The Golden Community

The platforms of my tattered boots scraped against the gravel as I dragged my heavy feet. I knew I was close but the closer I got, the more the exhaustion hit. I wanted to give up - lay in the road and wait for the savages to get me. I kept pushing myself to keep going and it was one of the hardest things I had ever done.

If only my grandma could see me now. I'm not the proper girl with dresses and tights that she raised me to be, not anymore. I haven't seen a working hot shower since it all began. I've seen rivers and streams and air dried the same clothes I've been wearing for three months, maybe longer. I can't remember when it all started, but I know it happened fast and I've been on my own ever since.

I wish it was all a dream. I hope to wake up in my bed every time I close my eyes. Instead, I'm met with nightmares of everyone losing power, banging on our windows and doors of people who want to get in and take all of our things. The Army trying to gather everyone up and keep us safe in one place, but it didn't stay safe for long. Not even they could keep the peace. Everything collapsed, there was and still is no structure, no laws, no government.

I try not to remember everything because it's still too overwhelming for me to think of every day, but what else am I to think about? I have barely heard my own voice in the past week, maybe more. I haven't encountered many people who are up for friendly conversation. My grandma told me to keep quiet, not talk to anyone and to find my way to the golden gates. She handed me a small trinket box and told me that it would guarantee my entry. I don't know how but she knew exactly what was going to happen. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have survived.

At first it was hard to figure out what she meant by golden gates, but I saw a sign that said it was 170 miles away. All I had to do was follow the road I was on and I'd be there. I'm not sure who put the sign up, but I quietly thank them every day for doing so.

It took months to get to the golden gates. I may have gotten there sooner had I not encountered wild animals, savages who tried to rip the backpack and clothes off of my body. The hunger has slowed me down immensely, too.

I clutched the chain in my hand, knowing I had less than a mile left. It was starting to get dark, and I know that's when people go missing and never return. I've heard it being the remains of the government, taking people to do tests and see how true survival instinct affects people. I've heard of it being the savages who take your things, sometimes your life. I've heard of it being the animals that no one can see, or at least, no one who has seen them lives to tell anyone about them.

The gates are ahead of me now and I want to cry. The end is nearing. The end of this horrifying journey. I've been alone, scared, starved and I just want to be safe. The golden gates promised safety, but you have to have a token to get in. A special token not many have.

I hear the wind pick up, making alarm bells go off in my head. I feel the hair on my neck stand up. There's someone, or something, coming up behind me.

I start to run. I didn't know I had it in me, but I ran as fast as I could to the gates. I didn't dare turn around, not when I was this close. I took the heart-shaped locket out of my jacket, as the trinket box had broken long ago. I held it up, praying that someone could see it before I got up to the gates. I wanted them to open and welcome me before the being got to me.

"Please! Open the gates! Please!" My hoarse voice screamed out. I didn't even recognize it anymore.

Light billowed from the massive gates as they opened, it was almost blinding. The wind was so loud I almost couldn't hear the thick, heavy metal scraping on the gravel as they opened. I continued to run as fast as I could.

I slipped into the small opening that was made for me and collapsed onto the ground, sobbing. I was exhausted.

I made it.

A shadow appeared over me, "Welcome to the Golden Community. You're safe here."

I closed my eyes in comfort, letting the sleep I had been longing for take over me.