Claire
Footsteps slow and heavy, panting for air to fill my lungs. Knees are shaky and weak. I know that I no longer can run. One more step and me knees give out. I fall down to the ground, a cloud of dust puffs up around me. I try to crawl a little further but my arms are just too weak. I fall to my belly, I roll over onto my back. I lay there staring up at the clear darkening sky. The sun just barely up over the rolling hills of dust. My eyes close just for a second -at least what I thought- I open my eyes to darkness except for the twinkling of the stars.
"Damn I don't even remember the last time I saw stars." I gaze up at the midnight sky, my body playing tricks on me, I feel as if I'm floating up to the sky. I raise my arm up, my fingers extend, slowly closing over a star to see if I can grab it. I pull my arm back down; open my fingers. I peer into the palm of my hand and see nothing. "Wouldn't it be amazing if I could actually grab hold of a star." I stay laying on the dusty ground then I remember the guard who said my name. My body springs up to where I'm sitting up right on my butt. My heart races in my chest feeling that it's going to jump out. I put my hand up to my heart and clench it. "How did he know my name. Could he have had papers, seen me before?" I try to make sense of it, "but then why have I never seen him? He had to have papers before I arrived, but why would he remember my name?" I begin to second guess my own explanations. "Claire stop second guessing." A high pitched squeal rings through my ear. I spin my head to the side where I heard it coming from. I slowly get up on my feet staying cautious of my surroundings. I peer into the distance hopefully being able to see something but it's to dark. "Wasn't that the same sound that I heard when opened the window? Yeah it was. Maybe it was a coyote." I try to think of what could make that sound. "But that guy did say their are other things out here. I should start walking so I don't find out what made that sound." I start to walk but then I hear that same high pitch squeal, but this item it was closer. The sound of crunching dirt beneath feet makes way to my ears. The sound gets exponentially closer. I turn around and begin running for my life. "Fuck, fuck, fuuck. Fuck this shit I don't want to find out what those or that thing is." Fear builds up with the adrenaline. Both of those course through my body making my legs move ten times fast than normal. I turn my head to see behind me, a silhouette of a creature on three legs standing straight up as a human stands in a short distant behind me. The thing turns to the side. It's jaw drops down the middle of its chest and let's out an ear piercing squeal. I turn forward grabbing my ears and start to run even faster. My legs move 12 miles per hour, but that doesn't last long as one foot lands in a small hole. My ankle rolls, my body lunges forward. My face hits the dirt and slides with my body forward. "Well great, that thing is getting even closer and I'm stuck." I try to get up to my feet but once I put that foot down a sharp intense pain shots up my leg from my ankle. I fall back to the ground. "Crap this is not good." I mumble out loud. I start to crawl forward as fast as I can. I move my hand forward then my other arm forward. My hand is placed on something slightly squishy yet boney. I move a little closer and look down at the thing my hand is resting on. " Ahh!!!!" I let out a scream. "No, no, no!" I throw my self back and away from the body I touched. Another squeal is let lose from that thing. "Well fuck now that thing knows where I am and I can't run. Guess this is my only option." I crawl forward to find more and more bodies next to each other and piled up on eat other. I move one body and then another until I make a little hole for myself. I crawl into the hole and pull a few bodies over my self to blend in with the rest of the dead. The stench of the rotting corpses clogs up my oxygen. With every inhale I hold back the urge to vomit. I hear snapping of bones, I feel the shifting of bodies that are surrounding me. Pressure is applied to the body that is resting on me. The thing snarls and starts sniffing. I shut my eyes tightly, I begin to take smaller breathes to not attract attention. "God I hope it can't smell me." I beg. Suddenly I here a squeal and feel the three feet run and jump over the bodies, then I feel extremely heavy pressure on me. Blood drips down between the bodies and land on my face, I hear a deep raspy growl. "Oh no it a coyote." I think to my self. I open my eyes and look through the cracks of the bodies but see nothing. Then the pressure is gone and that three legged things is screeching for its life. I stay hidden under the bodies just in case it's still around and if more members of its pack is around. I move my eyes a little and see the coyote ripping through the skin of the three legged creature. I close my eyes tightly but the sound of its teeth ripping through the skin of the creature and chomping of its mouth on the fresh, moist flesh and the screams and cries of pain from the creature still floats to my ear as if it is a lullaby. The sound grows distant, my body relaxes and my eyes also. My mind drifts away from reality and goes to my fantasy. My eyes awaken to the sun rays shinning on them through the gaps of the bodies over me. I stay still and wait to make sure the silence is lasting. The silence is still so I slowly push my way through the bodies. I get to the top of the bodies, I look at the all of them inside the giant trench "This trench has to have a couple miles in diameter and there has to be a million of bodies or maybe more in here. God this is so sad and it's even sadder that the rest of this country doesn't even know about this. The families of these soldiers don't know that they are buried in this massive grave." I say out loud as if someone is listening to my to words. I look over to my left and see the bloody bones and some flesh of the three legged creature. "Damn guess the coyote had a good dinner." I lick my lips to my grumbling stomach. "I really need something to eat. But there is nothing to eat. Maybe when I get to the forest it will be easier and safer to eat the animals and plants in their. Hopefully they won't be all mutated." Right then I realize that I'm breathing in highly toxic air. "Fuck what if I'm mutated? Claire don't worry about it right now, get to the forest and find civilization." I start speaking in third person. I begin to walk leaving the huge trench behind.
