A Mother’s Love

The full moon was high in the sky and not a single cloud could be seen. Screams echoed through the clearing, the only sound in a hundred mile radius. Amidst the trees were tents set up in a circular formation and a woman could be heard from the center, screams of labor. A blood curdling yell escaped the open tent and suddenly, everything went silent.

Eleven months ago the world was faced with a whole new scenario, global shutdown. The plants all went out one by one, food became harder and harder to find and everything fell to the ground in ruins. People were faced with devastation, survive or die trying was the new motto. Elyse and her husband Mike were some of the few that survived and managed to escape the city. They harvested for food and killed whatever prey they could find, nothing was off limits.

Mike was well equipped and had everything they needed to survive in the woods, including a Coleman stove and waterproof fire starters. When they left their home he had packed everything into the back of his truck, but quickly ran out of gas to feed his beast of a vehicle. As time went on, they had found a small community of survivors and joined them in hopes of finding a current day normality, which they had for a while. Everyone grew accustomed to the new ways and avoided the big cities like the plaque. Rumors had it that cannibals lived in the cities, hunting down any survivors

A small shop lay at the outskirts of the woods, tucked up and away from the cities eyes. ‘Flourish’ was vaguely visible on the fallen sign and the walls were dingy and covered in a thick layer of dust. Clearly it had been forgotten and no one came across it since the beginning. Inside the small store was a section with every day supplies and in the opposite corner stood a jewelry cabinet. Inside the glass case, Elyse noticed a beautiful heart shaped locket. She slide the back of the cabinet open and took the locket into her hand, the chain looked delicate but was very sturdy with vines working their way around the locket in an intricate design and had a rose gold finish. Pocketing the locket she turned around to find the others when she was suddenly overtaken by nausea and ran straight for the restroom sign. Cautious of their surroundings, Mike ran after her to ensure she was safe and alright. He found her sitting on the floor in one of the open stalls, vomiting into the toilet. “Oh babe, are you alright?” She nodded as she wiped her mouth on her sleeve.

Once they had finished searching through the store, they left with a couple of boxes to bring back to their camp. While the others were loading the goods into the wagon, Elyse hung back by one of the cases and slipped a small box into her sleeve and went out to join the others. As soon as they returned to camp, Elyse excused herself to the restroom. When she was sure she was alone, she removed the box from her sleeve and ducked down out of sight. Moments later she slide down the trunk of the tree, her hands covering her face. A small thermometer sized object was strewn onto the ground, it read positive.

Elyse sat there in tears, unsure how she could give birth in a world like this. She wondered if she could bring on a miscarriage and abort the baby, how cruel it would be to bring a life into this. With a resolve to keep the baby and give it the best life, she set off to find her husband with the positive test in hand.

Months passed and Mike decided that they needed to go into the city and get the appropriate supplies to bring this baby into the world. He gathered seven of the ten men to accompany him into the city and bring back the supplies. They loaded themselves up with food and weapons to protect themselves, and were off after kissing their loved ones goodbye. None of them knew for sure if there were actual cannibals living in the city, so they left with caution.

After a days trek across the woods, the men emerged from the tree line and were overlooking the city down below. The sun was beginning to set so they made camp well beyond the tree line to prevent any unwanted attention. They didn’t need any visitors or anyone expecting their arrival into the city. The men slept in shifts and kept guard over the small group.

Days passed and there was no sign of Mike or any of the men. Elyse paced around the camp, praying for his return. A voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she quickly turned towards it. A smile danced on her face in hopes it was Mike, but it quickly fell at the sight of David. “Oh, hi David. I’m sorry, I thought you were Mike for a moment,” she said with sadness in her voice. He nodded, “I understand. But it’s best if you’re not out here. If someone was to find our camp,” he stuttered for a moment and continued. “It could be dangerous.” She nodded and followed him back to the tent, he was her doctor after all: the only doctor.

“John, help me lift this,” Mike said through gritted teeth. He was lifting up on one end of a fallen column that was blocking one side of the store. Together, three of them managed to shift it and make a small opening to cross through. Mike grabbed and tossed all the diapers, bottles and formulas he could find into the wagon. It was a wagon mostly used for beaches but it worked well for their needs. “Hey, there’s some toys and clothes over here,” said John from around the corner.

