Believing is the Key
One shoe on and one shoe off, clothes in tatters, and
scratches ripped along her cheek and down her arm, Rickie stumbled under the 5th
Street Bridge, looking for answers. She’d lived next to the bridge in a cave
for the last two years. The graffiti comforted her as if the gang markings and
the inspirational quotes protected her from the wilds beyond the bridge.
Rickie stared at the rainbow of colors seeing the hordes
of soldiers marching from the city and the last traces of the population that
had stopped to leave their marks. She wrapped her arms around herself and
stared up at the images.
The last twelve hours had been frightful. Rickie had
braved the city looking for medicine to treat her little brother and mother
from the transformation. She found none and now she had the infection. Rickie’s
mother came up behind her, examined the scratch and stared deep into Rickie’s
eyes. “I’m sorry, darling! We’ll be together now. I expect the wolves will be
here soon to collect us,” her mother whispered.
“The antidote was in my hands.” Rickie thought for a
minute. “I know how to get it, but they left their scent on me. How will I get
back in there? I don’t want to become one of them, mom!” Rickie sighed with a
tear.
“Sam is entering the painful part of the transformation.
Soon he won’t remember being one of us and I’m not far from following him. I
can feel my blood boiling. Rickie, you gave it your best shot!”
“I didn’t succeed and I won’t accept that I lost. I need
a clue. What to do next!” Rickie wiped her cheeks and sniffed, staring at the
wall. She’d stood in the same spot, day after day, studying the pictures. “What
is this? I’ve never seen this picture.” Rickie pointed to the mural, seeing an
old wooden cross that had mysteriously appeared amongst the other collages. Footprints
trailed from the cross, leading to the center of the painting with the word ‘Believe’
written in blood. “That’s it, mom, I know what I have to do,” Rickie smiled.
“No, you can’t go back in the city,” her mom pleaded.
Rickie ignored her, taking her own blood from the wounds and smearing it over her
skin and clothes.
“Don’t worry! I’ll be back with the antidote soon.” Rickie
kissed her mom on the cheek, threw her one shoe into the bushes, and lit out
through the woods.
Rickie’s mom focused on the word ‘Believe’, pacing in
front of the mural, a howl pierced the quiet of the night from their lair. “Please
hurry, Rickie,” she prayed.
Hours passed and no sign of Rickie. Her mother had
given up when the leaves rustled and a bloody figure of a girl collapsed in the
doorway of the cave. “Rickie!” her mother screamed, rushing to her side.
“Check my pocket…”
