𝗧𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄'𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 | an apocalyptic novel ©

Chapter 73

Crumbling Hope

2035

Valencia

I don't know what has gotten into me. But I am stumbling through the night, trying to get an orientation to find the pharmacy. It will be a long way. I know it.

There is no chance I will give up on Henry, I won't give him up. I will look through every nook and cranny of that pharmacy to find some medicine for me. Hell, I would tear every brick from it apart to find some.

Since I don't have a flashlight - I never did, to begin with - the way is hard to navigate. I only have a candle and matches in my backpack. Tonight, it doesn't help me. The harsh wind blows out the flame every time I try to light it.

Frustrated, I throw the fifteenth burned-down match on the ground and squint my eyes to decipher anything in the dark. I am left alone, left behind in the darkness, in a world that is trying to kill me with every step I take. It is not fair and it never was.

But I would do anything for my brother.

I am alone right now - I can't deny that fact. I am alone in this world with a brother who doesn't trust me and a stranger I've known for four days. And I need to find that pharmacy. There is no other choice here. A gust of wind pushes me forward. I trip and land on my knees between something that looks like bricks of a roof and tree branches. My hair gets blown around my face and I brush away the loose strands.

I have been walking around like this - being pushed around in the wind like a plastic bag in a current - while trying to find the pharmacy in absolute darkness, with only the stars as a guide, for probably two to three hours now.

At this point, I can't go back anymore, I am lost in this city.

Internally, I am torn apart. I want to stay with Henry to keep him safe but at the same time I can't afford to take him with me to get him his necessary medicine.

When I struggle to get up from the ground and raise my eyes, I spot something - a small concrete building in a landfill of destruction.

My ears ring. I don't dare to blink. Because that small concrete building looks an awful lot like a bunker.

LOOK FOR A BUNKER

That's what the Morse code message said.

If it is the stranger's bunker, why would I go toward it? I can manage to find the way to the pharmacy alone.

These two sentences are playing themselves on repeat in my thoughts as I stalk toward the building.

I don't know what I'm doing.