The Final Female

Chapter 2

Adam chased the kid all the way to the gate that had been built around the town. The gate had been built prior to the war and the discovery of the last female on Earth living in America.

But this kid ran all the way over the gate and into the woods beyond town. It wasn't forbidden to go into got the woods, but it was a frightening place. There were of course animals. Then there were the press gangs. They were people who went around looking for the unemployed to press into the war effort to keep other countries from entering.

There were also the search gangs and the Scavengers. The Scavengers were people who went around to towns that had been abandoned from the declining population and took whatever they could. The search gangs were the people who were trying to find the girl. Most of them were American, some of them were illegal immigrants, and all of them carried guns and drove big vans.

Bottom line, it wasn't safe to live outside of an established city, and this scrawny little kid was running out into the woods like he was on a camping trip.

"Hey! Get back here!" He shouted, but the kid kept running.

"That kid is gonna get his ass killed." One of the other guys muttered as they came over.

"Should we go and get him?" Asked another guy, and the first guy scoffed.

"Nah, he's just another mouth to feed." Adam looked at the other men in disbelief.

"We need all the guys we can get around here!" He told them. "Humanity is slowly declining, we need to keep as many people alive as we can!" The first guy looked at Adam's lab uniform, then gave him a look.

"You work at a lab for creating humans. I think we have enough humans coming into the world. One kid isn't going to make all the difference in the world." Then they left, but Adam looked back over the fence. He was someone who was trying to help save humanity, and by allowing someone to run into the woods where they could be shot or killed by animals, he would not be doing his job as a doctor in training. So, he did something he'd never dreamt of doing. He climbed up the fence, and jumped over, and headed into the direction of the boy.

As he walked through the woods, Adam jumped at every sound he heard, every little noise made him turn his head, and he shivered at every leaf that he brushed against.

"Hello?" He called softly, immediately mentally hitting himself. What if something he did not want to find him heard him?

Sure enough, as soon as he had said, he swore he heard something run past him a few feet away. He froze where he stood, looking out of the corner of his eye, expecting some sort of beast to appear. Nothing.

As Adam kept walking, he kept looking around, the uneasy feeling of being watched creeping through his body. He wished he would find that kid soon so that he could get out of here.

"Hello!" He called again, a little louder, tired of being in the woods. He soon came across a huge tree with vines and ivy, and decided to sit down for a minute. He wasn't used to walking around so much. So, he sat down and pulled some of the vines down over him so that nothing could see him, then tried to relax for a minute.

Soon, too soon, Adam heard something walking around outside of his vines, crunching in the fallen leaves. He sat completely still, hardly breathing, as the sound of sniffing came through. Then came a low growl. Adam plugged his nose and held his breath, terrified. It sounded huge. Might've been a wolf. Or a bear!

"Can I run?" Adam wondered. It was only a matter of time before the beast found him and killed him. It was worth a shot trying to get away. So, he threw the vines off of him and began running back towards town, the beast, whatever it was, running behind him, gaining on him.

Adam ran and ran, thinking maybe if he couldn't outrun it, maybe he could hide from it. So, he ran for a nearby tree and tried to climb up, barely getting high enough for the beast to be out of reach of him. He looked down a he clung onto little branches for dear life, and saw that it was a wolf. A big wolf. A great big, brown and black fur wolf, that could rip Adam to pieces if he fell.

Crack! Adam looked up, and saw the branch he was holding onto was breaking!

"No no no no no no!" He cried out, scrambling to try and reach a higher branch, when he heard a sharp whistle, and the wolf turned towards the noise. There was silence, and the wolf ran away, just as the branch broke, and Adam fell to the ground, covering his head before the branch hit him. The wolf turned for a moment, looking like he wanted to attack Adam, but the whistle came again, a pause, and the wolf ran again.

"You've got to be more weary of the beasts that run wild in these woods." Came a higher pitched voice, and Adam turned to see the boy!

"You! You were that thief from before!" Adam told him, standing up clumsily. The boy chuckled.

"You have good eyes." Adam went up to the boy.

"Why were you stealing tampons? You're a guy, you don't need them." The kid shrugged.

"They're good fire starters. Light one up, thing burns like gasoline! Plus, if you open it right, you can use the wrapped for water!" Adam furrowed his eyebrows.

"Who are you?" He sputtered, a little confused why this kid would need fire starter and a tampon wrapper for water.

"I'm Danny." The boy said. "I live out here. That's why I needed them."

"Well, why don't you come live in the city?" Danny shrugged.

"I don't know. I don't really have a dad, so I've been living on my own for a while. Sometimes I run with Scavengers, but I'm usually alone."

"Well, why don't you come and stay with me?" Adam suggested. "I work at the lab, and they have bunkers for caretakers." Danny looked unsure. "Come on, I'll show you. We always have an extra bunk." Danny looked back behind him, then nodded.

"Alright, I'll come and see it."