The end of Earth

Earth as you knew it exists no more. Fighting to keep going and fighting to stay alive. Apocalypse

Chapter 1

Alarms were going off all around me, I sat crouched underneath of an old kitchen table . I could hear the military outside of the building I was in. I heard them screaming orders at rebels like myself. Some of the rebels listened, some of them tried to lash out and ended up tortured and eventually dead. My heart was racing but I was keeping calm, I had been trained my whole life on how not to get caught when the military would invade cities. It had been at least a month since the last raid so it's not like I wasn't prepared. I had my back pack strapped over my shoulders, a pair of combat boots on my feet, a plain black t-shirt with my older brothers old leather jacket covering my arms. I had my bow and arrow ready for when and if a soldier came up the stairs of the abandon building I was squatting in  and noticed me.
    I was born in the year 2027, now 19 years old. When I was first born the world wasn't nearly as bad as it is now.  In the year 2018 nuclear war started, destroying many countries and cities, creating a toxic earth. Many people died but many also survived.  After a couple of weeks our cities were invaded. We had the military, and designated areas of cities where we lived but we still had some freedom. By the time I was 10, the world was a mess, people were being killed in the streets for population control. People were forming gangs and taking over whole neighborhoods while the government fell apart. Police, firefighters, hospitals, grocery stores, all controlled by one group who were slowly taking over North America. They called themselves "World Order Society". If you didn't follow what they said, when they said it they would kill you on the spot. They took prisoners often and turned them into slaves. Families were ripped apart and people taken from you. There was no more freedom, everyone was confined to even smaller cities and given even less food and clothing. You had to work yourself into the ground to barely put a roof over your head and food in your families stomachs. Both of my parents had been Police officers before the world went to s**t. Once 2038 came around they were tired of being treated like slaves and prisoners. They planned an escape for all of us. Me, my older brother Meccah and my younger brother Arlan were terrified for what was outside the confined gates of our prison but all so hopeful that we were about to start our lives over without control. One night while the guards were getting drunk off of fifty year old whiskey and had left the front gates guarded with only 2 men. We were able to sneak by them and into the night with no problems. We each carried a back pack full of essentials, clothes, food, medicine, flashlights, batteries, and each of us had one weapon. My parents had trained us in secret our whole lives to be able to wield swords, shoot arrows with a bow, fire handguns and create small bombs in under 5 minutes. We practiced our hiding, stealth and agility for hours at a time. They were prepared for anything for the night they escaped. My brothers and I. who were only 13,11, and 9 were prepared to fight. After we escaped Toronto city we headed north towards Ottawa. My father had been in contact with some of his old police buddies and they had created small rebel camps along the way to Quebec and would help house us until we were ready to go to our next camp and final destination.  When the military had taken over they destroyed all vehicles except for their own and destroyed many gas stations in fiery explosions to eliminate long distance travel. We walked all the way to Ottawa, I'm not sure how long it took to get there but I know that my feet were bleeding by the time we got there. We were saddened to discover that all ways into Quebec through Ontario had been sealed off and had guards on duty. We decided that we would make Ottawa home, there were many abandoned buildings where we could squat and even a few people we knew that could help us out. We found an old abandoned house just outside of Ottawa. The house was really nice, pretty modern and still had appliances, furniture and even old clothes still in the closets. The best part about the house was the secret latch door that lead to a small bunker beneath the ground. We set up our life in this home. hidden deep within the woods to hide us from immediate military patrol. By the time I was 13 I was going on raids with my older brother into Ottawa to look for items we needed, especially medicine. We were very good at staying out of sight and sneaking in and out of areas without being caught. We had made friends with a group of 6 people that lived about 4 miles from where we were hiding out. They told us they were all distant cousins of the "walker" family. They often gave us supplies and food because they said that they raided a lot of places and had more than enough. I'm not sure why my parents didn't realize that we were being fooled a lot sooner than they figured it out. We had been friends with the walkers for 2 years and were having them in our home for a celebration dinner, I had just turned 15 and my parents planned a party. They allowed me to go on a raid by myself for the first time because it was all I had wanted for my birthday. They were terrified of me being found and tortured but knew I could hold my own when it came to protecting myself. I had left the house just as everyone arrived and my parents had started serving malt wine. Arlan had wanted to come with me and I wish I had taken him with me but my parents told me he was too young, he needed to stay behind. I packed my