Evolution

 

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Introduction

So it was true then, the cities were dead. They hadn’t lied to me. I had met many people on my travels, all seeking answers I for one could not give them. I shifted my backpack, wishing it was a little heavier, I had no food left. I had caught a rat earlier this morning, but had chewed the bones bare by mid day.

The wind whistled through the empty buildings, and somewhere in the distance a dog barked. Other than that it was silent, and I tried to imagine the place bustling with people, talking into phones as they waited for the lights to change. I failed. This place was beyond dead, the silence was taking over, nature was reclaiming the space.

At my feet the pavement was cracked, and grass and flowering plants were flourishing. I unlaced my boots, there was no one to condemn me here. My toes wriggled free and dived down into the cracked pavement, and I felt the rush of nutrients and deep water revitalise me. I stretched my hands to the sun and breathed in the silence. I had covered up that I had survived the fever; covered up the changes until I could hide no more, only flee.

The sun was warm on my face, and I smiled, feeling my skin roughen. I had tried to hide the bark that had grown, covering myself with heavy clothes. But now I laughed, feeling the clothes fall from me, the backpack straps burst as I grew. My fingers stretched out, caressing the wind, leaves forming in my hair. My thoughts slowed to tree time and I wait with endless patience as the buildings fail and the forest comes.

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