Goodbye to a World | shane walsh

02 | aglow

The leaves had long since abandoned their branches, leaving the trees stark and skeletal against the dull, gray sky. Each breath Nola took was sharp, the cold air cutting through her lungs. The once vibrant greens of the forest floor were now buried beneath a blanket of snow, crunching underfoot as she trudged onward. The days had grown shorter, the sun barely making an appearance before retreating behind thick clouds. Every night seemed longer than the last, the darkness suffocating in its stillness, broken only by the occasional howl of wind or the distant groan of a rotter.

Nola could feel the winter tightening its grip with each passing day, the cold seeping deeper into her bones. She pulled her coat tighter around her small frame, her breath visible in the frigid air. The frost clung to every surface, turning the world into a frozen wasteland. Finding food and supplies became increasingly difficult as the cold intensified, and she was forced to dig through the snow for anything that could keep her alive another day.

It had been a month since she fled the fire lookout tower. She never ran into that man Shane again or anyone else, really. Winter seemed to eliminate a lot of survivors, or maybe they were doing better than her and had some warm place to hole up in. She didn't know. 

It wasn't until she left Newnan, Georgia completely that she finally ran into a few other survivors. It was quiet at first—she stayed in the comfort of a car she wired, stayed away from any major towns, kept quiet and had no lights on. But one morning, when the cars battery decided to give into the cold weather and she could no longer start the car, she had to get back on her own two feet and traverse the abandoned towns she passed by for supplies and shelter.

The days blurred together in a constant fight for survival. Nola scavenged what she could from the abandoned towns she passed through, though most had already been picked clean. She learned to make do with the bare minimum—catching small game like squirrels, foraging for edible roots buried beneath the snow, and melting ice for water. Her hands, raw and chapped from the cold, trembled as she worked, but she pushed through the pain. There was no other choice.

- -

Another month had passed with her getting by with the bare minimum. She had to keep moving. Each night, Nola would find a new place to hole up, her small frame curled up beneath whatever layers she could find. She could feel her strength waning, but she refused to give in. She stayed in a small store that was in one of the villages she was passing through. It seemed completely deserted, giving her enough assurance that she could keep up a small fire for some warmth and have at least a little sense of safety, but she learned to never get comfortable these days... and rightfully so.

A flash of light peered through the shuttered windows, instantly alerting her. She put out the fire immediately and grabbed her gun and bag, getting up to go peer through the cracks. It seemed to be car headlights that flashed against the building, though it was hard to see anything else because of how blinding they were. But as soon as they were shut off, her eyes adjusted, observing a group of men floating around. She gripped her knife tightly, unsure if she should stay hidden or try to leave unnoticed. 

The group seemed eager to get into the building she was in. They must have seen the glow of her fire through the shutters. "Damn it," she muttered under her breath, going to the back door as they lingered at the front. She rushed into the janitor's room before opening up the emergency exit as quietly as she could. She gently closed it behind her and crept up the side of the building to try and hear the conversation the men were having. 

"I swore I saw somethin' glowin' in here." 

"Was it the bottle of bourbon you hoarked down an hour ago?" 

"Hey!" 

She could hear the scuffling of feet as some of the men had at each other. Their leader seemed to settle the two down. "We'll check out the back. This place is boarded up well in the front, must be someone in there."