Dust to Dust

1

Staying inside used to be so easy. Having the option to go outside made things so much easier to stay inside. But when it was brought by force, it seemed like time didn't matter anymore. Day after day, it all just felt like minutes ticking by. Suddenly, it was morning, and just a bit later, the sun was setting. Clocks showed no purpose, the date never mattered, hell, neither did the year. Humans never want to do anything when they're forced to. It's just their nature. 

Or that was for most people anyway.

Of course, most of the time, Jenny didn't care about the time of day, the month, or the weather outside, because she never went out after the town was wrecked. Her childhood home was now a ghost town. She didn't know if anyone was still there, and didn't bother to check either. It didn't matter anyway. If nobody bothered to contact her, they weren't worth the time. The only time going out was necessary was for grocery store runs, nothing else.

It was always like her to be overly cautious, after all, the virus could still be out there if there was absolutely anybody out there. That used to be the case.

The night her father died she made the decision. She would wait a full year to make sure the virus was gone, one hundred percent. Then she would break out of the stupid, sad house and find somewhere else to thrive. Maybe take the house of some rich prick. Or hopefully find someone who had taken the same precautions she had, and finally have someone around besides herself. She would need to travel lightly, since gas stations were used up, and cars were no use. At most she would be able to carry three bags, and only the necessities were an option. She would love to take her cat, but she passed away about four months earlier, or that's what the calendar said. Carrie was a sweet girl, and thankfully, animals weren't affected by that shit storm. She was old, however, and nothing could have been done.

So now she was in the backyard with everyone else. Mom, Dad and Steph.

Jenny hadn't felt true disgust until she needed to bury her own family in the fucking backyard. Being too afraid of the virus to touch the bodies, she needed to leave them decomposing for a month until she was positive that nothing was left behind.

They were cold, and lighter than they should be. Steph was always skinny, she was the life of the party. The pretty girl that she hated so much because she thought she was so much better than everyone. But she was her sister. So seeing her ribs poke out through a small layer of skin was sickening. It took all her strength to not throw up on the job and wait until she got back inside.

The sun rarely came out when the virus got really bad and the arson started. The whole town was smoky and ashes were what remained of people's homes. That's how Mom died.

She tried her best to fend off terrorists that were burning people's houses down. She asked herself why they did it all the time. Either they lost their minds or were just that afraid of people getting them sick. All the protesting and active terrorism was supposedly to 'make a statement' which only drove everything to shit. But who could blame them? All these big shots wanting to prove the virus wasn't a big deal were dead within twenty four hours. That was how it worked. Scientists said it made the organs close in on the body which resulted in complete failure. And people were terrified. So they shot her mom dead. She was unarmed. Then it was Steph. She ran out to help, which was the stupidest idea anyone could ever think of. Six fucking bullet wounds. A twenty year old unarmed woman was shot dead six times for leaving her house. She really was a fucking idiot. Steph spent all her time worrying about what other's thought about her, and was a basic part of society. That was exactly what killed her. 

Jenny couldn't leave her room. All she could do was sit there and stare. When something bad happened, she had a bad habit of just standing there and doing absolutely nothing. Because what good could she do? There were about seven people out there with huge guns and no mercy. Mom and Steph were already dead, there was no going back on that, so what was the point? They weren't coming back, and she was so driven into shock that it was impossible to even cry. She just needed to suck up all her feelings and stay in an enclosed space. Not much different from her school life.