The Longest Winter

Chapter 1

       3 years has past after the my world ended.

The nights are longer as the silent is louder than you can imagine. The cold is more violent than ever since finding warmth is like finding a winning lottery ticket.
Nobody seen it coming when the weather stayed after the bomb dropped. Spring never came as summer & fall is on another planet.

Not sure what month this is nor the time since the power went out within the first 8 months in the lock down. The internet stop working all together as the radio stations was the new TV for us. Sadly, even that stopped within the first year. Only a few is still working, but they are just people looking for help.

Wasn't so bad at first when the lock down started. I gotten to sleep in more, spend time with friends I haven't seen in a while, & even made time to learn new hobbies.
Work was a pain, but never did I thought I would miss it. Miss seeing food in stores & having security of safety.
Hell! I miss taking hot showers. A proper meal within a warm safe home. A home with people your happy with.
*I miss my family*

My mother always told me to stay in a group if something happens to her & father.

"Make sure you keep your brother safe as well" she said.

It was just the 4 of us in that home. We ketp quite & safe for all those months without any issues with the neighbors. Even the thieves past our home since we made it look like it was already robbed in.

Everything was not ok but we were still together. Still a family! We ketp our heads down & survived for months. My father made sure to keep out small home warm. I made sure my mother was getting proper help with her health. My brother was a scout looting through our neighbors homes they left behind.
We survived for almost a year until I left for meds. I wish I stayed a little longer with them. I could've saved them or died with them.

After that day, I left my home for good & joined groups of survivors. Sadly they all didn't end well for me since I'm alone again. Originally I had 4 bags & my parents car. Luckily I was able to join the military camp after trading in the car. But had to leave soon after for helping out a family. They stolen some cough medicine for their child. I took the blame. I was lucky to leave with a bag. But the couple was so touched by me they gave me a extra bag full of food & a knife for protection.
That's how I was kicked out from the first camp before the snow gotten worse.

But it made me realize that there is still good people in the apocalypse. Even the serial killers are nice enough to do work to help the group. Just thinking about it now as I walk through snow thats above my knees,

How in the hell did I survived this fair?!?!!

The air is hard as stone as the cold chills shakes my bones. Yet I'm still moving in the ice hell. I wanted to stay in a empty home, but I've been seeing military men & women  in trucks looking for anything they can take. Seen a few men strip this poor old man of everything he was wearing. Left him in his underwear as he frozen to death.
Things had gotten worse as the days went by. Food is harder to find as hunting is getting bare.

I only have 3 cans of tuna, a small jar of peanut butter, & half eaten bag of apple chips I found inside of a car. I haven't eaten anything in 2 days as my body is screaming for me to rest. But I can rest if I hear guns next to my ears. Just hearing screams & images of dead bodies stays with me. I had to get used to seeing them as I walk by. Especially children.

"I just need to keep moving" I said to myself as I notice smoke.

Must be a camp neat by. Thank God!
I hope they're good people & let me stay. I don't have the energy to fight back. I need to keep moving though. That's all the energy I have left. The night is near as I can hear the wolves in the distance. I need to hurry to them. My eyes are burning as my heart is beating like a drum when I fell into the snow & held my breath.

I can a truck passing me by as the head lights was bright enough to hurt my eyes even more. Must be the bandits.
I waited for a few minutes more until it was safe for me to get up. This time I made myself move a little faster. Maybe this is another base for them or they just robbed this camp. At this point I don't care. All I care about is warmth. My fingers are shaking in these gloves as my body hurts.

*I miss my mama*

I need to run up this hill. Why can't my legs move faster! It feels so far away, yet I'm almost there.
I don't wanna die in the cold. Not like this.
I fell onto a dead body thats been frozen for God knows how long. But my mind wasn't on it as I use my hands as I began to crawl at this point. I can hear guns shots close by as by body try to stop on its own.

"KEEP MOVING DAMNIT" I yelled at myself  as I felt my body shaking like crazy.

I can feel hot liquid running down my face as I crawling on top of more dead bodies.
I can't break down by this. I'm almost there.
Hell I can be a bed warmer to them if they let me stay. I can't do this anymore!
Being alone with no one watching your back is the worst feeling. I regret my wish.
I regret wanting to have free time. This must be my punishment from God. He took my family away & left me here in this hell!

I was so deep in my thoughts I didn't realize I made it to the topic the hill. My head is hurting as my eyes stings from the cold dry air. I felt my heart stop as I can hear a woman scream. The echo of her voice blended with the snow. Seeing all these bodies being burned as you can't help but smell rotten corpse being cooked over fires.
The screaming broke me a I fell down the hill as all my energy I had left in me was gone.
There was no camp, no group, just piles of burning bodies as the screaming stopped. I can still hear it as my ears began to ring. My vision getting blurry as I realized that the screaming came from me.

*please come save me mama*

I fell upward in the frozen grave as my eyes are now hard to keep open. But I'm around warmth as I can taste the burning flash. The smell is beyond disgusting but the fire is feels so comfortable yet its burning my hat. I'm just gonna let the fire take me. I can't fight anymore. I hope I wake up from this nightmare. As the ringing stop, my vision went black as I can feel myself falling into my final slumber.

The snow falling on my face feels like kisses as I finally let go.

Before everything went black, I can hear a faded voice as foot steps was coming towards me.