Chapter 1
Chapter 1:
Time. Time is something that is easy to forget, but is always there to remind you that yours is running out. When the bombs dropped Alex was still in college and was already close to the shelter. She was one of the lucky ones and got there in time. So she survived. Some would say that she was unlucky, now that life as she had known it was over. No electricity, no order, no comforts.
She let the that train of thought occupy her mind only for a moment. It was no use to let despair take over her. After a couple of weeks she had exited the shelter convinced that it was safe. Everyone else told her she would be dead in an instant, but joke was on them, cause she was alive. She didn't look back and thought that everyone else in that shelter was probably still down there, or most likely dead because the store of food would have run out long ago. Now it’s been a year and she is doing what she does best: surviving.
She repacks everything that she has to her name and looks at her sleeping companion. She met Kelley about a month into the “apocalypse.” She had been traveling back to her hometown to see if anyone in her family had survived. She had seen Kelley off in the distance and when they finally got in range of each other they had realized that neither was a looter or thief trying to do the other harm. So they had decided to travel together for the sake of safety.
Alex packed what little food they had, and even less water into her pack. Next she packed her spare change of clothes and the tools needed to start a fire. She grabbed the cooking pot and set it next to Kelley. Finally she packed what little ammo she had and picked up her pistol. She thought on the one time she actually had to use it. She had been looking for food in an old convenience store with Kelley when a rabid dog had charged her. Instinctively she shot and luckily she had hit her target. Initially she felt terrible that she had killed an animal, but it was a kill or be killed world.
Shortly after the bombs had been dropped, all form of government in the United States had ceased to exist. She had heard reports that bombs had been dropped in Europe also and that their governments had also collapsed. But it wasn’t long before little groups began to take land and form new governments. It didn’t take long for five groups to really stand out and take out all other threats to their new regimes. There was the Pacific Coast Republic which had territory along the Pacific Ocean. There was also the New United States which was situated in New England stretching to DC. There was the Texas Republic which was predominately what used to be Texas and Oklahoma. There was the Plains Nation which consisted of most of the corn belt, and finally the Southeast Republic which was basically Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Everything else was unclaimed and extremely dangerous. Currently she and Kelley were in an unclaimed territory just outside of the Pacific Coast Republic.
These territories were unpatrolled and a lot of wild animals that thought you were their next meal. You also had to worry about people who would kill you for half a meal in these areas. Their goal was too make it to Seattle which was the capital of the Pacific Coast Republic.
Kelley started to stir and finally rose from her slumber. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and looked at Alex. “Why didn’t you wake me earlier? We’re wasting daylight.”
“I just got up and packed my stuff, I was going to wake you. I think we should make it to Seattle in the next couple of days if we don’t run into any difficulties.”
“Sweet.” Kelley replied as she buckled her sheathe to her belt. She then put the sword into the sheathe and gathered her things. She had found the sword in a house they had made camp in a couple of months ago. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
They quickly covered the ashes of the fire they had make the previous night and started walking. They were starting to get into he suburbs of Seattle which made their walk much more difficult. There were still abandoned cars in the middle of the roads and once they got into residential parts of the cities, the roads were torn up and houses lay crumbling and falling apart to either side of the road.
After they had walked for a few hours they came upon a Wal-Mart store that looked like it was still in pretty good shape.
“Should we even go in? I mean by now it has to be picked clean.” Kelley asked.
“I know but we are running low on food and water. And I don’t really think we are good enough hunters to survive off the land yet.” Alex replied.
“Fine, but I don’t have a good feeling about this. It’s in too good of condition for someone not to have gotten everything, or for people to have it as a base.”
“So we’ll be extra careful Kelley.”
Alex pulled her gun out, silently hoping that she wouldn’t need to use it. Kelley pulled out her sword and sighed, “Ok lets go.”
Alex opened the door and they stepped inside. Immediately they went to the non-perishable food aisles. They found a couple of cans that hadn’t been taken and put them in their packs.
“Well this is good for a couple of meals. I think we should head to the pharmacy and see if there are any meds that we could use,” Alex said.
They walked over to the pharmacy and found that the area was picked clean.
“Crap!” Alex said frustrated.
“Come on, I’m sure theres some in a house somewhere,” Kelley replied.
Alex sighed and they turned to walk out of the store. As they walked back to the entrance Kelley found a box of Band-aids on the floor that she picked up and silently put in her pack. They both knew that they were essentially useless unless they got minor cuts, but they both felt better by having them.
As they approached the entrance a voice suddenly commanded, “Stop! Turn around slowly.”
They both turned around to see two women standing behind them. One had a pistol like Alex’s leveled at Kelley’s head and the other had a crossbow aimed right at Alex.
“Shit….” Alex thought.