Amnesia

Banshee

I collapse to the ground, dirt rising around me. I sink into myself, enclosing into my own sorrow. Tears stream down my face and I can't fight them back. I'm too hopeless to fight them back. I'm too hopeless to stand up, to move out of my cradled position.

This entire night's journey was for nothing. Nothing but disappointment and humiliation. The realization of my absolute stupidity and selfishness.

Who else would have thought they'd actually be there?

No one but me. A clueless girl who is wallowing in self-pity at the moment.

I slowly get to my feet, wincing in pain. My body aches all the way from my head to my toes. Everywhere is nothing but extreme muscle cramps to twisted ankles that feel like someone's drilling holes into it.

The sun begins to rise over the mountains far off in the distance. Luckily last night on my long, pointless journey the ground I walked on was illuminated by the bright moon. It was eerie, though, for the fact that I knew not for what was over the large hill I was crossing. I look back up at the huge pile of dirt I climbed, not sure if it's a small mountain or a large hill. I contemplate for a few minutes before remembering it's a stupid thing to waste my time thinking about.

My eyes begin to droop. Once I fell onto the ground, all the small amount of energy I had left in me vanished into thin air. My heart pumps, knees ache, head throbs, body is nothing but useless limbs that are unable to work properly.

I put every ounce of energy I had into finding my family, and look where I am now. Stuck in the dirt with the bugs to eat me alive.

With all of my exhausting, I end up falling asleep.

***

When I wake up, the sun is high in the sky. My lips are dry and when I try to lick them. I find my mouth dry as well. I sit up slowly, slightly dizzy from exhaustion and heat. I grab my bag that I used as a pillow and take out a water bottle. The taste of the water is like nothing I've ever tasted before. So light, so clean. It's rather funny, since its water. Everyone says water doesn't taste like anything, and it really doesn't, but it somehow tastes good.

I try to conserve my water, but once I start drinking I don't want to stop. Luckily, half way through the bottle, I stop myself before I chug the whole thing. That would have been a disaster, both because it would make me very ill and I would already be down one of my few water bottles.

I look around, unsure of what to do now. I think. It seems like it's the first time that I think. These past few days I've just been going. I've just been doing something without much thought. I need to change my ways. If I don't, I'll get myself killed or stuck in another painful situation.

All I know is there's no going back. I can't pass the main road back there to get back to the neighborhood. That would be a death sentence. All I can do is move forward and continue on my journey. The bad thing is, I don't know where I am. I dropped the map.

I think about it more. Where I am right now is quiet. The only infected I see are the ones that are cluelessly roaming on the freeway and a few inside the actual building.

While scanning the area, I see why there are so little infected there. The off ramp is blocked off by large cement stones, meaning to keep them out and away from the street that the Safe Haven sits on.

I can only imagine a few scenarios that could have caused this disaster.

An attack by someone, maybe the government, someone could have been infected and they didn't know, or one infected might have just snuck it's way in and the disaster spread soon enough.