Strangers To Freedom

Chapter One

Chirp, chirp, chirp, snap. Silence. 

    A bent over silhouette stopped in its tracks as the twig snapped underfoot and started to look around furtively in the darkness. Despite it being a full moon tonight, the thick canopy in the dense angled forest made it seemed as if it was a night of the full moon. The figure continued to slink forward stealthily towards the edge of the forest, careful to avoid any more obstacles or twigs. 

    Just as the silhouette reaches the edge of the forest, an owl hooted. The figure falls over in fright. The figure cursed under its breath and started to get up. The figure pulled back her hood and shook her ebony hair out, brushing her wet matted hair from her face before bending over and brushing the dirt off her clothes. She was dressed in a black hoodie, a now mud stained jeans, and running shoes. 

    She straightens up and takes a look around from the shade of the trees at the edge of the forest. She notices that there are a cluster of homes nearby that looks abandoned. But from where she is, she will need to cross 500 meters of open field to reach the nearest house. She looked further to the left and sees that there are a couple of houses that line the edge of the forest at the far horizon. However, to reach there she will need to skirt the edge of the forest and it would take a couple of hours at least just to reach that area. 

    One of the houses caught her eye. It reminded her of home. She thought back to the time she was still staying in her family house with her parents, 5 siblings and grandparents. She could remember the scent of her mother and grandmother's cooking in the kitchen as she awoke in the morning. She missed how her father used to come over and wake her up and how she used to snuggle up to him whilst watching movies. Heck, she even missed her twin brother who was annoying most of the time but would always jump into a fight to defend her at the drop of a hat if anyone who would pick on her. 

    She is jolted from her reverie by the sounds of birds flying away in the distance behind her. She had to move. Whether it was caused by another person or an animal, she knew that she had to move if she did not want to meet either. She began to walk towards the nearest house via the open field. She took a couple of steps and found that it was less of an open flat field, but rather was a field filled with high grass and weeds. She made her way slowly and carefully, but despite that, she tripped and fell at least a couple of times. Each time she tripped and fell, she would lie down there for a moment and listen to see if anyone is approaching her. 

    She found that the grass was way above her head level, but she still moved carefully as to not move or rustle the grass and weeds even after she had tripped and fell. She reached to the other end and found that she was a couple of meters below the ground level where the house is situated. Looking around she found an area where the ground level is much lower than where she was standing. 

    She quickly headed in that direction and climbed up by pulling herself up quickly over the edge. She slowly approached the house, looking around she notices that the whole area seems to have been abandoned in a hurry. Most doors of the houses seem to have been left open in a hurry and there are household items that seems to be strewn around. She let out a long sigh. The raiders and looters must have gotten to this area already. She walked in the shade of a couple of houses and noted some houses that seems to be quite intact and she could take shelter for a few days. 

    It has been a couple of weeks since she has had a proper place to sleep and shower. She walked back to the house that she first saw, the one with a view of the open field. She decided that it would give a good vantage point and she can keep an eye out to see if anyone is approaching the house from the top floor room facing the field. The door to the house was closed but was unlocked. She opened the door without any difficulties and peeked in. The house seemed still and there did not seem to have any signs of life. She stepped in quickly and gingerly close the door slowly and quietly, locking the house door behind her.

    She turned around and took in the layout of the house. To her immediate right was the living room, which was lit by the moonlight coming in from the lightly curtained window and diagonally to her left was a stair that seems to lead upwards towards the first floor. She takes a couple of steps further into the house. She could hardly make out much of what was in front of her as the house was quite dark. She decided to explore the rest of the house. 

    She started to take slow calculated steps forward and her feet seems to come into contact with some cans that had been set down on the floor, causing them to roll further into the house. Thinking that it might have dropped during the looting and raiding, she thought very little about it. She continued further into the house coming to the back of the house after about 30 steps. Looking around there seems to be a closed door to her right and what seems to be a kitchen on her left. She stepped into the kitchen and found that the kitchen seems to not have been in use for some time.