Children of Dawn

Jake’s POV
“Come on dude, it’s like four feet to the ground, you have to jump it!” I whisper yelled up to CC who was clutching the cliff wall for dear life. I was already at the bottom of the ravine. We had climbed down from the cave and it had taken nearly three hours. I lead the way, telling CC where to put his hands and feet and also coaxing him along when he got scared and started crying every five minutes. He happened to be the most childlike adult I had ever met. Finally we were almost to the end and he didn’t think he could jump four feet to the floor of the ravine. I stood on the rocky floor looking up at him. Trying to find away to get him to come down.
“Look, throw me your bag, it’ll make it easier for you to keep your balance when you jump,” I said. CC looked at me with brown eyes full of fear, but then he nodded and slid the bag off his shoulders, carefully tossing it so he didn’t lose his balance. I caught the bag without much trouble and sat it on the ground next to me.
“Now come on dude, just jump it,” I said. CC shook his head and clung more tightly to the wall.
“I can’t,” He said looking like he was getting ready to cry again. I slapped my hands on my thighs.
“Well I guess this is it then, it was nice meeting you,” I said. I grabbed the backpack and slung it over my shoulders. I turned and started to walk away.
“Wait, where are you going?” CC asked I could hear him starting to panic. I turned back around.
“I can’t just stay here with you if you’re never going to move from that spot. I have to get a move on man. If you’re gonna stay here you better hope someone finds you before you starve to death,” I said shaking my head before turning and taking a few more steps away.
“Wait! I’m coming, I can do it! Just give me a second,” CC yelped. I held back my smirk, reverse psychology worked every time. When I turned back around CC was facing the edge for the first time. I watched him think and overthink the jump. He was trying to decide which foot to lead with, and he rocked back and forth over and over. Thinking that he was ready to jump and then stopping himself at the last possible moment. I don’t know how long I watched him until I started to get fed up with him.
“Come on dude I’m going to count down from three and if you don’t jump by the time I get to zero I’m leaving you here,” I said walking up to stand a little closer to him. He nodded.
“Count me down,” He said and I could see that he was psyching himself up all over again.
“Three, two, one, go!” I said and I was so happy when he went for it. I watched him sail through the air before landing on his feet in the dirt. He stumbled for a few feet and I caught him by the shoulders, stopping him from falling.
“I did it!” He yelled with his fists in the air.
“You did it!” I yelled back mimicking his stance. I slid the back off my shoulders and handed it to him.
“You weren’t really going to leave me, where you?” He said, grinning as we started walking.
“No I wasn’t really going to leave you,” I said shaking my head and smiling. We walked in silence for a few minutes.
“So where are we going?” I asked.
“There’s a bus station in the town not far from here. We could use our money and spend a bunch of it on two tickets to get as far from here as possible,” CC suggested.
“The only issue is that we’re both wanted and now the cops know that you’re in this area. They’re going to be looking for you,” I said.
“How about this, when we get to the station you do all the talking, I’ll just try to keep my face hidden. You can get the tickets and everything,” CC said. I nodded.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said and we walked on in silence. Before long we came upon a shallow bank that lead up to the road. As we got onto the road and started walking I could see the bus stop as well as the ticket building behind it.
“Alright, you go sit down on a bench, I’m gonna buy us some tickets,” I said. CC nodded. He pulled up the hood of his jacket as we got closer. From his pocket he pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to me. We got to the station and he sat on a bench that was on the opposite side of the building from the ticket window. I watched him tilt his head down and turn away from the security cameras. I walked up to the window and looked at the schedule of buses coming and going. There was one that left in about ten minutes and would take us all the way to a stop in Missouri, only two hundred dollars each.
“Can I help you?” an old woman grouched from behind the counter.
“Yeah, uh, two tickets to Missouri,” I said. The woman looked at me, unamused.
“Where’s your parents, kid?” She asked. I froze for a second.
“In Missouri, my friend and I went on vacation here and we’re getting a ride back home now,” I said. She looked around at the vacant station.
“Friend?” She asked.
“He’s on the other side of the building, he’s not feeling well,” I explained. She squinted at me.
“You got money for this?” She said suspiciously. I pulled the cash out of my pocket and showed her.
“Fine, that’s a total of four hundred dollars,” She grumbled. I counted out the money from the twenties and fifties in the pile. I was pleased to see that we still had quite a bit left over. The woman counted up the cash, periodically checking to make sure the bills were real. When she was done she handed me the tickets.
“Bus leaves in seven minutes, if you’re dumb enough to miss the bus you don’t get a refund, so don’t miss it,” She grumbled.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, taking the tickets from her. I turned and quickly went back to CC before she could ask me any more questions. I sat down on the bench next to him and handed him a ticket.
“Hell yeah, all the way to Missouri,” CC said as he read the ticket, “And cheap too,”
“How long is that going to take?” I said. Leaning my head back.
“Something like twenty hours, I think,” CC said. I groaned, bus rides were not fun.
“Hey man, at least we’re getting out of here, and soon too. Here comes the bus,” CC said. I looked up and the bus was coming to a halt in front of the station. CC and I were still the only ones at the station, so we grabbed our things and climbed aboard the bus as quickly as possible. The driver was an older gentleman and he smiled at us as we gave him our tickets. The bus was nearly empty. A woman and a couple of kids sat on one side, on elderly couple on the other, and a young guy slept in one of the front seats. CC and I made our way to the back of the bus and sat down next to each other. The bus pulled away from the station and we were off.
