Free Dead Quarantine by A. Rosaria

survive this; however, her head will be ringing for days. He
gritted his teeth. That was if she was still alive.
    He stood up, ignoring his screaming muscles,
and continued on. He needed to get far away from the destruction
and find a way home. Going up seemed to be the most logical choice.
He hoped he could make it before darkness set, so that there was
still light for him to see a road or a town, or any place where he
could seek shelter. If he found nothing, he might have to sleep in
the open.
    The explosion of rocket fire kept on in the
distance as time passed. The sun kissed the horizon. The sky above
the pit glowed. A line of burning patches snaked the landscape, and
beyond that, light flashed with each explosion. He could only guess
how long that line went on for. So many people had been lined up to
be destroyed. The living and dead together. In a vain attempt to
save the world.
    He was on top of the hill. It had taken more
time than he expected it to. Fatigue, and the many loose stones,
made for a slow climb. Here, he had barely enough light left to
see. The land stretched far out; the vegetation was sparse, more
sand and rocks than green. There was only one road visible and that
was the one they took to come here. If he ever wanted to return
home, he had to go back the same way. He knew they had passed a
couple of villages on their way, but right now it was impossible to
go that way and they were tens of miles away. The helicopters were
circling the road, clearing it of anything moving. Besides, it
would be dark soon. He looked in the opposite direction. Far away
he saw a few lights. A small town maybe. He couldn't see that
far.
    He had no time to waste. The little light he
had left, he needed for the descent. Without it, it would be too
treacherous to go down and he would have to spend the night on top
of the hill. He had seen no shelter here. He really didn’t have a
choice. He started the climb down. After a few near falls—a misstep
that could have possible sprained his ankle, but luckily didn't—the
last part of the descent he ran, small rocks rolling after him. He
made it down just as the last rays of light shot in the air and
darkness draped the land. It amazed him how quickly he got down
compared to the ascent.
    The moon was covered by clouds. The only
light he had to go by was the glow of the fire in the pit, but even
that was subduing with no more fuel being added. He walked in the
direction he thought the town was. At ground level, he couldn't see
its light. It left him guessing if he was going in the right
direction. It was not the first time he had been alone. Since he
got his driver’s license at sixteen, he had been driving around by
himself. He was not into partying, so his parents never worried he
would do something they deemed dangerous, and they allowed him to
stay out late. He would go to the movies with Tom or eat
out—nothing fancy or exciting like running from zombies in the
middle of nowhere. Sometimes he would just drive just to drive. Too
bad his car broke down and he didn't have the money to fix it. His
dad didn't want to loan him the money and instead, he had urged him
to get a job.
    The thing was that being alone didn't feel
strange to him, though being out here in the middle of nowhere was.
The expanse around him looked the same wherever he turned. Only the
hill and pit served as known landmarks. No roads. No phone or
electricity cables running above him. It was just a barren
landscape with shrubs here and there. As time passed and the clouds
became darker, he saw less and less of that landscape.
    He had been walking for awhile and had
covered some distance. Behind him, the glow of the fires was almost
gone. He didn't know exactly how long he had walked. The battery of
his smart phone had died on him and he had no wristwatch. It felt
like hours, but could have easily just been one. Darkness had the
world in a stranglehold. There was no moon or stars in the sky,
leaving little light