I Sacrifice Myself by Christina Worrell

a moment of picking at his blanket I
looked back.
    “ I mean it Dimi. I’ll stake
you and save them.”
He pulled me roughly into his arms and held
me tighter than ever before.
    “ I… I’d do the same even if
it killed me inside Shade, even if it killed me too…” he replied,
his voice catching at first. I thought he was crying but no. I’d
never seen him cry. His body was shaking now, but he had no
tears.
I held him just as securely and pulled him
back to the pillows. I kissed his face lovingly and pulled him to
my chest. He let me.
I held him until the shakes faded from him.
He must have finally fallen asleep. I decided it’d be best to do
the same.
Not before one last thought crossed my mind.
I’d die before I let him fall. I would not leave him. I was
incapable of it, but not the lie.
Sometime later his cries woke me. He’d sat
up instantly and was looking around the room.
Nightmares… the same one I was sure. The
first night I’d slept with him he’d had one. Embarrassed, he’d told
me his macabre story. Explaining how all the humans at the camp in
Siberia had died horribly and painfully. How he’d been forced to
watch.
His description of how savagely the people
had been mutilated, torn to bloody shreds, hung from trees, or
beheaded, had me in tears.
Whoever, man or creature, which had done
this… this thing, was sadistic, vile and carnal. He explained
things I could barely stand to hear.
Dimitri had spared me the worst of it, I
know, but what he shared was more than enough to drive me crazy
with thoughts of vindictive and vengeful violence.
I could just picture this camp utterly
annihilated and destroyed. I had seen enough death and chaos to
envision his tale of sorrow and horror.
Imagining the younger and innocent victims
had me close to being sick. An iron strong stomach was all that
saved me. To completely retell the story would be the only way to
impart the hell he lived through.
As his breathing slowed, I knew he was awake
and calming down. Nonetheless, I pulled him into my arms again, and
whispered to him. He clung to me and made no sound. We fell back
asleep this way as we normally did when these nightmares haunted
him.
His alarm blared disturbingly close at us to
get a move on, so early it felt as if we’d only just closed our
eyes. It’d been after two when we’d forced ourselves to shut it off
and wake.
I was tired, but not. I could’ve slept
longer, but I wanted a few minutes with him, before we had to dress
and head to the feeding room.
Dimitri pulled me into his arms again. I was
facing away from him, and inched closer, so that our bodies touched
from head to toe.
There was no need for words with us. We were
comfortable in the silence. We were each lost in our own
thoughts.
Unfortunately, my bladder believed it was
time to get a move on, as much as the damned annoying alarm. I
dragged myself from his warm and cozy embrace, but not before he
could steal another kiss.
I saw his wound was completely healed. The
sight left me feeling uncomfortable. I dismissed it and ran to his
bathroom.
After we both dressed, we headed up top to
eat, and debrief before gathering our supplies and leaving.
The hunters and I ate quietly and quickly.
We had to load the Hummers and trucks still, and make sure we were
not leaving anything behind. It was required that we warmed up in
the gym as well. Last thing we did was go over the plan and figure
out who was paired with whom.
    “ Ash and Shade, Dimitri and
Santos…” I drowned out the rest of the names after I’d heard ours.
The rest was of no concern to me.
Ash, Dimitri, Santos, and I would take one
Hummer into the east with the others following. Once we reached the
city, we’d all take a street and work our way out, while leaving
the trucks at the end of the road. The keys would be left in and
one hunter would remain with the vehicles. In an emergency, we
could haul ass, and be gone before anyone fell, well so far we had
been able to.
I grabbed my bag