Of Times Long and Forgotten [Episode 1]

I came to a crossroad at the edge of an abandoned railroad track; the signs and rails rusty from years of neglect, I'm sure at one time they were stainless before the cataclysm; or thats what most people call it these days, whomever is left. I step over the track, scout pack on my back, and my 30-06 bolt action held tightly to my hip by a shoulder strap and my left hand. Unfortunately it only has three rounds left, i used two on my previous companions, they began to show signs of the sickness, sudden coughing fits followed by extreme symptoms of what appears to be Tuberculosis, Mania, then finally death. Followed by an even worse fate, reanimation. Their death was unfortunate but a wise decision, as my mother would say 'better safe then sorry' ; A wise lesson indeed, and one that i quickly took to heart over these years. As i traversed the road, the trees began to whisper odd songs and the sun beamed at my back, the air here is chilling to the bones, and i feel it on every footstep i make. Birds which populated this area are now gone, with decaying bones remaining. Like a graveyard with no graves but your own amidst a massive field of dead black grass. this earie silence puts me in a sudden state of paranoia, and i pull up my 30-06 and breach it to bring in a round, my muscles now tense. i move into a cautious stance, rifle up, ears trained to home in on any disturbence in sound. i move slowly forward. I've already left the clearing that i was in and found myself on an old path that at one time might've been a popular nature trail at one time. i decided to pick up the pace slightly when i noticed the trail came into another clearing a few feet ahead. A small shack lie in the middle of the clearing, it was barely held together from what i could tell was rotting boards and cut tree branches bracing the sides. I creeped closer to the door of the shack, and to my suprise heard the sounds of sobs eminating from within. The door moved open with a slight push, and light began to fill the inside revealing a dirt floor and a bed of dead leaves on the left. A rotten smell began to permiate the air, causing me to gag. Something rustled in the darkness, i quickly backed out of the shack keeping the rifle up and pointed at the door, ready to fire! What then appeared was a pale little girl, who looked no more then twelve years old, she had a small bear held firmly in her arms. I lowered the rifle to my side and stood up straight, i brought my left hand back and pulled some blackberries from the side of my pack. "I'm not here to hurt you." i eat a berry and stretch out my hand to offer her one "Are you hungry?" She came closer and then grabed a few barries and then ravanously ate them. At a closer view i could see that she had green eyes and strands of grey amidst her black hair. Her green eyes turned back to me and she said "Who are you?" i havent heard a voice so young in a long time, it reminded me of the past, like a black and white photograph. What should i tell her, my real name? No, i cant, because my name died in the fires at the end of the world as we knew it at the time, so i told her my alias "Dirge" i realize this name is ridiculous, but it stuck with me. "thats a silly name, when did you make that up?" "not recently i assure you, what's yours?" "My daddy called me sandra" "You dont have a last name?" "No, Dad said i never needed one, and all it did was remind him of mom." "I understand, where is your father now, is he inside?" "He died two days ago, we were out foraging and we were attacked by a pack of wolves, a rabid one bit him.." A pack of rabid wolves, great just what i needed, another problem to worry about. As if i didnt have enough to deal with already. what about sandra, i can't just leave her here. But i can't worry about a little girl along my trek down south to avoid the cold. What kind of man would i be i allowed her to die out her; i'd be a survivor, but i just couldnt do it. "Sandra,the winter is coming and you wont last long here when snow falls, would you like to accompany me south to the warmer states?" she turned to look back at the shack and a tears began to fall from her eyes. "Before we go, we need to take care of something..." night was beginning to fall, we gathered up dried branches and surrounded the shack with them. i brought out a old zippo lighter and put it in her hand, no conversation was needed, she got the point, against the darkening sky the fire cast a very large shadow and hisses from air pockets popping and the smell of smoke began permiate the air. We turned our backs and deeper in the woods, away from the burning shack. Soon the sky became pitch black with nothing but the stars guiding us. We made camp as soon as the tree branches covered our view of the sky. The fire was a great warmth against the cool night air, sandra layed close to it and i sat with my back to a tree,my rifle on my lap. my sleep was troubled, just darkness, no visuals, just emptiness. A rustle in the bushes shocked me awake, I immediately jumped up ready to fire, a twig snapped behind the bushes, my adranline is pumping through my veins. Then it shot through the bushes with tremendous speed and pounced on me!! It's jaws snapped at the side of my head, I shoved it off me with my rifle with all my force, then just as quickly as it dropped it bounced right up and sprinted at me again! The commotion woke sandra and she screamed, then the beast snapped its attention to her and snarled. It then began to pounce at her, there's no time to shove it into the fire so i brought up the 30-06 and fired a shell, the shot slammed into the wolf's side seemingly pinning it to the ground, it began to whimper and breath in rasp.. i walked over to it and smashed it's skull till it lay still. Foam lined it's mouth, it was obviously rabid. Sandra lay in shock, she didnt know how to comprehend what just happened. All she could do was come over to me and give me a hug. i didnt need to say anything, she slept in my arms till daybreak, then we made our way south again, along the way our conversations started to reveal that she wasn't twelve but thirteen. And that before the cataclysm her family lived in Rhode Island where her father was a librarian and her mother was a nurse in a local hospital. Sandra's mother died in child labor and then when she was nine the cataclysm occured and they retreated far into the woods away from the dying society and pestilence. A wise decision, yet in the end death always finds you, no matter how far you decide to go. A week passed since I found Sandra, and we were growing tired, berries can only sustain you so far, the absence of deer worried me, as thats what i normally prayed upon for sustanence. night fell again. and it began to start snowing.. it was cold.. so cold.. i can only hope that the fire lasts against the wind. Sandra wont last long. Then a sound crackled off in the distance, sounds of gunfire, me and sandra stood close and peered through the tree line only to see a massive structure in the distance, it looks like a massive plant structure with smoke stacks and oddly enough, smoke was coming out. We stared at the structure then moved towards it, not knowing that what we find, will shock us to our very core.

To be continued in Episode 2