“Well, dude here we go,” CC said.
“Yep, twenty hours to kill before we get off in Missouri,” I said trying to sound confident. In reality I was terrified and anxious, I was leaving everything I knew behind and going someplace entirely new. Not only that but I was running from the law. I got the sense that CC felt the same way too as he looked out the window. He checked his watch and leaned back, closing his eyes. I guessed that he was going to try to sleep the trip away but I was too worried for that, I had a sense that something big was going to happen to us, but whether it was bad or good I didn’t know.
Ashley’s POV
All of my muscles were stiff and the pain from my leg and my collarbone was nearly unbearable. As I peeled my eyes open I realized that I was looking at the morning sky. I figured that I must have passed out the day before and slept through the night. Then I realized something else, I was looking at the sky. The last time I had checked I was under the shelter and I doubted that Jinxx could have moved me without waking me up. I sat up and looked around. Not only was the Jinxx nowhere to be found, the shelter was gone too. I twisted my head around in confusion. Then I noticed the scatter of debris all around. There must have been some sort of storm that blew away the shelter from around me while I slept. It was a miracle that I hadn’t been hurt. I assumed that Jinxx was out there somewhere getting materials to fix the broken shelter. I hoped he would be back before long, I needed something to eat and I wasn’t going to hurt myself more trying to get it. I laid back slowly on the ground and listened for any sign of Jinxx returning.
Before long I heard the crunching of feet through the pebbly ground behind me. I tilted my head back and saw Jinxx come around the bend. He didn’t have anything with him, so my theory about him getting building materials was shot. He stopped in front of me and didn’t say anything, but I was immediately concerned for him. His face was pale white, except for the dark rings that settled under his bloodshot eyes. His thin lips pulled down into a broken frown. I stared at for him for a moment, stunned. It looked like he hadn’t slept all night. I was surprised when a tear rolled down his cheek.
“Dude what’s wrong?” I asked propping myself up my good elbow. He shook his head.
“I’m so sorry I hurt you, Ashley,” He said wiping at his face with dirty hands, “The past few days have just confirmed for me that the world is better off without me,”
“Come on, Jinxx I’m not mad at you, it was an accident,” I said. He shook his head again.
“I’m sorry, but please remember that you have a gun in that bag. You don’t have to suffer,” Jinxx said. I tried to form words but my brain was jumping to so many conclusions that I couldn’t say anything. I watched in growing terror as Jinxx dug around in one of the bags and pulled out the belt that he’d been wearing the day that I met him. He looked around calmly as if nothing was wrong.
“Jinxx, don’t do it,” I said. He ignored me. He climbed up the rock that was the back of our shelter. A low branch from the tree hung out over the rock less than two feet in front of me. I could do nothing but watch as Jinxx secured the belt on the tree branch and put the loop around his neck.
“Jinxx! No! I know that life sucks right now but you have to stop!” I yelled, “I need you!” He simply shook his head. That’s when I started screaming at the top of my lungs, for someone, anyone to come stop him. I screamed until my voice started to leave me and Jinxx still hadn’t jumped. He was crying and standing at the edge of the drop.
“I’m sorry,” He said once I fell silent and then he took a step off the edge.
“No!” I shouted as I saw the belt tighten around his throat. It seemed like hours that he kicked and gasped for air but I knew it was only a few seconds. His hands never went to his throat to try to save himself. Eventually he stilled, nothing but the wind was moving him and I felt my soul start to shrivel up. The one person who I had left had just hanged himself in front of me and I wasn’t able to do anything. I closed my eyes and started sobbing. Then suddenly I heard footsteps walking through the woods.
“Help!” I screamed, I didn’t care about getting caught anymore, “Help my friend is trying to kill himself!” My voice was hoarse and dry but they heard, after freezing for just a moment the footsteps were running in my direction. Suddenly right in front of me two boys about my age burst from the woods.
“Holy shit,” The first said as he saw Jinxx hanging. The second ran straight to me, it was pretty obvious that I was injured.
“Get him down! He hasn’t been up their long!” I yelled my voice breaking as I started crying uncontrollably again. The first guy scrambled up the rock and started pulling on the belt, but he couldn’t break it.
“CC give me the knife!” He yelled. The guy holding me tore off his backpack and dug through it, he threw a thick hunting knife up to the other guy. The one with the knife began sawing away at the belt and then suddenly it snapped. Jinxx fell lifelessly to the forest floor.
“Jake you gotta try to save him, this one’s hurt, bad,” CC said. Jake jumped down from the rock and I saw him checking for a pulse, it was like a train wreck. I didn’t want to see but I couldn’t look away. I was glad when CC took my head and pulled it into his chest so I couldn’t look anymore. CC was breathing hard, I was pretty sure that he was crying too. I heard Jake say something but it was muffled by CC’s arms around me.
“What?” I heard CC say. Jake repeated himself. CC disentangled himself from me and made me look at him.
“He’s gonna be okay, he’s breathing,”

Notes

Guys this chapter took me like 4 hours to write so you better like it. Anyway, I enjoyed it and I decided to say fuck it to the timeline, so if you've been paying attention to that at all then this part shouldn't make any sense, so disregard the timeline as far as what month these guys met each other. Anyway please comment and let me know what you think of the story. I love all of your comments.