Day 1,662

Dear Diary:

Growing up when I thought of the apocalypse, I thought there would be nuclear destruction, rabid mutant animals running everywhere, or even a mob of angry zombies to fight off. I was disappointed the start of the end of the world started with a virus, mobs of angry people fighting to hoard toilet paper, and the silent destruction of modern-day society. It’s kind of ironic that the thing to take out the top predator in the food chain was a cough. Scientists couldn’t find a cure and eventually, they ran out of time. There were a select few that were immune to it and after months of searching we finally found each other, there is nothing around us or even in a 300 km radius of where I am standing right now except for trees, squirrels, and a wild cannibal from the Appalachia's running through the woods beneath me, unaware I’m even here; for now.

Now the interesting thing about this post-apocalyptic world is that while we have our cannibals, they aren’t the mindless, brain-eating version we all became accustomed to thanks to Hollywood. They have their own version of society and will hold ‘trials’ on their catch of the day. I use the term trial loosely because in reality they aren’t fair and every person who has ever been caught, has never come back. I have gotten exceptional at climbing trees, not being heard, and making tree covers that can be torn down in 2 minutes. You may be asking yourself why I wouldn’t just get into a car and drive to wherever I need to go but gasoline had an expiration date and we hit that date months ago so the only vehicle I have is my legs. Scavenging trips are excursions that last weeks at a time in an attempt to find more canned food and even people if we are lucky.

Everything that means anything to me I can wear or fit in my backpack. The most important thing of them all? A silver heart-shaped locket I haven’t taken off since I got it for my twelfth birthday. I was never an overly feminine girl and my mom knew that if she had any hopes in me growing into the pink-loving girl she always wanted it needed to start this simple and delicate locket. When I got it I didn’t realize how much it would actually mean, now I wish I took it more seriously and maybe just wore a dress for her once or twice instead of rolling my eyes and shimmying into ripped jeans and my favorite Nirvana t-shirt. The only trace of femininity she could get me to show was hanging on a delicate chain.

I get lost in my memory for a brief moment and make a cracking sound and instantly I hear my hungry friend spin around and head back to where I am, quickly looking side to side waiting for another sound to let him know he heard correctly. He waited, I held my breath until my lungs began to burn and my eyes were starting to water. I was sure he could hear my heart beating in my chest cavity because it was deafening in my ears. I slowly let my breath out through my nose as he started away from me on his original path. The leader of our society told us that four towns over still had a plethora of food and I am at least a full day and night away before I even started to see the town limits.

Once I am confident enough that he is well out of hearing distance, I slowly and carefully start to move through the trees again, watching every step I take and every breath I inhale is calculated and slow, there are traps and snares everywhere so I make sure I look before I take a small step. After what seems like a week of climbing through trees I finally see the start of the sunrise and figure there is no better time to rest. I set up a quick shelter and secure myself to the trunk of the tree. I triple-check the knots and before I know it I am getting lost in the memories of a time before free-running cannibals and being able to travel wherever. I am not sure how long I slept for, but when I finally open my eyes I am almost blinded by the sun. After I climb down from the tree and start my journey on foot again.

Out of nowhere, I hear a male voice yell “finally” and begin moving quickly. Instantly I bolt into the flatland in front of me, picking up speed as I carry myself moving further from them, I know there is a small town coming up. I can find an empty house to hide in until I am more than absolutely sure that tricky flesh snacker has lost me. I felt foolish briefly for thinking I was completely safe before but quickly pushed that thought out of my head as I sprinted down the main street of this tiny ghost town I changed my direction of travel several times until I was confident I was going to be hard to keep track of. I let myself into a small house on the end of a dead-end street and went up to the last bedroom on the top floor and waited.

It felt like hours had passed when I finally heard a whistle; I was slightly confused as I slowly raised my head to look out of the window. I could see that there was a medium-sized mob coming down the street in my direction and their leader whistling a slow tune to coax me out of hiding. My heart starts to quicken as I think of every conceivable exit method. I know they will find me; I know I will need to fight my way out.

Until next time, Diary.