We create our own hell.

I slowly awakened by the sunset's soft light coming in through the windows and the sound of ghastly grunts fading farther and farther away. Blinking a few times to allow my eyes to adjust to the surrounding, I lay on the blankets I stacked on top of one another to mimic a bed. Mattress' makes too much noise, and I'm not a still sleeper, constantly tossing and turning while asleep. After fifteen minutes, the grunts were finally gone; I decided to get up and find some food before packing everything up and moving to a new place. It's been three years since the world's governments attempted to take total control of everyone and sent rockets into space filled with nukes into the sun. Amazingly, the sun did not explode or react the way they hoped; nope, it was worse. The sun stayed shining but instead began sending nuclear fallout all over Earth.

Only a tiny percent of us weren't affected by them; the unfortunate weren't so lucky. Some died immediately, others slow and painfully; the ones who were that fortunate began to mutate. Few became zombies, searching for anything that moved to eat, except unlike in the movies, those who they bit didn't turn. Can't turn something that no longer has a form; those bitten were eaten to the point where nothing was left behind, no bones, no hair, no teeth, nothing. Others became deformed, unrecognizable to who there had been at one point. I'm not particularly eager to stay in one place for more than a few nights, although not all of them are zombies doesn't make it safe. Those that aren't are the most dangerous; just being near them could cause you to disintegrate and go up into flames; those are the few things we've seen happen to those not affected. My group originally started with ten people; it's down to just me now. I'm alone now. After the governments attacked the sun, we received word that somewhere there was a little girl with a heart locket; if you wanted to survive, you had to find her. At first, we all laughed; it made no sense. That was until someone found her and was streaming live across the world; her face couldn't be seen, just her silver hair and small stature. The girl's soft voice heard saying, "Find me, and I will take you to where you belong. If you wish to leave this hell, let go of all that holds you back, keeps you where you are, and you'll find me."

The person who found her asked, "Are... Are you Jesus?" The girl smiled, "I am not him, but I will save you." After devouring a can of old, cold beans, I readied everything and headed out. I stood outside, giving my eyes a chance to adjust to the darkness before slowly walking away from the abandoned house I had stayed in the past two nights. In the past three years, I've been through North America, South America, most islands in the pacific ocean, most of Europe, and Africa. I happened to overhear a few people who had decided to camp out in the woods of Germany that they had heard the girl was seen somewhere in Asia, so that's where I'm heading towards now. I've learned to walk through wooded areas, making it easier to hide and escape easier if needed. After walking for a few hours, I notice what looks like a campfire and cautiously head towards it. As I get closer, I can see that there are cans of open food left and abandoned.

Thinking there was no one there anymore, I decided to sit near the fire. "Nows an excellent time to take a break, I suppose," I say out loud to myself as I go through my bag. A branch breaking causes me to stop and stay still. I slow my breathing down and listen. After a few seconds of silence, I cautiously go back to looking through my bag, pulling out a map and some jerky I had found in one of the houses I stayed. "You know where to go...." I heard a voice gargle. I looked up to lock eyes with a woman whose eyes looked demented. "You... You have a map. You know where to go! Give me the map!!" She screeched as she launched towards me. I jumped backward, just barely avoiding her, before quickly getting up and running. I could hear her yelling as she ran towards me, stumbling over tree roots and fallen branches. I could feel myself getting tired with all the things I was carrying. "She'll catch me at this rate..." I told myself. I didn't want to leave my things; I need them... But keeping them won't do me good if she catches me and kills me. I grunt before removing my bag and throwing my bag at the woman. She throws herself over it, laughing insanely. "I'll leave this place; I'll be saved!! I'll be saved!" Her yells echoed through the woods. After running a few more minutes, I stopped and sighed, now how was I going to find my way? I thought. I leaned against a tree, sliding down sitting down bringing my knees to my chest. My vision began to blur, and light surrounded me. In front of me were two petite feet, the toenails painted a crimson red. "So, you were able to throw away what kept you back and held you down." Her voice was gentle, and it felt warm in a way. "It's too bad that you let them go on selfish and wrong reason. But don't worry, you'll go where everyone goes." I slowly lifted my head to see pale legs, small hips, a flat stomach, a thin neck, and her long hair. Her voice was slowly becoming distorted. "You'll get the end that was set from the beginning." Her beautiful face, pale, now housed a grin that caused my stomach to sink. An ear-to-ear grin that was full of sharp, jagged teeth and blood-red eyes that sent fear all through me that felt cold as ice. "You humans are pathetic, weak creatures. It's no wonder my sister abandoned you. Welcome to your real hell." She said as she opened her gold locket. "Goodbye." Those were the last words I heard before being sucked into the locket and tortured in a personal hell just for me.