small bag with my emergency items and grabbed my bow and arrow and left. I wondered through the woods for about 3 miles, stopping dead in my tracks as I saw a military hummer drive down the road just beyond the trees I was hidden in. I dropped to the ground so slowly and waited for the truck to pass and kept quiet for almost five minutes  before I was brave enough to get up. I ran back to my house as quickly as I could to warn everyone but I was too late, the hummer was now sitting right in front of the steps and 5 soldiers were creeping around the entire house. I desperately wanted to run at the soldiers, arrows hitting each of them but I knew I would be killed on the spot. I prayed that the booby trap alarms my parents had set along the road ways had gone off soon enough for them to get into the bunker. I watched in the shadows for a very long time until I saw movement. The bunker lid was opening, Oh no! My family was coming out,  but so were our friends and they were holding  guns to the backs of my parents and Meccah's heads, where was Arlan? I clasped my hand over my mouth, not willing myself to scream. Meccah spotted me in the woods, he gave me a small hand signal that we had created for the word "stay" in times like these. The next thing I knew bullets were being fired and my family dropped to the ground. I took my arrows into my hand and started firing them at the soldiers. I killed every one of our so called friends before the soldiers who had been in the hummer began firing bullets at me. I turned around and started running as fast as I could, tree branches slapping me in the face, cutting into my skin and making me bleed. I twisted my ankle on a tree root but I kept running, I couldn't stop now. I quickly climbed up into a tree secured my weapon and stayed very still and waited for them to run past. I spotted one of them creeping through the tall grass below me so I made my move and dropped down on top of him, wrapping my arms around his neck and snapping. His body crumpled to the ground and I dropped on top of him and quickly removed his weapons and stuffed a hand gun into my backpack and picked up a large, sharp knife. I waited in the shadows, willing these military killers to come near me so I could kill them like they had killed my family. One more soldier was making his way  towards me and i stayed very still until he was within reach. I grabbed his ankle and pulled his foot out from under him. He fell to the ground and I quickly stabbed him in the throat, blood spraying all over me. It was warm and sticky and made me sick.
    "Sargent!" I heard someone call out as they walked over top of me, before I knew it there was a second one and he reached into the grass and pulled me up roughly. I started kicking and punching but he had me in such a secure hold. The other two soldiers came up and laughed as they surrounded me. "I'm going to make you pay for killing my men." The one that held me shouted.
    "I'm gonna make you pay for killing my family." I whispered and without another seconds hesitation I lifted my knife to his throat and slit. I maneuvered his body in front of me to take the shots that were being fired at me by the remaining 2 men. I grabbed the hand gun that was in the dead mans hand and quickly fired shots, killing the last two men. I pushed the dead solider from my body and dropped to the ground next to him. I had just killed a total of 10 people in under 10 minutes. I was stained in their blood and hurt from the pursuit. But even all of that didn't amount to the pain I was feeling for my families deaths. I was sobbing silently, my body shaking violently. I picked myself up from the ground and ran back to our home, where my family laid slain. I fell to the ground beside them sobbing, not sure of what to do with myself. Arlan! Where was he?
    "Arlan!" I shouted, getting up from the ground. "It's Aspen, where are you?" I knew it was dangerous to make noise because there were probably more patrol cars around but I needed to find my brother. I heard a banging noise coming from inside the house and went to investigate. I walked through the house very quietly, with the knife still in my hand. I heard the banging coming from under the staircase and quickly pulled apart the boards and seen Arlan sitting inside.
    "Asppy." He shouted, wrapping his arms around my neck and hugging me tightly. I sobbed into his hair and he pushed me away and looked at me. "Where's Mom? Dad? Meccah?!" He was getting antsy.
    "They're gone." I said and he didn't bat an eye. "They're dead." I verified, and still no reaction from him.
    "Now we have to survive on our own without them." He said, "We have to leave."
    "What happened here?" I demanded.
    "The Walkers were spies all along." He said, "Meccah had figured it out just before you went on a raid. Mom and Dad knew if they sent me with you that they would call a patrol to get you before us. They hid me under the stairs when the walkers started freaking out and demanding we follow them when the booby traps went off. Mom told them I ran away so they wouldn't search the house for me."
    "You're right." I said, wiping my tears. "We can't be weak, we have to get our stuff and leave while we still have daylight." We hugged once more and went about the house collecting the emergency bags Dad had made for times like these. We were now short three people so we each took 2 bags and had to leave the one with clothes behind. We wondered into the woods, both afraid and nervous. We held our weapons with confidence and walked along the outskirts of the highway, we had no dreams except staying alive. We had to make sure our family didn't die in vain saving our lives.

