Narrator
It started years ago when our ancestors chose that they, the humans, were superior to everything else on Earth. These people chose the path of conquerors and tyrants. They thought that nothing except mankind had power over humans, and they were wrong. There is nothing more powerful on Earth. Nothing that even comes close. Nothing rules the Earth but the Earth itself.
Nature is strong. But there’s another kind of nature in our world, human nature. And it is human nature to be Dumb. To think that they are stronger than nature, that they rule the world, that they are superior, Humans are Idiots. It started with the shaking. The ground shook, the TVs began flashing earthquake warnings. Houses crumbled, almost a billion people died in earthquakes of 2075. If you know anything about science, which I don’t but my friend Kyle does, then you know that big earthquakes cause volcanoes to erupt. And unfortunately for over 350 million people, there is a supervolcano in Wyoming by the name of Yellowstone. Yep, that place that you’re rich cousins go every year and send your way to many photos of their family vacation. That place that has hundreds of animal species and tons of geysers. That place blew up. Then there were tsunamis. Huge waves also made by earthquakes, at least that’s what Kyle told me. They destroyed everything coastal, bye New York, so long California, you wanted to someday take a trip to Miami? Well too bad, there is no Miami. R.I.P four-billion people. And that was just the beginning. The beginning, of the end of Earth.
And now you might ask, oh four billion people, that’s sad but not the end of the world you still have like six-billion people left ( “Actually four and a half stupid” is what Kyle would’ve said to me if I said that when I said that) well, as I said, that was just the beginning. Next was the volcanic ash problem. According to Kyle the volcanic ash that was released from the erupting volcanoes around the world is poisonous and killed almost 70% of all American plant life. The end of the earth happened right before our eyes, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.
With all of the chaos and confusion, people were beginning to question the government and their beliefs. They began to question God and each other. Families and neighborhoods split apart. Some people went crazy, others set off on their own. So when the my parents left and my grandma never came back from Target. I, the only one left in our family, knew I had to leave. However, leaving was dangerous. Nowadays, thugs roamed the streets looking for weakly defended houses to rob. The world was in chaos and confusion. Everything in the US was gone save some parts of Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Caralina, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Washington D.C. So, I guess I’m sorta lucky. If you count that as luck. Which I suppose I have to being alive and all.
When the tsunamis came the first I heard of them was on the news. I have cousins who live in California but now, there isn’t really a California left. So I didn’t hear from them. The news always over exaggerates everything. And they somehow managed to over exaggerate over two-thirds of the earth’s population dying, or as they put it 80% of the earth dying. So there either trying to get more watchers or they’re just plain stupid. I’d go with the latter. The news said that everywhere from new york to California was gone. Which would mean there was no US. And, just hear me out here, but I think they got their facts wrong granted that I now live in a cramped safe house in Michigan, which as far as I know is still here. Despite living in a literal apocalypse I’m still alive, unlike some people. Taking into account that the rest of my family hadn’t gone to my grandma’s house in Michigan with me. They were in New York when the tsunamis hit, and, as the news mentioned, there now is no New York.
Living in Washington DC sucks. I know, I know what your thinking. “How could you say that?! You live in the capital of the greatest country in the world. You have so many landmarks and museums and….” I get it, I get it, I would say the same thing about three months ago. Before the world died. Now I live under a bridge with a tent I found at a crumbling REI with my measly belongings and ACP, or air converter pack, that is connected to my face-mask. An ACP is a water-bottle sized machine that turns unclean air into fresh oxygen. They are vital with the levels of volcanic ash that is everywhere nowadays.. For meals I go to The Target that’s a ten minute walk away. All the time trying to stay away from the Gangs the roam the almost deserted streets. I don’t know what happened after I was knocked unconscious during a car accident. Except for I woke up wrapped in blankets under a sign reading, “Welcome to Washington D.C.” And so today I, while making the journey to the target, finally found some survivors who looked just like me. Lost, angry, scared or skeptical of anyone they don’t know. I creeped behind a broken down taco shop and waited. Waited for anything to happen. For the people, who didn’t look much older than me, to come with guns or knives. For them to come behind the van and demand to know who I was. For them to come over, pull off the gas masks they were wearing, for unknown reasons, and for them to drag me off to some interrogation-dungeon. I heard footsteps coming my way, my heart stopped, one of them pointed to me and walked over. I stood up to run but he grabbed my arm. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t. Suddenly he pulled off his gas mask and asked, in a concerned voice “Who are you?”
