The Locket

The sound of a small animal shuffling around in the debris that littered the floor pierced the silence that allowed Deondre to drift into a light sleep. He blearily rubbed his eyes while he sat up to take inventory of his surroundings. He had been sleeping in the freezer of this old department store for the past few nights to rest from his journey West.

He had heard from a man at the scrap markets in Nashville that there was a precious metals market in Memphis. He could still hear their laughter when he started asking questions about jewelry. How could he be worried about something as silly as jewelry at a time like this. He struggled to eat on a daily basis, let alone have a need for gaudy accessories.

He decided his stay here had lasted long enough and slowly climbed to his feet. He quickly gathered his things into his bag and moved toward the gaping hole in the wall that he had entered through.

Society had collapsed during an uprising against the Government after it came to light that experiments sanctioned by Congress were responsible for the Darkmen. He had been working in Jackson as a security guard when he first encountered one. They were even more frightening than they had reported on the news.

Once a person came in contact with the contaminant leaked from the experiments it didn't take long for them to start changing. The first sign of the change was a severe reaction to sunlight causing them to only come out at night. The second change was an aggressive demeanor that almost certainly meant they would kill anything that moved.

He was only 12 miles outside of Memphis now and it looked like he was going to have a sunny day ahead which should make his journey easy. He planned to go straight to the city center where he should be able to find the markets. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. He slowly unwrapped it and gazed at the small heart-shaped locket. Memories of the day he gave it to Elizabeth started flooding into his mind. He quickly shoved it into his pocket and stepped through the opening into the light and made his way to the roadway.

His bag was much lighter than when he started because he didn't have nearly as much food. As he trudged along the roadway he began thinking of ways that he may find some food. He had originally entered the department store in hopes that he would find something to eat. It seemed the closer that he got to a major city the less common food was. He may have to wait until he gets to Memphis. “Only 10 more miles to go.” He thought to himself.

He was carrying with him a rifle that he used to hunt with and his dad's old service pistol. He knew that weapons and food were the only real things of value these days and hoped that he could barter the pistols for some food at the market and find someone to repair the locket. It was the only thing he had left to remind him of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth had met up with him at her moms house right after he had encountered the Darkmen. They made a plan to flee to the cabin they stayed at in Rugby on their honeymoon while this all blew over. They were driving East on interstate 40 when they came to a pile of wrecked vehicles blocking the road.

He quickly engaged the 4 wheel drive on his Bronco and started to go around them in the grass when several men in Army uniforms stepped out from behind the cars with assault rifles pointed at them. He quickly stopped and stuck his hands out of his window.

Black men had been wrongfully killed by the police for decades before the collapse and it was even more likely now that society was in shambles. He and Elizabeth had gotten plenty of looks and had hateful things said to them for being an interracial couple and now was no time to make a stand.

Elizabeth started to cry as the men advanced on their truck. He assured her it would all be okay as a man yelled at them to exit the vehicle. Deondre stepped out first and was marched to the back of the vehicle with his hands clasped behind his head by a large man with a red bandanna over his face.

He pleaded with them not to hurt them and the man yelled “Shut the fuck up! The truck is ours now, don’t make any sudden moves and we may let you go.” Just then a shot rang out and Deondre and the man ran to the passenger side of the vehicle where they saw Elizabeth laying on the ground holding her neck.

Deondre screamed “Elizabeth! Why the fuck did you shoot her?” The youngest of the men started throwing up as Deondre fell to the ground next to Elizabeth and held her head, his hands smearing blood through her curly blonde hair. The men started yelling at each other as one shakily said “She reached under her seat…we…we thought she had a gun.”

The man with the red bandanna yelled “Let’s get the fuck out of here guys!” as they jumped into the Bronco and sped away leaving Deondre there with the love of his life bleeding out on the street.

Elizabeth gasped for air and weakly said “Deondre…I…I…I’m going to die.” Deondre whispered “No baby, you’ll be fine we just have to get you to a hospital.”. She barely got out the words “th..there are n…no hospitals anymore.” Before she started to cough up blood. “Stay with me Beth!” Deondre yelled as he gripped her tighter. “I…love…you” she mouthed as she went limp in his arms.

He sobbed and held her for hours before the darkness started to set in. He leaned in and kissed her one last time, gently took her locket off and covered her with an old sheet he found inside a nearby wrecked car. He didn’t want to leave her, but he had no choice as the Darkmen would come out soon.

Jackson would be engulfed in a fire that destroyed the entire city several days later. He had been looking for supplies when he realized his house was in the path of the fire and rushed home. When he got there he saw flames licking at the side of his chimney, the whole roof aflame.

He had just enough time to get inside his house and grab the few things he could carry before he heard the ceiling giving way. He quickly ran out and watched as the roof collapsed destroying everything else that he loved.

He shook the thoughts out of his mind as a drop of rain grazed his cheek. It was going to rain after all. He kept walking until he came up to an old mini van that had wrecked into a tree off of the shoulder of the road with its door standing wide open.

Surprisingly all of the windows were intact so he climbed inside and closed the door just as it started to pour. The Darkmen had become increasingly desperate for food and recently started going out in heavy rains even though it clearly burned their skin.

He hunkered down in between the back seats and pulled the locket out once more. He spun it in his fingers as he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.