Chapter 2

Now 4 years later, the world order is the worst it's been. There were no longer safe cities to live in, everyone who wasn't already being controlled by the world order were slowly being killed or captured. All cities were dangerous, women were raped and killed. Children turned into soldiers and slaves.  As I was hidden under the table I heard foot steps coming up the stairs and readied my bow, ready to shoot and just before I shot the arrow I saw my brothers face.
    "Whoa simmer down Aspen." Arlan whisper yelled at me, "There's about 20 of them down there." S**t! 20? A usual military search had 5 maybe 6 soldiers. Once I even seen 10! But 20? There was no escaping this old building. We were going to have to play it smart and stay where we were and most importantly stay quiet.  Staring at Arlan now all I could see was Meccah. His strength, courage and how cunning and witty he could be. They looked almost identical except Arlan was blonde like our mother. He made his way to where I was under the table and we sat under there for hours, waiting out a potential messy situation.  Arlan and I both must have fallen asleep while we waited out the soldiers because we awoke in complete darkness.
    "Are you awake?" I whispered to Arlan.
    "Yes." He said, "Let's go to the backroom." He said. Referring to a rather large room located in the back of the building. There were no windows, boxes of old canned foods and a couple of mattresses from a former rebel group that must have been staying here long before us. The room was also only accessible through a small opening you had to crawl through. Once we were inside we would reach out and pull an old dresser in front of the opening. I quietly crept to the door and set up a string across the bottom of the doorway that was attached to a set of keys that would make a loud enough noise for us to hear in the room.  I ran to the back of the building and crawled through the small opening, making sure to pull the dresser in front of the opening. Arlan had already turned on our "lights" that were really just jumbo sized flash lights that we had in each corner of the room. We had the room sectioned off into 3 areas. My room, Arlan's room and the "living area" where we had an old couch and a small cupboard where we kept our food and water. We separated each of the areas with long blankets draped from the ceilings. My room had a mattress on the floor that was covered in blankets. I had my belongings all in my backpack in case we had to make a quick retreat and I kept a knife beside my bed just in case. Arlan also had a mattress in his room, tons of blankets and also a small table where he kept all of his belongings out. Unlike me, Arlan was quite optimistic, never suspecting the worse. I on the other hand refused to make friends with any of the other people we came into contact with. I didn't trust anyone, especially after what the Walker's had done to my family. Arlan often complained that he was lonely and wanted to talk to more people than just his bossy older sister. He wanted to fall in love and find the woman of his dreams.
    "It's not fair." Arlan said to me as I sat down beside him on the couch."Living in a confined room your whole life isn't living."
    "It's dangerous out there." I said sternly, "We can't risk getting caught."   
    "That's wat you always say." He said, "You rarely ever leave this room unless it's to shower there's soldiers outside and even then you just hide under the table by the door, waiting to possibly kill them."
    Since we left our small home and slaughtered family four years previously we had ventured for days, through the woods until we had ended up in the United states in a small town in Maine. We had found the old abandoned building on the outskirts of a town where many rebels like ourselves had taken refuge. When we first arrived, Arlan wanted us to find a family that would take us in and let live with them. I refused to do it which only pissed Arlan off. He didn't talk to me for literal weeks because he was so angry at me for keeping him away from other people. I couldn't let anyone get close enough to take Arlan from me. The first year on our own was tough.The building wasn't insulated properly and we spent many nights freezing. Eventually once we had started running out of food I agreed to go on a raid with Arlan. We made our way into a small neighborhood that had been abandoned and struck gold in the homes. We found blankets, food, batteries, clothes and shoes. We made 2 trips a day for about a week until we had enough supplies to last us through the winter. Arlan and I had made the rest of the building look bare and not lived in so we could trick any soldiers that could possibly do a search and find us. We put old mattresses and blankets and newspapers along the walls to keep our one giant room warm and almost sound proof.
    "I'm scared." I admitted, "I haven't been outside on my own in so long I've forgotten how to defend myself."
    "You're one of the best fighters I know." Arlan said, "You need to leave the confines of these four walls. I can tell that you're going stir crazy."
    "What if I can't defend you or even myself?" I asked, "We promised that we would never put ourselves in unnecessary danger."
