The Survivalist

"This is going to be the best anniversary ever!" my girlfriend Sarah said and reached over to kiss me on the cheek.

I smiled, glad that she was excited about going on a hiking trip. I had never met another woman who was as into the outdoors as she. I kept my eyes peeled on the road ahead. At any moment a car could be coming towards us, and this road had barely any space to get over. We were heading up a mountain, getting deeper and deeper into the middle of the woods.

"Do you know where you're going?" Sarah laughed.

"Yeah, my dad and I used to come here all the time."

It was true. I knew this place like the back of my hand. My dad took me here every year since I was six years old. He taught me everything he knew. During the day, we hunted deer and squirrels and fished for catfish in the cool stream. At night, we told stories by the campfire and slept in a tent under the starry night. We did this every year until he disappeared.

I was seventeen years old when he didn't come home from work one night. He and my mother had been arguing a lot. He was drinking heavily. He turned into a different man. The only time he spoke, you could barely understand what he was saying. He just rambled on and on. My mom called the police. They did everything they said they could, but no one ever saw him again. It's been six years since he went missing. I pulled the car over into a small clearing and turned off the engine.

"Are we here?" Sarah asked.

"No, this is just as far as we can take the car. We have to walk the rest of the way." We got out of the car and pulled our backpacks out of the trunk. They were heavy. We had packed everything that we could possibly need, a survivalist trait I picked up from my dad.

"This way," I motioned to Sarah. "It isn't very far. I'm taking you to the spot where my dad and I used to set up our tent."

"I hope we don't run into any bears."

"We'll be alright," I said taking Sarah by the hand.

We walked for about a mile, and then stopped to rest for a moment. I took out my canteen to get a drink of water.

"What is that smoke coming from?" Sarah asked looking up above the tree line.

I looked up to see smoke billowing up towards the sky.

"Oh no," I said. "That's the same direction where my dad and I camped. I hope someone didn't find it and take it. It is a really good spot."

"Well let's just so see."

We followed the smoke and peeked through the trees. In the clearing, there sat a small wooden cabin in exactly the same place my dad and I used to camp together.

"Woah! Someone built a cabin here?"

We walked up to a window and peered in.

"Do you see anyone?" Sarah asked.

"No, but the fire is lit, so I bet who ever lives here isn't very far from the cabin."

"Do you want to go inside and check it out?"

"What? No, they could be coming back any minute."

"Come on. We won't be in long. It'll be fun."

Sarah walked over to the cabin door and disappeared inside.

"Sarah! Wait!" I ran to the front door after her.

It was very warm inside. The fire was burning in a stone fireplace. In front of it sat a small wooden table with two chairs. To the right, a small wooden bed sat up against the wall. It was covered with a green and black plaid blanket and a small white pillow. To the left, the walls were covered from top to bottom with shelves filled to the brim with canned food.

"Look at all of this food," Sarah said motioning for me to come over. She picked up a few cans, looking through cans of peas, corn, and kidney beans. "Someone could live off of all of this for years."

"Yeah, we should get out of here. This is really weird."

Suddenly, the door to the cabin slammed open. Sarah dropped a can of peas. It rolled until it hit the wall.

"What are you doing here? Trying to steal my food?" a tall, burly man with long hair and a thick beard shouted at us.

"No." I grabbed Sarah's hand. "We were just leaving."

"You can't leave now," the man said. "You know where I live. You'll just come back with more people and take over my cabin."

His voice sounded oddly familiar.

"No, we won't."

"It's the end of the world. There's no more food anywhere else. Of course you will."

"The end of the world?"

"Nick, he's crazy. We've got to get out of here," Sarah whispered.

He picked up his shot gun and aimed right at us.

"Wait, wait, wait!" I stepped in front of Sarah and held up my shaking hands. "Please just let us go. We aren't trying to steal your food. We just found this place. My dad and I used to camp here when I was a boy."

"Nick, you aren't going to reason with him. He thinks it's the apocalypse."

Sarah stepped out from behind me. The gun went off. The blast sent bloody pieces of her all over the canned food behind us. Blood streaked across my jeans. The rest of what was left of her body fell to the floor.

My mouth dropped open. For a moment time stopped. I was dizzy and couldn't catch my breath.

He grabbed more shells ready to load them into his gun. My instincts kicked in. I turned around and started grabbing cans from the shelf. I threw them at him as fast as I could. He put his hands up to protect himself and ended up dropping the gun. A can hit him in the forehead and he fell backwards. I ran to the gun and picked it up aiming it at his face.

I got a closer look at him. Under his scraggly beard I could see the same man I recognized six years ago.

"Dad?"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brittney Sowards is a fantasy and science fiction writer. Her projects include THE FOREST GIRL, a magical children’s picture book and AURORA, a young adult science fiction novel, along with various poems and short stories.

Brittney lives in a small village in West Virginia with her husband and three children, enjoying the scenic and peaceful countryside.

Find out more by following her on Facebook @brittneysowardswriter and Instagram @brittneysowards_writer.