Otherworldly

Chapter 3

May 2023

Leaves crinkled beneath my feet as I walked along the barren sidewalk in this abandoned town. There was a sign about a mile back, but I didn't bother to read it. If I had to guess, I'm sure it would give me a relative location of where I am. I learned a long time ago that my location didn't matter. I was just surviving. Moving from place to place with no destination in sight.

After the entire country was pretty much bombed to high heaven and back, the Leftens rounded up almost all the survivors. The day after I watched my family die, I came across a Leften ship. I stayed out of sight, but I saw several humans being herded on the ship. Most of them were females. I don't know where they took them, but my guess is they are probably scattered at the Leften settlements that are stationed around the world or taken to the Leften's home planet. Maybe the Leftens just killed them. I didn't stay long enough to watch and find out.

I was lucky enough to come across a group of people a few months ago. I was scavenging an abandoned gas station when I heard broken glass being crushed by footsteps at the front door. My eyes collided with a middle-aged woman.

She was the first to speak. I was ready to scramble out the back door, but she stopped me when she spoke.

"Who are you?"

I chose not to answer her and instead opted with slowly stepping towards the back. She looked at my legs and noticed I was trying to subtly leave.

"I can help you. I'm with a group of people. We have food. It's not the best, but you look like you could use it," she rushed.

She was right. My stomach growled and I glanced at the back door again. I didn't know if I could trust this person, but I hadn't eaten since I finished off the can of green beans I found yesterday.

"I'm Violet, but you can call me Vee. That's what everybody else calls me."

I turned my attention back towards Vee again. "How many people are you with?"

"There's 7 of us. We even have a little camp set up about a mile down the road."

I decided it couldn't hurt to put a little trust in this woman. She looked semi-healthy. I guess as healthy as you can look out here. She wasn't threatening me. The idea of talking to another person for the first time in months also was very tempting. "Alright, I'll follow you."

My thoughts focused back on the present when I heard John huff behind me. I turned my head towards him and raised my brows when I saw him struggling to pull a canteen out of his backpack.

John was only a few years older than me. His dark hair had large chunks missing from him chopping it off with a knife about a week ago. His shirt had multiple holes and was stained from sweat. The more I thought about it, I realized everybody needed new clothing. It was too risky to find a clothing store because most are in areas that used to be populated. I didn't want to run into a Leften squad.

    My thoughts halted when I slammed into Amber's back. "Why did you stop?"

    "Shut up for a second, Scar." I sighed. Amber always had an attitude with me.

    I looked around and saw that the whole group stopped and everybody was looking straight ahead. I peered around Amber to see what she was stopping for but only saw some old abandoned sheds and a few rundown homes. I couldn't see anything that would arouse suspicion. Besides, the only thing we would have to worry about in a town like this would be another group. Leftens seemed to stay away from neighborhoods.

    Suddenly, I heard a slam and the sound of glass breaking from one of the rundown homes directly in front of us. I tensed and I noticed Amber stiffened in front of me.