madthings

Traffic is at a standstill on the road into the city, and temperatures are already in the triple digits. While everyone succumbs to exhaustion, one woman bears the burden of trying to keep everyone else alive. Even if it means keeping them in the dark about where they are really going.

“It was supposed to be a beacon of hope, the black tarp, but it reminded me of a pirate flag without the skull and crossbones. If it was skull and crossbones I was looking for, I could have searched the eyes of the people propped up against my van and found enough to start my own crypt. They were alive, but like how carrots were alive when they grew underground. Sure, everything was still functioning beneath the surface, moments still coming and going, but where was the joy?”