Lost Hope

As we walked the jagged remnants of a skyline became clearer through the thick fog. A beacon of hope that promises to be full of what we need to survive. In silence, Layla and I stumble through the mixture of ash and snow that falls from the gray sky above, hope propels us as we stumble faster and faster towards our destination. As the skyline looms before us, I take in the buildings that lean on their neighbors, windowpanes with sharp glass protruding like gnarling teeth or some just missing entirely but I spot the occasional still intact window as we step onto the crumbling pavement. I imagine people peering down at us from those long-forgotten rooms. Rusted cars, overturned buses, and even one-half of an airplane litter our path into the city.

“Looters,” Layla comments as we walk, our eyes on the sparkling glass before the hollowed-out stores.

I say nothing as we climb over what was once the top half of a building, careful to avoid the glass that sparkles as the gray clouds clear above us. Fear begins pushing aside the hope as I worry something more insidious than looters has been here. As we slide down the other side, hands gripping at one another, I spot the first skeleton. The skeletal remains of the city are discouraging enough without the remains of their citizens waiting in the streets, in the buildings, and half tumbling from the cars.

“It’s not like I’ve never seen one, Kat,” Layla comments as we move away.

I roll my eyes at her, “They creep me out.”

Saying nothing in reply, Layla takes a step, her foot landing on a piece of glass. We both tense as our eyes meet. Silence follows. No birds caw at us, no patter of smaller critters darting away from our progress. Layla frowns before the quiet is punctured by a loud scream of metal ripping.

“No.”

Layla snaps her mouth closed, a steely look of determination flickering across her young face. With a desperate glance at the destruction around us, I drag her towards the hollowed remains of a store. We duck behind an overturned table, Layla pausing to momentarily examine the torn boxes that litter the floor.

“What is this place?” Layla whispers.

I glance around, taking in the boxes covered in mouse droppings. Reaching out, I grab one of the boxes. Staring at the faded words, I search my memory. Ma was always making me study the words of the lost world. She said someday, the knowledge would save my life. Crouched in the musty store surrounded by rusting toys, I’m not sure she was right in that.

“Toy store, I think. I’m not sure exactly what a LEGO is, though,” I say before passing the box to my sister.

As I do, another loud metallic squeal shatters the silence of the city. Layla goes rigid next to me, her wide eyes locked on the front of the store. With a deep breath, I pull her to me. Huddled together, we wait. Outside, the city is filled with metallic screams and maniac laughter. Scavengers. Men and women warped by their exposure to the elements and the fallout from the last world war. Vicious and crazed, they roam from ruined city to ruined city in search of food and metals used to bring painful ends to the rest of the survivors.

Hours pass before the city falls quiet. Still, Layla and I don’t move, despite the screaming muscles in our legs. We wait until the last light of day leaves the city before we slip from our hiding spot. Empty-handed, we make our way from the city. The knowledge that scavengers being so close keeps us quiet and quick as we feel our way through the dark. I’ll be happy to see the tall barbed-wire fence that rises from the dried earth. There we are safe.

“Kat, look,” Layla whispers, tugging her hand free from my grasp as she bends to retrieve something from the dirt.

“Layla,” I hiss, but she ignores me.

She stands her attention on the bright red vial in her hands. My blood runs cold. I know that vial. I’ve seen it hundreds of times. In Ma’s books, the plague is always described as arriving in unmarked boxes lined with neat red vials. Meant to prolong humanity against spreading diseases, but instead, one drop of the liquid inside, and you’d wish for a death sentence instead of the horrors that are unleashed on your body.

“Put that down,” I order my sister.

She glances at me, defiance flashing in her eyes for a moment before she takes in the worry on my face. The tension in my stance as I stare at her. Carefully, she bends to set the vial back down. Her eyes locked on mine. She doesn’t notice the shard of glass until it’s biting into her forearm. In surprise, she drops the vial. The tiny clinking sound of glass hitting pavement the noise permeating throughout the city.

Nothing happens for a moment. Layla and I stare at one another across the three feet separating us. Then I move, leaning forward to pull her with me. Without hesitating, I run, dragging her along behind me. I throw caution to the wind as we leap over piles of rubble. The sooner we leave these ruins, the sooner we can forget this whole adventure.

“Stop,” Layla pleads as we near the edge of the city.

I pause to turn to her. Her skin is pale and covered in a sheen of sweat that causes my gut to squeeze. No. No, no, no. This can’t be happening. Layla drops to her knees as her eyes plead with me, for rest or water, I’m not sure. In that moment, I can’t give her either.

“Go, Kat,” Layla instructs as she rubs her nose, unable to meet my eyes.

“Layla,” I say, but she cuts me off with a sharp shake of her head.

Bending her head, she pulls out the heart-shaped rusty locket that was once a bright gold that mom gave her before vanishing into the unforgiving desert. Tears sting my eyes as she unhooks it and hands it to me. With shaking hands, I take it from her. She blinks back tears before a couch wracks her small body.

“Please, Kat, go,” she begs between coughs.

I stare at the bright red blood that trickles down my younger sister’s nose while I curse the ruins, the vial, and the citizens of this once large city forever thinking they could play god, forever thinking they could meddle. Because of them, my sister is being stolen from me right before my eyes. Tears well in my eyes as I take several steps away from my sister. She watches me go without a flicker of emotion on her face.