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Life is like the wind, embrace its unpredictability.
It’s a simple quote, one written by a person who had long died, yet their words carry on in the minds of the few that still roam the Earth.
The future is something that can not be foretold, it’s a fact everyone must live with.
It’s a fact You must live with.
She repeats the quote each day as she walks for miles on end. The once clean cut yards of the city she grew up in had grass that reached to her thighs. Weeds formed in the cracked roads that had long worn her shoes down. Any type of order that once existed now seemed like a tall tale of the past.
Not a soul could be heard, only the rustle of leaves and distant families of birds filled the skies.
You was used to the eerie lack of life though. Instead, she paid it no mind, simply adjusting her backpack as she looked at her map. She twisted and turned it in hopes to understand it better.
It was a confusing route, with spaghetti-like paths leading all throughout the city. On a small section though was a red circle labeled: Sanctuary.
It wasn’t amazing, according to the low quality frequency she got on her dad’s old radio, but it had people. Real life people. And that was enough. Especially now that it had been nearly a month since she lost contact with her parents.
You tried to piece together where she was as she looked at her surroundings. She was on an empty street, houses lined down what seemed like a never ending road. It was like purgatory, which wasn’t on the map.
She brought her hand up, scratching the back of her head trying to think back where she went wrong. The shortcut off the highway and into a more scenic route seemed like such a good idea at the time.
Before You could retrace her steps back to the main roads, she spotted something flash from the corner of her eye.
You glanced up, only to see a softly swaying curtain coming from the inside of one of the houses. Someone was watching her.
You slowly walked towards the house, lowly calling out,
“Hello?”
Most times the plan of talking to a stranger was not something You did, but she was in fact lost. What better way to solve her issue than to ask just where she was?
You walked into the person’s yard, creaking their waist-tall fence open. The paint was chipping and easily gave away her location to anyone within a mile radius given how long the rusted contraption had been oiled.
As You continued on towards the front door, she raised her hand to knock only to notice it was slightly ajar. She pushed it open, calling out again,
“Hello? I-I need some help, please? I’m a bit lost.”
Inside the house You saw a few pairs of shoes at the foyer thrown in an un-orderly fashion. Most were of smaller sizes with only two adult sized pairs neatly tucked away. Stepping over the mess and into a better view, You spotted the living area to her right. She cautiously walked inside, feeling uncomfortable now at the lack of greetings.
Many things were left out and thrown about, as if there were others living there. A few toys were laid on the floor while a blanket was tossed over the couch. As You approached the center of the living room though, a figure caught her eye.
Glancing to her left, You saw the kitchen area. Sitting at the table was a family. A woman and two children. You walked over, but based on their faded skin color and the sickening stench that soon invaded her nostrils, they were long gone. Even the food that sat in front of them had maggots crawling into the decomposing food.
She inched closer, observing their bodies. The woman had a large chunk taken out from her neck, and though her blood was dried it could easily be seen that when the incident happened the scene would’ve been mistaken for a slasher movie. You glanced at the children but once she saw their slumped over bodies she turned away. She couldn’t bear to imagine what happened to them.
“I’m sorry.”
You whispered. She didn’t know them, but based on the state of their bodies, it hadn’t been more than a few days since their lives were taken.
One thing that was odd though, was there was an extra plate… but a missing body. You was no detective but the scene almost looked like a last dinner type of meal.
You turned around to face the living room again only to see a man standing there.
The missing piece of the puzzle.
He was hunched over, heavily breathing as black liquid dripped from his slightly ajar mouth and onto the carpet.
His clothes were tattered and any exposed skin he had showed his veins extruding with the same dark liquid running through them.
You stepped back in instinct, only to hit the table.
The man snapped his head up, slowly fixing his stare on You as he snarled at her. His eyes traveled over her body as if she were walking meat. The air was thick like jelly as the two had a cowboy showdown.
You moved first.
Immediately running behind the table, You grabbed the first knife she could see on the countertop and quickly threw it at the man. Unfortunately, the force wasn’t enough to hit a vital organ as she only pierced into his shoulder before he ripped it out without even an ounce of pain shown.
Throwing whatever was on the counters onto the floor, You attempted to slow him down in any way. Plates and pans loudly ringed around the room as they created a hazardous path. The quick plan worked as You could hear a large thump behind her.
You quickly ran to the closest door, being the one to lead to the backyard. Her future was just within grasp as she could see the blue sky and rustling trees from the small window.
As You pushed open the door, she slammed it shut behind her just as fast and put her back towards it to keep the man at bay. She tried to ready her pistol despite the fear within her fumbling the bullets she kept in her pockets. Before her shaking hands could even pull the weapon from her holster, she heard a voice,
“Don't move.”
It was soft, with a little rasp at the end as if the person behind it meant to be sound threatening.
You slowly looked up just for her heart to drop.
Somehow, God had sent her an Angel.
“Wow.”
Was all that fell from You’s mouth as she stared at the girl. She looked tired, as if she hadn’t slept for a long time, yet there was a slight spark to her as the sun hit her already golden eyes. Her red hair was perfectly brushed off to the side with but a single stray bang to fall out of place. The facial expression she showed of scrunched eyebrows and slightly pursed lips could only be described as a goddess’ finest work. Even her stance was perfect as it held a hunting rifle to You’s face.
