Fission

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Has it been weeks or maybe a month since Camila left that gas station? She didn't know anymore. The days and the hours seem to all blur together. All she knew was the endless walking. her weight as well as her sense of time had been seeming to slowly disappear. The small amount of food she had Rationed from the gas station ran out what seemed like an eternity ago. At this point, the young woman was just surviving on the pure will to live even though she didn't know why. Her family was gone Along with her boyfriend. All perished in the explosion as well as a whole city and what seemed like the world. Her career and saxophone, all vanished. Darren, the guy helping her survive this apocalypse was also....gone. Camila often thought about just lying down on the road as that old woman had done, but instead of baiting strangers, she would just give up and die. An overgrown green signs up ahead read in white letters 'Lake Charles one hundred miles. Camila had stayed off the roads and avoided moving cars, Homes, and other places where people were gathered. Most of the places, once no doubt a bustling town, were now vacant. places were in shambles and picked clean while others were overgrown or barricaded. The bomb may have dropped miles away, but its effects were made known far and wide. How far, Camila didn't know. There was still no cell service and her phone had died weeks ago. The young woman was lost, afraid, and had nothing to put her faith into.

That night the air was thick and humid as Camila made her way through the moonlight night. A few nights ago she almost ran into a large jungle cat. No doubt it had escaped from one of the local zoos. It had its attention on a large doe and paid Camila no mind. It wasn't enough that she had to worry about people and radiation, but now wild animals were on the loose, and Tony the freaking tiger was out here and not giving out frosted flakes. As she stumbled forward in the thick bush, avoiding the roadways as much as possible, Camila wandered into an opening. It looks like a half-cut cane field. A few feet in front of her an orange glow illuminated a group of people. Camila froze in terror and held her breath, silently praying they hadn't seen her.

"Hey! You! Let me see those hands." The sound of an older woman rang out in the night. Camila raised her hands slowly as fear looped in her stomach.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Another female voice spoke up.

"My name is Camila....I am just passing by. I mean no harm." It was a weird saying she thought to herself. Like it was plucked right out of an old west movie. It felt like an old west movie to her though. Dangerous pre-technology areas where it was an eye for an eye and lawlessness ran a muck. The only thing missing was a cowboy hat and a petticoat, two she would never be caught dead wearing. She was her fashion mother's child after all.

"Come over here and sit down." An older woman spoke up in a welcoming tone. Camila was hesitant but she knew if she ran she would seem guilty. She pushed the flight response down deep in her belly aside and slowly made her way toward the fire. As she drew closer, Camila could make out the faces of each person. They were all women. One was an elder black lady. One was a middle-aged white lady and the two younger girls around her age were both Hispanic.

"Come sit by the fire with us." The older lady beckons Camila to sit by her.

"Where did you come from? Do you have any news on what is going on?" The middle-aged woman asked. Camile shook her head no and sat quietly down beside the older woman.

"Men did this" one of the younger girls spoke up.

"No humans did." The elder replied.

"We are all to blame." The middle-aged woman added.

"Should have gone to the moon or mars or something." The other teen spoke.

"Why?The same thing would have happened, humans have a sickness in them." The elder glanced at each other, the young girls, and then Camila.