The Quiet Place

My eyes stung as the acid-filled air swirled around me. Peering through the torn curtains I saw the world outside. Ash falling down in clouds thicker than blood. Blanketing the city beyond the broken buildings. Standing by a window that once had stained glass, I heard a call. Something I haven’t heard in days, something I thought I never would hear again. It came from the mountains that surrounded the city. From beyond the mountains is where the force came from, racing over the crest and into the city that once was. But the city is no longer.

There it was again, the call, from the mountains, from the unknown. There was no knowing what was making the sound. It reminded me of my days at summer camp, all the boys and girls monkeying around calling for birds, shouting, playing in the heat of the day.

Maybe, just maybe there was someone else out there. Someone other than just me.

Every day I have wanted to go out into the unknown, see what’s out there, find another form of life. I decided today was the day, the day I stepped out of my comfort zone and explore the city for life.

The wind hit me as I leaned through the door. It was typically cold for this time of the year. Normally South California is blistering in heat. Swamped with people enjoying the outdoors. But this year is different, it’s chilling, gloomy and like something that would happen in a nightmare.

A nightmare. All it had felt since the beginning was a nightmare. One you can’t stop, can’t control, can’t explain.

I pinched myself, making my arm ache, making it tingle. I always pinch myself when I am unsure of reality. But it was no joke, this was my reality. A wonder of the world that turned into a wasteland overnight.

The front door was basically off its hinges, so it was no surprise when it collapsed to the ground as I kicked it open. The first step felt abnormal. Like the ground was sinking. I looked down to see a thick lush forage, unexpected for a planet that had been wiped out from a nuclear war. Oh, Why did the leaders have to start another war? One they couldn’t stop. One that had occurred only 100 years before this one, one that ended an entire civilisation.

It was awfully quiet, I expected there to be more call’s, but none came. There were too many things going through my head, all I could think about was getting to higher ground, find somewhere else to stay, somewhere out of this dump of a city. I spent the next hour stumbling across the city to the nearest mall. I only had one can of fruit left to eat before I was going to starve.

Around the back where the trash is left was an emergency door leading to the supermarket inside. I know this mall well as I hung out there all the time with my boyfriend and brothers, smoking, talking and ransacking stores. Luckily I hadn’t been caught, although being locked up wouldn’t be so bad. My childhood was rough, I had no parents, so my brothers had to look after me. I fell into the wrong crowd and began being a rebel, that’s how I met my partner in crime. He was literally my partner in crime. 

The door was slightly open, maybe others had used it before. Opening the two-ton door I found the stairs that would take me to the staff room on level 2. Food. Food. Food. all that was on my mind was food. I needed food but I also needed to be cautious, what if there are bears, snakes or even something I can't imagine. The next door in the entrance. It was glass and sprayed in blood. Had someone been here recently? I rubbed my fingers in the blood, it was still warm.

"Hmm, maybe I'm not as alone as I thought."

As the door opened there was a low murmuring, maybe it was just the large ice chests in the back. Who knows. Each step I took led me closer to the food but more into the danger.

Little did I know was that there was a mob of zombies in the store with me.

I crouched, making myself the same height to the shelves, hoping no-one would see me.

But I was just out of luck. Something moved over my right shoulder. A can. It fell off the shelf and made me shriek.

“Oh no,” I thought to myself. “what’s that?”

It was coming closer and close. It was moving slowly but it was still coming. The murmuring was drowning out the rest of the noises and that’s when I realised it was a zombie. My heart sunk so deep that I couldn’t move. I just sat there looking at the zombie, wide-eyed. I knew I would be eaten but I wasn’t ready for that yet.

Yet.

Will I ever be ready to die?

I hope not.

A sound killed my thoughts. It warbled through the walls pinging off the shelves and finding my ears. It was metallic. A gun. Someone out there was coming, maybe to get me. If they were I would rather be gotten by them instead of that bastard with half his face gone.

Another shot.

Five more.

I don’t want to die. Not today, that’s for sure.

I grabbed my legs and made myself walk to the cans, dodging the zombie only just. In the long life isle was a box, it was a little bent and broken but would just about do for holding all my food. Piling the cans up gave me such a rush, maybe it was because the zombie was just around the corner. Maybe it was cos I needed to be quick or maybe it was cos there was someone else out there.

The shots came closer.

Another.

Another.

Another.

Every time a shot was fired I flinched. The idea of dying in a mall was my worst nightmare. It sure wasn’t the place I wanted my last breath to be. The doors swung open, and a mighty voice came roaring in.

“Die, Die, Die” “Stupid Zombies”

I grabbed my box and cautiously stepped out into the open. Maybe they wouldn’t shoot. Maybe I would make it out alive after all I had done to make it this far. The figure came into view. I stood up with the box over my head. Shouted in the call I had heard earlier that day.

No shots were fired. Nothing happened.

Nothing other than a callback. The first communication. Communication with another living thing. Another human.

It was a man wearing worn clothes with bright wide eyes. The expression of surprise filtered out his anger.

This person, another lost soul, makes this nightmare seem sane in a world of insanity.