Blegh.
How boring.
Mara can't seem to choose where to go scavenging next, so she's decided to just stare out the window of her floor in the hopes that she'd make up her mind. Daylight broke about an hour ago, and the birds that once welcomed the sun with an airy song, were deadly quiet. Only the sound of the rustling trash that the wind carried could be heard. Swirls of newspaper and sometimes leaves, could be seen twirling in the hot of the concrete floor to the wind that blew seldom. Mara was currently entertained by it, her derailed train of thought far too gone to get back on track.
Responsibilities were heavy baggage for Mara to carry. Though she was already an adult, she'd missed out on too much in the two years post-outbreak to say that she really learned much about being a grown up. A grown up in the last era, that is. Responsibilities and adulthood had been a part of survival after the outbreak as well, but now it meant literal life-or-death survival. You didn't strive for success in the business world or in Hollywood. Hollywood didn't exist anymore, nor did the old business world. There was a whole new offer on the table, ready to gamble, not with money but with life. This new era brought along new business, new responsibilities.
Mara learned that the hard way.
You had to grow up faster if you wanted to live to see another bleak day. Despite the dull life that Mara lived, for some odd reason, she really wanted to live.
She'd ask herself if it was incredibly naive of her to believe that after the chaos that'd ensued, she still find her parents alive.
'Tis better to have a sliver of hope than be sucked dry of it, she'd say, hoping to one day feel her mom's embrace once more.
Maybe just one last time and I'll be okay.
I could die right after, be ripped to shreds, or die at the hands of bad people, but I'd still die with a smile on my face, knowing I'd been granted my last wish.
It was still unknown what might have happened to them, and there was no telling if their faces would surface amidst the crowds of decaying, rotten corpses that mindlessly walked. Mara's stomach would drop every time she thought of that. It was the casual slip of negative thoughts that Mara always tried to block out.
So she liked to assume her parents were alive, because nobody wants to assume their parents are dead.
There were some worrying times in which Mara would have nightmares of blurred faces that reached for her. They'd call her name in dragged-out moans and plead for her to come closer. The faces were unrecognizable, yet the familiarity brought tears to her eyes at the moment of wake. She'd hoped to see her parents before she forgot what they looked like. That was her fear: a fear of forgetting those who've kept you grounded and full of hope.
Again, Mara chose blind optimism.
Without it, Mara could no longer tread on the seemingly endless trail of uncertainty.
The days were boring-as always-and in the long stretch of hours gone by like days, Mara found herself sitting on the same rickety chair she'd found in her recent safe spot. It didn't provide as much comfort as it did splinters, but it was a necessary to keep her at the perfect height for vigilance.
At a building on the fifth floor of what once used to be (from what Mara can gather) an insurance agency, Mara sat by the window. It bore a thin glass that'd been partially fogged by dirt and mold. It was a window that was fairly intact, considering most of the windows in the vicinity were blown to bits after car explosions and military bombings and what not. The history of it didn't matter, as long as it gave Mara partial protection. It had a nifty latch that she could lift, mobilizing the bottom half of the window for the air to breeze the room a little. It'd often get too stuffy in the room, and Mara appreciated a little bit of air to breathe.
As days went on, it got a little harder to breathe.
Mara looked back, looking over her possessions and heaving out a sigh.
I'll have to really go out there and scavenge.
At the far right corner of the small office Mara had inhabited, were her belongings. A tall military bag sat against the wall, the contents of it spilling out from its open top. There were a couple of clothes that hung out of it from when Mara had changed and carelessly shoved some back in. It held the basic necessities she could find; from her food to a deodorant she had scored a while back that she used conservatively once every day. The makeshift holster and its accompanying machete sat leaned against the backpack, right beside her water jugs. Two of four were halfway full, which was somewhat of a relief to Mara. Hydration was vital to survival, and Mara couldn't risk running low on water when going out to look for food.
Sometimes, the basic necessities would teeter in abundance, and that was when things really got difficult. Mara had to manage her resources, meaning she'd have to resort to portion control in order to really make things last.
Beside her backpack was her neatly stacked blankets. The sight of the thick sheets brought a small smile to Mara's face. It was a couple of months ago that Mara had found the blankets. It was over a period of time, scattered occasions, in which she'd found them laying about. Some were too dirty, but knowing that luck only came around once every year, Mara decided to take them and wash them at a nearby lake-back when she had set up camp near one.
