The End of All

- Adapt.

The sun was beginning the set by the time I duck-taped some old tarp between a cluster of trees, it would protect me from any snow that may fall in the night. I had cleared out the small area below the tarp, scraping away the snow with my hands, though luckily I had found four pairs of gloves at the last town three days back.

I pulled out the thinner thermal sleeping back for the floor and the second to wrap around my shaking body.

I did my best to use the snow to hide my small camp, ensuring that my fire only gave of embers and not flames, not enough for the tiny amount of smoke to be noticeable.

It wasn’t ever enough to banish the chill that had seeped into my bones, but it was enough to ward off illness and warm the tin of sweetcorn and rice I had decided on for dinner.

I shuffled some snow into the pan I had and brought it to boil (the sun had fully set before it was ready) allowing myself to indulge in a much needed coffee from the instant packets I had managed to scavenge.

I added one sweetener, they were harder to come by and I didn’t want to use them too quickly.

If needed I could drink coffee without sugar, but before everything ended that April, I had sugar and milk. I had liked everything sweet and bursting with flavour, though now, I got what I could and didn’t complain.

After all, who would I even complain to?

I was all alone.

But it was the safest way, no one could slow me down, and I didn’t have to worry about some stupid human finding out what I was.

They hated us now.

Hated everyone and everything that was different. Not that it mattered, humans would never take back their planet, and neither would I.

I would trudge alone, through snow, rain and sun.

Alone.

I pulled out my pocket map whilst the food cooked sipping on my coffee as I marked off the last town I had visited, trying to keep my thoughts away from the loneliness that crippled my mind.

There wasn’t much left in the town a few miles back, except for rice and a few tins of food, so doubling back that way would be a waste of time.

I needed to find a new circuit, the one I had used these last several months or so was now bare.

I hated it when I had to change directions, new places meant new threats, and I really didn’t have the energy to fight.

But to survive, I had to adapt. Then I had to keep adapting as the months past. It wasn’t the life I knew anymore, I had to remember that.

Everything was harder now.

Keep my head down. Stay hidden. Don’t get caught.

I was heading to a new town, I needed somewhere that had enough left to last a few months, if their was even a place that had that much.

I needed matches and fresh bandages for my feet, maybe some shampoo if I could find one that hasn’t been smashed.

I never stay in a town more than a couple of hours or so, depending on how big it is, staying close to them only caused trouble, that’s where the hounds would mostly roam, as well as the ones who ended life as we knew it.

I couldn’t let them find me, according to father they enslaved our people (those that had useful abilities) and took some humans as servants for their homes here on earth.

I went over the route I would follow to the town a few more times before I folded the map and put it back in the ziplock bag, it didn’t keep it safe from everything but it was enough to make sure it wasn’t destroyed in the rain or snow. I ate my small meal quickly, having another coffee from the pot I had made, it warmed me more that the embers of flame could.

I shuffled inside the sleeping bag and zipped it up, laying as close to the embers as I deemed safe, I needed to sleep, but as I stared at the dying embers my mind wondered to all that could have been, and I guess what the world would be like if the gates of hell never opened.

But it would never be possible, not anymore.

Life had changed, and whilst it wasn’t for the better, if I wanted to survive I had to accept that I would never have comfort or happiness again.

I guess happiness was just a dream I had forgotten long ago, back when I had a mother and a father.

Back when I had a home.