The Burning

The Burning

last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2024-12-26
Oleh:  Grace KaraTamat
Bahasa: English
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In the near-future, Earth is ravaged by nuclear detonations and out-of-control wildfires, society crumbles into a lawless wasteland. The cataclysm, known as The Burning, leaves most of the Earth scorched, the air thick with ash, and the remnants of civilization scattered and broken. This post-apocalyptic landscape is where Maya Greene, a 32-year-old former ER nurse, must navigate not only the physical dangers of survival but also the emotional wreckage of her past.

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Bab 1

1

It started with the smell. A strange and suffocating thickness in the air that clung to the back of my throat, like I’d swallowed dirt. I remember stepping out of the hospital after a long shift, the Seattle skyline stretching out in front of me, and feeling like something was wrong. The sky was a dull gray, not the usual drizzle or overcast we were used to. This was darker, heavier. I called Chloe.

"Hey, are you seeing this?" I asked, squinting up at the murky sky.

"Seeing what?" Chloe’s voice came through, light and distracted. She was probably painting or working on one of her sculptures. She had an artist's mind, always somewhere else.

I glanced at my watch. 3:15 PM. Too early for the sun to set but too dark to be anything normal.

"The sky, it’s... weird." I couldn’t put it into words at the time. Not that it would’ve mattered. Words wouldn’t have saved us.

"Relax, Maya. Probably wildfires again. You know how summers have been the last few years. I’ll be fine."

I’ll be fine.

I can’t count how many times I replayed that conversation in my mind. I should've insisted she come to the hospital with me, should’ve made her leave her apartment. But I didn’t. I let her stay. And then the world ended.

The first bomb hit an hour later.

I was in the ER when the ground shook, a slow rumble at first, like thunder that didn’t stop. The lights flickered, and then the building trembled—a violent jolt that sent monitors crashing to the floor. The power flickered out, screams echoed down the hallway, and that’s when the panic spread.

People with half-sewn wounds and broken bones tried to get up, pulling out IVs and limping toward the exit. I remember shouting for people to stay calm, but no one listens to reason when the world is shaking apart beneath their feet.

The second bomb hit not long after, farther away but still close enough to rattle my bones.

I ran outside, expecting to see smoke, fire, something that made sense. But what I saw instead was worse.

The sky had turned black.

A thick, swirling cloud of ash and smoke filled the horizon, blotting out the sun. I could taste it in the air, feel it in my lungs. It wasn’t just Seattle. The emergency broadcasts started rolling in on every frequency, static-filled reports of cities burning, bombs falling.

'The Burning,' they called it. I don’t know who coined the term, but it fit.

I tried calling Chloe again. No answer. I called her ten, maybe twenty times, each call going straight to voicemail. My heart pounded in my chest, the world around me growing more chaotic by the second. People were fleeing in every direction, like ants scattering in a fire. Some had cars, some didn’t. Most just ran, faces streaked with soot and fear.

I had to find Chloe. I had to get to her.

I made it to her apartment just as the fires started. By then, the air was thick with ash, visibility down to a few feet. The city was already in chaos—people smashing windows, looting stores. I pushed my way through the panicked crowds, my mind singularly focused on one thing: Chloe.

When I reached her building, the flames were already licking at the base of the structure. Thick black smoke poured from the windows, and I could hear the crackle of the fire spreading. I screamed her name, running for the stairwell. I barely made it two flights up before the heat became unbearable. The air was too thick, too hot. I couldn’t breathe.

"Maya!" I heard her voice. Faint. Desperate.

I tried to push forward, but the flames were too fast, too aggressive. I remember coughing, choking on the smoke, my skin burning as I reached for the door to her floor. It was hot, searing pain shooting up my arm. I pulled back, tears streaming down my face. I couldn’t get to her.

I couldn’t get to her.

"Chloe!" I screamed, but my voice was swallowed by the roar of the flames.

I don’t know how long I stood there, the fire raging all around me, before one of the neighbors dragged me out. I fought them, clawed at them, screaming Chloe’s name until my voice gave out. But it didn’t matter. She was gone.

The weeks after The Burning are a blur. I wandered the ruins of Seattle, the sky perpetually covered in a blanket of ash, the fires never fully extinguished. The air was thick, toxic in some places. People died from simple things—smoke inhalation, dehydration, infection. The world had turned into a graveyard, and I was just another ghost haunting the ashes.

I don’t know how I survived. Maybe because I didn’t care if I did.

I scavenged what I could, moving from one burnt-out building to the next. There were other survivors, of course, but we didn’t talk much. Trust was a luxury none of us could afford. People killed for food, for water, for a pair of shoes. The worst ones killed just because they could.

I kept moving, kept to myself.

That’s when I found the radio.

