CHAPTER 63: TEARS BENEATH THE MOON

Under the blood moon’s light that shone bright on the trees stretched long like the sea and having the length of about three thousand four hundred miles, almost equal to half of the ocean, branches of the trees trembled as birds of different kinds burst from their perches, crying and flapping their wings and bouncing the air back on the canopies of the trees as they surged in the sky, flying closer to where the moon was.

Groaning sounds echoed as wood snapped beneath the trees under the weight of an invisible force that made leaves twirl in the dim light before settling softly on the bushy floor.

Shadows danced across the trunks as all the birds vanished into the night sky, leaving only the whisper of the wind and the unsettling rustle of leaves.

At the dark sections of the forest, a pair of eyes flickered, staring at the quiet road and blinking as if someone stood there.

After a minute, other eyes joined in, blinking in unison and staring at the same road like unseen watchers, and vanished the moment an engine sound pierced through the stillness of the forest from a distance.

When the headlights touched the tree at which the eyes started, three shadows stretched long across the road, crawling across the ground and reaching the other side of the road, and dissolved when a blue Civic reached the area they stretched from.

Leaves spun in the air as the car passed, but at that instant, the shadows reappeared, expanding themselves and encapsulating the road at large. Cracking sounds echoed under the Civic as its tires rumbled over the wood scattered on the road.

Inside the Civic, three people sat calmly, one with a huge and soft chest, visible by just judging by how the outfit she was in bounced whenever the car shook a little.

For the other two, one sat beside the lady at the front, one arm resting on the steer, directing it and making the car move, while the right arm remained stretched and pressing on the black mirror-like screen.

After a while of pressing on the screen, the black screen turned white, showing a driving route that had one big straight line and a circular blue dot moving on the line as the car continuously moved forward.

The last person seated at the back’s neck rested on the foam at the top of the seat he was in, shaking his head sideways as he danced to the cello music playing in the car.

"Aren’t we there yet?" the lady asked in a tired voice, pressing her index finger on the window button at the door and letting air gush into the car from her side as the black-tinted glass shifted downward. She opened her mouth, welcoming the fresh air that started to fill the car, and inhaling it through her throat.

Feeling how good and sweet the wind tasted, she turned her smiling face to the one driving and gestured, letting him lower his glass. But when she turned to the one at the back seat and gestured to him, she felt disappointed and tilted her gaze sharply toward the trees they were moving past.

’How I wish he was still alive. If he was, I wouldn’t have been here. Staying at the barracks makes me think of him; if not, I would’ve also said no like Jane did,’ she thought, closing her eyes and imagining the only person she felt loved by and was also happy with while tightening her fist.

Just after two seconds of remembering the person’s face, two drops of tears appeared around her eyes and started to fall, tracing down her cheeks and stopping at her dimples. She sighed, loosened her fist, and brushed her right hand across her face, cleaning the tears entirely.

’I have to be strong; I shouldn’t let his death overcome me.’ She thought, closing her eyes and tightening her jaw, then began inhaling deeply, letting the wind fill her wholly.

Shadows stretched long at wherever the Civic passed, but they didn’t stop.

...

At the ground beneath the walls of Bion City, three guards patrolled, moving from one side to the other. Two of the three peeked their heads over the fence of the bridge, enjoying the peaceful view of the fishes swimming in the stream. The only one that had two sickles on his back walked on the land after the bridge, holding a flashlight and nearing the woods.

’Where is that sound coming from?’ he thought, frowning slightly and increasing his steps as metal and stone crashing sounds kept on increasing as he neared the crowded trees in front of him.

Reaching about a one foot from the trees, he turned and waved the flashlight, signaling the two young men at the gate of his location, then turned and pointed the flashlight at the trees.

He squeezed his eyes, placed the flashlight in his left hand, and moved his right arm over his shoulder, wrapping his fingers on one of the handles resting on his back.

After taking two steps forward, he sighed, loosened the grip on the handle of the sickle, and turned, feeling disappointed. Two rats with long claws rushed past him the moment he started moving back, whistling.

"This is one of the most fucking jobs in this entire world, huh!" he said, kicking a round stone resting calmly on the ground and tilting his frowned face back, just in case he really missed what was making that noise.

For eight minutes he walked toward the wall and sat on the wooden bench placed just an inch from the wall.

"What did you see there?" Rodney said in a cunning voice, moving toward the man with a smiling face, sat beside him, and stared at him, still smiling deeply within himself.

The man inhaled deeply, turned his gaze toward Rodney, and sighed.

"It was just the metals we threw into the woods a week ago," he said, his voice still sounding of disappointment, then tilted his gaze from Rodney, closed his eyes, and began steadying his breathing.

Rodney, who was stuck between laughing loudly or blowing saliva from his nose stared at the man, placing his hands on his mouth, covering the small laughing sound trying to escape.

Meanwhile, inside one of the rooms in the barracks, Clara stood at an open window, staring at the clouds moving slowly in the night sky.

"I can’t find the name in this list," a voice filled with a bit of disappointment echoed from her right side, and from a child sitting and flipping pages of a black book.

Clara’s cheeks raised as she tilted her gaze from the sky to the person flipping the pages, now quiet and skimming through the words on a particular page he stopped at.

"Check well; you’ll see the first name, the second name is not on the list," she said in a sure voice, moved from the window and stopped beside the table, placed both palms on the top surface, then stretched herself slightly, letting the cloth holding her breasts loosen a little.

She stared at the boy, smiled, then raised herself and walked toward the door.

"I’m leaving. Leave the book, close the window, and sleep. We’ll continue tomorrow," she said in a tired voice, opened the door and exited.

When Clara stepped into the hallway, she closed her eyes, sighed, then cracked her eyes open and began walking toward the staircase at the far distance.

’Hope we get some good news from them tomorrow. I’m tired of changing the topic whenever he raises that question,’ she thought, cracking her neck as she walked nearing the staircase. She turned to the right when she reached the base of the staircase, and vanished into the other hallway.

...

Heavy winds filled the air outside the walls of the city of Gorg, raising and dropping leaves. Bats fought with each other, stretching a freshly torn skin held tightly under their small teeth. Squirrels moved, racing and climbing the trees then vanished whenever they neared a five-inch hole at the center of the trees.

Inside the wall, Men dressed in black uniforms and holding AK-47s raised their hands as they stand at the other side of the road stretched long in the city, greeting the three black jeeps that moved from the tall buildings in the city and onto the direction of the wall.

When the men patrolling at the top of the walls saw the vehicles approaching the wall, one moved and pressed a green button, letting a portion of the wall with black lines crack and enter into itself. And when all three cars exited, the man pressed the red button, letting the walls reform into its original form.

At the backseat of the last vehicle, a man with beads around his wrists grinned, staring at the wretched metal vehicle that kept seemed to be burning as smoke erupt from it. When his gaze landed on the figure lying on the ground lifeless, he smiled, letting all his teeth show.