GIRL FROM TERMINUS

The wind howls through the narrow streets of Terminus, sand whirling through the air. I pull my scarf tighter over my nose, the rough fabric scratching my skin. The sun's been gone for as long as I can remember-an endless, suffocating gray sky that hovers like a blanket, choking any hope of warmth. Below, the ground trembles every few hours, a constant reminder of what happened. Earthquake after earthquake. It's hard to believe this is the same world that once had oceans, forests, cities full of people.Terminus isn't a city, not really. It's a cave system built into the sides of the Great Canyon, a place where the ground's cracked wide open and people had no choice but to hide. The canyon walls are the only thing left standing between us and whatever's out there.And I mean *whatever*.The Reds are the worst of it, but they're not the only things that crawl out of the darkness.I've never seen a Red up close-thankfully-but the stories are enough to make anyone scared. They're huge, with skin the color of dried blood, claws long enough to rip through steel. They're drawn to movement, to heat, to anything that breathes. At night, they come from the caves, slipping through the shadows like nightmares that won't die. If you're not careful, if you don't keep quiet, they'll hear you. And then it's over.I've heard the stories. They say the Reds used to be humans. Some kind of twisted evolution after the earthquakes, after the sky turned black and the land split open. I don't know how true that is, but I'd rather not find out. I'd rather stay down here, in the dark, with the rest of the survivors. But even here, safety isn't guaranteed.We've had our fair share of Reds try to claw their way into Terminus. It's only by luck we've made it this long. There's a handful of us left-mostly families who huddled together when the world fell apart, a small group of survivors scraping by in the forgotten corners of this broken planet. Some of us live in fear of the Reds. Some of us live in fear of the unknown.I keep my head down. I do my part. I've learned to hunt, to scavenge, to stay out of sight. We have to ration what little we have-food, water, anything that can be used for fire or warmth. I know better than to get too close to the others. Trust is a luxury I can't afford. There are too many people here who would sell out their own mother just to survive another day.Sometimes I hear them talking about the "cure." There's a group of people who think they've found a way to reverse what happened, to bring the sun back, to fix the land. They talk like they've got it all figured out,like they are God.But I've seen the way they look at me when they think I'm not listening. They don't understand. They don't know what it's like to lose everything since they all have their family with them.I lost mine to the earth,litteraly...I don't know what I'm supposed to do in a world like this. I can barely keep my eyes open, staring into the night, waiting for the sound of the Reds. But I can't just give up, either. There's something deep inside me, a voice I can't ignore, that tells me to keep going. To survive. Maybe because the world outside is a wasteland, but the people here... we're still alive. At least for now.And that has to count for something.I can hear the others moving in the caves, the scrape of shoes on stone, the murmur of voices in the distance. The hunters are back from their latest run, probably with nothing. Always nothing. The Reds are getting closer to the entrances. We don't talk about it, but we all know it.I grip the handle of my knife, the metal cold against my palm. We don't have much, but we've got each other.And that has to be enough for now.****The fire crackled in front of me, casting flickering shadows on the jagged rocks around the camp. I clenched my knife tighter, feeling its cold metal against my palm as I watched the flames dance. It was the only warmth in this wasteland, the only thing keeping the dark at bay. I hadn't heard anything in a while. The silence was almost suffocating. But then-"Help..."The voice cut through the night, weak and desperate, making my heart skip a beat. I jerked my head toward the sound, my grip on the knife tightening. It wasn't the wind. That voice was real.I stood up, cautiously stepping toward the sound. The firelight flickered behind me as I moved, but the darkness ahead seemed endless. I squinted, trying to make out anything in the shadows.Then, I saw them. Two figures stumbling through the darkness, barely visible at first. One was a guy, tall and skinny, with wild, tangled hair. The other-a girl-was hunched over, clutching her side, her face pale and streaked with dirt."Help..." she gasped again, her voice strained. She barely seemed able to stand.I took a step forward, instinctively reaching for my knife again. "Who are you?" I called out, my voice hoarse from days of silence.The guy-he was tall, his face half-hidden under a hood-looked up, and for a second, his eyes locked with mine. They were wide and panicked, but then he glanced at the girl. He hesitated before speaking, his voice soft and unsure."She's hurt," he said, almost apologetically. "We... we need help."The girl groaned in pain, her legs buckling, and the guy barely managed to catch her before she collapsed."Let me help her," I said, my feet moving before my mind could catch up. This wasn't something I'd ever expected to deal with, but she was clearly in pain, and I wasn't about to just leave her out here to die."I'm Astrid," I added, kneeling down beside them. "What happened?"The guy finally spoke again, though his voice was shaky, like he was unsure of how much to say. "I'm Cato... and this is Dayanara. We... we came from different cities. I'm from Amartus, and she's from the city of Ra."I raised an eyebrow at him. "Cities?"Cato nodded, but I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands kept hovering around Dayanara as if he didn't know how to help her. "Yeah... We left our cities to find food. For our people. But... the Red Creature..." He trailed off, his voice thick with guilt. "We didn't expect it to find us. Not so far out here."I felt a chill run down my spine."Damn," I muttered under my breath. "I thought that thing only hunted closer to civilization..."Cato's eyes flickered with a mix of fear and guilt. "So did we. But it found us anyway. We barely made it out alive."Dayanara groaned again, and I refocused, my mind racing. If she didn't get help soon, there wouldn't be much hope for her."So... what now?" I asked quietly, trying to push the panic down. "You're saying... there are more cities out there?"Cato nodded slowly, his face drawn tight with exhaustion. "I knew about mine of course, after meeting Daya here I found about her's too, but yeah. There's Ra and Amartus,and I know there are maybe two more. Other survivors. It's... hard out there. People are starving, fighting. But it's better than being alone in this wasteland."I glanced at Daya, her body trembling as she clung to Cato. I wasn't sure how long she could last, but I knew that if she didn't get help soon, she wouldn't make it."Okay," I said, my voice steady despite the whirlwind of thoughts in my head. "We help her. Then... we figure out what comes next."Cato gave me a relieved look, but it didn't last long. His eyes were still shadowed with fear.But we didn't have time to think about that.As I moved to tend to Daya, my mind kept racing. The Wasteland was filled with dangers I couldn't even begin to understand. But now, I wasn't alone. And that meant something. Maybe there was still hope.