Hope II

2020: Part II

The only feeling that provoked me was the immense pain of something pressed hard against the fragile flesh of my temple, like a stone block firm against my head.

Body flat, feet in the air, resting on something I could not make out.

My memory a blank, I don't even know where I am, and my blurred vision together with distorted sound made it harder to make out the scene. But as my senses begin to replenish themselves, I see darkness with alleviations of fire, the screams of women and the burning of rubber as cars sped past whatever I was in... it wasn't a dream... it was a nightmarish lucid reality.

I fix myself up in the capsized jeep, the first sight I saw was Sandy up in my face, licking me with delight to see I had woken. It's a wonder she survived the crash.

I had no time to even look to her, my mind trying to process what had happened, looking around to see all the others were dead... and then to my right, to my brother, strapped in by his seatbelt which had tangled his arm up in a knot, trapping him.

'Mark' I cried, crawling over to him to begin shaking him vigorously 'Mark!' I was unable to shout, my throat was killing me from the crash, my vocals hoarse with each word was a struggle to get out.

My worst fear prospected my mind as I waved two fingers towards his neck, and pressed down in hopes to feel a sweet beat from his neck... he's gone.

Whatever I had said before seemed to be of a distant past, he was my brother and now he's gone, and as my tears reach his side I struggle to not reminisce on memories of our childhood... I won't, I need to keep moving... That's the hardest part, to leave my brothers side.

I grabbed his rifle dangling by his body and took whatever ammunition was in the car, scavenging rounds from the other dead soldiers before crawling my way out of the vehicle, my hands sopping into a wet liquid I could only fear was the blood of the dead soldiers.

'Come on girl' I said to Sandy, helping her out of the vehicle.

The night was dry aside from the falling snow, but not enough to quickly evaporate into a pool of water... no, it was oil, oil linked to the capsized car, and beneath was a small flaming spark omitting itself from the burnt out engine.

I took one last look in at Mark, my eyes finding his corpse and finalizing he was gone, and then quickly I ran away from the vehicle as a car sped past me, sliding down the road and eventually losing control to crash into the lawn of a desolate home and smash into the front wall of my neighbours home, blood immediately fired over the windows as the car's engine caught fire, and quickly exploded into a ball of flames, taking the front wall of the home with it.

My legs walked quickly down the footpath and Sandy by my side constantly, her body staying close to mine. People sprinted past me in all directions, shoving me aside as though they were in a race. They broke into homes to steal televisions, broke into cars, some successfully hotwiring them and speeding off the flaming ruins of the burning estate, down onto the blocked up highway which to look at was like a sea of red lights from the taillights of the cars.

On the spur of the moment there was another loud bang, and rising flames from behind me, ascending from the jeep my brother and the soldiers were in... the jeep burning to ashes, and the corpses with it. Mark's gone. He's gone. Sandy rubbed up against my legs for comfort, and I petted her head as a tear trickled down my face, struggling to grasp the truth of my brothers death.

'Hey!' I shouted... and surprisingly enough one stopped, turned to face me but said no words. The woman I recognised as a neighbourhood local but never learnt her name. She was carrying a backpack and a pistol in her right hand which she did not aim to me surprisingly, she wasn't as cautious as she should be.