Look! Over there! Niklas pointed towards a factory building. -We have to get going!

There was something on the roof. A waving flag,

They walked on, as fast as their tired legs could take them. Georg knew he was a burden, he knew Niklas would be better off without him, but he said nothing. Niklas wouldn’t leave him, That he was sure of.

Rocks, bricks and rubbish everywhere. They stepped over what they could, walked around what they could not. The smell of toxic smoke lay over what once had been a city. A screaming scavenger. An explosion in a distance.

-Hurry up! We’re almost there!

-Wait! I… I can’t…

Niklas stopped, looked at his friend. The last months had been hell for everyone. The first days they had seen it on the news. Attacks all around the globe.

Sometimes he thought the lucky ones where the ones dead.

Soon the news had stopped. The gunshots and the screams had come closer. Then everything went wrong. Niklas missed his parents, but he knew Georg had taken the loss of  his little sister a lot harder.

Something moved on top of a building.

-Fuck! Georg said, looking around. -They’re here!

-Run!!!

They ran towards the factory. The monster came out from the piles of broken concrete, out from the ruins, of the flames. They moved fast, wiggling unnaturally like some kind of scorpions. Some walked on two legs. Other crawled on the ground

Georg fell. Niklas stopped, pulled him up on his feet. A monster jumped down on the path in front of them. Another came crawling up from behind… (more)

She went down to the water, took a deep breath of fresh air. Felt the sunlight on her naked body. Warm, healthy. She felt good.

The pond was cold, a nice contrast to the hot air. Clean mountain water running down the valley, towards the forest further down.

She sat down in the shallow water, laid back. Let it cover her body, her head. Came up fresher, new, like she always did, like a new person coming up in another world.

The little waterfall was all she heard, and was in that moment all there was. She was happy. Back in the village people had their problems, their lives, but they didn’t concern her now. She was here, naked, beautiful and all alone.

She went over to the little waterfall. Touched it, felt its power, the strength of the falling water. Turned around, let it fall on her back. Let her hair underneath, her face. The water became her, and she became the water.

She felt someone watching her. Pulled her head out, opened her eyes. There was no one there. Her paranoia made her laugh. No one ever came up here, it was her secret place, her little hideout, the place where she could always be alone.

She put her face under again. The same strange feeling. She pulled her head out, opened her eyes.

A monster was staring at her. Several monsters, hanging over the edge of the hill.

She screamed.

They were gone, as if they were never there.

She looked around. Nothing. No sign, no trace.

It must have been my imagination. Maybe I should get back.

She waded over to the shore where her clothes was. She didn’t feel safe any more, she felt threatened, watched. She heard something in the bushes. Froze.

A man came out, stepped on her clothes… (more)