Chapter 2: Faded Memories
Smoke? Why do I smell smoke? Wait, it's not smoke from a fire. Something is burning, yes, but not exactly on fire. This room looks so familiar, yet I do not remember it. Where am I?
I stand up and dust myself off as I look around. It doesn't look like the metro, but I haven't gone out to look yet. As I step out of the room, I realize that I am in a house, and it is on the surface. As I begin looking for my gear, I also realize that I am smaller, weaker than before.
Is this a dream? No. It seems too real. Perhaps I am high? No. I'm not really tripping out. Where am I? I walk around the house and as I look outside, I see kids and parents playing at a park from across the street. Other people walk around with their phones out as they talk and explore the area. Beyond that is an entire city, but there are no old or destroyed buildings like in the metro or on the surface. No demons or watchers either! Just a clear blue sky and the sun. There is even normal trees!
"You're finally awake huh?" I turn around to see a man, standing at about 6'1 with blonde hair and blue eyes. His broad shoulders and thick limbs led me to believe that he worked out majority of his time. His skin was slightly toned and seemed to have a nice balance of hair on his skin.
"I was just about to come wake you up. It's time for breakfast Jake." He smiles down at me.
"Jake? Who are you?!" A look of fear makes its way on to my face as I look up at him.
"I'm your father Jake. Now enough playing around, we need to eat breakfast. Your mother made eggs, bacon, toast, and hash browns." He then made his way towards the kitchen, and so I decided to follow him.
When I entered the kitchen, the smell of burning food grew stronger. As I looked around, I saw a woman, standing at around 5'7, tossing burnt toast into a pan. It began to soak up the grease from, assumingely, the bacon. She looked at me and smiled. Her emerald eyes and brown hair with her fairly pale skin was quite an attractive sight. I walked over to the table and sat down, curious as to where I was.
"Good morning dear." She set a plate of food down in front of me, and then did so for the man, followed by sitting down herself with a plate. They began eating as I began poking my food.
"What's wrong Jake?"
"Don't call me that..."
"What? Why not? It is your name after all."
"No it's not...I don't even know you people..."
"Stop playing around and eat your food Jake. And stop talking nonsense."
"IM NOT PLAYING AROUND!" I stand up and slam my hands down on the table. I can feel my backpack and shotgun bounce as I make this sudden movement. I look around and almost everything is on fire. The two people are gone.
"Just fucking great! Well shit, what do I do now?" I begin walking around, looking for a way to get out. I then see the window and I peer out of it. Nothing is below. As I do this, the fire grows in size, inching closer to me the more I delay. "Fuck it! I'd rather die by falling than to be burned alive!" I take a few steps back before running at the window and jumping through it. I then fell into the dark abyss.
I awoke after a few seconds, breathing heavily as I looked around. There were dead bodies and a fire. The chair that once restricted me is no more. I crawled to the nearest guy and searched him, finding a few military clips of ammo. I take them and begin crawling towards the exit. Right as I am about to reach it, the door opens and troops flood the room, firing at something behind me. I'm grabbed by two of them and I'm dragged towards the door where there is a light. All I knew was that I was alive, but who knew how long that would last?