Jo held her breath for a moment and stood rooted to her
spot, uncertain of the next move. She
needed to be careful. Social interaction,
her least favorite part of life, was needed from here on out. Jo knew this.
This stranger, who was sweating from his vigorous efforts,
completely ignored her presence. He wore
a black shirt, which matched his black hair.
His face already forgotten, Jo studied the back of his head looking for
clues on how to engage this distracted man.
On and on he swung the ax, until he finally achieved his
goal. The seat broke from the back, and
released the belt, which had been holding a small passenger.
Luckily the dark axman spoke first. He stated between breaths, “Come over here,
and grab this kid.”
Jo pushed her brow down in confusion. Out of curiosity, she moved without hesitation
to see what he meant. Sure enough, there
on the seat sat a small boy. His head hung
down without any support. Jo gasped in
shock, thinking him dead.
“Are you strong enough to lift him?”
Jo nodded her head without a thought as she stared at the
child.
The axman answered her nod, “Good, watch his head and
take him over to that row, by the boxes.”
“What?” Jo whispered.
Her eyes followed the direction his arm gave towards a
row of bodies that were lined down the beach.
Another shock hit her as she roughly counted nine or ten people laying
side by side on the sand. Unsure of the
situation a hundred questions grew in her mind.
She wondered why she did not notice them before. Maybe she blocked them out, unable to face
the reality.
The axman must have read her face. He answered her unspoken questions quickly, “We
have to move fast. There are still
others. Surprisingly some are alive. A lot I guess are dead too. I need your help. The boxes over there I found…. they have
medical stuff in them. I don’t know how
to use them. Maybe you do. I’m sure you can find something to help
them. I’m going to keep looking for more
people, I’ll call you when I’m ready for you to help me. Now take him, and figure out things over
there. Can you do that?”
Jo listened to his commands. She nodded again, just to get him away from
her. In her heart, Jo wanted to run away,
but in her mind, she knew she must join this stranger and become a hero.
-Beck
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