Chapter 3 - Shelter

Today I found a crumbling but ever-so slightly stable building to reside in for the night. Scraps of metal and ash and infrastructure burnt to a crisp were ever, but a battered roof remained over my head. Travelling for around 3 days now and getting away from the site of the nuclear blast as much as possible, I managed to scavenge a few items, although most of it fallout from whatever I could scavenge. A makeshift bag of sorts has proved most useful so far, although constantly having to fix it is a major downside.

I clear out a corner in the building, pushing the rubble away and making myself an uncomfortable but sheltered spot to sleep. My stomach rumbles. I haven’t eaten in days. I think about my one and only love. Calista… are you really gone? The years we spent together… The flowers I bought for you that you never received… Has it all truly ended at the single decision of a waged nuclear war? If you were here right now, you would have something funny to say to make light of the situation.

But you’re not here.

You will never be here again.

I lay in the corner of the worn-down building I reside in and cry. It’s all over now. Not just you, but everyone else in my life– my family, my friends, other acquaintances I hold dear to myself are gone in an instant. I wipe my face with my dirty jacket sleeve, trying to find comfort in the way it still ever-so slightly smelled like Her flower-scented perfume. The best I can do is keep moving and hope for someone to save me– anyone, anything. Calista would want me to keep moving, to stay alive no matter what it takes. I wipe my face with my sleeve again, this time my tears starting to fade. If I’m going to die in this bleak wasteland, be it radiation or starvation or disease, I’m going to die trying. I wipe my face one more time and lay back down on the ground, closing my eyes and attempting to rest as days of scavenging resources lie upon me.

◄ ❀ ►