"Run, Anastasia! Run!"

Jax screamed on top of his lungs when he noticed a group of men racing down the hill. He felt his blood rushing through his streams, his adrenaline pumped high as he zipped the bag he was holding grabbing the nearest steel heading towards where his younger sister was. Anastasia ran as fast as her legs carried her. Her hands gripped tightly onto her backpack. Jax smashed the steel towards the man approaching him. His bloody eyeballs were almost falling out of his eye, so Jax gave him a kick on his legs hitting his spine with the steel. Heaving heavily, Jax ran towards the other man swinging his steel strongly as it hit onto his head. Jax sped quickly towards his younger sister who had managed to escape in between a small gap in between the buildings. He picked up the sand on the ground, waited for the group of men to come nearby and smeared it before he immediately slipped in between the small gap. Jax groaned at the pain on his head when it hit directly onto the nearby bricks.

However, there was no time to lose. Jax switched on the torchlight from his backpack as he looked around. His forehead was wet and sticky with the new blood oozing out of the wound as the stench of metal blood filled his nose. He let a soft breathed out, his fingers tightened their grip on the torchlight.

"Anastasia." He whispered loudly, "Anastasia, where are you?"

"Brother? Jax!" Anastasia smiled when she saw the familiar figure under the dim light before she reached out wrapping her arms tightly around her elder brother, "Why are they chasing after us? We did nothing wrong."

Jax looked into those similar brown eyes of his, "No. We did not. It's because you are too smart." He said taking the biscuit she kept in the bag shaking it with a soft chuckle, "You got food. Come let's eat first. You are hungry."

Anastasia sat down on the ground immediately, her brown eyes looked at the bag of biscuits. Once Jax had opened it, the aroma of chocolate and strawberries filled their nose. He handed the bag to his sister as he watched her devoured it hungrily, the crumbs sticking on her dried lips. Jax reached out brushing the crumbs off gently. He sat down silently, his brown eyes watched the small figure, her chubby hands digging into the bag again laughing at the sight of her favourite strawberry biscuit before putting it into her mouth. His heart ached at the thought of losing her through the heat. Jax felt the ache in his heart, the sight of his parents walking under the sun, the blood dripping on the ground yet there was nothing he could do except for picking Anastasia up and fled, keeping her away from any future nightmares. He cleaned onto the bottle tightly, the sound of it cracking echoed through the silence.

"Jax..."

A soft, ragged and heavy breathing filled the air. The tap on his palms had began to feel annoying. He tightened the grip on it, but again his name was called out, this time harshly and rough. Alex patted onto the strong palms gently, reaching up to pat Jax's cheeks. His throat was clenched, his eyes felt like falling out of his head, his brain ached at the lack of air and he trashed about trying to gasp for more air. Alex watched Jax's strong grip on his neck while those brown eyes were still closed. It wasn't his intention to kill him, Alex knew, so he reached up, his palms swiped hardly onto Jax's forehead hitting him by the side of his eyes and those brown eyes snapped opened harshly.

Jax was annoyed by the wriggling thing beneath him. His grip had tightened to prevent more movement but when he had felt the pain by the corner of his eyes, he snapped his eyes opened coming face to face with a familiar pair of blue orbs. "Alex." He muttered worriedly before letting the boy go. He scrambled backwards, his arms held tightly onto his long sleeve jacket before he reached up pushing his hair nervously. He watched as Alex breathed in heavily, his hands tightened on the ground as the boy gasped for air, and he coughed.

"I am sorry, Alex. I am so sorry." Jax muttered.

Alex whipped his head up looking towards Jax with red watery eyes shaking his right palms as a gesture of no and spoke, "No. It's fine. It's fine. I am fine. So, no worries." He stopped. Alex made his way towards his backpack, his palms reached into his bag producing a bottle of water sipping from it. His blue eyes looked out into the dark as the younger boy steadied himself mentally and physically from the sudden attack.

Jax nodded, his brown eyes looked around, "I am really sorry. Thank you so much for not killing me."

Alex laughed, "I won't kill you. You are sleeping. If you need someone to talk about it, I am here."

"I know. I..."

The scent of ash, fire and dust began to fill the air. The scent of flames got closer. The boys snapped their head up from the ground as they both hurried towards the side of the glass. They were taking refuge inside a fallen building. It was colder, but not as cold as the deeper parts. Jax had made his mind never to take refuge in deeper places due to a near death experience. The flames were rising from the ground. As he settled his palms on the ground, he felt the heat rising.

"Let's go, Alex! We need to go!" Jax shouted as he raced towards his bag, pulling the thick blanket slipping it back into the bag as he threw the backpack behind his back.

Once the boys were ready, they hurried out of the building. Their feet found their ways on the ground as they watched the cracks lit up with flames from underneath. Jax began to sweat, his brown eyes looked at the flames while keeping track of Alex who was running by his side frantically. The heat began to touch the sole of his shoes, the flames were bursting out of the cracks of the lands. Jax sped up motioning for the younger boy to follow up. They both ran till they reached a larger crack in front of them. Jax held up his palm pulling Alex backwards. He patted onto his chest as they both ran to their right heading up, away from the larger cracks. Alex's blue eyes looked down on the cracks. The cracks were getting smaller but there was still fire. He began to wonder if he would be roasted like a barbecue meat on a birthday party.

