“This Year…”

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!

Prompt: “This year, I will __________”.

“Run!”

I gasp, glancing over my shoulder as Piero races after me. He gestures for me to keep running. I do.

“Don’t look back!” he shouts at me. “Just keep running! Don’t look back!”

The walls around me continue to crumble. Dust and dirt fly around me, concentrating the air with particles of filth.

I cough, feeling the air get clogged in my throat. I can’t breathe. I need water.

I stumble, tripping over my shoelace or something dumb. As I make contact with the floor, a jolt of pain shoots up my arm. I scream.

Then, I feel hands on me, lifting me up. I’m propped back up onto my feet. Strong arms hold me, stabilize me, pull me.

Soon, I’m able to run by myself again.

“Come on!” Piero screams over the sound of the world falling apart. “Don’t stop!”

As the natural world falls apart, so do its inhabitants. I hear the tortured screams of the creatures behind us, chasing us, begging us to stop and help.

They were once human too, I know, but they’ve become something now. Something far more sinister. They will stop at nothing to destroy what little is left of humanity.

As I continue sprinting through the gorge after Piero, I feel my energy starting to fade. Piero turns and sees that I’m starting to fall behind. He stops, and in that moment, the only piece of good left in this world is destroyed as well.

“Don’t look back,” he whispers a final time before turning and releasing a rain of bullets upon the creatures chasing us.

I open my eyes and shake the memory from my mind. A year ago, I believed that Piero had been right. I believed everything that Piero had said.

Now, I know that he was wrong. The creatures—monsters even, he had called them—are what’s left of humanity. I had been on the wrong side of the war then. I had committed so many wrongdoings for what I had believed to be right.

But not anymore. I know the truth now. And I’m willing to fight. I’ll fight anyone who tries to stop me—even Piero—until Earth has been reclaimed from the real monsters.

This year will be different. This year, I will do better. I will be better.

And nothing can stop me.

Final Comments: For once, I actually had a clear idea of what I wanted the conclusion to this story to be, and I’m happy with how I was able to get there!

Overall Rating: 🙂