Dragoln's and KZ's Short Stories

She could see it all

Was it simply luck that caused her to turn down this street? Amy didn't know.

Around her was a war-torn battlefield. Debris had been spotted across the street in the forms of scrap metal and broken bits of building.

However, clear within her sight was an almost untouched shop with little to no damage to the infrastructure. It was truly a miracle to behold.

Ever since the apocalypse started, the world had torn itself apart. Zombies, Nuclear radiation ploughing a few countries, mutated monsters of all sorts roamed the land.

Sanctuary was rarely found in the last broken up groups that humanity had to offer. Amy had already dried up her luck surviving this long outside. At any given moment, gigantic rotten rats or hordes of flesh-eating creatures could sweep her life away.

Taking a breath in, Amy took the chance to sprint across the street; she made sure to plan her route to avoid the bigger pieces of debris in case something sinister lingered there.

Sliding open the door, Amy took notice of the surprisingly clean interior and stocked shelves of the store. Usually, scavengers would have cleaned out the area long ago, picking the place clean of any useful material. Jackpot.

Excitement bubbled through the weariness and tiredness of Amy's mind. The comfort of clean, sanitary food and luxury toilet paper teased her of what life was like before. Amy's relatively boring apartment and mediocre job compared to now was heaven. Too bad all of that would just stay a dream.

Greedily, her fingers tore through the packets of dry-food such as crisps, cereal, and oat. That mere unpleasant scent came from the 'meat' aisle where former frozen stacks of delicacies now held rotten chunks of putrid poison.

Amy let down her ragged hiking backpack and started to carefully pack as much resources as she could fit. Rolling out some crumpled paper, Amy had mapped out some of the new terrain in the city, making sure to mark the shop as a place she could come back to later.

With life in the apocalypse - you always had to be on the move. The few groups that have managed to establish some sort of home base always disappear within a matter of days. It didn't matter how advanced they were with guns, weapons or even superpowers. Their demise was inevitable.

Over time, survivors learnt that the scent of human beings was irresistible to the horrors outside. Groups of around a hundred people would draw an army of wandering nightmares - ready to feast. Since then, most opt to travel with three or four companions at best.

Amy knew that it wasn't long until she encountered another monster. Although the store looked nice and tidy, anything could have been lurking - ready to take her life at a moment's notice. There was a reason why fatigue had seeped deep into her bones.

One of the most important things was to keep alerted at all times. It was also one of the ways that survivors would die commonly. Maybe their guard was down or they thought they were safe; it never ended well.

Still, Amy couldn't believe her luck. The most likeliest explanation for the practically intact shop was because she dared to travel into a certain beast's territory. Most would have considered the idea suicide, even with those that wielded mythical superpowers.

'Territories' were death zones. Nobody sane enough would even step a mile within and those who were crazy enough to do so would be killed by the countless dangers on the way.

Desperation. It was desperation that drove her to this extent. Food was getting more scarce by the day - any longer without sustenance and she would lose the crucial physical strength needed to survive.

Suddenly a vision was projected onto Amy's eyes.

-From behind, two ferocious fangs ripped into her neck, a powerful venom shut her body down within seconds-

Without hesitation, Amy turned around while placing her hand out in front of her - outstretched wide.

Almost touching her eyes were the silver white fangs of a mutated purple serpent. It's body was frozen in place as if it were completely paralysed. The serpent had been coiled up and ready to pounce at their prey.

Sighing, Amy slowly clenched her fist as the serpent started to change. It's body withered away, growing older by hundreds of years until it was just fine dust on the floor.

This was the reason why Amy had dared cross deep into the territory all by herself. She was one of the lucky ones who received a superpower when the waves of energy impacted the world. What she had was an ability to manipulate time to some extent and even see into the future.

It was how she had managed to survive so far.

In a world full of betrayals, ambushes, fraud and deceit; she could see it all.