Mega was with him at the end. As his father’s breathing became slower and slower, Mega sat there and held Jackson’s hands. Hands that had once been so strong. Hands that had held Mega when he was a baby.
These hands were now so frail, the skin paper-thin. Mega could see the veins underneath and imagined the life force of his father ebbing away with every passing minute.
The funeral was hard, if indeed you could call it a funeral. So many adults had died that mass graves had been dug in the countryside and bodies were being cremated at a terrifying rate. Kids were standing round the burial places in small groups. Mega held onto his emotions. There was no dignity in grieving so publicly.
The city was a changed place. Army vehicles roamed the streets and soldiers tried to keep a lid on the rising panic of those still alive.
Mega couldn’t stay in the apartment any longer. His father was gone, he had no idea where his mother was and he finally had the chance to get out and see what the world was all about.
The moment he had been waiting for had come. He stepped out of the apartment building and glanced around. He could go anywhere he wanted, he was free.
But he was swept away by his emotions. Here he was, finally in the position he had dreamt about for so long but racked with grief at the same time over his father’s death, guilt over all the the years that had been wasted.
He was also feeling anger and concern about his mother. How could she have just run away and left him there when she promised that she’d come back for him? Was she still alive? Was she alone and scared? Or was she already dead, her body battered and broken by the virus?
Mega soon came across his friend Jay who was wandering the streets himself in a bit of a daze. Jay couldn’t believe what was happening to the city, to his life. He told Mega that a group of his mates had joined together as there was strength in numbers, that there was a bit of a leader figure, a guy called Ram.
Mega should think about finding a tribe, joining up with this Ram’s one maybe. It would be survival of the fittest.
After all, they had to stay strong, had to unite or there would be no survivors…
A new Pre-Tribe soon.