Beyond the Horizon(An apocalypse novel)

Chapter 31: Anna

Miles didn’t linger much longer in the center, heading back towards his spot by the wall.

There was already a mat laid from his time spent recovering, so there was no need to drag one from the center.

He watched the rest of the students finish their meager meals and retire to their own spots for the night.

All the while, his mind pondered Chloe’s question.

’Why, huh?’

It had seemed like the reasonable thing to do at the time, so he did it.

Even he knew that wasn’t a normal answer. But then again, he’d never exactly been a normal person either.

Emotions, logic, and even violence all registered quite differently to him compared to most. It was a fact he’d long known.

He raised his hands into view, casting his thoughts back to how he’d handled the ghouls, back to the feelings that had screamed at him from a distance, and back to the strange sense of calm that had filled him.

Then he glanced at his bandaged palms.

’Could it be a trait?’

There had always been something wrong with him, but rarely ever to this scale. All possibilities pointed back to the [Dissociative] trait.

Its description said it all.

[Dissociative: NONE OF THIS IS REAL. NONE OF THIS IS REAL. NONE OF THIS IS REAL. NONE OF THIS IS REAL. NONE OF THIS IS REAL....]

In the end, he could only sigh before shaking such thoughts off. Perhaps it was for the best.

After all, being able to keep a cool mind in terrifying situations wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

Slowly, he tried clenching his raised palms, only stopping when a jolt of pain spiked through them.

Sighing again, he could only thank his lucky stars that his frostbite hadn’t been too deep, only freezing the top layer of his skin.

The wounds on his hands had come from stretching and breaking that frozen skin. Surface-level stuff, all in all.

He brought them closer to his chest, then looked up to find most students settling in for the night.

They wouldn’t be turning off the lights, so most resorted to covering their faces with cloth or not covering them at all.

The only ones still up were those taking first watch. Grimm sat in his corner as always, making Miles unsure if he had even collected any food.

As for Morgan—Miles still found addressing him without the suffix unwieldy—he sat next to two other students on the first watch.

The last person among the group was surprisingly Mia, the girl who’d lost her friend.

She looked less devastated now, if still a little bit lost, staring vacantly at the place Ryan was sleeping, lost in her own world.

Then she noticed Miles’s gaze, shifting to meet it with the same pondering look, but saying nothing in the end. She turned back to Ryan.

’What was that about?’

It was hard to tell what she was thinking, so Miles decided not to pry into it too much.

He felt his phone vibrate at that very moment.

Freezing at first, Miles slowly pulled it out, careful not to harm his hands in doing so.

Henry’s name was displayed on the screen.

’Finally.’

His heart beat a little faster at the sight. He calmed it with a deep breath before clicking answer.

"Hey? Hey kiddo? Can you hear me?"

The man’s familiar voice came through the speakers, heavy breaths between each word. He sounded exhausted.

"I can hear you. Please lower your voice."

Miles whispered back, glancing at the silent speakers as he felt the gazes of the other night watch members land on him.

The principal hadn’t done anything about the president’s broadcast. But the rule he made covered conversation.

He wasn’t willing to take risks with a phone.

"Wha- Are you in danger right now?"

Henry sounded confused, but still lowered his voice.

"I’m fine. We just need to speak like this."

"Are you sure?"

He didn’t sound too convinced.

"Really, it’s fine. I’m safe now. Did you find Anna?"

Miles changed the topic. There was no point worrying him about matters he could do nothing about.

Henry hesitated, still unwilling to let the topic drop, before sighing.

"Yeah, I found her. Some of her classmates and teachers, too. Some other parents were around at the time, so we headed towards the town hall for shelter. You don’t need to worry, she’s safe."

Miles let out a sigh of relief, feeling a burden lift off his shoulders.

"That- That’s good. Is it crowded, the shelter? Has anything strange happened around you? What about assaults, did anything attack you on the way there?"

"Woah there, kid, slow it with the questions. It’s not too crowded. Just us from the school, the mayor, and some part-timers. Nothing strange has happened, besides some weird folks attacking us in the school and the town hall."

Henry coughed before continuing, still whispering.

"We repelled them enough to get out; luckily, one of the parents had a shotgun. Security and that shotgun guy have been dealing with anything approaching the town hall. There’s food, water, and some emergency supplies here, so we should be fine."

"No one got hurt, right?"

The man remained silent.

"Henry?"

"It’s fine. No one got hurt."

An uncharacteristically short reply. One Miles couldn’t help but squint his eyes at. It reminded him of all the times the man had tried hiding his drinking from Anna.

They could always tell he was lying.

"Henr-"

"Look, it’s fine, Miles. Anna’s alright, okay? There’s nothing to worry about. Enough about us, what about you?"

Miles paused at the question, considering if he should continue pushing for a proper answer before dropping it with an internal sigh.

’It’s not like I’m doing much better.’

"I’m fine. Still staying in the gym. There’s some water, food, and power. So we’re not completely helpless."

"Did anything attack you?"

"Some did, I think, but the gym doors were strong enough to stop them. They stopped after a while."

The lies rolled easily off his tongue.

Henry fell silent on the other end, probably suspecting something. But there was little he could say.

After all, they were both lying.

Miles broke the silence.

"Can you give the phone to Anny?"

"Yeah, sure, just give me a moment."

There was some movement on the other end.

Soon enough, it stopped.

He heard Henry’s voice in the background.

"Hey, Anny, you have to speak quietly, okay? It’s Miles."

Miles opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by a little girl’s voice.

"Dad’s hurt."