99 Roses and a Petal

Real darkness, completely enveloped the sunless sky giving the fire its brightest glow. Thoughts came and left his mind after only a minute to think about them. the campsite reeked of gun powder and was littered with tree branches and black ash puddle from previous years fire. It had been for years since the sun fell in the hands of Satan, four years since the darkness kidnapped his daughter. The outbreak of Charutiiophilia killed most, no effect on some, and left the rest, scared out of their minds. He had to stay on the move or he was better off trying to be a chainsaw juggler. Most of the survivors he found were only to be eaten by the bringing of dawn.

He set logs on the fire that rose again in a deep fiery crackle. then he gathered up all the money, credit cards, and ID he had and tossed it into the gates of Hell. He occasionally would dream of his wife calling his name and he had to forget his name, identity, and start a new life, a life on the road trying to find his daughter. Not that he wasn't trying to find her before, but he was looking in all the wrong places, places she would never go. He grabbed the a navy blue sack and its contents of: poles, tent, and cover. He set up the three man tent in hope they would not find him. Maybe they would simply smell him or fell the coldness in his breath gently brushing their cheeks, if they could feel anything at all. With them out there, he had to assume that even something as careless as bushes shaking turned into the worst case scenario.

A freshly lit lantern dangled from the tip his fingers and he slipped an open palm through the handle of a gallon bucket and carried it twenty-feet on the trail to a small creek. Miniature grass grew along side the bank and everything looked mundane, so he set the bucket on the creek bottom, and water seeped into the bucket filling it full.