One More Day

Part 1: Dystopia

         

A blazing fire and crumbled buildings was all they could see ahead. It set off explosions of cars, burnt any tree remains to ash and licked the ruins of what was once a productive city. The destruction of the country had finally approached, to the point where the only people left inhabiting it were dying and desperate. Surviving one more day was something rare now. Every town was in fiery ruins, there was minimal flora and fauna left and there was no way to get help, as connecting to others was impossible and anyone who could help those desperate, were either dead of desperate themselves. All you had were you and your prayers.

Kyler and Hayden were non-identical twins, brother and sister. They had bared hardly any physical similarities. Kyler had long, blonde hair, a wide bridged nose, blazing brown eyes and pale skin in contrast to Hayden who wore short, messy obsidian hair and subtly tanned skin. Like his sister, however, he had brown eyes and they both shared broad shoulders. Both of them were brave, persevering, curious and intelligent. The siblings were close, built on trust and teamwork.

"It's a new city," Kyler announced, pausing in the middle of the pothole collecting road. Hayden turned to look at his sister. She was stronger than anyone he had ever known, excluding their mother and father.

"We did it," Hayden smiled. The duo had been trying to reach civilisation for around two months now, unsuccessfully staggering across barren landscapes. On their journey, they only encountered small, once-functional towns that were too damaged to settle in or weren't home to food. "We actually did it."

"I know. Let's keep moving, it's getting dark quicker." Kyler was never one to show heavy emotions or make big deals out of things, even if they were important moments like this. Hayden had always guessed it was her way of protecting herself from disappointing endings.

It took the twins a good twenty minutes of weaving through the wreckages until they found a seemingly cosy, safe and uninhabited building. It seemed to be an old hospital, however, it was definitely the smaller one of the city. Kyler had already pointed out the major hospital but the two of them were smart enough to know it would be spilling with people and it was clearly a big victim to the Heating.

The Heating was what caused this to happen. It brought the country to an end, as one day, everything just erupted in fire. With nothing of the country left, there was no more contact with the rest of the world and no one to work out what exactly had occurred. Seven months later if you were to ask anyone what they knew about The Heating, they would all say the same thing: "The only thing anyone knows or remembers is that a week before The Heating, temperatures were escalating quicker and higher than ever; the Sun was looking awfully bright. A week later, it happened." The last survivors craved answers, but each of them had bigger, and more dangerous things to worry about day by day.

The inside of the small, two-storey hospital block was depressing to look at. On the first floor, the tile walls were cracked and its floral patterns were fading, the cushion seats were broken and mouldy, a box television was blown with crooked antennae, windows shattered and a collapsed administration desk. Hayden was immediately drawn to the three dead bodies crumpled on the ground, reeking of a foul stench and possessing tight skin, dried blood, yellow teeth, decomposing eyeballs and an attraction for flies. One was a young woman who was face down on the ground in front of a row of plastic chairs. Another body was once again, female, an arm reaching out to a smaller body, perhaps a child, who lay in a foetal position. Hayden had seen dead bodies too often for them to affect him like they used to. His days of dry retching at them had long since passed.

"These two," Hayden pointed at the woman and her assumed child, "they only died in the past few weeks I think." He explained, slightly nervous. Kyler stood up from behind the counter, holding a couple of flasks.