What A World

"Angela, Take Riley with you and get as far away as you can." Chris says frantically. "I'll hold them off."

"But I don't want to leave you Dad." Riley says.

"We have to go honey." Angela says, as she grabs the young girls hand.

"Go now … there isn't much time left." Chris says.

Riley and her mother run as fast as they can through the trees. A few gun shots echo through the trees behind them. Followed shortly after by a blood-curdling scream.

Riley stops suddenly and asks, "Was that Dad?"

"Riley, we can't stop, we have to keep going. We'll talk about it later." Angela says with tears pouring down her face. Soon she notices that there are a series of foot steps following them. She stops and pulls out her gun, and takes aim. Riley looks back to see that her mom has stopped running.

"Mom, what are you doing!" Riley yells.

"Keep running honey! No matter what you hear, you keep running. Don't stop until you find a group of people that you can trust!"

"But mom!" Riley says in protest.

"Get out of here Riley!" Angela yells.

"Okay. I love you mom!" Riley yells with tears in her eyes.

Riley turns on her heels and runs as fast as she can. Several gun shots ring out behind her followed by another blood-curdling scream. She keeps running until she reaches the edge of the forest, then she collapsed to the ground, with a heaving chest, and struggles to breath as all of her emotions flood her brain. The event replays over and over in her head. I can't believe that this just happened. How do they expect me to protect my self when all I have is this stupid knife? When she finally looks up from the ground, she sees a building in the distance that has lights on. Maybe I can trust them. But before I go there I should find a place to sleep for tonight. It's too dangerous to move at night. Maybe this place is safe. Hopefully there will be something to eat in there.

She approaches the house with, knife in hand, very slowly. Then knocks on the door very loudly, and waits for a sound. I think its safe to enter now. She turns the door nob and enters the house. Once inside, she opens the door to one of the bedrooms. "Oh my God." She says, when she sees a couple laying on the bed. The smell of their rotting corpses made her ill. Something on the ground below the mans hand shined in the sunlight. Is that what I think it is? She reaches for the object, and is relieved to find a gun. Then she quickly leaves the room and closes the door behind her. Think God, a gun. I hope it still has some bullets left. She checks the magazine and sees that it has five bullets left. Once she searches all the rooms, she determines that it's safe. I hope there are more bullets. She sits on the floor outside of the bedroom until her stomach settles. She enters the room again and quickly searches the closet for more bullets. Yes. More bullets. Then she leaves the room again, and searches the house for food, or anything else useful.

Before Riley goes to sleep that night, she takes stock of everything that she found. A working flashlight, A local map, A small first aid kit with only a few Band-Aids left, Three cans of baked beans, A can of soup, And a can of diced peaches. Well, considering my bag was practically empty, I would say I found a lot of stuff. She eats the can of peaches, and then goes to sleep on one of the other beds, with the gun next to her. Then awakens just after sunrise and begins the long walk to the building she spotted earlier.

… … … …

"Stop right there!" Someone from the building yells, with a gun pointed at her.

"Please don't shoot!" She begs. "I have food."

"Let her in." A girl says from inside. The man lowers his gun and motions for her to follow him.

She walks quickly into the building. "Don't be afraid of Aaron he won't hurt you. You just can never be too careful, you know. I'm Alice." The girl says.

"I'm Riley." She says.

"It's nice to meet you Riley. Don't worry about giving up your food. We have plenty of it here, you can eat as much as you want. We also have running water. And a place for you to sleep." Alice says.

"You have running water?" Riley asks, in disbelief.

"Yeah. I'll take you to get a fresh change of clothes and show you to your room." Alice says.

… … …

Today is my birthday, so it's a pretty good day. My family and I were setting up for the party I was excited to open my gifts, and I could hardly wait until everybody showed up.

You might ask "What happened?" Or " How did it start?" But the truth is nobody really knows how it happened, it just … happened, but everybody has their own opinion on how it started. Some think it was a biological attack from another country. Others think it was introduced to the general public by our government to reduce the population, and it got out of control. Some people even think that it flew in on a meteor and crashed into a mountain somewhere. As for me, I don't really care how it started, all I can do is tell you what I know, and what I've been through.

No one ever expect the world to end, But it did. It was a surprise to everyone. It was so sudden, in the middle of the day, no one had any time to prepare. You like to think that you're ready for the end, but no one is prepared for all the death, and destruction. You can tell yourself that you'll be ready, but you won't be. The truth is, you will probably be dead within a year. Some people will resort to cannibalism. The ones who don't will be forced to kill to stay alive. It's not a place for a child to grow up. I should know, I grew up in this world, and I am haunted by the things that I've seen and done. I was forced to grow up a lot more quicker than I should've had to and because of that … lets just say its changed me.

I can't stand living in a world where people eat each other, and where the dead out number the living. Everywhere I go people are killing each other over something as little as a can of food, or a fresh pair of clothes. I used to look forward to tomorrow, the mystery of what the next day might hold, but now … I dread it. I can't help but wonder why the world turned out the way that it did. Why did this happen? How did it start? Will it ever end? I was only 10 years old when all of this began. I don't really have a lot of memories from before the incident, I think because of how young I was when it happened. All I can remember is death and destruction. It's getting harder and harder to remember what life was like before.

My dad was always obsessed with preparing for the end of the world, we had seven years worth of food, water, and medical supplies stored in a secret room in our basement. My dad had bought a lot of gardening supplies, and freeze-dried garden seeds. He made me and my brother take gardening and botany classes in school, and he insisted that my mom teach us first aid, C.P.R. and how to perform some minor surgeries. My Dad wanted all of us to be able to protect ourselves, so he taught us self-defense and how to use and care for a gun, and how to fight with a knife, or an improvised weapon.

A lot of people prepare for the end of the world, the ones who don't think that the ones who do are crazy. I never told anyone at school that my dad was preparing for the end of the world because I didn't want them to think that I was crazy too, or to make fun of me. Now that I look back on that, I wish I had told my friends because they might still be here.

… … … …