You smiled like an idiot, which in hindsight she was since the girl was practically threatening her life but she could only think of how pretty she was.
Before You could introduce herself though, the man You had forgotten about barged towards the door. His sudden force knocked You by surprise and she soon found herself on the ground.
Not the best first impression.
You flipped herself over, looking up and seeing his blackened eyes dance over her as he licked his chapped lips.
In a panic, You tried to put distance between them by gripping the grass and pushing herself backwards.
As he took his first step towards her though, his head was ripped back by the force of a bullet going right between his eyes. Birds cleared the skies and nearby animals could be heard scurrying away from the gunshot’s echo.
His body fell lifelessly to the ground, black blood beginning to spill over the once green grass.
You looked up to see the girl. She slowly lowered her smoking rifle, staring at the infected man before she softly let out,
“Were there any others inside?”
You nodded her head, blinking rapidly at the sight she just saw unfold.
“Y-Yeah, but they’re gone. I think the guy... Did you know them?”
As You trailed off her answer, the soft expression upon the stranger’s face turned to anger. She went over towards the man, huffing louder every centimeter closer.
The red-haired beauty brought her foot up before beginning to stomp down upon his head, putting force behind each word as she brought her leg down,
“He. Was. Their. Dad.”
With her final stomp she let out a yell, one that scared You considering she seemed so put together moments ago.
You quickly got up, shushing the girl as she looked around to see if they alerted anyone. Not that the gunshot wouldn’t have already done so.
“Hey, hey! It’s okay, calm down and let’s just talk it out, umm…”
You left the space open for the girl to fill in her name. She put her hands over her face though, leaning down over the man’s body. As You did the same she heard a soft muffled reply.
“Riko…”
You raised her hand to pat the girl’s back before retracting it. She needed to ease into this.
“Riko? Okay, my name is You… and this guy?”
Riko let her hands drop into fists, allowing You to see her visible anger. She looked at him as if he were dirt on her shoes. Her tears were building at her eyes and her nose was a tinted red. She sniffled as she replied harshly,
“What does it matter? He killed his whole family. I mean, he said he would return with food, but that wasn’t the only thing he brought back.”
Riko’s voice cracked as she looked away from You but she could still see her profile. Her tears had fallen with grace and slid down her perfectly sculpted face.
“They were the only people left that made everything feel normal.”
You nodded her head as she looked over at the man. The wounds on the children and woman made sense now. He must’ve hid his infection to provide for his family, not realizing the consequences that would soon follow.
Getting up from the man’s body, You watched as Riko held onto herself with short gasps of air to escape from her cries.
You looked around the yard before noticing a shed at the back of the yard and heading to it. While in the small white storage room, she grabbed a shovel.
The backyard was vast, with no fencing to hold them back. Finding an open space near a distant tree, You decided to start digging. Riko could hear You, and as she noticed what she was doing she soon walked over, not even saying a word before repeating the exact same actions.
Neither exchanged words as they both followed what their hearts wanted for the poor family. When the bodies were laid to rest and their peace was said, Riko was the first to walk away. You quickly followed in suit,
“So, Riko, where are you headed?”
Riko glanced at You a bit harsh for the other girl’s liking before looking forward again.
“Don’t. I’ve done this before. We tag along together and become friends, only for one of us to die. I’ve lost enough people in my life.”
You trailed behind Riko, admiring the swaying of her long red hair,
“Yeah things could end like that, or we could make it and you’d have to live with me forever. Your call?”
Riko scoffed, almost baffled at the idea that this new girl who couldn’t even pull out a gun in time to save her life was thinking they’d live together. Humoring You, Riko laughed,
“Make it where? To our graves?”
“No, to a place called Sanctuary.”
Riko stopped, her heart dropped as she heard those words. That’s where the man wanted to take his family within a week's time, where he swore their lives would be changed forever and they wouldn’t be scared anymore.
“Sanctuary?”
You smiled, glad she got Riko’s interest.
“It’s not a guarantee we’ll be let in or even if we will make it there, but it’s hope. Isn’t that at least worth living for? Unless you have something else?”
Riko looked off to the side. Truthfully, all she wanted to do was return home. She lost her closest companions and cried enough to drown herself in, besides it wasn’t in her nature to go without a plan.
She rubbed her arm as she could hear the inner battle with herself. Live alone and wait for another stranger with the light still in her eyes to ask her to stick by her side forever? Or go and not have a clue what each day could bring.
“I don’t know…”
“Why not?”
Riko deadpanned at You, almost wanting to roll her eyes at the obvious answer in the air.
“We could die.”
You shrugged though. Riko could see she was quite the simple girl.
“But what if we live? Life is like the wind, you know?”
Embrace its unpredictability
Riko could hear the end of the quote within her head. It was one only daredevils lived by, not a girl who couldn’t sleep every night in fear of the next day.
You extended her hand to Riko, giving the same dorky smile and bright eyes when she first saw her. Riko glanced at You’s hand to her eyes.
“So, will you come with me?”
There wasn’t a happy end that Riko could see at the end of the tunnel, but at least in her final breaths she’d be able to see that same smile as it slowly cracked a piece of her walls down.
Riko shakily extended her hand.
“Okay. Let’s do this.”