Left Behind
Will what makes us human die before humanity does?
Tired and warm in the bitter cold, she breathed her last words. The biting wind took them. Unheard, by the rest of her party as they disappeared into the mirage of wind and snow.
A relic. What need had the world for exploration, these days? What use for an adventurer in a party determined to find proof the adventure of the human experiment was ending?
But nobody in the world had explored the unmapped wastes of Antarctica as well as she. For scientists searching for deep core samples proving the tipping point towards extinction had been tipped, she was the obvious choice to guide them across the empty continent.
"Antarctica in the middle of winter is no place for sentiment. It's a place nature will try to kill you," she said at orientation. She needn't have - every ounce of sentiment was wrung dry from the party.
Her only nod to sentiment was Hector. She never went on an expedition without her loyal husky.
A blizzard cut Hector off from the party. She searched. She found him. She struggled so long to find her comrades in the blinding mirage of wind and snow. Now with their lights in sight, she was exhausted. They'd sent no search party. They moved on. No looking back. No sentiment.
She was warm, in the bitter cold. She held Hector tight.
"I have nothing left" she whispered.
Unheard, by a world that had already moved on without her.
It was only ever a whisper, anyway.
About the Creator
Roderick Makim
Read one too many adventure stories as a child and decided I'd make that my life.
I grew up on a cattle station in the Australian Outback and decided to spend the rest of my life seeing the rest of the world.
For more: www.roderickmakim.com
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Comments (1)
Wow, what a heart wrenching allegory. A world that cares very little for each of us individually and will leave us behind without a second thought. Yet, despite her statement during orientation, our MC clearly didn't believe it. Sentiment reserved for a loyal companion seems to her, to be different from human-to-human sentiment, which is dried up. I find this very interesting. A shred of hope (or warmth in a bitter cold wasteland) left for a glimmering moment, only to be snuffed out and forgotten. I applaud you for this contained rollercoaster of a story. Brilliantly done.