City of Crumbling Stone

Buildings crumble into the streets, blocks of stone scattered like the carnage of a battle. I step over a worn gas mask, pushing open the broken door of a store. The sign has fallen and is hanging by a wire, and the side of the building has been blasted away completely. Inside, glass is scattered all over the floor, and the shelves are picked mostly clean, save for the occasional can or piece of garbage.

I pick my way to the back room, scouring pallets in search of anything previous scavengers missed. Splinters of wood and shreds of shrink wrap lie in heaps, and I carefully search through them, putting a few cans and packages of noodles I find into a satchel at my hip.

A car revs outside, and I rush to the entrance, carefully peering outside to see a Lamborghini zoom down the street. It stops at a store a good half-block away, and I slip outside and stick to the shadows until I round the corner. There's no telling what people will do now. Already stores have been raided, cars hijacked, and empty homes robbed. What's to say people won't be desperate enough to steal what I've already stolen?

We live a good distance from the center of town, but I don't dare try to hotwire a car. I don't know how, to begin with, but it would draw too much attention to myself. I'd rather walk.

When I arrive home, my mother and brother rush to meet me at the door. They're the only ones who made it alive out of my family, and that's only because I insisted they stay inside. They didn't like it, but now they're alive because of it.

"Did you get anything?" Jared asks, eagerly taking the satchel from my side and pawing through it. His face falls when he sees my meager haul, but my mom just pulls me into a hug with a gracious smile.

"You shouldn't risk it like that. I can--"

"No." I put a hand on her fragile shoulders, pushing her gently onto the couch so as to not hurt her bad hip. "I'm going to get us food, otherwise we'll starve." Soon, though, there won't be anything left, and we'll have to grow all our own food. When I go out tomorrow, I'll have to remember to check the stores for some seeds and plants. I can just hope the others are too frantic to have thought of it.

"I went through a couple of the neighbors' houses, and I came back with some stuff," Jared announces, his face full of pride.

"I've told you I don't want you doing that! It's still dangerous." I'm about to say more when my mother's face stops me. I know that they can't just sit here, useless. They've been doing enough of that for months. If Jared wants to help, this is the safest way possible. I lean down to be on his level. "That's wonderful. Keep up the good work. Want to help me make dinner?"

Dinner isn't much, but Jared found some old cookies for dessert that don't taste half bad. It's a reprieve from all the canned food. After we eat, we play a round of cards, something that has become a ritual.

"Good job, Alina," my mom says as she gathers the cards in a pile. I usually let Jared win, but I got distracted by my own thoughts and accidentally allowed myself to beat them both. Now he's pouting, but he'll get over it.

"I should get some rest. I thought if I got up early tomorrow, I could go out before anyone else."

It's the same every day: wake up, search for food, come home, eat, go to bed, repeat. Before, when we were still in quarentine, life was much the same. The same monotony existed, and I had begun to spiral down into a dark place without a purpose. Now, at least I have to feed my family, but if this keeps going on, I know I'm going to spiral down into the same darkness.

I was right when I thought no one else would be out in the early morning. I even risk trying to hotwire a car. Sparks go flying when I touch the wrong wires, and I decide to start on a different car so I don't accidentally blow myself up. I finally get a sleek pickup to start, and I quietly creep through the streets, stopping at each store and searching through the spoils. I take anything I find, now that I don't have to worry about space or weight. It's a couple hours after sunrise when I decide to quit before too many people come out, and I have a good haul.

As I make my way home, I see someone else along the road, and with a split second to decide whether to stop or keep going, I stop, moving into the shoulder and freezing with fear.

The car slowly drives pass--almost too slow--and I just am beginning to breathe again when a gunshot fills the air. Glass shatters as my back window is blown out, and I duck, shifting the truck into drive and flooring the gas. More shots ring out, and I keep my head low, swerving as I drive.

A quick glance behind me shows two men leaning out their windows, guns trained on me. Their cheeks lean against the guns as they look through the sights, and I can almost see their fingers squeezing the trigger.

I jerk the wheel, taking the truck off the road and into the thick brush that I hope their car won't be able to handle. There's an incoherant shout, and I duck as two shots fire, one hitting my side mirror and the other the side. All I can do is keep my foot on the pedal and drive like a madman, continuing to swerve without any pattern or direction.

After I'm sure I've lost them, I double back to town twice before going home, taking different roads each time. When I finally reach home, I park three streets away and walk home, rushing Jared back to help me take the stuff inside.

"Do you know who they were?"

"No, mom. If I did, maybe they wouldn't be shooting at me," I snap sarcastically as I put cans in the far-too-empty cupboards. "And don't worry. There's no way they could have followed me here."

She waves her hand at that, worrying her lip. "What have people come to? Are we not still human?"

"Civilization has collapsed. There are no laws to prevent people from doing whatever they want, and they'll do anything to keep themselves alive."

I shouldn't have to explain this to her, but she hasn't seen what the outside world has become. She's seen the empty streets, but not the way people have fought over a can of soup, the way even occupied houses aren't safe from robbery.

