One and Then All

Part 2

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

-Charles Darwin

As I grab all of my supplies needed for outdoor survival, I think to myself, what if they're twenty minutes away? What if they're right there, and they get back and I'm gone cause I couldn't hold out? My nerves are shot, my stomach is churning. I can't help but think about how I could be completely abandoning my parents.

Our relationship was rocky for a long time. When I was twenty-two and still not in a career, my parents grew more and more anxious for me. To be fair I did make a little hard on them from time to time. When I finally found photography, they were suspicious. It's a very expensive hobby and isn't easy to turn into a career, but something about the way I can slow down time when it's just me, the subject, and the camera. I can capture one moment that will last forever, and I'm the one that took it. Someone can point to a picture I took and say that's your great great great grandfather when he was eighteen. When I explained this to my parents my dad called me a hippy and said he loved me. He said and I quote "You damn hippies, all this nature lovin, tree huggin stuff isn't for me...but it makes my Charlie happy...and that makes your old man happy. I love you, sweet girl."

...it makes me cry every time I think of it. That moment is one that I wish I could have captured. One that I want to live on forever.

No more thinking. Only surviving. I grab my keys and head to my Toyota Camry...trust me I know it's not anything awesome but it works. It's about 10:00 in the morning and there aren't a lot of the dead to be seen. My nerves quiet slightly, until I hear faint crunching coming from the woods behind the house. I whip my head around and grab the kitchen knife I brought with me. I position in a offensive way in case it's...well anything. The crunching gets closer and closer. I poke my head around the coverage from my car and see a rotten corpse in the shape of my old nanny. She was getting old, there was no way she could survive this world. Poor woman. I slowly start to comprehend that I've never killed anything other than deer while hunting with my dad. I was seven when I did that last. I don't think it'll be like riding a bike after twenty-three years. The heart and the brain, those are sure fire way to kill anything. I pop out from behind the car and run at this monster with full force. I jab the kitchen knife deep into the heart. I can feel the flesh and muscle tissue being torn through by the blade and it makes my stomach lurch. It still pushes and pushes.

"That wasn't right" I grunted, trying to maintain arm lengths distance away from her chomping blackened teeth. The brain, that's gotta be it. With all my might I push old nanny ruth to the ground and take my knife with me. She struggles to find her footing. I can see the darkened blood pooling out of her chest onto her mud stained night gown. Just before she can stand I stab as hard as I can with my knife into her brain. The feeling of that was worse than her chest by a landslide. I can feel the dragging of her spongey skull and the the gushing of fluid contained in her decrepit brain. Nonetheless, she stopped making sound and she flopped dead onto the ground.

"Head it is." I said quietly, I don't want to drag anything else out of the woods looking for brunch. I grab my backpack, my duffel, and my keys and unlock my car. I shove my belongings into the back seat and shove myself into the front. It'll be a long drive to God knows where.

A/N: heyo let me know if you like it. the pic is kinda what i had in mind when i thought of her parents house.