Scorched

It's never like how you would read. The apocalypse wasn't a part of a big war, or a science experiment gone wrong, or some disease mutated, but human intervention. It's been years since it happened, the water mostly drying up, and the sun scorching the earth.

Anyone who got scorched by the sun turned into what I can only describe as monsters. Contorted bones and flesh drooping, eyes wild and blind. It truly is a terrifying sight. I only know this because my parents got scorched. Before it happened though my mom gave me a small heart shaped locket necklace that I always saw her with. She moved my long dark hair and told my fifteen year old self "Rayana, keep this safe. You will need it in the future, my beautiful girl."

The media tried to hide what was going on at first, but everyone already knew, no matter how much they tried to keep it hidden under layers of lies. That's how we got to where we are today.

I'm currently walking around the deserted wasteland completely covered from the sun, looking out for the scorched, making sure that no one or nothing would sneak up on me. Looking every which way I looked, feeling the arid wind ruffling the layers of clothing that protected me. "GRAAHHAAAAGH!"

Suddenly I heard it. The loud ugly roar of the scorched, signalling that they were on the hunt. My breath caught in my throat as I started to sprint. If you are caught outside during a hunt it is not good. I've heard of stories in the different survivor camps I have stayed at of people who were caught in a hunt and didn't make it.

One of the survivors from a hunt lost his arm and a good chunk of his thigh. Unfortunately he never made it through the week. "GRAAHHAAAAGH!" I heard again spurring me to run even faster. That last roar sounded a little closer than that last one. I ran and ran and ran, not wanting to stop until I was safe.

Then I couldn't hear them anymore, so I slowed down. I looked around trying to see if I could catch a glimpse of the scorched. There was none around so I stopped to catch my breath. As I caught my breath I heard a high pitch whistle, which startled me a bit. I looked around to see what was making that sound and I saw a bundle of clothing blowing in the wind in the distance. Out of the clothing an arm raised and waved towards me as I heard the high pitched whistle again.

Excitement bubbled in my system as I recognized the survivor. His name is Alex. He was apart of the first settlement of survivors that I ever found. He was 18 at the time when he found me. I was traveling through the desert mountains trying to find shelter before night fell when it would get close to freezing. I had collapsed about a hundred or so yards from his settlement from heat exhaustion. The next few days while I slept he had taken care of me, or at least that is what I am told by the others. A day after I had woken Alex told me I reminded him of his little sister who was one of the people who turned at the beginning of the scorch.

I ran over to him excitedly knowing that safety was close. “Hey Rayana, what has you on this side of the mountains?” He asked, curiosity thickly lacing his voice. “I got chased by the scorched till I arrived here.” I told him slightly out of breath again. He instantly looked very concerned, well would if I could see his face. “How did you escape during a hunt?” He asked.

I shook my head and shrugged, “I don’t know. They were behind me one minute and the next I couldn’t see them or hear them.” I said this as truthfully as I could. I honestly don’t know how I out ran them. Despite their appearance, they were very fast and agile. Anyone out running them is unheard of. Alex let out a low long sigh and motioned for me to follow him. “Follow me back to the sanctuary. It’s almost nightfall and we don’t need you to end up being one of them.” He told me in a hurried voice. I looked out to the horizon where the sun was and sure enough it was setting.

I looked back to Alex and saw that he was already a few paces ahead of me. I quickly jogged to catch up with him. Once I did catch up we started to walk fast towards his home, glancing around us to make sure the scorched wasn’t following us. Once we got back everyone erupted into a volley of greetings and smiles. It was one of the best things to see during this time, the smiles of everyone.

Once we were inside of the thick cement walls and mountain cliff sides, I relaxed a little. This was one of the safest places that I knew of. I followed Alex to one of the caves that were in the mountain so we could take off the layers of clothing. Once in and out of the fading light I relaxed even more and took off the layers that encircled my head. I let out a long breath and relaxed even further. I looked at Alex, with his short messy brown hair and green eyes and started to laugh. He gave me a weird look as I pointed him to the mirror by the door. Once he looked at himself he started to laugh too. His hair was sticking out every which way and two tufts looked like they were little horns. He looked back at me and said “Let’s get you some food.” He walked further into the cave. I followed him as I smelled something cooking.

We got to the eating area and saw that one of the people there had managed to find some kind of animal that didn’t mutate. They decided to make it for dinner. Everyone was ecstatic, the room alight with chatter and bellows of laughter. That was until everyone heard a huge boom. Then someone yelled out, “THEY GOT IN!!!! THE SCORCHED ARE IN THE WALLS!!!” Then everyone panicked. They started to runaway trying to get away from the roars of the dangerous creatures. The last thing I remembered was someone running into me and falling to the ground smacking my head hard enough to knock me out. The last thing I saw was the heart locket that my mom gave me all those years ago, then complete and utter darkness.