    "You staying behind when I leave to go on a search for supplies is dangerous." He scowled, "We're both alone and either of us could be taken by surprise, it's better to be in pairs."
    "Don't tell me what is dangerous." I snapped, "I have seen and done a lot worse so don't try educating me." I walked away from him and went and laid down in my bed. It was true, the first couple of years on our own I did most of the searching and finding supplies. I killed more people than I could remember. The world was not a kind place, many of the rebels were not trust worthy. They would kill innocent people for their food and other supplies. I killed whole groups of rebels because I knew if I hadn't that they would kill me. It was a kill or be killed world now, there was no time for friendships. I turned the flashlights off that we're in my corner of the room and laid there, staring at the ceiling. I couldn't help but let my mind wonder to my parents and Meccah. I hadn't allowed myself to think about them in a long time but I couldn't help it. I wondered what Meccah would look like and if he would still be goofy and caring. I imagined my parents joking playfully with each other like they always had. I wanted to cry but I couldn't, I had lost ability to feel sadness or happiness. All I could cling to was anger and I knew that eventually that would catch up with me. I fell asleep, drifting into a dream about my family.
    I woke in a panic, someone's hand was over my mouth. I went to punch them when I recognized a voice.
    "Shhhhhh." Arlan whispered to me, "There's soldiers in the building." My heart started racing, I immediately stood up and stuffed my feet into my combat boots. I pulled on Meccah's old worn leather jacket and tied my long blonde hair up in a pony tail. Arlan had a small flash light in his hand along with his hand gun. Through the darkness of our small room I could see that he too was wearing combat boots. He also had on a pair of jeans and a black hoody.  "What are we going to do?"
    "Stay quiet." I said, "We don't know how many of them are out there."
    "There's 6 of them." He said quietly.
    "How do you know that?" I asked.
    "I was out looking for something special for your birthday." He started, guilt in his voice. "They found me in an old grocery store and i got away but they tracked me back here." I resisted the urge to smack him in the back of the head for being so careless but I knew he didn't mean to cause this.
    "We can take them." I said. Luckily the dresser in front of the entrance to the room was placed on a mat for easy sliding and also quiet sliding. I grabbed Arlan's gun because he had a silencer on it. I crawled on the ground to the entrance and slowly slid the dresser. I could see the soldiers illuminated by each others flashlights. I quickly shot 3 of them in the head and they dropped to the floor. I retreated back into the room but left the dresser slightly open so we could hear.
    "What happened?" I heard an angry voice yell, "Where did those shots come from?" I heard the remaining 3 soldiers scurry about the building. When I heard their foot steps move away from the area of where we were I quickly moved the dresser and crawled out. I turned behind me and told Arlan to stay put.  I was on my feet quickly and equipped my knife. I made my way around the shadows of the building until I found one of the soldiers. He was on a walkie talkie, radioing for back up. We were in trouble. I quickly crept up behind him and slit his throat, his blood spraying on me.  I heard a gun shot go off behind me and my heart dropped, I ran back to where I had told Arlan to stay put to find him beside the body of a dead soldier. He looked up and smiled at me, letting me know he was okay when suddenly another gunshot went off and Arlan was on the floor. There was a soldier across the building, he tried shooting at me but I began running and he was unable to hit me. I ran around the top floor of the building before finding a small space to hide. The soldier was not too far behind me and as soon as he walked by me I was behind him, and he must have heard me because he turned around. He grabbed me by the throat and pushed me into the wall as hard as he could. I couldn't breathe and was trying to gasp for air. He was laughing as I was kicking and screaming. Soon my movements became slowed, I had nothing left in me to fight. My mind went to when I found my slaughtered family, Meccah's bloody face flashing in my mind. I was suddenly gasping for air and Meccah's face was leaving. I opened my eyes to see a silhouette of someone standing beside me with a knife in the soldiers chest.
    "Go get your things, more soldiers are coming." An unfamiliar voice said to me. I was still in shock from what had happened. "Quickly! I'll grab your friend and you get your supplies." Without a hesitations notice I was up and running back to our room. I grabbed my back pack, Arlan's back pack, a bag of food and our weapons. I was quickly back out to find the stranger with Arlan's arm draped over his shoulder, Arlan was alive!
    "Grey let's go!" I heard a female voice and looked to the top of the stairs where there was another person.
    "Come on." I said, hurrying the stranger and my brother along. We made our way down the stairs and ran out the entrance of the building. There were three more people standing outside,next to the soldiers truck.
