Solitary Hearts

Climbing over the rubble, Sarah took a moment to look up at the gray sky. Ever since the Event, the sky had been gray, even when the sun managed to shine through like it was today. At least the air was somewhat clear and breathable rather than being choked with dust. As she drew nearer the heart of the city, the dust would get worse. Unfortunately, she needed to enter the city to scrounge up more supplies, if she could find them.

Years before, her group had come through here and hidden stockpiles for emergencies. She’d been much younger then and in the company of her older sister, but she thought she remembered where they had hidden food and water. Sarah shook her head to rid herself of the memories of her sister and the others. She just didn’t want to think about them right now. A low cry escaped her lips before she could bury the others in her mind again.

Finding those caches were the most important thing right now. Once she had a steady supply of food and water, she could take the time to grieve and start looking for other people. Her boot slipped on the gray rubble and she nearly went down. She would have to find a new pair, or figure out how to make them. Broken bits of brick and stone from the surrounding building filled the road as far as she could see.

Sighing heavily, Sarah clambered over a few large remnants of the shops that had lined the street in happier times, times she barely remembered. Green peeped through the dust coating the wall of the nearest shop. Sarah looked into the gaping hole in the wall. The shop had been looted long ago but ragged scraps of cloth hung on a the pale torso of a manikin.

“Too bad it’s not a shoe store,” Sarah said to herself with a wry smile. “That would have been a stroke of luck.” Sarah had taken to talking to herself in the months that she had been wandering alone.

She vaulted the low wall remaining at the bottom of the hole. A little shade and coverage was what she needed while she tried to gain her bearings. She didn’t worry about being spotted by someone else. Since she had left the small community she had been living in, Sarah had not seen another human being. Animals were rare enough to find as is, but humans had seemed to disappear entirely.

“God, Deb, I wish you were here,” muttered Sarah. Tears pricked her eyes at her sister’s name. “I’m not sure I remember where the supply cache is.”

Sarah dropped her backpack off her shoulder to get out the ever lightening water bottle she carried. Shaking the bottle before opening it, Sarah realized there was only enough water for another drink or two. She opened it anyway and moistened her dry lips and tongue. It was nowhere near enough to quell her thirst, but it would have to do. The backpack was nearly flat, the food consumed and just a few useful tools lay at the bottom.

Crouching by the front wall of the shop, Sarah stared at the dusty bricks. She drew her index finger through the dust to represent the road she was on. A mile or two back she’d found a sign post leaning drunkenly, held up the faded green and white sign that read “Main Street”. It had taken her precious daylight to scrape off the thick layer of dust, but revealing the name had helped to get her bearings. Quickly she sketched out a map of sorts. It wasn’t professional by any means, but good enough to jog her memory of this place.

“And x marks the spot,” she said and marked an x on the map where she thought she would find what she was looking for. She rocked back on her heels to study the map before angrily swiping it away. “I bet someone else has already found it by now.”

Having rested and reset, Sarah made her way back the broken street. It was hard work since the street was basically piles of gray concrete, red bricks and various debris and by the time Sarah had made it to where she thought the cache would be, the sun was low in the west. While she wanted to search for the supplies now. It was getting dark and with the dark, the cold would drift in. Instead, Sarah found a place in the interior of the ruins of a building and dug a hole into the rubble. Without a fire, it was best to create a small nest where her own body heat would warm up the space. She tied a fragment of cloth around her nose and mouth and curled up to shiver herself to sleep once again.

When the morning sun was high enough to bring some heat back to the shattered street, Sarah roused herself and climbed out of her make-shift shelter. The bright morning light did not bring enlightenment to her. Everything still looked the same, broken concrete, wood rotting under thick layers of dust. She pounded her hands on her thighs to restore circulation and cloud of dust puffed out of her faded gray jeans. The water bottle in her hands was as empty as her stomach. She needed to locate the cache; she wouldn’t last much longer. Thrusting the bottle back into the backpack, Sarah hoisted it back on to her shoulders. It was time to search in earnest.

“Come on, I know it’s got to be here somewhere,” she moaned softly. Her eyes sweated the broken landscape and she decided that if she couldn’t find those supplies, here was as good as anywhere to die.

The sun reach it’s zenith and began to descend while she fruitlessly searched the ruin. Her strength was fading and she sat on a larger chunk of wall to catch her breath. Suddenly she noticed something glimmering in the afternoon light. Her breath caught in her chest and she jumped up to find the out what the glimmer was.

“Well, I’ll be damned!” She exclaimed.

Her hand shook slightly as she reached out to touch the gold locket draped carefully over a protrusion in the broken wall. She recognized the small heart shaped locket.

“Oh, Deb!” She cried out.

The locket had belonged to her sister Deb. Deb claimed it had been lost, but now Sarah knew that her sister had used it to mark a cache and an entrance to a small underground location where she could survive for a while. New hope flared in Sarah and she dug down to find everything she would need to make this her base. She would make it after all and maybe even find more people soon. Carefully, Sarah opened the necklace’s catch and smoothed the locket against her pink t-shirt.