Once again, I woke up sore and with a splitting headache. And Lu stood outside again, carrying the bag. She was looking up at the sky. I got up only to fall again. My body was in serious pain, most likely because of the rain.
"What's wrong now?" Lu sighed. She wasn't mad this time.
"I think…... I can't get up." I tried to move again.
Lu sighed again.
"Weak." She muttered. She said it so softly that I almost missed it. I chose to ignore the comment while she lifted me off the ground. She put my arm around her so she could support me.
I felt my face change shades as she tried to help me along.
"You're so heavy," Lu complained as she dragged me out of the shelter.
I forgot that the rain had dissolved the soil, and I tripped making Lu fall with me.
Y'know, the soil did not taste as bad as I thought. But it was bad enough to make me throw up. I gagged and spat as I emptied my insides.
"Ew," Lu made a face that made me feel uncomfortable, "Don't touch me." Lu crept away from where I stood. I was forced to walk on my own as Lu was too disgusted to help me. Lu didn't seem bothered about the dirt on her clothes. With no other option, I wobbled after her. The soil gave off an acrid odor that made me want to barf even more, and there was no escaping as it was on my clothes and coat. It was just the third day of traveling but I looked like I had been traveling for months if not, years.
My once light skin was painted with dirt and blisters that stung like hell, and my once clean hair was all frizzled and bits of dirt sticking out, no longer smooth and silky. My clothes were torn and dirty from the acid rain and what seemed like an endless puddle of liquefied soil. I sighed heavily. I would have been better off if I never left the library.
"Murray, come look at this," Lu called me over.
"That's not my name…"
"Then what is?"
"…."
"Shut up and come take a look."
She pointed in the far distance to what seemed like a black horizon. She then pointed at the map, indicating we were at the sea.
"It can't be…", I reached into my bag for my binoculars. It was a terrible sight to see. All the previous pollution suddenly seemed like nothing when compared with what sat before me. 'Pollution' was no word to describe it. The sea was entirely black. Not even a hint of blue like the books always talked about. If not for the ripples, I would have thought it was a huge trash field. There was barely space for the water to be seen, the entire body of the sea was covered in floating plastic or what seemed like metal that was melting, it wasn't even molten!
"Lemmie see!" Lu snatched the binoculars from my hands.
It didn't take long before she politely returned them. Even the sight had managed to make her too shocked and too scared to move. If I wasn't as scared as her, I might have laughed.
"Are you scared?" She asked.
My male instincts kicked in, "Pfft… of course…not," I lied.
"Good. Why don't you lead the way?" She smiled while pushing me forward.
At the realization, my face instantly turned red. I had no other choice but to move forward. The closer we got, the more the pungent odor grew. It turns out the odor was not from the soil, but the sea. The amount of litter increased with every step to the point we had to lean on each other for support. The sand was neither soft nor crunchy like in the books, instead, it had stuck together like crystals and flexed its pointed ends, making falling at that moment seem like the worst nightmare. Perhaps, just like the soil, the rain had made the sand portray that image.
We had walked for what seemed like about an hour until Lu stopped, crouching to the ground and clasping her nose.
"It smells so bad…", Lu complained.
I suddenly felt sorry for her. Maybe it was because I had been in a similar situation. I reached into the bag and brought out the pegs and the napkin. I gently tied it around her nose and fastened it with the pegs.
"What about you?", Lu asked. She looked concerned.
She had a point… what about me? I sniffed the air to see if I could pick up the foul odor. Nothing. I could smell… nothing.
"I can't smell anything," I said, perplexed.
"Then your nose is broken," She stood up and gestured that we needed to continue, "Lucky."
It appeared that the stench was so bad, that my nose had gotten damaged. I wasn't sure if I was to be worried or not.
We arrived at a harbor that barely stood. Its wooden steps that were once smooth had now become splintered and rough. The pillars supporting it had become black and soggy, making its walkway sway from side to side. The wood was no longer pure brown, it had soaked up the ocean's water, giving it a black and brown shade.
It just looked incapable of carrying weight.
Next to it, was a fairly large ship. It was perfectly intact, though there were signs of the ship being at the harbor for some days. It was almost as though it was deliberately placed there. . ...
!!NOTICE!!
I will not be able to post for a few weeks due to school. If you enjoyed the chapter, please comment! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
Happy new year!!