After leaving the house me and my family were living in. I ventured into the unexplored Jungle that is Washington D.C. I had lived here all my life but had no idea what it was anymore. Crumbling buildings and broken cars littered the once famous city. I had my backpack that contained my pocket knife, some spare food I had saved. This far into the fall, (which is what we called it in my house) food was getting hard to find. And of course I had my ACP. I wasn’t really sure what I was hoping to find. Maybe a government military patrol, maybe other survivors who were friendly, what I did find though was quite different from what I expected.
Person 2
The day the military came to the Michigan safe-house the entire vibe changed. For the last four months we had been bored out of our minds. Spending what would have been a relaxing summer break preparing for my senior year of high school.
“Everybody pack your things and get ready to move out.” Barked Sarge. I’m not really sure what his name was because everybody just called him Sarge. Supposedly he was a war hero before the fall but his belly suggested otherwise. However, I do know he that he was the best shot in the camp as whenever he would take volunteers and teach us to shoot stun-guns at targets he would hit whatever marks where set. I on the other hand couldn’t hit anything from more than ten feet away.
“Everybody ready in five!” He yelled across the front of the shelter. We all all had on our ACPs on and our bags packed. The warm wind of the summer day blew around us as dust swirled around in the warm air. Then a huge hover-truck pulled into view. Everybody suddenly started to cheer and clap as one. However when a boy around my age stepped out timidly out of the vehicle… Well, it wasn’t quite what we expected.
“I, I, I.” He stuttered. Lacking the courage to form complete sentences in front of our crowd of three-hundred. “I have been sent out to inform you that we have room only for those younger than 18.” That remark enraged much of the crowd.
“Liar.” Shouted someone from the crowd.
“You have more room then that!” Spat another.
“Let all of us in!” Screamed someone else. Even Sarge seemed disgruntled by this news. The young soldier. Seemed physically harmed by these remarks. He recoiled to each one like it was a slap in the face. Suddenly twenty soldiers burst out of the vehicle carrying blasters and flanked the young soldier.
“All people under 18 get in the vehicle.” One of the soldiers barked. Me and more teens were escorted into the vehicle while some of the soldiers held the crowd at bay. As the doors closed behind us and we were left in near pitch black darkness with one soldier and his gun. I couldn’t help thinking that something was off about this whole thing.
What I found was house, with its lights on and sound coming from inside. Something not so common in these dark times. I came closer to the house I realized that the door was open and it looked like the people had left in a hurry. I looked around and noticed the many of the houses on this road had doors ajar. I turned around on instinct and saw the lights of a large vehicle in the distance growing ever farther. I started running. I ran as fast as I could sprinting down the hill. Suddenly I felt my foot hit a rock and time seemed to slow as I flew through the air. I hit the ground hard, my arms covering my head. My back hit the ground first knocking the wind out of my body then my head hit and everything went dark. The last thing I remembered was a soldier reaching down for me and smiling.
I awoke lying on a bed with bright lights on me. As the dreariness faded and my eyes opened more fully I looked to my left and right and saw more identical beds like mine. There must be hundreds of them, I thought to myself. About thirty beds down another boy lay. His eyes were closed and his face was serene wit a look of absolute compliance. I was dressed In a black T-shirt and black sweats I Could feel that my back was bandaged from my hip to under my arms. My right arm was also bandaged from wrist to elbow. My left calf stung and my knees ached but I stood up and looked around. I took a guess and walked left down the hall away from the sleeping boy. Rounding a corner I very nearly ran into a man who looked about thirty. He wore all white with a green cross on his chest.
