Keep It Simple, Stupid.

"You okay?" Donna asks as she takes a seat beside me on the ground near a defunct fountain.  I nod.  I'm glad to see her.  She seems to be the one most like me, and so I'm happy to have her join me for a while.

"Here," she says and hands me a sweater.  "You're not quite strong enough yet -- you should cover your arms." 

I slip on the sweater and give her a polite smile. 

"Are you planning on staying here -- forever?" I ask her a moment later when the question pops into my mind.

"Well," she says as she readjusts in her seat to get more comfortable.  "It's safer here, this we know.  We have the resources.  We're protected by the lake and the river -- there's only one entrance into town.  It makes sense for now," she tells me.

"Maybe they didn't think to look here," I say out of the blue a moment later.

"Huh?"

Donna looks confused.

"The army, you know, maybe they didn't think to look up here..." I say half-convincing myself as the words float into the sky and get burned by the sunlight.

"I dunno..."

Donna's trying to be positive for my sake.

But it's possible...

They could have flown over here and saw nothing? 

They could still have plans to return. 

The radiation only settled a little while ago.

"They might not come out here because they're afraid of what they'll find," Donna says a short while later.

"You mean like -- zombies?" I ask with a small laugh.

"Exactly," she says and stands to walk back towards the hospital. 

No one else has arrived since me this morning -- so I imagine she is probably going to feed those who can stomach their food on the second floor.

"Donna," I call out to her just before she's out of earshot.  When she turns around I ask the question that's been plaguing me since breakfast, "Why do you think things are kinder?" I say, not knowing if she has the right answer but wanting her point of view just the same.

"I don't know.  Maybe because we only have each other to rely on?"

And with that she gives me a short waive, then disappears.


We only have each other.

Might as well not make life more complicated than it needs to be.

"Keep it simple, stupid" I mutter to myself as I stand to walk back towards the hospital in case Donna needs my help.

Funny that a life-altering, species annihilating disaster should shake the complication out of our lives.

We do only have each other.

Donna's words are very profound.