Isolation By Evan Telford

It’s been six months since the war and I haven’t seen a single person. I spend most of my time hunting and scavenging for food, and when I’m not doing that I’m spending time it working on an old motorbike in my shop. I’m trying to eventually convert this engine to run on nuclear waste products left around from the war. I believe that I will find a waste that contains a product that will burn like gasoline does and then I can make the trip across the country to find someone else. It’s very lonely here but the thought of finding another survivor keeps me going and gives me hope so I won’t give up. My main focus is to get enough food and supplies to keep me alive and not get distracted so I will survive. In my day to day life I use my many survival skills that I had learned from when I was a volunteer in the search and rescue. I woke up this morning and I knew that I had to do some hunting and exploring. So I left the garage with my bow (that I had made out of some scrap metal) in hopes of finding anything from a deer to a rabbit, and to find some waste that I could try to use for fuel. As I was walking I heard something moving so I laid down and ahead I saw a squirrel. I took aim and shot but I missed and I had to watch what could have been dinner run away. I walked over to pick up my arrow and right beside it was a pool of some sort of nuclear waste I had never seen before so I filled a bottle with it to test later. After a long unsuccessful day of hunting I decided to return to my shop to test this liquid I had found.

On my way I thought I heard something like animal noises behind me. I looked around but couldn’t see anything so I started off again. After a few minutes I could see two dogs running in the distance along side of me. The faster I went, the faster they ran. They did not look like they wanted to play or be friendly, in fact they were growling and snarling and looked very hungry. I made it to my garage in time and placed up the barricade on the door just when I heard the dogs jumping up on the door to try and get in. For a long time after I could hear them sniffing around the garage and looking for a place to come in. It really scared me. For the first test on the liquid I had brought back I put some in a pit and tried to light it on fire. The liquid passed the first test so my second test was to put it in a motor that I had fixed. The motor was too small to be used for anything, so I put the liquid in it and tried to start it up. It took a few tries but it actually worked. I was extremely excited so I decided to put it in my motorbike engine. I started up the motorbike and it worked, so I was really happy. I knew I had to start gathering supplies and more or the liquid, so I could start my journey in search of more people who have survived this war. I went to bed and dreamt about the journey that I might have.

I woke up the next morning and immediately went out to gather as much food and supplies as possible. Over the next few weeks I took my back pack and did the same thing every day. It has now been three weeks since I found the fuel, and I have enough supplies so it is now time for me to leave to try to find other survivors. I waited until it was light out and I jumped on my bike and started on my journey. I drove for what seemed like hours in the dim light, but didn’t see a single thing except for a few trees, some patches of grass and some broken buildings. I heard something just when I thought I should either get back to my shelter, or begin to set up one close by in a safe spot. I carefully walked out to the edge of what remained of a building and took a look. There was a man, standing by a small barrel and he was trying to remove what was in it. He was dressed in dirty jeans and a torn shirt with a dirty bandana around his head. He looked my way and began to walk towards me. After talking for a while he asked me if I would give him a lift on the motor bike to a place he thought had some fresh water. As I started up my bike, I felt a hit on the back of my head and when I woke up my bike and the man were gone. My head hurt and my back pack of supplies was gone. I stood up and started walking back to my shelter. I got about half way there, and realized how thirsty I was. I looked for something to drink, but right about then I saw a movement in the corner of my eye. The dogs had found me, and it seemed to me that they thought I was going to be their dinner.

I kept myself calm like they taught us in the Search and Rescue training. I had to find a safe place right away and get home later. I saw what looked like a trap door to an underground basement and made a run for it. The door was just back in place when the dogs began scratching. The next day I left early. It was hard to tell since the sun only came out in little bits. I carefully and quietly made my way back to the garage and barricaded myself in. It took a long time to relax a bit and have a drink and something to eat. My supplies are getting low, and now without my bike my chances are even poorer in finding something to eat before being eaten myself. I thought about how I had worked so hard in my life to help people survive, and now I was the one who needed help and the only other person I had met had taken away my tools. I felt a real sense of hopelessness that this might be all that was left.