It was buried under a pile of rubble in an old electronics store, half-crushed but still functional. I don’t know why I started fiddling with it. Maybe it was the silence that got to me, the oppressive quiet that had settled over the world in the wake of the destruction. Or maybe I just needed to hear another voice, even if it was just static.

I turned the dial slowly, listening to the hiss of white noise, my fingers trembling. I was about to give up when a voice crackled through the static.

“…help… survivors… if you can hear this… Eagle’s Nest…”

I froze, my heart racing.

Survivors.

I pressed the radio closer to my ear, adjusting the dial as carefully as I could.

"…repeat, if you can hear this… survivors at Eagle’s Nest…"

Eagle’s Nest. A group of survivors. Maybe it was a trap. Maybe it wasn’t.

My mind raced, torn between hope and fear. Could I trust them? Could I trust anyone?

I glanced around the charred remains of the city, the weight of my solitude pressing down on me. How long could I survive on my own? How long did I want to survive?

I didn’t have a choice.

I slung my pack over my shoulder, took a deep breath, and stepped out into the ashes.

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82 Bab
1
It started with the smell. A strange and suffocating thickness in the air that clung to the back of my throat, like I’d swallowed dirt. I remember stepping out of the hospital after a long shift, the Seattle skyline stretching out in front of me, and feeling like something was wrong. The sky was a dull gray, not the usual drizzle or overcast we were used to. This was darker, heavier. I called Chloe. "Hey, are you seeing this?" I asked, squinting up at the murky sky. "Seeing what?" Chloe’s voice came through, light and distracted. She was probably painting or working on one of her sculptures. She had an artist's mind, always somewhere else. I glanced at my watch. 3:15 PM. Too early for the sun to set but too dark to be anything normal. "The sky, it’s... weird." I couldn’t put it into words at the time. Not that it would’ve mattered. Words wouldn’t have saved us. "Relax, Maya. Probably wildfires again. You know how summers have been the last few years. I’ll be fine." I’ll be fine.
last updateTerakhir Diperbarui : 2024-10-26
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2
The world after The Burning was quiet. Too quiet. No more cars rumbling down streets, no more planes humming overhead. No more constant hum of humanity. Just ash and silence. I moved through the ruins of a small town, my feet crunching over broken glass and charred debris. The once vibrant town was now just a skeleton, its buildings blackened and hollowed out, like they’d been picked clean by vultures. The air was thick with the smell of burnt wood and decay, and every breath tasted like dust. I pulled my scarf tighter around my face, trying to keep out the worst of it. It didn’t help much. The ash was everywhere, in everything. It had become a part of me now. The town had been called Ridgeway—I’d seen the half-burnt sign at the outskirts. It didn’t look like anyone had been here in months, maybe longer. The fires had swept through, and whatever had survived the flames had been looted or ransacked. Still, I needed food, water, something. Anything. I ducked into what used to be a
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3
"Come on, man," he said, voice dripping with mock sympathy. "Ain’t no need to make this harder than it has to be. Just hand over whatever you got, and we might let you walk away." The father didn’t move. His hands were shaking, but he stood his ground. "Please," the mother begged, clutching her daughter tighter. "We don’t have much. Just… just let us go." The raider leader’s smirk widened. "See, now that’s where you’re wrong. You got everything we need." I couldn’t wait any longer. I moved quickly, darting out from behind a pile of rubble and swinging the pipe at the closest raider’s head. The impact was sickening, a dull thunk as his skull cracked. He dropped to the ground, unconscious or dead, I didn’t care which. I grabbed his knife before it hit the ground, spinning to face the others. For a moment, there was stunned silence. The raiders hadn’t expected anyone to fight back. "Who the hell—" the leader started, but I didn’t give him a chance to finish. I lunged at him, swing
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4
I don’t know how long I lay there, staring at that dog tag. Long enough for the blood on my face to dry and my muscles to start aching with exhaustion. Long enough for the numbness to set in, pushing the pain down into some deep place I couldn't reach. Ben Cross. The name was burned into my brain now, seared into my thoughts like the image of Chloe’s face the last time I saw her. Ben. The man I had heard about on the radio, the one who was supposedly dead. The one I hadn’t seen since The Burning. I wanted to throw the dog tag into the dirt, to forget I had ever seen it, but my fingers clutched it tightly, as if it was the last solid thing left in the world. I didn’t know what it meant—whether Ben was alive, dead, or something worse—but I knew one thing for certain: I had to find out. The next few days were a blur of walking and survival. The road south stretched out before me, an endless ribbon of cracked asphalt and choking dust. I had no real destination, just a vague rumor
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5
