Follow this Heart

He could still hear the sirens. They weren't quite as loud as they used to be. It seems that after 6 months they start to lose their effect. It didn't bother him much anymore. Not like it did those first few weeks. The sirens sounded non-stop. When they first started going off, everyone went into an instant panic. The virus had taken over. Even when they thought they had the cure, they couldn't win. Cities fell within days. Dante was pretty sure he was the last one alive. Until he found Asher.

Dante was in his mid-twenties. He had just gone back to school when the chaos started. He was going to be a doctor. He had been a nurse for years and had finally made the decision to further his education. For it to all go up in smoke, literally. He had wandered around aimlessly for weeks with no idea of where to go. But, rescuing Asher made him change his focus.

Asher was only 14. He was a scrawny little thing. Hadn't fully hit puberty yet and still all arms and legs. Dante was surprised when he found him. He had been doing a walk through a school, looking for a more permanent hiding place when he heard the boy mumbling through the halls. After rescuing Asher from a herd of the infected, they made a plan to find food and rest before moving forward again. They discovered that the safest place to stay would be the roof. Setting up camp, they had been able to safely gather supplies for a few weeks before planning to move to the next spot.

Dante sat on the wall overlooking the city. He and Asher would travel as far as they could until the sun started to set. Once the sun started to set, they would find shelter for the night. Tonight, Dante was lost in thought as he stared at the ruined city.

"Hey, Dante?" Asher called out, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Hmmm? Yeah, what's on your mind?" Dante responded offhandedly.

Asher started to get nervous as he looked over at the defeated man next to him. "I was just wondering why you keep that heart-shaped locket? I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. You just never talk about anyone that may have worn it."

Dante held the locket in his hand, thinking about how long it had been since he picked it up. "I found this about 3 weeks before I rescued you. I was hiding in an old mall, just trying to make it to daylight and my flashlight reflected off of it. When I first looked at it, I thought about just tossing it away."

"Why didn't you?" Asher interrupted.

Dante chuckled as he looked over to the curious teenager. "Because this is what is leading us to the safe haven."

"How do you figure? It's just a dumb necklace. Is there even a picture in it?" Asher asked impatiently.

"There is a picture. I've just been calling her M. Here, look." Dante carefully opened the locket and showed it to Asher.

As Asher was studying the picture inside the locket, Dante continued, "If you pay attention, there are signs everywhere. There's one right over there," Dante pointed to the graffiti on the wall of the building below. "I have been following the signs hoping to find the safe haven. M has been leading us and I just hope that she is still there when we finally make it.

Asher sat there looking between the picture inside the locket and the graffiti across the road, 'Keep going. Safe Haven this way.' -MJT

Finally, after a few minutes of silence, Dante looked over to Asher. "Why are you so quiet all of a sudden? You were so curious just a minute ago," he joked.

"I was just thinking," Asher responded barely above a whisper.

"Thinking about what, Asher?" Dante questioned, noticing that the boy had become uncharacteristically quiet.

"I just really hope that we find it soon and she's still there," Asher explained, barely holding back tears.

"Me too, Asher. But, why are you so sad?"

"Because M is my mom."