Living near a lake a city back was about the luckiest in living situations that Mara could have achieved. It provided with water she could bathe in, and a makeshift laundromat. Although she couldn't drink the water, but that was a matter of walking to a nearby river, where water was plentiful, fresh, and not stagnant. Pine trees surrounded her, providing thick foliage the eye could not see through, and therefore hiding the cabin she'd found in which she resided. For a couple of months, things were great. She'd found a couple of edible-berry bushes and periodically partook in hunting. The wildlife was scarce, and Mara would often forgo eating meat, just in case certain animals had rabies or the Kuru virus. It was hard to tell sometimes, especially when Mara was hungry or craving meat. Preemptive measures were taken to ensure Mara was boiling the water enough or watching for rabies and Kuru. It took a long time for Mara to fully understand the severity of the situation, but she fortunately came to realize that the world wasn't safe anymore. It wasn't completely safe to begin with, but now you were really on your own....with no one but yourself to protect.
In that cabin, everything had felt safe. Mara had been surrounded by nature in all its undisturbed glory. She rarely had to worry about brutes, and the cabin was hidden enough to keep raiders away. It was the epitome of safe places. Mara hadn't had a full night of rest in months until she found that cabin. Like the treasure that many sought, but did not dig deep enough to find, it stood in pristine condition.
Mara thought it was almost too good to be true.
Until it became too good to be true.
It was a frightening event to wake up to. Pounding, scratching hands at your door and moaning from flesh eating monsters-they had managed to reach her. The sound of the wooden door giving in and cracking, and the drawer nightstand pushed up against the door (for extra safety measures) shaking violently as the dead hit against it. Everything was falling apart.
Mara remembers the hands that pried at the door that had burst in wooden shards, the heads that shoved themselves into the room and into her vision. At the sight of her, they cried and fervently tried to climb their way inside.
Mara had jumped out the window after quickly gathering her things and never looking back.
Just thinking of that event ever repeating itself made fear run through Mara's veins.
Mara still hasn't forgiven herself for sleeping through a horde while having her night lamp on. That night lamp had been left behind- to Mara's dismay.
Now darkness was inevitable for her. She blamed herself for that.
That is why Mara had a large shelf pushed against the door of the office she'd set up camp in. It provided another layer of protection in which she could trust. The window wasn't accessible from the outside, either, for there weren't ladders leading to it.
She was safe, for now.
Mara prayed for her safety, and knew that she'd be fine as long as she remained vigilant.
"I'll be okay.
I can take care of myself."
----
Mara picked at a dead bug that laid stomach up, a crunching sound making Mara crinkle her nose. The critter was large, its shell cracking under the pressure of the stick Mara had used to press onto it. The dead bug had made its appearance when Mara had gone to blindly retrieve a can of food, and had gotten a little surprise instead.
The girl had almost shrieked when staring at the thing in her hands, but was able to compose herself and throw the bug back onto the shelf. Mara then proceeded to wipe the nonexistent bug residue off on her jacket. The shop she was in might have been small, but it projected every little mutter into a long string of echoes. She'd surely attract brutes if she wasn't careful and quiet enough.
Mara stared at the freakishly large insect as it laid there, motionless.
"How do you get bugs this big?" she whispered to herself, emitting a noise of disgust before continuing with her task - carefully and with her eyes this time.
It was now thirty minutes into her search in this small corner store. Mara had sneaked her way around many of the run-down establishments and hid amidst the rubble at any suspicious sound or movement. The sun had peaked in its position in the sky, the heat making her thirst for water intensify. The wind would occasionally blow, and in those spurts of cool air, Mara would shamelessly lift her shirt. The sweat in her body had caused her to chafe, and drying herself with the breeze of summer day would surely soothe her aggravated body.
In search of cans of food and bottled water, Mara continued rummaging through the mostly empty shelves.
"Nope."
"Nope."
Mara almost gagged at the sight of maggots swirling around a can of expired meat.
"A definite nope."
Mara quickly put the can back where she found it, glancing back at it with a disgusted expression.
I've never had maggots for dinner, she thought, and I don't think I ever want to have maggots. Period.
Imagine having crunchy meat. Yum...
