The Opening, a fictional short story with original photos

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It has been 5 days since the incident, I still don’t know exactly how it all went down. What I do know is that I have to get out of here. My leg is still in a lot of pain, but it’s moving and I’ve been able to hobble around much better today. I ate my last food ration yesterday, I still have plenty of water but if I don’t find a new source of food I’m not going to last.

No one is going to find me here, I’m forced to abandon my half hazzard camp and try to find civilization. I have no idea which direction I should go, but my gut is telling me to head east. I stumble forward through the forest and make it to a clearing. The ground is wet and my feet are sinking further and further into the soft mud as I progress forward. It’s exhausting and there is no end to the soft mud in sight.

I finally make it to solid ground, but I soon trip over a large rock. I must have hit my head, I’m not sure, I find myself in a daze staring up at a plant. I keep focusing on the droplets of water that have formed on the branches. I imagine them being entire self contained universes filled with their own microscopic planets with unimaginably small lifeforms living on them. Perhaps a very small version of me, staring into a much, much smaller drop of water.

Photo by @gamer00

I finally snap out of my existential moment and get a new burst of energy to go find civilization. I come across a trail and think great, this must go somewhere!

Hours pass and I’m still headed down the same trail. I am very weak at this point and have to stop and rest often. The sun begins to drop, great I think, another night of this with no food! I don’t stop, I’m to determined at this point as finding food has become a life or death matter. Eventually I saw a strange light in the distance, I get closer and I see this odd opening in the ground. It looks like the entrance to an underground bunker! Great I think, perhaps someone is down there with food! The door was wide open and a light was on inside.

I proceed to enter this very old and well worn bunker. I don’t see anyone, no food either. I keep exploring the place and I come upon an elevator. There is a light on in the elevator and as I approach I noticed what looked like a bunch of blood on the floor!

What is this I wonder, I decided I didn’t want to wait around to find out so I turn around to head back out. I make it back to the entrance room however its now pitch black! WTF! I was just here a moment ago and the light was on. I'm incredibly scared at this point, I use my weak phone flashlight to try and make my way to the hatch. After a few minutes of searching the panic really sets in, where did the hatch go? Where am I, is this even the right room? I’m sure of it but the hatch is no longer there… To be continued!

This is a fictional story for @gamer00's photo/story contest. I have zero experience in writing fictional stories but thought I would give it a try! I apologize for the lack of an ending but I promise if @gamer00 hosts another one of these contests I will weave whatever photo into the story and pick up where this one left off!

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The water drop photo is @gamer00's and the other photos are my own. The The foggy trail was taken at Quicksilver county park in San Jose California. The opening was from an abandoned military bunker in the midwest, I used a flashlight in the bunker to make it look like the lights were on inside. I accidently had my headlamp on in red mode when I took the shot, I really like the red effect it gave though! The last shot is an elevator from an abandoned hospital. It is not blood on the ground but some sort of grease or oil.