[The Survivors 02] • Autumn

By the time they had a name for the disease, it had wiped out half the continent. Within a year, it had decimated our world. Now, ten years later, our species is on the verge of extinction. Only a few of us have survived, those lucky enough to be born with a natural immunity to the plague. We scavenge amongst the ruins of our old civilizations, picking out a living from the devastation.

After a decade of living a solitary existence, I have found a family, one that I would do anything to protect. Then tragedy strikes in the blink of an eye, and leaves my family in mourning. There was nothing any of us could do. We were helpless. My inability to protect them from pain and loss feels like a terrible failure. Despair becomes a constant companion, but I can’t live like that forever. I must find a way to move through the grief, and carry on.

I choose to fight for what’s important. I can’t just stand by waiting for death to claim the people that I care about, one by one. What can one person do to save a world this far gone? I can try to bring hope to the people that are left behind. It will be a difficult battle, but I must fight for the people I love. I have to try. We have to try. We have to find some way to move forward, or humanity will be lost forever. Someone must step forward and lead the way.

"My name is Sandy McDermott, and I say that merely surviving is no longer enough."