While the men were preoccupied with getting the supplies, predators were lurking outside. They noticed the column had been moved so they stopped to take a look. One of the men grunted at another and two of the four took off deeper into the city. The two who remained began sniffing the area and entered the small opening to take a closer look.

Mike and his men were trekking back up to the opening when he noticed two people in the entrance: they weren’t his men. Putting his hand out to make his men stop, he grabbed his handgun from his waistband and aimed for the closest person. “Who are you,” he asked. The others realized what was happening and they mimicked Mike. Pulling out their own weapons, they each took aim at one of the people. “Who are you,” he asked again. “Grunt Grunt Snork!” These weren’t normal people and Mike realized they weren’t friends, but foe. “Fire at will,” Mike shouted over the ruckus of grunts and snorks.

Once they were clear and sure they were dead, Mike approached the bodies on the ground. Humans, but they had severely regressed. Their skin was covered with dirt, hair was nearly balding and had two sharp teeth like incisors on a boar. Some of the teeth were missing and the others had been shaved and sharpened. Shaken by the sight, the men grabbed the items and continued on their way. Mike was uneasy and thought more would be on the way, so he and a few of the men held onto their weapons and kept an eye out for any signs of movement.

A few blocks away was a convenience store, inside Mike found some pepper and gallons of water. They loaded it all up and continued on their way back to the woods. Along the way a few of the regressed humans appeared and were immediately shot and killed. “We need to throw them off our scent. John, Adam, Rex and I will take another route and you four continue on the path. Once you get to the trees, lay out some pepper around the area and use the water to get all muddy to hide your scent. Leave some water in the tree and we’ll be right behind you.”

Parting ways, Mike and his three men split off from the others. The plan was simple, spread their scent and throw them off the trail. Wherever they went, they would lay out a thick line of pepper and continued on. A day passed as they walked around the city, weaving in and out of buildings. The other four men had made it to the outskirts of the trees, did as Mike said and made camp half a mile into the woods. What if these cannibals followed them into the trees? They couldn’t chance it so they camped out and waited.

After a day of walking through the city with no signs of the cannibals, they made camp in a small store and waited for daylight. When daylight broke, there were at least twenty or thirty of these creatures outside: waiting. They grew tired of waiting for the men to emerge, so they bust through the doors and found it empty: a single protein bar lay on the floor.

The sun was rising just as Mike and the others reached the trees. He scattered the pepper into the dirt and walked into the tree line covered in mud. They had succeeded in hiding their trail, and now he was home free.

It has been nearly a week since Mike and the others had left for the city. Elyse sat in her tent, eyes glued on the woods. Every day she grew more worried and she can feel the birth of her child coming closer. She thought of her unborn child, would she have a father to love her and teach her how to care for herself? As each day passed, Elyse’ thoughts grew darker and she became ill. Her face was dark from worry and was weak from the lack of any appetite. Suddenly she was wracked with a violent cough and when she pulled her handkerchief away, a puddle of blood soaked the fabric.

“You must take care of yourself Elyse. How do you think Mike would feel when he comes back to find you like this,” asked David. As the days grew longer, Elyse became more ill. She sat there, unsure of her role in her child’s life. She pulled the locket from her pocket and looked over it, this would be the legacy she left behind. Taking a pair of scissors she cut into one of her old photos and fitted it to the locket. She raised the scissors to her hair and cut a lock and placed it with her picture. She smiled at it, content with what she would leave behind. She suddenly had another fit of coughs and blood splattered the locket, sealing her hair and picture to the metal. She closed it and shoved the locket back into her pocket as she covered her mouth with a cloth.

That night screams came from her tent, she had gone into a premature labor. Everyone was bustling around, grabbing items to help with the birth. Elyse was on the mat, legs propped up and sweat beading her brow. She screamed at every push and prayed for it to be over. Suddenly Mike ran into the tent just in time to catch his daughter and cut the cord. Mike kissed Elyse and peered down at their daughter together. Elyse’s eyes closed, her hand fell into Mikes lap and she was gone. The locket rested in her hands and Mike knew he was to late. Tears in his eyes he opened the locket one handed and saw Elyse’ beautiful smile, a lock of her hair was covered in blood. This was all he had left for their daughter to remember her mother. The mother that died so she could live.