We All Fall Down

I packed as much of the minimal items we had in our home. It was time for me to leave this manor. Leaving was the only option I had left for survival. How did this all happen? This disease. Invasions. Death... What caused it? I thought. As I walked outside, I could yet again smell the scent of dead bodies burning in fires; or the flesh of corpses rotting away with flies flying and maggots crawling under their skin. Covering my nose didn't help much. 

  Passing by the mourning and sick families, I ran towards the woods that led us to the manor. Invasions must still be going on. I want to avoid them as much as possible. 

  My legs trench in mud and dirt. 

  But I keep running.

  Still the smells of decaying and burning flesh sickens me, causing a bitter nauseous feeling to arise in my throat.

  But I keep running.

  The forest increases in thickness and variety. Trees blocked out the sky and sunlight. It felt as if it was night. I had no clue where I was to go or which ever way to go. I want safety. I want my mother to cradle me in her arms like she had done. I want to watch my father and brother chop woods from the very sparse trees we had. I want to play with brother again, laughing and joking around. There is none of that now. There is just Adeline. 

  The voices of my family cry out all over the forest. They beg of me to stop. To stop running. However, I can't. I need to get away to safety. 

  Twigs snap under the pressure of my feet as I push branches and bushes out of the way. Pain starts surging through my body. Can't I not run any longer? I question myself. My mind says yes but my body screams no. If my mother were here she would harangue me for this stupid action. 

  Tears well up in my eyes. I know I'm alone. I have no one left. Everyone I've cared for has died. I drop to my knees. I feel sick. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. My mouth fills with the peculiar taste of copper. Wait, copper? I spit onto the ground. Just as I had suspected. Blood. Have I caught the illness that Nathaniel and father had caught? That everyone has caught? 

  More tears started forming and streaming down my face. Heat rose to my cheeks as the radiance from the sun beamed directly onto me even though I couldn't see it. My body drops forward and I start to bring up fluids. Nasty coughs sang it's horrid melodies and harmonies as I continued spewing. 

  I felt extremely weak. My body ached all over and my vision blurred out from time to time. With the little strength I had stored, I attempted to crawl farther. There was a huge pain at the base of my neck where I felt a large, purple, and bumpy noble at that spot. Help! My mind called out. No response came. I couldn't muster any words except grunts, groans, and whimpers with a dry mouth. No water source was nearby either. Only except for the swamps that left flies and all sorts of stench-bringing insects. 

  There was no chance of me ever going to survive now. No food, no water, no shelter, and ill. Not a good combination if you ask me. I collapsed the ground, gasping for air. My lungs were giving out. Will I die out here? A slow painful death (well not exactly painful), instead of the peaceful death I hoped to have at old age? Blotches of white and black shielded my eyes. As I slowly started slipping into the outstretched hands of death, my mind was only able to conjure up one last thought before nothingness enveloped me and my body fell limp, lying on the ground in the middle of an unknown part of the forest.

  What was that German word again? The one meaning "to die?" Oh, right,

  Sterben.

  The End of the World has dealt his final blow... His best friend death welcoming everyone with open arms...