Survivor

And lastly…one can always count on current events to drum up some fresh mental hell…

This apocalypse came with varying names: COVID-19, Corona Virus, the China flu, the Wuhan flu, the Bat flu. Whatever it had been called, there were very few people left to apply any given label.

Everywhere Tom looked, there were dead bodies, some desiccated, some fully-rotted, others still fresh. There was no running water, no electricity, no fresh food and packs of dogs ran in the streets, not yet starving but very weary of their environment.

He decided to leave for the wilderness, when he saw the female stumble out of the alleyway and drop to the asphalt. With an abundance of caution and a face-mask tied tightly over his mouth and nose, Tom approached her gaunt, bony form.

Tom immediately saw the small black beads, with white lettering, much like the ovoids that hospitals used to adorn newborns with at birth. Survivors wore similar bracelets and necklaces, those being of white with black lettering, this being the state’s proof that the wearer had never contracted the virus.

This woman in this empty street, nothing more than a teenager really, lay dying on the ground at his feet. Overwhelmed by a sense to help, he bent over her, feeling for a pulse and listening for her breathing.

To late Tom felt her heated breath as she hoarsely whispered, “Finally…”