    "Help get him in the back." I heard the guy that had rescued me say. We lifted Arlan onto the bed of the truck. I placed my jacket over his chest and went to sit beside him when someone grabbed my arm.
    "I will get him secured, I need you to get in the truck." A girl had said to me. I hurried into the truck and put my seat belt on.
    "We'll meet you back at the school." Someone said through the window and they were gone into the night. The truck started up and soon we were gone into the night. I was completely outside of my comfort zone and lost without Arlan. I knew he was alive but I also knew that he had been shot. We were now traveling with a group of strangers, which I didn't agree with.
    "My brother was shot." I said, "Are any of you equipped to help with that?"
    "You're welcome for saving your a*s." The girl said to me. I didn't say another word, as soon as they got us to wherever they were going I would help Arlan and then get us out of there. We were driving for what seemed like an hour when we finally stopped. Everyone got out of the truck and I helped bring my brother into an abandoned school. We rushed down the hallways until we came to the music room. Arlan was taken down the hall to the old school infirmary.
    "I'm Grey." My rescuer said to me, extending his hand. Now in the light of the old classroom I could see everyone who had helped get us to safety. Grey was very tall, probably around 6 feet tall. He had jet black hair that fell across his forehead. He had a chiseled jaw line, straight roman nose, beautifully bright green eyes and a wonderful smile.
    "Aspen." I said, taking his hand. "My brother is Arlan."
    "Where's the rest of your family?" Grey asked, "Did you leave them behind?"
    "Long ago." I said quietly and Grey must have noticed the pain that was written across my face because he didn't ask another question.   
    "You can stay with us as long as you need or want to." Grey said, "We can always use more people like you." I didn't know what he meant by that but I didn't wanna think about that right then.
    "What's going to happen to my brother?" I asked.
    "Lark is our medical expert." Grey began, "The girl who had strapped Arlan to the bed of the truck."
    "Is she equipped to save his life?" I demanded. Without a word Grey lifted his shirt to show me 3 bullet hole scars that were in his chest.
    "She saved my life." He said, letting his shirt fall back down. I felt a wave of relief wash over me.
    "Okay." I said for lack of anything better to say.
    "Come with me." He said, taking my hand and I quickly grabbed it back from him. He gave me a strange look and and went into the old instrument room, and I quickly followed behind him. Inside there were two beds that looked absolutely heavenly, covered in giant blankets. There was a shower in the corner with a long curtain drawn to the side, a small cupboard and a couple of jugs of water.
    "What's this?" I asked.
    "It's our last free room." He said. "It can be yours and Arlan's room if you want."   
    "We don't stay with other people." I said sternly.
    "How long have you been alone?" He asked.
    "4 years." I said, "We don't trust people."
    "Maybe I can change that." He said, offering me a smile.
    "Are you guys part of a rebellion group?" I asked, referring to people who saved wanderers and supplied them with a place to live and food to eat.
    "Nah." He said, "There's only five of us here, all young like you two."
    "I am not young." I said defensively.
    "What are you, 16 or 17?" He asked.
    "How insulting." I spat at him, "I'm nearly 20."
    "Take it as a compliment." He said laughing. He was charming, that was for sure.
    "Was it just a coincidence that you found us?" I asked.
    "Honestly, no." He said, "We've seen your brother around a couple of times, he always ignores us. We saw him get chased out of the grocery store and decided to help."
    "Thank you." I said, "Today was my first encounter with any soldiers in a very long time. I wasn't prepared."
    "Grey, we need to go look for Mox and Brae." A guy came into the room. He was taller than Grey, he had long blonde hair, blue eyes and a very young face.
    "Okay Cree." Grey said to him. "If you need anything go see Lark." Without another word they both left the room. I sat down on one of the beds, marveling at how comfortable it was. I had forgotten what a comfortable mattress felt like. I got up before I got too comfy because I needed to see how Arlan was doing. I wondered down out into the hallway and found the infirmary where Lark was stitching up a conscience Arlan. I could see that the bullet had only gone through his shoulder, luckily. An inch to my left and he would have been shot through the heart.
    "Aspen!" He shouted and I ran to him, not caring if I got in Lark's way. I hugged him as best as I could with him laying down.
    "I was so scared Arlan." I said letting go of him.
    "I can't be killed that easy." He said laughing, I smiled down at him and watched as Lark continued to stitch him up.