The Human Escape Plan

The thick, black smoke was barely visible through the tall and dense trees. I could feel the heat from the fire raging just beyond the line of trees.

“You sure we should be going this way?” I asked my friend, Tanja, who was leading us through the woods.

“No, but I’ve got to find out if it’s her.” She replied back in a hushed tone.

Her?

Then it dawned on me. The fire hadn’t started with the rest of them. It had started by itself. In all my years, that was a one hundred percent guarantee that someone had died.

I looked down at our two young children who were huddled together between us. Their hair was short and white from their early days of the Great Purge when people all over the world decided to rid themselves of those who were different for fear of an uprising by them. That fear led to many deaths and even more disappearances before The Order set things right and restored order to the world.

Tanja leaned down to whisper something into their ears, then she took each one by their hand and began to lead them towards the smoke.

Heather was only four years old, but she already knew what we were about to do. Her face was stoic as she walked along beside her mother. She didn’t need to say anything; we both knew there may not be anyone left in our village after we returned home tonight.

The look on Tanja’s face said it all too; there may not be anyone left in our village, period!

We walked quietly through the woods until we came upon a small clearing where a bright orange glow could be seen in the distance through some large pines trees. As we got closer, I could smell something that made me sick to my stomach: burning flesh! It was awful; I had never smelled anything like it in my life! It was horrible! And now I was worried about whether or not we would make it out of there alive tonight too!

Tanja held onto Heather tightly with one arm while pulling her other arm free from mine so she could push her way through the last remaining wall of trees so we could finally see what had happened. There wasn’t any movement at all in sight except for some birds flying around above us and some small animals scurrying away into hiding spots as well.

After a moment she let go of Heather and went running off towards where most of the wreckage used to be where our village once stood only a few hours ago when this whole thing began. But now all that remained were large blackened pieces of smoldering wood strewn about everywhere among crushed metal and piles of ash scattered everywhere from bodies that burned up long ago as well as others that had been shot by The Order during their initial investigation since they thought maybe someone within our village had done this terrible deed against us all! A single sob escaped Tanja’s lips as she finally raised her eyes and saw what remained of what used to be our home town just hours ago! My heart ached for her as tears ran down my cheeks too when I saw her anguish!