My once notched arrow whistles through the air as it follows its trajectory to its target. The arrow hits with a thud, jamming itself into the rock hard dirt only a centimeter away from the oddly shaped rabbit that I was aiming at.

“Dammit” I mutter as I use my now free hand, that was pulling the string back, to wipe away the sweat that began to drip into my eye. I watch the odd rabbit race off with my other opened eye.

I had been tracking that thing since yesterday to finally find its hole in the ground. I trekked back tens of yards away from its opening and camped out for the night, in hopes to add something into the tank for another long starving week. I waited silently until I heard it rustle its way out of its tiny little cave that it had made for itself. 'I should've risked setting a trap' I think to myself.

I sling my bow back over my shoulder and rest it against my back. I stand there for minutes or hours, it’s impossible to keep time anymore. With my eyes closed, I steady my breathing with the ripples of the wind brushing through the trees. I listen to the quiet wind as it whispers around me, looking for any type of guidance. The quiet radiates the surroundings, the only thing that could be heard for miles is the once in a while hopping from the mutated rabbit and the pulsing shivers given off from my body.

Temperature seems to mean nothing anymore. Everything is in a deep freezing state from the nuclear winter, the sun doesn’t even dare kiss the dirt beneath our feet. The air is frozen and the atmosphere is grey. My body is always shivering for warmth, yet burning with a slight fever. The tainted sweat that shouldn’t flow from my pores drip into the frozen fevered land. The rain that falls, when it does, burns as it soaks. Chaos is our definition now.

I slowly open my eyes and turn to the tree that has my pack hanging on a low branch. I silently walk over to it and put it on over my bow. I make my way to a small clearing and plant myself in the center. I close my eyes and begin to rotate in place slowly. I stop on point where my being directs me to.

‘Forwards… time is in motion once again’ a soft murmur lulls past. “Ever onwards” I state.

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I wake up with a jolt, my body on edge, something is coming. I lazily move my eyes around, the only thing my eyes are capable of making out is the ember glow from the dying fire that sits on the concrete floor. Even if the sun doesn’t shine brightly anymore, there still should be enough to see some illumination through the high windows within the huge building I found yesterday night. Sleep is the natural reaction to such sight as the sun not being out yet.

My body jerks me awake again; unknown time has past, though I can barely make out the windows up top. The atmosphere is uneasy, an eerie feeling resides in my bones, telling me to get a move on it. I grab the rest of the squirrel I had caught the day before, and throw it into my mouth to chew. Add what’s left over fuel into my energy supply and allow the oils to moisten my mouth and lips. I stand up and stretch out my night’s sleep from my body. I scatter what’s left of my fire across the floor, it’ll die the rest of the way on the cold rock. And if not, well… civilization is dead anyway.

I grab my pack from the ground that I was leaning on and make my way out of the building into the freezing outdoors. The air is stale, nothing moving or breathing around in sight. A feeling like the world stagnating its breath in suspense, waiting for the climax to show itself. It’s dead and silent, not a sound to be heard, not the whisper of the wind for guidance.

I stand and wait, listening closely and intently on what the nature of the present has in to for me. A very faint flowing white noise makes its way into my ears, a slow river is nearby. I have to fill my bottles and containers as frequently as possible, who knows when I’ll come across it again. Everything is contaminated from the fiery rain that comes every few months, the best thing we can do is store what we can for a week or so until some of the radiation wears out. We filter and boil what we can, but our skins have become blotched and spotted, callused and harden. A lot of people died within the first days of the explosions, most others died of thirst or hunger. Those that have survived till now walk like ghouls and have a hunger like none other. I aimlessly wander where the wind tells me to stumble, looking for the next sustenance or misery’s end.

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I cap off the last of my container that I use for water, my hands shaking from the icy water. A burning sensation runs through my nerves like the constant river in front of me. This particular burning is the better of the two options available. The burning cold gauges a safer drink, the fiery burn is to be cautioned. The melting of your skin is a huge indication of deadly water, or a way out of this… state of living death.

I walk along the slow moving water, heading north as the whistling wind pushes against me. I walk in a mindless state, waiting for something to change, when sounds of commotion begins to reach my ears. I stop my movements and pull out my bow into my hands, ready to strike those who dare stop me. I start in the direction towards the noise in large silent strides. My path takes me towards the edge of the small valley of the river. I begin to lower my body more and more as I ascend to the top of the hill. I perch myself next to one of the trees that spot around the valley’s slope. I hide myself in the shade’s shadow of the tree as I watch the commotion unfold before me down the other side’s sloping edge.

There stands four people below me in front of a concrete shed with metal double doors, which one of them is slightly ajar. It’s too dark to see what’s inside but something of value is to be assumed with the situation at hand. The older woman is aiming a pistol at the two men, while one of the men is holding onto a girl. The man alone tries to lunge at the woman, with a knife aimed at her. A bang echos throughout the surroundings, reverberating around and around the buildings until it finally dies off. The man’s body slumps to the ground lifelessly, only a few twitches of the body are left behind. The woman then aims at the last man and he stiffens while gripping the girl tighter.

An overwhelming sense of terror floods into my brain, it takes me by surprise for just a second. A chill runs down my spine as I shiver it out of my body. The man then slowly inches his way towards the woman. Her body grips, ready for the gun to go off, yet nothing happens. The next series of actions happen in just a brief moment. The woman throws the gun and reaches for a knife at her side, the man tosses aside the girl and lunges his knife at the woman’s side, I pull an arrow out of the quiver and notch it to the bow while aiming down its sight. Adrenaline begins to pump all the way throughout my body instinctively. I steady my shot and release as the man takes a step back from the woman.

The arrow lodges itself into the man’s back, right where the human heart is suppose to be. I grab another arrow and notch it as I make my way down the slope slowly and steadily. The man stands there stunned, the woman in shock of the sudden intervention. The man turns around to look for me in a daze. He sees me and disbelief washes over me as he slumps to the ground also. I lower my bow to aim at the ground but not yet disarm, just in case.

The woman just stands there staring at me as the girl gets up from the ground and starts brushing off the dirt from her jeans. “Th-hanks” the girl stutters and coughs. The woman regains for composure as the girl attempts a sentence again. “Thanks for the rescue” she gives me a weak smile, she looks at the two dead men on the ground and mutters something.

In the next moment, the woman points the knife in her hand at me. “Honey, get inside” she seemingly demands the girl in front of her. She tilts her head down and starts towards the door, only until about halfway back she stops. She turns around to the both of us, “What about him?” she asks her. “What do you mean? He could be one of them for all we know. Just get back inside and don’t start throwing another tantrum” she commands back. “Why would he shoot that ape if they were together?” she retorts back again.

“Why would I know why they do what they do? The outside has been lawless for years now. Just go back inside before anyone or thing shows up again” she states again but more tiredly. The woman doesn’t move, so I just turn around and begin to walk away. ‘No reason reason to stick around if I’m not wanted’.

“You look hungery, do you want to stick around for some lunch?” the girl asks my back. “Honey! Get Back Inside. Now!” the woman practically yells at the girl as I turn around to look at them. The girl just stands there, not willing to move until she gets her way. The woman stares at her, then looks at me. She gives a deep sigh while putting the knife back into its sheath. I unnotch the arrow from the string and put it back into the quiver. She lowers her head and rubs her eyes with her fingers. “Fine, bring the boy” the woman says defeated.

The girl beams a smile and waves at me to follow her in. ‘She… is the key’ the breeze notions to the girl. “Whatever… I’m just hungry” I mutter softly.