The Purpose

No one really knows how it started... or even what happened. At the beginning it seemed like a war suddenly started and stopped within seconds, everything happened so quickly, no one had the chance to really look at those things. People were kidnapped, taken or killed, no one is completely sure of what’s going on, although one thing is known… it’s happening everywhere, every single country, state, city. There are a few lucky people that made it to the water “camps”, every cargo ship, cruise ship or aircraft carriers, they’re all being used as camps for the survivors. An international effort was made to line up as many carriers and ships, connecting them with bridges, but not everyone made it to the ships. World’s population went from billions to an estimate on a couple of millions, spread all over the globe, and the couple of hundreds of thousands on the ship “island”. It feels empty, lonely, wherever I go, it’s just me.

February 14, 2051, the date many said apocalypse happened. At around 6:30 PM (At least here, in New Orleans) it started, people were on the streets dancing, cheering, drinking, partying. Not often Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day fall in the same day, which means people were extra crazy and didn’t notice what was happening around them. Out of nowhere, holes started popping everywhere, in the street, inside of bars, there wasn’t a place where those holes didn’t appear. There wasn’t a bottom, you could only see pitch black. The first day people thought it was some geological event or a military test gone wrong… until they came out. Humanoid creatures, taller, faster, stronger, pale skin yet considerably more resistant than ours. They started searching the houses, taking those who were above ground level, they had sharp claws instead of nails, small nose with big nostrils, bigger eyes, no white around the iris, just a thin iris and pitch-black huge pupils. Some managed to hide, many couldn’t. these creatures were extremely good at hearing and smelling, although bright lights would stop them and make them vulnerable, since they couldn’t see very well. Biggest mistake people did was trying to hide in the dark, which is an instinct, one the creatures knew they could use as an advantage. Apparently, these creatures, which local people called “Macoute” which means “bogey man” in the Haitian mythology, have been studying us and watching us closely, learning from us, to attack one day. They went underground during the day, as the sunlight was lethal to them, but during night time, they would come out and hunt. We learned that they weren’t kidnapping people, but killing them and using them as food, at least those on the surface. No one knows what happened to those underground, the ones they took.

I have survived thanks to my stilt house, to which I access by boat. They can’t get into the water… for some reason it hurts them, just like the sun. I have lived quite a “regular” life since everything happened. I live surrounded by fish, so most of the time I am fishing for food, I gather rain and boil it for drinking water, I only go to land during day time to gather wood and use it as fuel for my fire, rarely I go inner to the city looking for gas, I go once every couple of months, I use it for my electric generator which I use rarely. I have plenty of books and things to do on my house, I don’t use electricity as much unless is necessary or for entertainment on specific days. I have made things work for me so far, I have little pots which I used to plant some vegetables, I have books to read, I work out, go fishing and even when I feel in a great mood, I turn on the electricity and play videogames (rarely), and I write all of my thoughts like if I was talking to someone, which helps me be sane. Like I said, I have made things work for me for the last 3 years… still, I felt like I had no real reason to keep fighting, to be alive, I had no purpose to wake up every morning… until I found her.

It happened in May 13, 2054, my birthday. I was running low on gas for the generator and decided to go and visit the town in the morning. I was planning on spending my day watching old videos, playing, eating, after all, it’s supposed to be my day. It takes me about 45 minutes to the town in my bicycle, it’s always shocking to drive around the town and see the streets empty, all windows broken, cars crashed, blood on the ground and body parts. It isn’t pleasant to visit the town, but I have to. My routine changed when I got to the gas station and I hear someone sobbing. I had goosebumps; it was probably two years since I had contact with someone. The only sound I heard were the ones the Macoute did when hunting, they sounded like hyenas but deeper, it something frightening. But this was new, it was a person. A little 15-year-old girl in a corner, crying. Her parents left her by accident when their convoy had to escape the area during sunset, as the Macoute started coming out of the holes. She was hiding inside of a cabinet, she stayed there for at least 4 days, she was weak, holding a Heart-shaped locket to her face. I took her to my camp and gave her food and water, when she was strong enough, it was time for the questions. I asked her for a name, age, parents and where were they going.

Her name is Luna, her family came 2 days before everything started for a vacation trip, she is from Brazil. She speaks little English which makes it difficult to communicate to each other, but she told me the people in the locket were her family and they were trying to reach a boat that would take them to the ship island. I heard the announce on the radio before, but the trip is too difficult, one I felt unnecessary to do for myself. I have everything I want here, safety, defense, food, water, electricity to use when I feel like it, I even grow crops! Theirs is no need for me to go there, I have no one there. But Luna, she has no one but me, and we can’t even talk more than the basics. She feels empty, she lost everything. I have to take her… That was my decision.

We left at 6 am. Sun was up, we got supplies and loaded the bicycles on my boat to get out of the swamp. There are cars we could use, but there are too many holes in the road, and if we made noises that could trigger them, they would open more to make us fall.

Luna needs to find her Family, she has something in this world, something I don’t. But helping her, saving her… it gave my life a purpose.