"Faster, Alex! If you do not want to be the next Gollum come with me!" Jax shouted, his voice raspy from the dry heat as a huge flame burst from one of the cracks.

Alex raised his eyebrows at the sarcasm. He began to wonder about Jax more than the bursting flames by his side, but he said nothing as his tired legs were forced to run faster catching up with the older man. Alex followed, his pants were getting heavier, his legs were running faster from the fear of death as his heart was pumping fast and he swore he could hear the sound of it drumming as if he was in a singing concert, except this is a flaming concert. His eardrums caught the sound of another cracking sound in front of him with Jax screaming, warning him. Alex ran, his legs sped up as he jumped from where he had stood watching as he floated in the air, the flames rising up as he closed his eyes hoping he could pass the fiery hell and he did.

Jax landed on the ground with a loud thud, the younger boy on top of him as he groaned hearing his own back cracked at the sudden impact on the ground. His brown eyes watched as the flames burnt higher, burning the sides of it. Jax heaved. His palms settling by the side of the ground feeling a warm sensation. It wasn't hot, but it was just the right temperature he was yearning for. Jax laid on the ground comfortably almost drifting into sleep before Alex crawled next to him patting him on his cheeks.

"I am not dead!" Jax mumbled swatting the palms away.

"Then, shouldn't we run?" Alex questioned.

Jax chuckled shaking his head, "Feel the ground. It is not as..."

Before he was about to say something, a huge flame of fire burst out again and the boy yelped before turning back to Alex picking up his backpack, "Run. Let's go further up."

It was more of a jog for Jax. He didn't see the need to run. Jax looked down, his brown eyes noticed the decreasing amount of cracks as he began to slow himself down into a walk turning towards Alex only to notice those bloody lips again.

"You should drink some water, Alex. Your lips, they are bleeding again."

Alex pressed his lips together, his tongue licked them to wet them as he reached behind pulling out his own water bottle drinking onto it. He sighed in comfort as the cool liquid seeped through his throat.

"Do you know where to go for a safe house?" Alex questioned out of a sudden.

Jax stuffed his gloved palms in his pocket shaking his head, "Is there a safe house? Three months I have been running, I haven't seen lands without a single crack. They are all dried up. I bet the only safe house is our heart."

Alex scooted closer to the older boy, "Don't lose hope. We could go ahead to the West. There is a city there as refuge." Alex stated and added, "If we could make it there, they would take care of us."

Jax turned towards him, "How do you know? What if the humans there were already killing each other?"

Alex shrugged, "My late father was in the navy force. They offered refuge for all the armies and navies. Including their family. We were supposed to head there. But, something happened halfway. The humans around our place started fighting against each other for food and shelter. They were mocking each other instead of cooperating. My parents were in the car while they waited for my elder brother and me to get back from the store after we grabbed some food. That's when I watched the car burst in flames when another lorry collided with it, so I ran with my elder brother till he too was affected by the heat. One day, we would be the same. We might be stronger than the rest, but we couldn't last long. Not when we are out of town. The only way is to head west."

Jax looked towards Alex sympathetically. Alex's blue eyes were filled with tears, but he watched the younger boy blinked them away before turning towards him.

"I want you to survive, just in case if I did not, I want you to be safe at least. You saved me, and I owe you. We could have been best friends if we met earlier." Alex joked patting onto Jax's shoulders.

"Hey, " Jax called out holding onto his palms, "Alex, we still have hope. The skies might always be red and bright, but as soon as the sun rises on the east, we will make our way to the west and survive together."

Alex merely nodded. Jax didn't like the idea of Alex leaving him alone. He began to wonder silently why the boy is saying all that. Jax shook those possibilities away convincing himself that they would both make it out alive. It wasn't a perfect time for story exchanging or mourning, but Jax knew that the pain in their hearts could never be washed away. Jax walked next to the younger boy, his feet stepping onto the ground arranging it in sync with Alex.

"I had a younger sister. She was beautiful." Jax started gaining Alex's attention, "But, she was lost in the heat halfway. I watched her scream, cry, the blood oozing out like river water and I watched her walk towards an unknown direction. I wanted to carry her, to tell her I would be saving her, but I cannot. She went to a place I could not follow." Jax stopped breathing in a cooler scent and continued, "My parents, I never knew if they make it. I was at school when it happened. But, we got news that our whole neighbourhood was burnt. The only person I managed to grab was my sister. I ran with her, preventing her from watching as they all started screaming, yelling and coughing blood. It happened suddenly but I could still feel the stinging heat on my skin." Jax breathed in turning to look at Alex who was listening, "And when my sister was taken away from me, I started having nightmares. I woke up with a bloody palm most of the time. Each time I sleep, I felt closer to grabbing her, but she left. Each and every time."

"What was her name?" Alex questioned.

"Anastasia."

They walked in silence. The feeling of warm comfortable air beat on their chest as it tousled both their hairs. With heavy hearts, unforgettable memories, tired body, weak legs and the urge to sleep, the sun rises from the east with glory. The sunlight illuminated the skies as they both began to feel the heat again. Jax and Alex both headed to the west as they both walked sipping sips of water accompanying each other with a simple game of spelling bee. For once, they felt comfort, just between each other.

"Where do you think you are going?"