Desolate
Silhouetted by the sun sinking below the horizon a figure stood atop a rise on I 84, few cars were abandoned on this stretch of the highway leaving the shadow of the figure to stretch far into the distance. Replacing her canteen, Ivy shrugged her backpack into a better position and continued on. The worn map she carried in her vest indicated a town was not far from where she estimated she was. Lost in thought as she spent much of her days, she once again ruminated about how she found herself here. Despite years of warnings. As the planet grew warmer. Drought led to desertification which led to relocation of millions. Competition for resources led to hoarding, and the building of fortified shelters. Predictably war broke amongst the allied countries of the world and yet another warning was not heeded. The deployment of nuclear options destroyed the precious resources they were meant to win. Now the scattered remains of humanity searched for bunkers and hoards in order to prolong survival. The silence from the woods to her right a grim declaration of the culmination of humanity. No birds sang no animals skipped from tree to tree the dead unearthly silence of nature a grim declaration of the folly of man.
