Capítulo 3: Chapter 3
Astrid inhales sharply and forces her eyes open, she looks around. The stars shine down on her, but no moon. New moon. She sits up and looks back at where she had run from, memories flood her mind. Her heart sinks, her entire family is gone, a wave of cold washes over her. She forces her aching body to its feet. She wonders if she should head back to look for supplies or anything, but she knows it's not a good idea. Food will be gone, blankets, water. It will be gone. even if there could be extra clothes, there might still be bad guys up there.
Her only option right now is to wander. She walks in the cold darkness for hours, the sun begins rising and is about two hours from reaching it's peak. Astrid sighs with relief after walking over a dirt hill to see a horse sniffing the ground.
But then her pace slows, there's a body with it, the leg caught in the foot hold, whatever it's called. She creeps over and holds out a hand to the horse. It snorts ever so softly, she shush's it and creeps closer. The horse takes a step back, but welcomes her hand after sniffing it. It playfully taps her head.
She smiles and pets it's cheek. "Hi. Hi buddy."
She looks over at the body, somewhat dried blood oozes from it's head. She shivers while feeling her stomach turn over. She carefully pulls the leg out and drops it. She looks away and at the horse.
She frowns, what was that? Locusts maybe? No. She goes to the next hill and as she comes to the top, she lowers herself to her belly. She peeks over, her heart drops and she hides....that's like a company and a half of soldiers. She frowns for a moment, what were they doing?
She peeks over again, ever so slightly. They're just...standing there, some are lying d...what the heck? Most of them, their uniforms are visibly stained red, covered in blood. They all look pale or, almost green. What happened to them?
Some are clumped together, oh my...are they...eating someone? Astrid can't pull herself away for several seconds, all she can do is stare in horror. Finally, she pulls away and hurries down the hill, she drops to her hands and knees and feels like she's going to puke. Who would do such a thing!? What kind of sick world is this!? Who eats other people!?
She covers her mouth, desperately trying to keep herself from throwing up. She doesn't want to risk them hearing her. She gets to her feet, her head spinning fast, she stumbles to the horse. She climbs onto the saddle and backtracks about a mile and starts riding a very long way around. She can't get the image out of her head. They were eating someone.
Astrid rides for, she guesses three hours after the sun falls, she could be wrong, she hasn't eaten or drank anything in at least 2 days. She is about to fall out of consciousness and slides off the horse. She hits the dirt with a thump, its hard enough to jolt her back.
She cringes and grabs her stomach, she stopped feeling the pain but its kicked in again. She's so hungry, even after....ugh.
She groans and tries to tell the horse to wait but her throat is too dry. She pushes up to her hands and knees, she crawls to an old car and leans against it. She hears an awful growling and jolts, a body dives out of the shattered windshield and charges after the horse.
She stares in horror at the savage body, running mindlessly towards the horse, both sprinting away, that man has freaking speed! The hore is outrunning it but....oh frick! The horse is outrunning! Meaning the man is gonna give up and come back!
Astrid forces herself up with a grunt and stumbles around to the driver's side. Please please please work.
She looks at the Horse and man disappearing down the hill. She feels awful letting the horse be chased. But better it than her. She says a quiet prayer, begging God to let there be the car work. She crawls in through the shattered window and falls into the driver's seat.
She groans loud and looks at the keys dangling, she huffs out and almost screams for joy. She forces herself upright in the seat and looks around in it. Are you, freakin kidding?!
She, almost with the same desperation as that man, arches back, throwing her hand out and grabbing the bag of chips. She shoves as many chips as she can in her mouth, she chews as hard and fast as she can, then swallows and throws more in.
She grabs the keys and turns a little too hard. The engine struggles for a moment, but turns over. She huffs out and smiles, she puts it in drive and looks at the gas, it's a little below half. She doesn't care, she goes down the road, not too fast in case the sound echoes. Guilt for the horse swells in her, she pushes the thought out and focuses on driving. She dumps the rest of the chips into her mouth and munches on them, her mouth is still watering, long after she's finished them
Astrid pulls over as the car sputters to a stop, quiet fills the air, a quiet that she didn't imagine could exist. She rests her head against the steering wheel, she wishes so desperately that she could have lived in an earlier time.
Almost against her will, she leans against the window and closes her eyes.
September 17th, 2021, 5 Years Earlier
Astrid looks around her and smiles, but it's fake. The depression of the world surrounds her, Joe Biden had won the Presidential Election. The world was coming to an end, she could feel it. Riots, murders, robbing...this world is in the end stages of every man for himself.
Astrid stands and leaves the check on the table, she wraps her scarf around her neck and wanders out into the street. She heads to time square, she can't help but let the smile disappear. Most shops were closed, if you picked the right area, you'd find a shop destroyed. The owner didn't have enough money to repair it, in most cases it was for the second time again, so the glass of shattered windows were usually left on the street. The shops were sold back to the government for money. There used to be vendors and booths selling things on Time Square. Now, no one dares come out to sell things, they'd likely be robbed blind. If people were to help, they might get killed.
Astrid hated this, this was a horrible place for a vacation, everyone said it was nice and lively. You can feel the depression, as if it had been thick smog, rotting the air. There are two places that are worse though. Washington D.C. and Detroit, Michigan.
That's just in the USA. Detroit has been declared a death state, the government refuses to send in military to stop the gangs, the gangs have unofficially taken the state, though no one would ever say or admit it. Because, this is the USA, Detroit is filled with American citizens that have freedoms. Apparently not everyone that is an American citizen is recognized as such. The world needs one push, literally, Astrid is convinced, if something as simple as an argument between governments occurs, World War 3 will begin. The world is at that point, all that matters to most of the world is blood. they can't wait to see the light leave the eyes of their enemies.
Astrid shivers at the thought. There is so much evil in this world...why is it so hard for people to just burn their pride like flash paper? Astrid turns and pulls her phone out of her jacket pocket and stares at the screen.
Depression swells in her stronger, 'Have you seen the News?'
Astrid knew what Mark meant, 'Yes, I have. I have 2 days to leave.'
After a few seconds, a reply returns, 'Hide.'
Astrid sighs, 'I can't, they are watching me..."all residents who are immigrants or have immigrants up to three generations back are ordered to return to their homeland, all who resist will be arrested"'
Astrid puts her phone in her jacket and looks up and around her. This is as good as it will get. Everywhere outside the USA is just as bad or likely worse than here.
Astrid closes her eyes, when she opens them again, she is back in the car and leaning against the window. She can feel her body wanting to cry, but for some reason, she just can't. She climbs out of the car and starts down the road.
Status de energia semanal
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