Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 244

This week's picture prompt was created by artists, Iluviar (as Belarus artist called Marina). The picture is called Final Destination. Unfortunately they suggest going to their Deviant Art page to find it, but it is no longer there; they only have 8 pieces on there, so I have linked to their blogspot website where you see how they created it.  

A potential prequel to Tricky's stories. 

The General Guidelines can be found here.

How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here. 

There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.

Shift

When she crawled out of the bunker she’d been living in, it was growing dark and she was grateful for the oil lamp she brought with her. At least she thought it was sunset, it could in fact be any time of day; there was no knowing whether this was the new normal.

The wasteland around her was covered in a thick ash, no doubt from the eruptions that had taken place when the tectonic plates had shifted. The air smelt fresh, but there could be unknown toxins in it. Angela knew radiation had no scent but she’d waited below long enough. The land had stopped shaking more than two years ago, and there’d been no sign of tremors for months; it was time to see what remained.

She shuffled along in her ball gown, her only clothing. When the world around them had begun its collapse it was what she had been wearing. There’d been no time to go home and change. Below ground she could move around in just her underwear or naked, but up here she had to at least protect herself from the elements.

Was that really a building up there? The outline of a large house could be seen on a jutting piece of rock. Maybe it had been elevated by the bedrock when it had been pushed up, leaving the property untouched. It was possible – it seemed anything was now.

Angela moved towards the building. Could there be people in there? She didn’t know. But for now her guides were telling her it was safe and she trusted them, something she’d learned in her isolation, after failing to heed their warnings before the ground had shifted beneath her feet.

She’d been one of the lucky ones, having been at an event with the rich family she’d worked for, and rushed to safety with them to hidden underground bunkers. Although the bunkers hadn’t been as safe as expected, hers having split off from the rest during one of the tumultuous shakes and eruptions from several hundred feet below. She’d been in the kitchen at the time, resulting in all the food and supplies going with her, enabling her survival. The others hadn’t, which they’d reached out from the other side and confirmed.

And now the world was new and cleansed, the planet having rid itself of the parasite that had become too greedy – or at least given it a heavy cull. She’d been forewarned about this day since her youth, but like all the other parasites, she’d chosen to ignore it. Every day she was thankful she’d survived and would be able to be a part of the new world. They had to guard against repeating it, but she was confident, assuming there were other survivors, they could. Everyone knew how this had happened, and everything that had led up to it for decades. This time they would be learning from history – if the planet let them.

It was a large house. She was close enough to see it now. She had to climb up to it however and that might take some effort. She considered staying here at the bottom for the night, which it had definitely become with the dusk having turned to an inky black and the stars coming out. She would save her strength for the climb until morning.

But then a light appeared in one of the windows. There was someone living there.

She didn’t want to waste time wondering who they were, she wanted to meet them. She’d been alone for too long. The adrenaline and renewed sense of purpose spurred her on, as she picked up the skirt of her dress and began the ascent.