. Death has come for him. It is his destiny.

I reached the surface and was caught in the middle of a war zone. A platoon of Sins had

attacked. Trevor and Rob were fighting on one side of the crater the truck had fallen in, and Rose

and RJ were fighting on the other. I pulled myself up, onto my feet, and aided Rose and RJ.

There were only a dozen or so Sins. Usually, this many Sins caused a lot of trouble. In

our last battle against about ten Sins, we’d lost two soldiers. I didn’t expect any of us to have a

problem with Sins. We knew what we were doing, but the ones we’d lost were clueless. The Sins

here reminded me of those soldiers. They were clueless, and they weren’t very strong. We took

care of them too easily. I began to worry.

“That wasn’t so bad,” RJ said with a chuckle. He was proud of himself for killing so

many Sins.

“Is that all of them?” Rose asked. She must have been worried because of the number of

Sins there were.

We never once fought just a small amount like that, and never just Sins.

“I hope not. I was just getting warmed up.” RJ always did enjoy a good fight.
 “Rob! Trevor!” I called. “You guys okay?”

“I’m good,” Rob confirmed. “Trevor, not so much.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned. As long as I’ve known Trevor, I’ve never seen him

get hurt— or show it, at least.

“What do you think?!” Trevor yelled. “My truck just fell to the center of the earth!”

Rob and RJ laughed. Rose smiled. I shook my head.

“We’ll get you a new one later,” I said, trying not to smile.

“I want a Hummer!” he yelled back and began to laugh.

We all walked forward and joined in the laughter. We met at the end of the crater. RJ and

Rob took point as we walked home. We talked a little bit to calm ourselves and get rid of the

adrenaline.

Death comes! You can’t escape him!

Rage kept said I would see one of my friends die. The Grim Reaper was coming for one

of them. The Crater and Sins didn’t do it, so what was he talki— No!

“We’ve been walking for a while,” RJ began, “you think we’re almost there?”

A large explosion came from behind us. We all turned and found nothing. I was more

fearful than the others. I knew I had a demon looking out for me, but they were vulnerable, and I

knew what was coming.

“It’s probably the truck,” he said nonchalantly and continued forward.

We started walking again and found that RJ had gone ahead. He was out of sight and

alone. I started to run.

“Wolf?” Rob and Trevor said confused. Rose didn’t question it; she just followed me.

You won’t make it. He’s going to die.

 I ran faster. Rose had a hard time keeping up with me. I had to get to RJ. I needed to

prove Rage wrong.

None of us were going to die.

We were going to make it out of this.

You will all die!

I sprinted around the corner, and found RJ and a Death.