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He lies still and stares blankly into my eyes

‘Obi?’

I listen and feel for another breath, but there’s no sign of life

I pull backhands They’re covered in blood

He wasn’t evenwith tears anyway

It feels like the last linchpin of civilization just broke

I look around, noticing for the first time that everyone aroundin their eyes Not everyone may have liked him, but everyone respected hi the other injured until we found hi water to the thirsty, the ones handing out ar at Obi, who lies on the blood-stained grass with his e at the sky

A wo, and walks away, stooped and shuffling like a broken person

Asteps He turns and walks dazedly away froe pulls his water back fro wall He screws on the top of his water bottle while looking thoughtfully at the next injured man beside the first He walks away as the second man reaches out to hi, the others stop doing their oork and begin leaving too So, others look scared and lonely as they walk off the school ca Obi said to els wasn’t about beating the the hearts and spirits of the people It was about letting theone, it’s as if the hope ith him

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It doesn’t make me feel any better to have to tell them to evacuate I had assumed I could just tell Obi and he would tell theather everyone into the school yard with the help of a few people For the first ti noise, because I know the hunt won’t start until sundown Despite the number of people who left camp, we cover most of the yard We catch a lot of people as they’re preparing to leave

I could just tell a few people and let the word spread, but I don’t want to risk aIt seems hile to take twentyand let the on

I clih I knoe should be in a huge rush There’s so people that they’re about to die that stiffens my muscles Half,

It s worse that there are still dead bodies in the yard But I don’t expect this to take long, and it’s pointless pretending that a bunch of people didn’t get killed

I clear ure out what to say

Before I can begin, a new group of people walk toward us fro lot It’s Dee, Duhters, all streaked in soot and looking around at the bodies spread on the ground

‘What’s going on?’ asks Dee His forehead creases ‘What happened? Where’s Obi? We need to see hiuess everyone expects one’ I try to figure out how to tell him about Obi I lick my lips ‘Obi’ My throat dries up

‘What about him?’ Dum sounds suspicious, like he knohat I’m about to say