2746

In the end nothing matters, nothing ever mattered. The journey was pointless but he somehow it mattered to him. 2746 opened the locket , time had changed a lot of things but it was still heart shaped , taking him back to a time when things were different , a different life . When he had a name and wasn’t just a number , he even forgot his name at times , preferring the number , anything to forget who he was. A rustle in the background happened , scavengers he wondered ? Or worse ? He contemplated giving in . Does it even matter any way ? No but I have to , everything outside was likely just as due to die as he was eventually. He checked his gun to see how many bullets he had , still full plus the extra round if came to that. The rustling stopped , probably nothing. the road while different was familiar , he knew it all too well , from another life , when the weather wasn’t so extreme and harsh , when humanity still had a future , when the outbreaks hadn’t decimated all of life , and when he had a family. He hadn’t reminisced like this in forever , he preferred to forget, first the stations and electricity stopped and suddenly no transportation, then the riots , then the shortages , then the outbreaks. The safe zones were little corners of heaven that were designed to keep people safe and they did, but to make it there , 2746 gave up a lot , too much even . He’d been on the road for ages . He looks to his pendant again , dusty but still inside a picture of him and his brother. He needed to see what home was like , he wasn’t sure if he deserved to think of his brother. He had no choice , he convinced himself but was it really right , the world was over and he made a choice. “ I didn’t kill him” but he could have, “ arghhhhhhhhh “ he ripped of the pendant and threw it . “ Its not my damn fault okay , I couldn’t take care of both of us , I barely made it to safe zone , I tried okay , I tried, you were gonna die , I had to Survive okay” . Tears stream down his face again , he was better off as a number , 2746 , he wasn’t Dave anymore. “ I’m sorry Caleb” he whispers softly , and he truly was. He keeps walking , trying to ignore his thoughts again , he sees the pendant up ahead , picks it up . He could still turn back , the safe zone was still there .

He suddenly wakes up , the sun was rising , i must have collapsed due to exhaustion , he had barely enough supplies to last but he could make it , he just had to make it home one more time. He was waiting for him , and he had to make it back. 2746 hoped it was quick in the end, that the disease took his brother fast. 2746 was one of the lucky few like the rest in the safe zone who were immune , like it did it much in the end , he was still gonna go in the end too . He felt it coming any day . It wasn’t far now , he could turn back , but he had to face the past . The blue house was still there , well it wasn’t much blue anymore , the paint had faded over years and vines had grown all over . Memories started flooding , actual good ones , running in the field with his mum and his brother . He locked at the locket again , his brother was still his heart , and he left his heart at home to survive . He brings out his key , still fits and opens the door , he was scared of what awaited . 2746 is overwhelmed by the dust and has to rush out , gets his visor and mask back on . He enters the home , but there’s faded carving in the sitting room he left his brother . “ I survived” . Dave doesn’t understand , he left his brother to escape , the disease was going to kill him and he had to make it to a safe zone . What was the point , he wondered what he looked like , was he broken too , where did he end up ? Did he survive the journey to another safe zone or God knows , join a scavenger gang ? Dave wondered , it didn’t matter , it was all pointless , everything still was. He stared at the gun again. He went out . looked at the harsh skies , looked at his locket again , “ what does he do now”. Does he give up , head back to a safe zone ? 2746 decides to do What he always did.

Survive.