Lost and Alone

[Nox]

Makenzie curled up around her sister.  Morgan had startled awake from sleep screaming again.  Makenzie had nightmares too.  But Morgan's were worse.  Morgan clung to her sister.  She'd watched as the creatures from the depths of the tunnels tore their father apart.  Another had attacked their mother while she protected them.  Makenzie dreamed of the gun that ended her life.  She growled as she held her sister tight.  Morgan was minutes older, but Makenzie took care of her sister.  

The church they stayed in had a lot of familiar faces, but their parents were gone.  A few people looked in on them.  But mostly they kept to themselves in one of the corners out of the way so no one would bother them.  And they didn't bother anyone else.

Some days they snuck off into the tunnels.  No one missed them.  Wasn't their job.  

"Morgs it's okay I got it you."

Morgan curled up to Makenzie with a smile "Kenz, I miss them so much. I wanna go home."

It was late and the tunnels were dark now.  But it was much safer now.  Safer than the streets even, and no one spit on you or threw things at you.  Makenzie helped Morgan up and started picking their things up.

[Nox]

The girls didn't have much. A blanket to share and Morgan had a ragged plush rabbit that had seen better days. It was Makenzie's rabbit, but Morgan's elephant burned in the fires. It was almost as bad as losing their parents -- almost. They slipped around a woman wearing a frolicky dress and wide brimmed hat and snatched a can of whatever food good was at hand before making their way through a crack in the wall behind a pew. The church was in shambles, it was sturdy and under repair, but it was like most things that they had lived in during their short lives.

Neither of the girls remembered when they lived in a proper house. They were three when the government took their home. And they were five when their dad lost their car in some gambling debt. He was the reason they had no money. Or at least that was what mom always yelled at him. Now they were both dead. Burned by the scum of the earth and the Ascendancy himself. Dead and eaten. Burnt by the hands of spiteful men and power hungry gods. Makenzie hated them. She burned with a rage so hot she wished she could shoot fire from her hands and burn them all to the ground.

"Kenz, you're hurting my hand." Morgan pulled her hand from Makenzie's grip.

"I'm sorry, Morgs. So sorry."