Shaking her head to rid of the thoughts that weren't worth losing her appetite over, Mara continued her search for decent resources of food and energy. She'd been looking for food for the passed thirty minutes, and Mara feared she might have wasted precious time in one empty, worthless store. The hours were still early, and Mara had to keep looking if she wanted to feed herself.
You can never be too sure. Better check than miss out on something worthwhile.
After finding nothing more than a can of beans, canned coconut milk, honey and her lucky find: a bag of raw pemmican. Relief had partially settled when finding the small bag. She had initially felt disappointed at the lack of food, but was happy that she hadn't left completely empty handed.
"This pemmican is gonna last for a long time," Mara whispered to herself, smiling down at the pemmican in her hand. The mixture of both fat and protein in the dried meat powder would give her energy while simultaneously given her nutritious benefits.
"If I want to survive in this world, I gotta take care of myself."
Mara huffed as she placed her backpack over her shoulders again, making sure everything was tightly closed before heading to the entrance. Mara slowly peeked her head out of the store's door, and she began to scan the area with her eyes. A couple of brutes here and there dragged their feet against the pavement of the otherwise barren neighborhood. They were far enough for Mara to slip away without them catching up to her. If the brutes decided to follow, she knew she'd lose them fairly quickly.
Mara was aware that going too far from her safe camp could be dangerous, especially if she needed to get back to it fast. She rarely ever went too far, but seeing as she'd already scavenged for food in the mile radius around her, Mara figured it was time to go farther if she wanted to find more. Mara had a map of the city that she had snatched off a brochure stand two months ago. She's stayed in this city for two months already, yet there were still many places to search through. Mara had already marked some places she wanted to avoid, mostly due to the amount of brutes walking around, and other places were marked over with a small cross to signify places she's already been.
Mara liked to think she knew her way around pretty well, but it was a lie she came up with to feel safer traveling farther distances.
Mara slipped out of the store, beginning her fast walk in the opposite direction of the brutes. The sun began to beat down on her once more, but the wind would make up for its rather sweltering companion in the sky.
At an intersection, Mara noticed the brutes at opposite ends, mindlessly heading towards the intersection as if agreeing to meet at the center. Mara grew worried when settling her eyes upon them and noticing the amount that were at either of her sides.
Mara had come up with a simple way to avoid situations like these. If she could count them all in ten seconds or less, then she could get ahead and weave around them like a thread through a needle. If she failed to count them, then it meant having to find an alternate route. However, the brutes were currently heading towards her as they had caught sight of her. They had gone from a slow limp to a fastened shuffle.
Mara couldn't even count a third of them in ten seconds.
They were far too close.
An alternate route wasn't an option.
Mara had come across this neighborhood only an hour back, and everything had seemed to be empty, with only one or two brutes in her way. She was unsure of where the small, yet still frightening, group of brutes had come from. It felt as if they'd just suddenly materialized, leaving little room for her to escape.
The brutes' moaning became loud, their arms lifting and stretching out towards her. Some of them looked almost like humans. Their faces were untouched and seemed like they hadn't yet begun to deteriorate. Everything about them looked normal except for the milky white eyes, their pale-ish skin, and, of course, their half eaten stomachs. The rest of the majority looked to be the older generation of brutes; their skin was sagging, falling off and rotting away as bacteria ate away at them. Mara knew exactly why their contrast was undoubtedly stark; they had just turned into brutes not long ago, and they had joined the growing horde that currently moved towards Mara.
Mara's head swiveled around as she felt her feet stick to the ground. A wave of fear washed over as the gap between the brutes grew smaller and smaller. Mara didn't know why she suddenly froze, and her mind screamed for her to move, to run and make it back to her camp. She could not die today, nor anytime soon. She wouldn't die in the hands of those monsters, and she would definitely not become an addition to their horde.
Run! Move! Do something! Anything!
As if she had been smacked upside the head, Mara stumbled forward, her feet unstuck and her body gaining back the mobility that had momentarily gone AFK. Mara felt her legs shakily go from an unstable walk to a full on, fear-fueled sprint. Mara's heavy backpack repeatedly hit her back as she tried her best to reach the tightening gap, its heavy weight preventing her from running at her full potential.
Maybe it wasn't a good idea to carry so many things.
Mara approached the gap at full speed, but it wasn't until she felt her foot dip into a pothole that she noticed the unfortunate obstruction.