"We'll be okay. I'll keep us safe. I just need to get my hands on a gun."

She slaps her hand on the counter and stands up abruptly, causing me to jump and knock over the stack of cans I've just created. "But you shouldn't have to!"

I set everything down, turning to her. "We shouldn't have to do any of this, but it's just the way it is. All we can do is survive."

She nods and sits down again with a grimace. Next on my list is to rob a pharmacy. She needs her regular medicine, or at least something to keep down the swelling and pain.

Jared comes running inside, sweat slickening his face. His eyes are wide with fear, and his chest rises and falls with heaves.

"What's wrong?"

"There's someone outside, sweeping the houses. They're coming this way. Do you think they'll leave us alone?"

I don't think so.

"Come on. Both of you."

"Where are we going?" Jared asks, but I don't bother to answer him. I'm too busy trying to figure out the answer to that myself. Maybe the people coming toward us are different, or maybe they're the same. Whatever the case, I doubt they'll place nice.

I shove them both outside, leading them around the corner of the house and over the backyard fence. Jared is easy to boost up. He crawls over nimbly like a cat, but my mother, she grunts and is barely able to lift her foot up.

"Mom, I know it hurts, but we have to go."

"I know, I know."

"Jared, come help!"

He sits at the top of the fence and takes her arm while I boost up her foot. With a lot of scrambling, we get her to the top. I scurry over and help her down, beckoning Jared to follow. Mother is limping now, but I can't worry about that. We need to keep moving.

"Which direction where they coming from?" I turn to Jared, and he points to the west. If we're lucky, they'll have already swept these houses.

There's a cellar door in one of the old houses, and though it's probably the most obvious place to hide, I pull on the lock until it breaks and usher Mom and Jared into the darkness, despite his whimpers.

"It's dark."

"I know, I know."

I pull the doors shut and pull him in for a tight hug, pulling him along with me as I use one hand to feel along the wall. There's an alcove to one side, and I pull Mom into it with us. If someone looks down here, at least we won't be the first thing they see.

I don't know how long we stay down in the cellar. Jared has fallen asleep in my lap, and I can hear Mom snoring softly in the corner. Despite not wanting to wake him, I shift to stand, feeling my way to the stairs. The world has fallen into darkness, but everything seems peaceful and quiet.

"Come on. Wake up." I shake both of their shoulders, gently waking them from peaceful dreams to pull them into the nightmare of reality. "I think the coast is clear, but stay here while I go check our house."

I keep low as I race through backyards and hop over the fence. Outside my house, I don't want to go in. From behind, it looks untouched, and I don't want that to change. With a sigh, I force myself to push open the back door, taking in the open cupboards, the papers strewn across the floor. There's muddy boot prints in the carpet, and the front door hangs open on one hinge.

Squatting and running a hand over my face, I pick up a dented can and set it on the counter. You have to be strong. You have to be strong for them, I remind myself.

I do what I can to clean up before I bring Mom and Jared back over, though I can tell by their faces and the tears in Mom's eyes that I didn't do a good enough job. Jared runs to the cupboards, throwing them open. I can practically hear his stomach rumble. Mom runs her hand over the counter, eyes roaming over the dirt I didn't manage to clean up. The door is still broken, but I managed to move it mostly into place. All in all, I suppose things could have been much worse.

"We'll be okay." I put my hands on Mom's shoulders. "I'll go out tomorrow and get more food."

She shakes me off, brows crinkling. "No!" This startles me, and I jump. She's never gotten angry before. "No. We can't keep doing this. More people will just do the same thing. We need to leave the city." She's right, but the thought makes me sick. Being so far from resources.

"Give me two days?"

Two days later, we've packed our meager belongings in large truck pulling an RV. I just moved the trailer this morning so I didn't draw unwanted attention to ourselves. It's all packed with food and medicine--everything I could find. I've spent the last two days scouring the entire city, not stopping until the sun set.

"Ready?" I ruffle Jared's hair as he stares at the house that has been our home for seven years. Pretending not to see him wipe away a tear, I lead him by the shoulders to the truck, hopping into the driver's seat and starting the engine. Mom sits in the passenger seat, eyes staring out the window at the neighborhood we've loved for so long. We're all sad to leave, but this isn't about comfort.

I begin to pull away, driving as quickly as I can and using the most remote roads. Luck must be on our side because we don't encounter another living soul the entire trip. We reach the mountains without any trouble, with a half tank of gas remaining.

"Does this look like a good place to make our home?" No one makes any objections, so I hop out and begin setting up the trailer. We're overlooking a glistening lake, surrounded by tall green trees that spiral up toward the heavens. Birds flit from branches, and the air is fresher than I've smelled in a long time. The virus has never touched here.

Life won't ever be the same, but with a good attitude and a green thumb, I have faith we'll be able to thrive with as much joy as before the virus hit. Mom and Jared help set up our new house, and we begin to make it a home.

The virus may have destroyed nations, but it won't destroy my family.