"How long has it been? Huff….huff…." I said while sitting in the snow den I had burrowed a long back. I exhaled as my half-frozen hand grabbed the little heat escaping my mouth.
My sense of time had been ruined long back. "The forever blizzard," as the people referred to the blizzard that had taken over the earth in the year 2088. Ever since its arrival, people died of various diseases. Diseases had long taken over but after the blizzard thing worsened even more. Death, as it is left no house untouched, getting five to six-digit deaths every day, became a norm.
The whole infrastructure of civilization fell apart. Some maniac leaders even launched deadly weapons to control the climate and started the fifth world war. Soon the face of the world changed. No one was safe, our enemy was ourselves. The disease, war, and blizzards rendered us helpless. As the basic necessities became luxuries, things turned to worst. At first civil wars broke, as if they weren't there before. But they were just some people trying to control others and monopolize the left necessities for themselves, or so were we told.
The human turned cannibals and we have nearly come to our extinction. I don't know but I might be the last human alive. How did I survive?
That's a good question, but it's a story for some other time. Today or tonight, whatever it is, the sun never rose in the last couple of years and my watch died a long back, so I have not been in touch with any other human for six months. The last human I saw tried to eat me while I was resting, and nearly ate my left arm, so I had to put a bullet in its head. I don't know what my destiny is, I am just roaming on this vast land covered with dozens of feet of snow. Many times the snow engulfs me and I have to burrow my way out. It's a tiring task when your hands go numb and you're at a loss of breath. It's hard but even I don't know why I struggle to survive.
The only source of heat at this time is this nuclear lamp. It came into existence about half a century ago at that time they were tagged useless. It is a thirty-centimeter tall cylindrical lamp, which has a dim light but is warm. It's lighter and not warm enough to burn the skin so sometimes I keep it in my jacket to keep myself warm.
When the blizzard outside slows down I plan to go out and search for other survivors. It might seem trivial but loneliness is harsher on the mind than people might feel. My meals include energy bars and nutrient tablets. They might be bland, but the taste can be compromised for survival.
When I woke up next the blizzard seemed to have loosened up. This was my chance. I picked up my pocket watch, knife, and my precious lamp in my furry coat and left the snow cave. Moving in that snow was never easy, every step felt like a mile. As my leg sank into the snow my heart raced, I knew by experience in no time I would be under piles of this snow even before I saw a sliver of another human.
Moving ahead I came across many remnants of the long-lost civilizations. Finding a refrigerator was always a delight. After five days of treading this long path, it seemed hard to continue any further. It was getting harder to breathe, my sight was getting hazy. Was this the end? Were these the last moments of the most dominant species in this world? Not Likely, my heart was still beating and I didn't plan to stop it any time soon.
Then at a distance, I saw a glimpse of something, that might have been an illusion, but thoughts of seeing another life, that sliver of hope rushed me. In that deep snow, I ran clumsily. Looking like an idiot. As I gushed my leg lost all forms of footing. I let out a deep cry of regret or say of loss as I was engulfed by the snow. Through my vain attempts to struggle against my current situation, I realized that it was very deep snow. Not jokingly, but I had not fallen this much in the canyons as much I was at the moment.
I get it that snowing had greatly increased in the few days, but why was it getting warmer? Had I finally lost it? Maybe but it felt strange until I fell out into a large forest. I get it many of you would have entitled me drunk but that was not it. It is clearly a great forest right before my eyes, and I too had snow all over me, so I was not daydreaming.
I had to figure out what was going on. I took note of my surrounding, which was layered with various green plants lined after each other. It was a color I had seen after years and it looked almost alien to me now. Sunlight was hardly getting in but I had to figure out the directions, as getting lost in these types of forests was how many humans lost their lives when these forests existed.
I took off my jacket and with its help started climbing a nearby tree. It was very tall, but as I reached the top one thing became clear to me, and it was that this planet was not earth.
How could it be the Sun? It was blue and much larger. The sky is shown in many shades of color. I was flabbergasted at that sight.
To my surprise that was not the only noticeable change. The trees were moving, not swaying in the wind, they were literary moving, and their destination was likely where I was.
Looking at things positively and assuming that I was still sane, I got down as fast as I could. Though there were many more things that caught my eye when I was at the top of the tree, explaining them can wait. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I pushed my way through the other side of that thick forest biome.
One leg after the other, jumping up and down, through the forest, I realized that It was much more comfortable running. I had thought that after spending so many years in that frigid place, my physical levels would have drastically dropped, but it was not so, I felt full of vitality. My body felt so light, I nearly started to enjoy running, as I looked over my shoulder, my joy left with my soul. I was being chased by treants. They were five times my height and I am tall. As they followed me I heard a roar. I assume the one that gave out that horrific sound was the leader, as when others heard him they divided into two groups and each group went in opposite directions. A basic tactic of surrounding your enemy. I had to be quick.
While the chase continued I saw an open area to the left side, but running there meant head-on confronting the treant. I thought for a second and changed my direction to the left. I broke a branch and took a handkerchief out of my pocket and tied it at one end of the branch. I saw the area closing in and the treant closing in. One of them threw its hand toward me. I jumped over the hand and rushed. I was in the open area but far from being safe. I took out the lighter and started a chain of efforts to light it, but no signs of being successful. The treants were closing in and my prayers started. I was done for. It was clearly my last moment as I started to see my life pass through my life, my childhood, my moments with family, and the spark. The spark? The lighter finally lit. I burned one side of the branch and as I did that, I saw what I had hoped for. I saw fear in the eyes of the treants. They were so terrified they started falling as they were retreating. I was safe?