“Ah, so your up.” He said, flashing a toothy smile. “Im glad to see you’re doing good.” He was an very likable person. “We should get you to the hall.”
“Where exactly are we?” I questioned, not fully expecting a straight answer.
Surprisingly the medic did indeed give me an answer. “We’re in northern D.C. We found you about fifty miles south of here.” He explained.
“What is this place?” I ventured. Seeing that this man was quite open and talkative.
“This a training facility for young recruits who are trained to go out and rescue survivors.”
I didn’t fully understand what he meant by this until almost two months later.
It had been almost two months since I arrived at the facility. They had checked us for injuries and gave us new clothes. They fed us and put us in a large hall with other new recruits. Then we were split into groups I was with two other boys. Both were slightly smaller than me. One was from D.C just fifty miles south of the camp. And one was from Missouri like me. Every day from 6 to ten we trained, seven days a week. Doing team-building exercises and drills. No one went by their real names and each group chose a name for themselves. All of us had lost our families and friends in either the tsunamis ash poisoning are floods. Because of this Rush had named us the avengers after some old movies he said his grandpa had shown to him. Rush was the unofficial leader of the group. He got bored easily and was always looking for a game to play or a fight. He was also the best shot of the group. Ratchet was the other boy from Missouri. He had a pocket chess set that he had brought and we used it at night when we were bored. He always beat me and Rush. He was called Ratchet because he loved to invent things. He was strategic and the planner of the group. Finally there was me. They nicknamed me sunshine. I had no say in this. Rush said it was because the sun reflected of my hair so much. Also because I had looked so sad in my black clothes. But Ratchet just laughed his head off when Rush suggested it so it stuck.
After a month of hard training we were finally let out Into the field. Our first couple of missions we found no one. Which was expected from the places we went to. The officers said that the reason we were let into the field so early was because it wasn’t very dangerous usually and that they were getting a lot of new recruits. They had given newer model ACPs with a button to open part of the face mask in order for us to talk. The fifth time we went into the field was the time we found something. It was a girl curled behind a half broken wall. She wore an ACP but wasn’t a cadet. I pointed to her and turned to Rush, tapping him on the shoulder. He nodded and made his way over to her. He tapped the button on his ACP and asked her something. Suddenly the girl turned and pulled a small knife out. Rush grabbed her arm and forced the knife out of her hand. Me and Ratchet came running to his side. As the girl struggled. Ratchet grabbed her other arm and I grabbed the bag she had dropped.
“It’s ok, we’re not here to hurt you.” Said Rush in a calm voice she nodded and Rush and Ratchet released her arms. We led her to the hovercraft and then Rush turned to us.
“let’s Bring her to camp.”
The boys that found me couldn’t have been that much older than me they introduced themselves as Rush, Ratchet and Sunshine. At the third one I laughed causing the first two to burst out laughing with me. Sunshine turned a brilliant red at this. The one called Ratchet piloted the five person hovercraft with practiced ease. Whereas Rush seemed to be the leader of the group and the most energetic. We took a sharp turn around a bend and Ratchet sped up the craft. Down the straight, narrow road. Something came into view off in the distance. It glowed like a small sun. A heaven in the middle of hell. As we got closer I realized something else. The glow wasn’t coming from. The lights of the building. It was to much the color of a sun. Then it dawned on us Ratchet pulled the craft over and we got out. Looking at the mesmerizing sight. The camp was on fire. Rush pulled off his mask and mutters to himself.
“Well that wasn’t the plan…”
Mystery
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This was so well written! I’d suggest not making the entire story in italics tho. It’s difficult in the eyes and takes away from the content of your story.
thanks 🙂
ya ill make it non-italics i see what you mean