In the jungles of Mexico

"Finally out we're in the clear!" Marcelina said and stepped on the gas pedal, increasing the speed of her jeep. Her hands, dressed with driver's gloves tightly clutched, turned the wheel as she drove around the final massive hole in the road turning the vehicle and speeding on ahead. "We can finally breathe easy!" She sighed as the jeep was finally on a clear and open road as far as the horizon could tell, though they couldn't tell very far as they were still in the jungle.

"See, nothing to worry about," Her only other passenger Natalia said as she holstered her rifle. She was sitting in the passenger seat gripping the trigger. Ready to shoot at any sign of an ambush, with all of the holes in the road, junk, and abandoned cars making Marcelia drive slow. The thick jungle trees on the side made it impossible to see what's behind made it, a perfect spot for an ambush by the marauders for travelers like them.

"Wouldn't be the first time I would have to pull off my driving maneuvers if there was an ambush." Marcelina grinned. As the jeep picked up speed she opened her window slightly, and a hot breeze blew her red hair, feeling the warmness of the breeze, she immediately regretted opening it, the air conditioning in the car was working overtime to cool the inside. "What a mistake, you would think the breeze wouldn't feel like a hot towel to the face. God, I hate these Mexican jungles, with these thick impenetrable trees to the side and with this unforgiving heat…" Marcelina continued on ranting as she closed her window.

"It's only going to get hotter from here." Natalia came up close to Marcelina, adjusting the driver's red hair, and wiped off the sweat from her face with her hand. As Natalia wiped away the sweat she caressed her partner's neck, moving her fingers slowly and placing them on Marcelina's soft lips.

"I told you a million times not while I am driving!" Marcelina playfully pushed Natalia away.

"Oh shut up, like you mind," Natalia cheekily smiled. "Besides we're on open road right now with nothing in sight!"

Marcelina frowned, pretending not to have enjoyed the moment and said: "We can always be attacked by marauders, never let your guard down! They can still attack us from the trees on our sides, I have more experience than you and I should know."

Natalia rolled her eyes, "You are only slightly older than me"

Marcelina raised an eyebrow and glared at her blonde-haired, pony-tailed partner and said nothing.

Natalia folded, "I know… You are the boss and it's because of you that we got this far. It was also your idea in the first place to go on this journey."

"When the news traveled across the world through the radio of the planet's eventual demise," Marcelina spoke determined, "The solar fissure effect, it will wipe out all life on Earth for the next 300 million years and there is nothing we can do about it, everyone around us shrugged and continued on with their daily life. Maybe they thought this was god's punishment for ruining this planet with pollution and war, but I am not going to accept this punishment just because the people before us ruined everything and left us in this apocalyptic mess."

Marcelina clutched her fist and continued, "We have a little less than a year before this so-called Solar fissure but even if we are destined to die, I want to spend the last moments in the best place on Earth and well… with you."

Natalia smiled and blushed, "I hope that place, that island is as great as everyone says it is. With abundant resources, no crime, safety, and entertainment everywhere, it's the only country and high-functioning society left on Earth. Apparently, life there is like how it was before the great collapse. While they live the high life we are out here scrambling for survival."

As Natalia finished speaking, she noticed something out in the distance. She pulled out her binoculars, and noticed a dying old man on the hot pavement, "Marcelina, a man's out there and he is dying, should we stop to help him?"

Marcelina only stepped on the gas pedal even harder, and the jeep went into full speed, "Out of the question, it is probably a trap by marauders!"

"I don't know about this one…" Natalia spoke reluctantly looking through her binoculars, "This one seems legit I think he needs our help"

"What is the number one rule I taught you, Natalia!?" Marcelina asked, raising her voice.

"Always look out for yourself first…" Natalia lowered her head.

Marcelina nodded and the jeep zipped by the old man, he was too exhausted to yell for help. Natalia tried not to think about it and decided to trust her partner's judgment.

After the great collapse, the world changed. Countries, governments, economies disappeared. Society as they knew it is gone. Now people live in small communities, villages that hunt and farm. There are a few city-states with walls and a functioning government. Everything in between is lawlessness and anarchy. 

There are large groups of marauders, they move around together like nomads. Looting, pillaging, murdering, raping, destroying anyone or anything they come across. Villages that don't give them what they want often meet their demise, city-states can fend them off but even some have fallen when met with large groups of marauders. A fate worse than death for me to ever be caught by those violent groups. In the before times you had an army and police to deal with them, now it's the law of the strong against the weak.

“Even if that man wasn't a trap, it's the law of nature for him to die," Marcelina said.

Natalia rubbed her chin, still trying to forget about the dying old man, "At least the place we are trying to reach isn't like that, or so everyone says. The last society on Earth, the promised island, Greenland. I am a bit bumped out that we won't get much time to enjoy it even if we reach it with the solar fissure effect coming soon, it's less than a year away."

Marcelina took a deep breath, "There has to be a way for us to survive even after the fissure, there is always a way! I wouldn't be on this road if I didn't believe in it. All the way from Tierra del Fuego, the bottom of South America, the rim of the world so to speak. We both took this step to get from one edge of the Earth to the other and we are already in what the old world called Mexico."

"Not like we had a life in that village," Natalia said without a hint of nostalgia. "Even if we all end up dying in the end, I want to see Greenland before it's all over, get a taste of that high life." Natalia grabbed Marcelina's hand tightly prompting a smile from her partner. Since the jeep was an automatic, she could drive with one hand on the wheel.

If people live in groups as nomad raiders called marauders, or in organized communities of towns, villages, and the one state of Greenland, where does this put them?
"So," Natalia asked curiously "Where would you group us exactly, we don’t really fit with any group?"

Marcelina smirked, "I think we belong to a dying breed, an almost extinct group given the chaos the planet is in. Just simple travelers…"

The two continued talking about Greenland for some time while on the road. They made plans for everything they wanted to do and see, it was hard to imagine a world untainted by the apocalypse, almost felt like a dream and a faraway utopia.

After driving for several hours their Jeep was finally out of the jungle and out of potential ambush, now that they were on an open field they would be able to see a group of marauders if they were coming towards them. Usually, they travel in groups of cars or make ambush on potential choke points.

As they drove into the fields they saw a sign for an incoming town named Perdido, Natalia took out the map to see where exactly they were but couldn't find their location on the map at all. The physical map she held was a map of Mexico back from 1953. More than 250 years have passed since then and many things have changed. It was unfortunately the best map they could find as maps are no longer produced outside local city-states and their surroundings. They knew that they were driving somewhere in what used to be the state of Veracruz, but other than that they were at a loss. The pair had a compass, so they knew they were moving north which was where their destination lay.

"We have to be on our toes, we don't know what to expect in this town," Marcelina said with a serious look.

"Of course, I know the drill by now," Natalia said drawing her rifle. "We ought to stop by, we don't have a lot of water or food, we need to resupply, and this might be a good place."

"You know I don't like stopping but you're right."

Their dark blue jeep was approaching Perdido, an uneasy atmosphere seeped into the vehicle, both girls were on edge, just what exactly they were going to find.

Upon arrival, the streets were littered with cracks and holes, decaying and rotting buildings overrun by plants, broken windows, and trash moving along the road as the hot wind pushed it along. More than all of that, what truly caught their attention was that this town was empty of people, it seemed to be completely abandoned. When running across these settlements, you often find dead bodies and bones, usually from marauders killing those they find. You would at least see some evidence of recent habitation, but Perdido seemed long abandoned.

Was this a trap? Just what happened here? Marcelina and Natalia looked at each other with confusion and dread, what exactly waited for them in this mysterious and forgotten town of former Mexico…