On the Edge of Humanity

I was inspired by this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLYiIBCN9ec

On the Edge of Humanity

 

She sat on the edge of the only skyscraper left standing, looking down upon the city around her. No one walked the streets, no voices rang out, no cars zipped by. The rubble covered the ground, a massive chasm cutting through the city and dividing it in half. She didn’t know what happened what happened exactly, but it was easy to assume.  

She leaned back, looking up at the grey, cloud filled sky. She didn’t even remember what it used to look like when it was blue. The humidity was thick around, heavy on her shoulders. If it didn’t rain soon it would become too much to bare. She laid down, crossing her arms under her head as a makeshift pillow. Her bag laid beside her, its only contents food and ammunition. A gun and two canteens leaned against it. They were tattered and worn, but they did their duty.

She was dressed in the blue jeans and t-shirt she’d been wearing when the first blast hit months earlier. There were holes all over in the fabric, but what else was there? It was too risky to pick up clothing found in one of the cities. You never knew what viruses lived within the fabric.

She closed her eyes, letting herself drift off for the first time in three days. Sleep came easily, but was broken when the first raindrops fell. She opened her eyes to watch the gems fall from the sky, every drop kicking up dust as it hit the ground. She smiled getting up and gathering her things. She made her way down the fire escape she’d used to get up here, jumping down from the rusted metal onto solid ground.

The rain was good, it kept the worse of the chemicals buried in the dirt and aided in protecting the few that still lived. She had yet to find another human being in the wreckage, but that was alright. She’d always preferred to be alone, it gave her an opportunity to get lost in her thoughts.

She didn’t know how she’d come to survive, the blasts had covered every inch of the world. They started from above, but it wasn’t long before someone figured out how to send one from underground as well. That’s when the chasms started forming, swallowing entire cities in their gaping maws. She had watched her own home fall into one, her children trapped inside. She’d tried to go after them, but it was too late. They were lost and she thought she was too. But she awoke the next morning at what was left of her back yard, alone, scared, confused.

Now she wandered what was left of the world. Humanity had killed itself and there was nothing that could be done about it. She could just survive until she grew old and grey. She’d wanted to kill herself many times, but she lived on because she knew that’s what her kids would have wanted. To see their mother keep going no matter what happened.

She tracked away from the city, leaving it behind to rot away slowly. She followed what used to be a busy street, heading for a bridge that was no longer necessary. Most of the rivers and lakes had been dried up by the sheer heat that the bombs gave off. Some drained into the chasms. It didn’t matter now.

She filled her canteens with rainwater as she walked, taking as much as would fit into the two vessels. She didn’t know when it would rain next and she wasn’t going to miss out. Every drop on her skin felt like a miracle. It was little things like this that gave away how the world was still beautiful, even when it was a wreck.

Life would go on, despite the skeletons of buildings and people alike all around her. Maybe one day she’d find someone else, someone who had suffered just as she had, only to come out alive in the end. Or maybe not, maybe she would forever roam the earth, alone.