Spero: A Post-Apocalyptic Short Story |COMPLETE| ✔

<FIVE>

12:53
June 24, 2023

Day Eighty~Seven

"Who are you?"

Her chubby, youthful face was pulled up into a sneer as she spoke, the double-barrel wavering as she did so.

This was a first.

Around her nose and mouth there was a disposable mask, in her ears were plastic plugs, and on her eyes were what resembled swimming goggles.

Little ringlets of golden hair framed her pink skin, and her little nose and cheeks were tinted red in the hot weather.

"Well?"

Her accent was thick with southern twang.

She had to be around 7 or 8 years old.

She raised a blonde eyebrow behind her goggles.

"Eli; Eli Spero," I said, ignoring my training.

"Howdy, Eli," she responded, and readjusted the weapon so that it was aimed at my chest.

Not like that would have made any difference..

"Aren't you going to tell me your name?"

She looked at me for a moment before she shook her head.

She gestured up with the rifle, and I stood. My knees, still damp from being caught inside the stuffs earlier, were covered in small patches of blackened ashes.

The way she was holding it... It was almost like she had used it before. That didn't scare me int he way you might think; instead it scared me that a girl of her age could have been exposed to such a horror: taking a life.

I used my right hand to push off of the ground, and my left hand hung limply off to the side. There were little puncture wounds in the center of my palm, and they bled freely,

The girl was barely as tall as my leg. I shook my head, but followed her despite to obvious way to escape. Even if she had pointed a weapon at my face, I wouldn't leave her out here to whatever was left.

I began to walk, my limp leg barely even dragged at the quick pace. It was almost as if it didn't exist in that moment.

For a moment, I had pondered grabbing the weapon, and sweeping the girl's legs out from under her. I wouldn't do that, however.

I guess you could call me old fashioned... Or maybe just human. Why? Oh, because I was allowing a kindergartener to lead me through the woods with a shot gun as opposed to hurting her in any way.

After what I had seen at the cellar today, that last thing I needed was to hurt this girl... Whatever her name was. She seemed fierce, but she was still just a girl, and she couldn't just be alone out here.

We said nothing to each other. No small talk was made. I watched her as she walked, and she never stuck to a specific trail through the woods. She zigzagged through the woods, searching every inch of the forest with her sharp eyes, and then continuing on.

This girl could be a Special Ops agent if she felt like it. When she gets older, I mean. If there was even a government left.

I have no idea how long we walked before arriving in a pasture. By the time we got there, the sun was nearly setting. The tall grass swayed in the golden light, and a few cows swished their tails as if nothing was wrong within the world aside from the thin layer of ashes that covered the fields.

I glanced around, a little confused.

Where are we?

Under my thick layers of clothes, pinned onto my shirt, I clasped my Purple Heart with my right hand before I saw it. Up until that moment, my leg was not even bothering me.

A massive house sat a little ways in the distance, and closer than it, there were a number of small building littering the area.

What caught my attention was the large, plastic-like tent that that lead into every single on of them. I narrowed my eyes at the tents from a distance, and my eyes focused in on the letters that lined them.

On the side of each one, CDC in bold, black lettering was printed.

What in the hell?