Jared Schiering

52 Seconds

My sister and I are the only ones left in our family. My father died before it all started. My mother collapsed one day from exhaustion and we couldn’t carry her, so we had to run. That was probably the hardest day of my entire life. I didn’t look back when it happened, but I remember hearing her screams. I remember hearing those blood-curdling, eardrum-shattering screams as they took her. I still hear those screams in my dreams at night. It’s been six months since The Swarm began terrorizing this country. It's hard to know how many are dead because there is never any time to stop and read the news. The Swarm only attacks those who are standing still, so as long as we keep moving, we’ll be safe. As long as we keep moving, we’ll survive. “Hey Daniel," my sister whispers, derailing my train of thought. "I’m getting tired, do you think it’d be ok if I used the cart for a while?” As you can imagine, finding time to rest in this world is difficult. So we found a shopping cart at an abandoned mall, and take turns pushing each other around in it while the other sleeps. We trade 8-hour consecutive shifts nonstop: sleep, push, sleep, push, sleep, push. It's also a convenient way to carry all of our extra clothes. “Sure, Lucy, get in.”