The Girl

The sirens wailed, and again she broke into a run, scanning the skies for any sign of the deadly drones. She stumbled on a section of broken pavement protruding from the ground but managed to stay upright despite being off-balance. She was only a few steps from the shelter provided by an abandoned roadhouse she’d discovered just hours before. How long had she been on the run? Hours? Days? She had no idea. What she was clear about was what made her run. What she had witnessed had driven her into a wild panic. It had happened so quickly and it was over so quickly. Once the black cloud of drones had ascended back into the heavens, the carnage they left behind was grotesque. People, one by one, had begun dying in the streets.. All around , men, women children convulsing and gasping for breath, then bleeding from their eyes and noses until they strangled in their own fluids. Yes, she had begun running then…running in a blind stupor. For how long? How long ago was it? Why was she still alive? Who was sounding the sirens warning of impending disaster?

The sirens screeched. Once again, she watched, peering from the safety of her haven as the drones came into view, like a surge of black locusts devouring everything in sight when they descended. This time it was the vegetation that was destroyed; the trees that dropped their leaves, the flowers that wilted, crumbled, and fell, the grass that browned and shriveled. And once again, she survived the scourge. Why, she wondered. How? What was it that spared her from the fate of everything around her. As the lethal drones slowly began to rise, so did she from her crouched position beneath the window sill. The sirens wound down to a whimper, and now she took time to look around her …around to the tables still set from half-eaten meals and covered in dead flies that had previously been feasting on their bounty, and to the chairs scattered about the room, some on their sides, others overturned completely. The patrons had obviously abandoned their meals hurriedly with no aforethought. She surveyed the disarray and then wandered about the room, hoping beyond hope to find some sign of life. Nothing. Not a dog, a cat, a cockroach. Just her in an empty roadhouse.

For the first time she could remember, she felt despair. What was left for her? What of her family? Her FAMILY? Wait…what had happened to her family when she ran? Did she abandon them? Did she leave them to die that horrible death? Her mother? Her father? She tried desperately to remember the last time she had seen them. She couldn’t remember. In fact, she couldn’t remember them at all. Had she lost her mind? She started to panic again. Her last memory of her home was…her address was…her town was…Oh, my god, she thought, I can’t remember anything.

Instinctively, her hand went up to her mouth as if to stifle a sob, but ultimately, none came, nor did her tears as she reached to wipe them. Puzzled she let her hand drop to her throat, whereupon she felt the lovely golden heart locket she had worn for as long as she could remember. Perhaps it opened and would hold a picture of her mother and father, or a boy she loved. No, it did not open. Disappointed again, she fingered the surface and felt some etching on the back. It could be her name. She struggled to hold it out far enough to read…D-I-0-R-D-N-A. Diordna, at least now she knew her name. She walked over to the mirror behind the bar. She was a pretty girl, with lovely brown ringlets. Her eyes slid down to her body. Her figure was shapely. Then her eyes drifted back up to her locket as it shone in the light, she drew closer to the mirror. This time she stared at her name…A-N-D-R-O-I-D.