I gripped the knife at my side, my mind racing. What were my options? I could run, try to lose them in the ruins, but I wasn’t sure I had the energy for that. And if they had a vehicle stashed somewhere, running would just get me killed faster. I could hide, wait for them to pass, but that didn’t feel right either. No, if they were after me, they wouldn’t just pass by. They’d find me eventually. Which left one option. I could confront them. probably.... I waited a little longer, watching as the figure grew closer. They weren’t in a hurry, moving at a steady, measured pace. I didn’t see any weapons, but that didn’t mean much. Anyone who had survived this long had something up their sleeve. My heart pounded in my chest as I stood up, gripping the knife tightly in my hand. I stepped out from behind the wall and started walking back toward them, each step deliberate, my senses on high alert. The distance between us closed slowly, painfully slowly, and every second felt like an ete
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6
Suddenly, I heard it—a faint sound, like the scuffle of feet on concrete. I froze, my hand going to the knife at my belt. Ben heard it too. He straightened, his body tensed, his eyes scanning the store. "Someone’s here," I whispered, my voice barely audible. Ben didn’t respond, but his eyes flicked toward the back of the store, where the sound had come from. He motioned for me to follow, and we moved together, silently, our backs pressed against the shelves as we crept down the aisle. We reached the end of the aisle, and Ben peered around the corner, his rifle raised. I held my breath, my heart pounding so loudly I was sure whoeverr was there would hear it. Then, without warning, Ben lunged forward, grabbing someone by the collar and slamming them into the wall. A man—a scrawny, wild-eyed survivor—gasped in surprise, his hands going up in surrender. "Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!" he begged, his voice trembling. Ben didn’t lower his rifle. "Were you following us?" he growled,
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7
Fire was a living thing. I had learned that a long time ago. It breathed, it consumed, and it destroyed everything in its path. But this fire—this wildfire—was different. It wasn’t just alive. It was hungry. The flames roared behind us, devouring the dry forest in seconds, the sky above turning black with smoke. Every gust of wind sent embers spiraling into the air, carried on the back of a storm that seemed hell-bent on chasing us down. The heat was unbearable, like standing too close to an open furnace, and the air was thick with the acrid stench of burning wood and ash. We ran. My legs burned with exhaustion, my lungs screamed from the smoke, but I couldn’t stop. If I stopped, the fire would take me. And I couldn’t let that happen. Not again. Ben was ahead of me, his silhouette barely visible through the haze. He moved with purpose, his steps sure and steady despite the chaos around us, but I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his head kept turning like he was
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8
Ben led the way up the steep incline, his movements quick but careful. I followed, my legs aching, my lungs burning with every breath. We had to get higher, away from the fire, away from the heat. But the higher we climbed, the thinner the air became, and every step felt like I was dragging a thousand pounds behind me. Finally, we reached a small ledge, sheltered by a rocky outcropping. Ben stopped, his chest heaving as he caught his breath, and I collapsed beside him, my body shaking with exhaustion. For a long moment, neither of us spoke. We just sat there, listening to the distant crackle of the fire as it continued its deadly march across the forest below. The heat was still oppressive, but at least we weren’t in immediate danger of being engulfed in flames. After a while, I turned to Ben, my voice barely above a whisper. "Do you think it’s over?" He shook his head, wiping the ash from his face with the back of his hand. "No... fires like this don’t just stop. It’ll keep
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9
The cabin was a relic from a time before the world had turned to ash and chaos. It sat nestled in the crook of the mountains, half-hidden by overgrown pines and brush, its wooden walls weathered and cracked but still standing. The roof sagged in places, and most of the windows were shattered, but it was shelter—more than we’d had in days. I leaned against the doorframe, watching as Ben moved through the small room, checking the corners like he always did, his rifle slung over his shoulder. He was methodical, precise. It was like he couldn’t turn off the soldier part of him, even when it was just the two of us and the only threat was the cold. I looked past him, through the broken window, where the last embers of the wildfire still glowed faintly in the distance. The fire was dying now, smothered by the rocky terrain and the lack of fuel, but its damage was already done. The landscape below was charred and blackened, a wasteland that stretched for miles in every direction. We were
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10
"I lost my unit in the first few days after The Burning, " Ben said, his voice barely above a whisper. I looked up at him, surprised. He never talked about his past. Not ever. "We were stationed near the coast when the first fires hit. Everything went to hell so fast. One minute we were evacuating civilians, the next..." He trailed off, his eyes distant, like he was seeing it all again. "We were overrun. Civilians, soldiers—it didn’t matter. Most of them didn’t make it out. I lost... I lost good people that day. People I should have protected. People who trusted me to lead them." His eyes met mine, and for the first time, I saw something raw, something vulnerable in his gaze. "I know what it’s like to carry that weight, Maya. To feel like it was your fault. Like you should have done more. But the truth is, sometimes there’s nothing we can do. Sometimes the world just... burns." I stared at him, my heart pounding in my chest. I had never seen this side of Ben before, never heard
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