“NaNoWriMo 2020 Pt. 4”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Additional note: In honour of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), all 30 stories written in the month of November will (hopefully) create a single multi-part story that will reach its conclusion by the end of the month. Stay tuned for a new story part every day!

Read the compiled NaNoWriMo TTtW story here!

Prompt: Tomato.

MASON’S POV

The smoke becomes thicker as I push through the trees. Finally, I get to a clearing.

The camp. I’ve made it.

Except it’s exactly what I feared. Burnt to the ground. Gone.

I let out an annoyed groan and sink to my knees. Why does the apocalypse have to be such a downer.

After sitting in the mud for a good moment, I force myself to get up and check out the camp because who knows, maybe there’s still someone there.

I carefully make my way toward the still-smoking campsite. My heart pounds in the eerie silence.

It’s at times like these that I wish I had a weapon. Not that it would help much if whoever did this is still here, but somehow the thought of just having something in my hands is still comforting.

I reach the edge of the campsite. So far so good.

I decide to take a chance.

“Hello?”

My voice echoes through the silence. Not even a bird gets scared away by the sound.

I sigh. I guess there really isn’t anyone here.

I enter the camp, letting my guard down slightly. Of course, there’s a chance that there is still someone hiding among the burnt remains of the tents, but I feel like I probably would’ve heard something by now.

The camp looks fairly empty. There’s burnt tents, burnt weapons, burnt bodies, and burnt rations. So nothing particularly interesting.

Oh wait. Now actually, there is something interesting here.

A backpack. It isn’t burnt in the slightest, not even the slightest bit charred.

I pick it up and open it up. The contents are… bizarre… to say the least. A comic book, two razor-sharp knives, a USB drive, and a single perfectly ripe tomato.

Whoever burnt this place down must’ve been holding the backpack and then dropped it before they left.

But why would they have dropped it? And, much more importantly, where are they now?

Final Comments: This one was a bit of a struggle to write. I’m not super happy with the ending, but I couldn’t figure out how else to end it…

Overall Rating: 🤔