The trees that tower over me are dead. The animals that used to roam are dead. The plants that used to blossom and sprout are dead. The happiness that used to thrive around us is dead.
But I am alive.
A ghoul screeches through the mist, and silvery shadows reach out to me. I know all the beings that inhabit this forest are blood thirsty, hunting down the humans one by one.
Without a second thought, I run.
One day I'll go down, but it will not be today.
The screeches grow closer, and I grow weary, but I press on. Pain grips my entire body, my breath ragged. Run, just run, I think. Outrunning my problems is the only thing I know how to do. If I can reach the last Oasis in time, I will, like all the other humans that have outrun the Ghouls, survive.
I see a glimmer of light. Could it be the Oasis?, I wonder, It must be, after all this time I've finally found it! I run towards the light; my energy renewed by a sense of hope. The Ghouls are getting closer by the second, and I sprint through the trees.
Suddenly sunlight washes over my face, dancing over my skin. The leaves wave at me in the wind. I've found the Oasis and it brings me joy, like rain in a drought, like a family reunited. I throw my head up breathing in the fresh air and gazing at the bright blue sky. I glance back at the Ghouls, the cower, the light caging them in their gloomy forest. The air is strangely quiet, this place is meant to be full of people, full of survivors, I had always assumed the Oasis would be a place full of people, full of happiness.
In front of a dying campfire sits a single person, a little girl looking up at me in wonder.
"I thought I was the last." She stares at me with tear stained eyes.
"Where is everyone?" I ask, grasping at loose ends.
"Gone, dead, dieing." She whimpers, tears welling in her eyes.
"Where are you parents?" I ask cautiously.
"Mumma said to stay here, to wait for her, to be brave." She scrunches up her face. The girl couldn't be more than six or seven.
"She didn't come back, did she?"
I look back at the Ghouls, The reach out of the shadows, feeding off the sadness, the Oasis gets duller. I notice the fire. If the ghouls are afraid of light, I might just have to spread some. I set the forest a blaze, desperately hoping my plan will work. If this doesn't work, nothing will I decide.
"RUN!" I scream. The girl and I sprint through the Oasis, keeping to parts of the forest where lights still shine, hoping with every ounce of our bodies to reach somewhere safe before the fires catch us.
We run and run and run with no sense of direction or time. Screams echo in the distance, some close, some far. My legs burn but I keep running like my life depends on it, because my life does depend on it.
I pray that there is some other place that we can use as a refuge, a shelter. Smoke begins to fill the air, the fire raging, burning everything in its path. I gasp for breath, my chest heaves, my feet pound.
The fire chases us into a dark, deathly part of the forest.
I glance over my shoulder to check that the little girl is still running, but all I see is smoke. I squint my eyes and make out the silhouettes of Ghouls attacking something. Or maybe someone.
Human screams mix with ghastly cries, chilling my blood. Then, just like that, the screams stop. The girl! I panic.
I run towards the limp shape of her body, ignoring every instinct to keep running, to get away before I'm next. The least I can do is give her a proper burial.
The Ghouls seem to notice the fire drawing nearer, and with a fleeting glance at me and the girl, they hurry off shrieking.
The Ghouls don't feel the heavy weight of death looming on their shoulders, they laugh when children cry, they rejoice when the innocent die.
Desperately, I check for her heartbeat, even though I know she'll be dead. I put my hand right where her heart is and feel a thud. A miraculous little thud, thud, thud. I must be going mental. I must be hallucinating. Maybe the smoke is addling my brain.
The fire draws near, and I realise just how much faster I need to move. I lift the girl gently into my arms. With all the energy I have I push on, my whole body screaming for me to just give up but I ignore it.
The trees start to thin, the forest turns into a big open plain.
The sun's last rays are gone, plunging the world into deep dark night.
On the horizon sits tiny little buildings with twinkling lights shining out like beacons, guiding me home.
Maybe there is hope for humankind after all.
