Hope

I could barely tell in the dark room we were hiding but I could just make out the corners of her mouth lifting up in a smile. Her face was covered in dirt and her hair was caked with mud but her smile still managed to tear through the veil of dirt and shine a ray of light.

I don't even remember what I said but I know for a fact it was not funny. At least not funny enough to elicit such a response from a normally stoic girl especially in the dire situation we found ourselves in.

She reached out her hands and grabbed mine. Her hands were cold but I didn't mind. It was the first human contact I've had in months. It was the first human contact she had had in months as well. We both needed it.

"We're going to be alright" I told her. My voice was low almost a whisper. "We'll make it out of here". She hesitated but she nodded. Thank God she did because we both knew it was a lie. There was only one out and it was still five years away.

We were quiet for a moment, a comfortable silence punctuated only by the sound of our breathing.

"I wish I had gone with the first batch" She said all of a sudden. I nodded in agreement. We had thought it was all superstitions and myths but it was all real. We all heard the trumpet blow and suddenly all around the world, it was chaos. Loved ones disappearing all of a sudden. Pilots disappearing mid flight causing crashes. Doctors disappearing midway through their surgeries. The world descended into chaos. People turned on themselves causing even more chaos.

Then the monsters came. Creatures straight out of the cruelest nightmares, yet as real as could be crawled out of the earth with only one motive - to torture mankind.

My entire family , devout Christians that they were had gone with the first batch, at the sound of the trumpet. I'd always thought them crazy when they'd talk of the end times. When they spoke of the second coming of the Christ. When they spoke of the Marraige Supper of the Lamb. Superstitious Nonsense. Now I know better.

She looked at me again.

"You know I didn't have much a family before the..." She struggled to find a word for it.

"The rapture" I replied digging into my many years of Sunday School knowledge.

"Yeah before the rapture" She said, "I've bounced from foster home to foster home since my parents died but..."

She took a deep breath. "But these past couple of years here. Here with you. I think I finally understand what family really means."

I nodded in agreement. Once upon a time, I knew the bond of family but I cut myself off. In hindsight, I wish I never did but I can't change the past. The future is however a different story entirely.

"After everything we've been through" She continued. "Remember when I stormed away from camp and that lion beast by the bridge had me cornered"

I nodded with a faint smile. "Yeah I remember conking over the head with a baseball bat"

"Yeah. I dont even remember what I was so angry about. " She said wistfully "but i remember what you said after that"

I struggled to remember before it clicked. "From now on, we stick together no matter what"

"Exactly. My dad always used to say Family stays together. No matter what."

She stopped suddenly her head snapping towards the door. I could hear footsteps approaching. She squeezed my hand tighter muttering a silent prayer under a breath. My heart was racing.

I looked around the room for any form of weapons but the room was bare. Only a small cot shoved into a corner. There was table near the door and I considered how long it would take me to reach it and break off one of its legs before the monster entered the room. I quickly dismissed the idea, it would probably have me long before that.

But it wouldn't kill me. They never did. It would capture me and Stella and take us to the nearest concentration camp where they would delight in torturing me.

For the millionth time since the rapture, I regretted not believing. I regretted not listening to my dad during the morning devotions. I regretted not paying attention to the sunday sermons. I regretted not believing what was written in the bible.

I closed my eyes expecting the worst.

Suddenly the footsteps stopped. There was loud roar and then a person screamed. The footsteps resumed, this time in the opposite direction.

I let out a breath I didnt even realized I was holding. "That was close "

"Yeah. It was" She shook her head settling her breath. "What I was saying was that.... was that. I'm glad we found each other. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't with me."

"You're strong Stella. You would have survived" I tried to encourage her.

"I would have given up already" She interrupted. "But you have this optism. This faith that's infectious"

I wish I had that faith three years ago. It's easier to have faith now that we could see these things as real as they are.

"And you've taught me so much. Like a brother I never had" She stopped almost scrutinizing my face. "We're family. Right?"

"Yeah." I squeezed her hands "We're a family. Together in this. We've made it so far. Together." I look in her eyes, bright blue orbs filled with hope. "And together we'll make it out of this...."

"Tribulation" She finished for me with a smile.

This time, her smile seemed more genuine and infectious. It conveyed hope. Hope of survival. Hope of a better tomorrow. Hope of salvation. And I truly believed for the first time in two years, we could make it.

"Family" She said squeezing my hands tighter.