C1 Kiera

Entry 1,307 August 1, 2024:

It’s nearly been four years now since The Disappearance, still no sign of human life anywhere. Last night I moved over the border to Shikoku. This will be the second region in Japan I’ve visited. I always wanted to come here someday… just not under these circumstances. Still, I took a lot of trouble getting here, so I’m not going to waste this chance. Most places have already been defiled by wild animals, but there are still a few homes and some shops intact. After all, three years isn’t quite enough time to decay whole cities. I am fully stocked on food, but water is running a little low. I’ll visit the Yoshino river tomorrow and fill up the canisters. It’s a quiet night, the stars are as beautiful as ever. Since all the power went out, they have been far more visible than usual. It’s one of the only perks I can think of these days. I’m growing more and more concerned I’ll never find anyone… but I can’t give up yet. There’s got to be at least one person… just one…

Kiera set down her pencil and sighed. After staring at her entry for a few moments, she mumbled under her breath, “Why do I even write this junk?”

Frustrated, she threw the pencil and then the notebook in succession to each other, aiming for nothing in particular. They fell lamely to the ground several feet from her. Before she knew it, she felt warm tears streaming down her face in the chill night air. Then suddenly, feeling a little embarrassed by her outburst, despite being totally alone, she shifted to retrieve her items.

Again she mumbled to herself, “Well, if anyone, or anything, that’s able to read finds me dead one day, this might help them…”

She let out another, deeper sigh and returned to her fireplace, slumping down in the sleeping bag next to it. When the weather was warmer, and she was in an area relatively devot of dangerous wildlife, she liked sleeping outdoors. Though, as time wore on, she may have grown somewhat reckless, caring less and less what happened to herself. In the beginning she would have never dared sleep without a roof over her head, every little noise scared her. Perhaps at the time, that kept her alive. But after nearly four years of surviving on her own, her skill set had vastly expanded and improved. By now, she was fully confident in her abilities of survival.

Three years and seven months prior was January 1st, 2021. Kiera had stayed up the previous night to watch the ball drop on New Year’s day and went to bed immediately after. When she awoke the next day, she found herself alone in her home. She was fifteen. Confused and a little scared, she decided to knock on her neighbors door, and when there was no response she tried nearly every other door in the neighborhood. And that was when she realized for the first time something was missing, not the people, that hadn’t registered yet. No, she realized that ever since she’d woken up she had not heard a single one. A single car. In a panic she ran to the nearest busy road. Except it wasn’t busy. When she grew near she saw the first signs of destruction. Cars wedged into the sides of several houses, small fires still raging nearby. The only cars left on the road were all crashed. Kiera had searched each one frantically, hoping to find survivors, not understanding what had caused the incident, not thinking of it. By the end of the first day however, she had to expect it.

She was the last human on planet Earth.

All the animals were still there, but after thorough investigation, all the signs were there, she was completely alone. That was when she decided to set out on her quest to find other people. She began traveling the globe, hoping one day she might find another like her. Survivor wasn’t the right word, after all the Disappearance hadn’t been known to her until after the fact. No, she referred to herself as an anomaly. She just couldn’t understand why, out of all 7 billion people, she had been left behind. And so finding other anomalies wasn’t the only reason for her travels, though her main priority. She was also searching for clues that might lead her to discovering what caused the whole world to disappear. So far, she had made zero progress in that area.

She was hopeful about her first priority though. A few days ago, she began to see signs while hunting. They weren’t the usual signs left behind by prey. She couldn’t be sure because she’d never tracked one before, but she thought it was possibly human signs she was seeing. A wrapper torn perfectly at the seam, a clean cup of water left standing perfectly on a table. Disturbed stores with no signs of animal tracks. It all seemed too conveniently placed as well. She was beginning to get her hopes up.

As she lay in her sleeping bag, Kiera stared at the licking flames of the fire, watching them dance around one another. It brought back memories of the fireplace in her old home, and once again she felt wet tears on her face. Crying silently, the tired young girl drifted slowly into sleep.