Thursday, May 31, 2012

A Night in Camp

This is a continuation of a previous post "The End"


As he slept he had the same recurring dream that he had almost every night. Well, the nights that he slept. It was the beginning of it all. He was home with his wife and daughter when the explosion happened. He still didn’t know what it was, or where it came from, but it was the last memory he had of his family. The last memory he had of anything before this.

When the flash took over the sky he threw himself over the only two people in the world that mattered to him. After that, in the light that overtook the world, everything went black. When he woke up he had no way of knowing how much time had passed. He saw no signs of life and he was surrounded by rubble. When he remembered what happened he dug through the rock for his girls. He dug through the remains until his fingers bled, and then he dug some more, not stopping until he collapsed of exhaustion. He screamed their names as he realized they were gone. He found no sign of them, or anyone else for that matter.

That’s when he began to wander through the remains of the city. Everything had been crumbled to the ground. When he reached the outskirts, there was still nothing. What wasn’t destroyed was just left to decay. He grew determined to find out what happened. He had to know what caused this. If there was anyone else left.

He jumped awake with cold sweats and shaking. Again he was overwhelmed with the feeling of being watched.

“Who’s there?!” he shouted at the darkness while he jumped to his feet.

There was no reply, but he was almost certain he saw the shadows move again. He shined his light in the direction of the movement and there was nothing. He was done sleeping for the night. He packed up to be ready to move at first light.


The above is a response to the Trifecta Writing Challenge. This week's word was decay.

7 comments:

  1. Very well done - Nice descriptions. Nice sense of despair. Love the imagery of the fingers bleeding and those shadows moving. Terrific.

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    1. Terrific?... Well thank you. I always thought the best stories were the ones that played out in your head like a movie as you read. I try to write that way...... it doesn't always work!

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  2. Unsettling! Definitely makes me want to know what happened too.

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    1. The suspense of not knowing is the best part..... but could you imagine living it. Just knowing that you will probably never know.

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  3. Very eerie and apocalyptic! Hope he's not alone. I'd be scared!

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    1. I think most people would be scared. Scared of being alone. Scared of not being alone. Scared of not knowing. It would take a toll on your mind for sure.

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  4. Thanks for linking up with Trifecta this week. I love the spooky, post-apocalyptic scene you've painted for us here. Definitely frightening! One thing--in your final paragraph, you have "shinned" where it should be "shined."

    Hope to see you back again soon.

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