The Ruin Nation

by Kolin Wood

  Before leaving, they had dragged Tanner’s body into the house. Taken him to one of the downstairs rooms and wrapped him in the blankets that they found there. Becca had suggested burying him, but Juliana had rejected the idea. They couldn’t afford to expend either the time or energy digging the hole. Tanner, always one for streamlined practicality, would never have allowed them to do it; Juliana was sure of that. She could imagine the broiling that she would have received from him in the afterlife if they had bought the farm while messing around with the lump of meat that was now his body.

  Frank they had left where he had fallen, in a bloody, crumpled lump in the road, forever staring up at the sky; well, not ‘forever’. He’d last one night, if he was lucky. The rats would run through soon enough, and feast on him, probably eat his eyes first. The thought made her shiver.

  The road stretched away from them; its surface, like so many others, cracked and broken, congested with the cars and debris of a long-forgotten past. More than once she looked up at the sky, ever conscious of the impeding darkness. The world as they had ever known it had changed permanently. No longer were they at the top of the food chain, not once the darkness fell, at least. The crazies, the rats… killers that would never again allow them the luxury of sleeping with both eyes closed.

  She had five shells left for the gun, a knife in her pocket, and some worn clothes on her back. The room Frank had been staying in offered them a small bounty of stolen food and extra clothing, enough to see off the cold for a time. But only basic provisions. Finite resources. Things that would need replacing somehow.

  The clouds above them churned with a brooding intensity and the promise of rain. Summer was drawing to a close. Soon winter would be upon them, its freezing tempest making the ground too hard to work and sending all of the animals into a state of hibernation. They needed to be dug in well before then. Systems had to be in place, with a steady, reliable source of food and fuel stocked and ready to use. John had assured her that the farm harboured enough natural resources to support them, but even so, there was a whole world of work to be done. They needed to be ready.

  She increased her pace in an attempt to keep ahead of the lengthening shadows that clipped at her heals like demonic fingers, threatening to pull her back into the dark bosom of night. But they would not take her, for she would never stop. She would walk until her legs gave out, with John on her back, if need be. They would never be separated again.

  Just a few more steps.

  The end.

  Thank you for reading The Human Zoo series. I do hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it.

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  Kolin