“Why shouldn’t we?” Sasha finally said and looked at her sister.
“Because, what if the virus is in the water?”
“I don’t think it is. From what I gathered before we left they said it was airborne.”
“I don’t know, Sasha,” Lucy said. The fear in her sister’s voice was clear.
“If you’re scared I don’t blame you.” She stared into Lucy’s eyes. “But I need to get in there.” She placed the soap and razor she’d found in one of the boxes on the edge of a boulder by the lake. She took a deep breath and climbed in. The water was cold but refreshing. Cleansing in more ways than one. Dipping her head back, she allowed the water to wash through all the dirt and grime, literally and figuratively.
“Ah, that feels so good. So nice and so clean. Just what I needed.”
“I know what you’re doing.”
Sasha smiled. Cupping her hands beneath the water, she splashed her face. “So good.” Washing the dirt off, she swam in a circle and then splashed her sister again.
“I don’t think we should let our guard down.”
“I’m not,” Sasha said seriously. “But we have to get clean or the stench will be the death of us.” She grinned. “Come on, dusty, get in here. I heard spiders like dirt.”
“They do not,” Lucy said.
“They do too. Remember all the times your bed was dirty and one would crawl right out? They’re always in grimy, messy rooms, just waiting to take over.”
“You’re lying.” Lucy was smiling now.
“Are you willing to risk it? What if one crawls over your face at night or even worse, into your mouth?”
“I hate you, Sasha.” Her sister started laughing but did as she asked, getting undressed and slipping into the lake. She squealed out. “Crap, that’s cold.”
Sasha chuckled and splashed water on her again.
Moving up beside Lucy, she smiled. “You don’t have to worry about anything. We’re all we’ve got left. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know,” Lucy said and smiled.
She lightly pinched Lucy’s nose and moved to the edge of the lake. Grabbing the bar of soap and lathering up her hands, she started to clean her body, already feeling fresh and monumentally better. Not being able to bathe properly had been so embarrassing, but washing before now hadn’t been high on her priority list. Each night, before she went to sleep, she’d sit and think about her old life, the one where she was just a regular student with an average life.
So much had changed. She hated how her life was panning out. Not that she had any control. Taking care of her little sister was her priority now.
With every passing day, she found herself getting more and more afraid. She no longer had her parents to look up to, to hide behind. There was no one to tell her it would be okay.
Nothing.
Lucy depended on her and it scared the living crap out of her.
“Sasha?” Lucy’s voice sounded so sad.
Lifting her head up, she looked toward her sister. She was waving her hands back and forth so slowly through the water.
“What’s up?”
“Do you think there’s something after it all, like when we die?”
Staring at her baby sister, she wanted to be optimistic, to tell her there was a heaven for everyone, their very own Elysium, when they died. She wanted to tell her that everything was okay. Tears flooded her eyes. How could she lie like that?
“You don’t have to lie to me, Sasha. I can take it.”
She sniffled, looking away from the pain in Lucy’s eyes. “I don’t know, Lucy. That’s the truth.”
She wiped at her eyes, hating that she was crying.
“We could have helped them, found a cure.”
“You know better than that,” she said with sorrow in her voice.
“You don’t think there is one out there?”
Sasha shrugged. “Sweetie, I really don’t know, but I hope so. I really hope so.”
“I miss them,” Lucy said.
“I miss them too.”
“It’s never going to be the same, is it?”
“No,” Sasha said honestly.
“I’m happy I’ve got you.”
“Me too,” she said and smiled. “At least we’ve got each other and that’s what counts.”
Silence fell between them and she used the time to finish cleaning up.
Climbing out of the lake, she started to dry off with one of the towels she’d found in the linen closet.
“Sasha?”
“Yeah, sweetie?”
“Why did they do it?”
“Mom and Dad?”
“No. Why did they let the virus out?”
She sat down on the edge of the lake and rested her chin on her knee, staring at her sister and sighing. “I don’t know. Maybe they thought they were doing the right thing. Maybe it was a terrorist attack. Maybe it was just a horrible accident. I can’t answer that.”
“I hope they die.”
“Lucy.”
“They took Mom and Dad. They killed a lot of people, Sasha. I hope they die.”
Lucy was too bitter for her age.
That’s the world they lived in now.