Mara felt the pain of her leg awkwardly bending backwards, her knee slightly sinking back and her body lurching forwards. She managed to put her arms out in front of her, her palms scraping against the asphalt from the previous momentum. Fortunately, Mara was able to catch herself from falling face first.
Mara winced, a stinging pain spreading through her palm and her knee beginning to hurt. Mara could only panic further, as the brutes were now a mere arms length away, walking towards her with hunger.
Mara let out a cry, all the while kicking away at them and crawling back to put more distance between her and the flesh-eating monsters. As the frightened girl crawled backwards, her elbows and back would scratch up against the asphalt, creating more burns and scratches that had pain coursing through her.
A guttural groan came from one of the brutes as it managed to grab a hold of Mara's sweats, pinching the material in its hand. Mara saw the maggots that entered the holes dug by the very fungus itself. Skin was missing from some fingers, bones and dead, rotting tissue exposed for Mara to see.
Kicking away at the arm, Mara almost threw up right then and there when the brute's arm loosened up. The bones at its shoulder had audibly cracked, and skin surrounding the joint had torn away, blood spilling out of the new orifice. Some of the dark red liquid splattered onto Mara, who could only stare in utter disgust and foreboding dismay.
Mara, mustering the strength to finally get up, stood once again shakily. She could only spare a glance at the brute that had attempted to drag her into the horde, its arm dangling loosely. The same brute still advanced at her, as did the approaching brutes. Mara cradled her hands as she began her sprint once more, relief calming her as she got farther and farther from horde that seemed to get larger as brutes standing by had joined the commotion. Mara took a couple of detours, trying her best to remember her way back.
Mara didn't want to stop running, but her aching, burning lungs begged her to stop. As soon as she found a temporary hiding place to rest, her legs wobbled in exhaustion and she fell on her knees. Her chest heaved heavily as her quick breaths tried their best to get oxygen to her lungs.
Mara, wasting no time, rummaged through her backpack to retrieve her map. Her hands burned at the slightest contact, and she didn't notice how bad it was until she lifted her hand from the map, a crimson stain leaving the print of her hand on the paper. Turning them over to see the damage, Mara gasped as the blood pricked at her skin, bright red flesh exposed from the road rash. Bending or doing anything that required her hands to make contact proved to be difficult.
However, Mara was determined to make it back.
-----
Mara hissed, slowly wrapping one hand with the roll of gauze she had. She sat at the corner of her safe room, the sounds of the dead now gone and replaced by her quiet hissing. Mara rotated her hand along while she managed to wrap up her bright red palm. It stung every time the gauze touched her skin, but Mara knew it was best to dress it and prevent it from being damaged any further.
After making it safely back, Mara had grown worried over her hands, which had a pretty bad case of road rash. She had gauze, but there needed to be some sort of antibiotic ointment to apply. Without it, Mara would have run the risk of getting the rash infected.
When remembering the small jar of honey, Mara prayed it hadn't shattered in her attempt to escape the brutes. Mara knew that honey was often used as a way to fight exterior infections while providing fast healing. It was her best, most convenient bet.
She'd managed to clean her dirty hands with water, then she applied a thin layer of honey, allowing it absorb into the skin before beginning to dress it.
Maybe it was a good thing that I went into that run down shop.
Now, Mara sat with her head facing the ceiling, and both hands wrapped up. The gauze wasn't layered thick, but it didn't need to be, so long as it was covered enough to not be exposed.
Mara sighed heavily, closing her eyes. The events unfurled less than an hour ago flashed behind her closed lids, and fear lingered at the mere thought that it really could have been her last day.
"You're fine now. You're safe," Mara whispered to herself, trying to calm the storm that currently swirled in the depths of her faltering judgement. The world was unforgiving then, as much as it is now, and Mara could do nothing but recuperate and go back out there. Hiding from the chaos did just as much harm as exposing herself to it.
Looking at the large shelf pushed against the door, Mara could already hear the lifeless in their wake, the shouts of anarchists, and the earth that cried tears of joy at the fall of man.
Another day, another encounter with the new world that sought a new beginning, yet one at nature's accord, and not at the verdict of an extinct society.
Mara breathed in the stuffy air.
I know better than to give up.
"Just 'cause the world's gone bad, doesn't mean I have to."
-----
And thus the story has begun.
-wethenaive