1 Chapter 1: The Beginning

Flashback started:

I was in Perish Bay Elementary School gym during P.E when a loud noise echoed in the small building. The ground shook violently underneath my feet. William my best friend, and I stood stark still, too afraid to venture over towards the window for fear of what we might see. The school alarms began blaring confirming to us that something was seriously wrong. Forcing my legs to move I walked slowly over to the window. My pencil-like legs shook wildly like a leaf blowing on a breezy, stormy day.

Nothing could have prepared me for the scene that I was witnessing outside. The sky was dark gray as if the world has been robbed of it's color. Looking out of the window, I had a grand view of a real-life horrifying movie playing out in a colorless animation in slow motion. The ground was splitting in half and car alarms were honking as they slid in between the cracks. Firetrucks and police cars were zooming up and down a narrow street that had no cracks with their alarms blaring. If the loud earth-shattering noise wasn't enough to scare us to death then surely the fire truck alarms would do the trick I thought out loud.

More of my classmates began to crowd into the gym along with their teachers. Some of the kids were panicking and in tears. Others were calling out for their mom and dad. I, on the other hand, didn't know what to make out of what was happening. The only thing that I could even imagine was that the world had finally come to an end due to our overwhelming abuse of mother nature. She was ready to wipe us from the face of the earth for not taking care of the beautiful scenery that she had given to us freely. Surely we all knew that someday this was bound to happen if we kept on taking advantage of her loving nature. 

"Everyone please calm down," Principal Bells says over the loud cries of many students into a microphone. "Your parents are on their way to pick you up." He then adds in a not so confident tone.

"Ronan your brother is outside waiting to walk home with you son." Mrs. Price my English teacher informs me. The moment I stepped foot outside my already heightened anxiety had intensified tenfolds when I see the tall building leaning to one side. Trees were uprooted from the ground laying directly in front of the school. The air had a musty stench to it and the wind began to burn my pupil when I stepped outside of the building.

"Rumi what's happening?" I asked in a shaky breath. Is the world ending?" I asked with tears in my eyes while staring up at my big brother.

"I don't know what's going on Ronan but I do know that the world isn't ending!" Rumi states with confidence while ruffling my hair with his hand.

Mom was walking around in the kitchen aimless while Rema was sitting in the living room playing with her dolls. "Yayyy, Ronan and Rumi are home!" She screamed as though she hadn't noticed that the world was in total disarray.

"Boys grab everything that you need from up here because we're moving down to the basement!" Mom says without explaining the reason why.

Flashback ended.)

It has been two days since the world that I know of has turned into sheer chaos and destruction. All our natural resource was becoming scarce and the water was being polluted from the decay of animals. Family and close friends were turning on each other left and right. Luckily for me, my family was still intact well, at least the ones that were still at home anyway I thought shrugging my shoulders.

"Ronan come on!" My older brother Rumi called out to me standing in the dimly lit hallway.

"I'm coming Rumi," I yell back while stomping my feet in the process. Without wasting any more time Rumi and I dashed out of the door of our run-down shack towards the supermarket leaving Rema and mom lockdown below in the basement. 

Our four-year-old sister Rema was too young to venture out with us to gather supplies and our mom was too sick. Ever since the world has turned to doom our dear mother has become ill, running a high fever with sporadic spells of coughing violently. Our dad was away overseas fighting in a senseless war that wouldn't have happened if our government wasn't so greedy for other people stuff. Hey, but what do I know I'm only a scared little eight years old boy. What I do know is that no sixteen years old should ever be burdened with such an enormous responsibility to care for his family.

The world around seemed scary as the midnight sky. It was 8:00 in the morning and still, the sky was dark as night. It was so dark that even the night lights were still on throughout the city limits. People around us were running rampant as a big wave of rain came crashing down onto our heads, soaking my already ragged and dingy clothes.

Many buildings that looked new and was a popular place to hang out for us younger kids now looked tattered and run down. The windows were all busted out and the walls were painted in gruesome graffiti.

"Stop milling around Ronan. We don't have much time before all of today's rashing of food and water will be gone." Rumi says grabbing me by the hand dragging me along behind him like a rag doll.

The line in front of the Foodbank was long and the people were becoming unruly from their long wait. "Move out of my way!" A young teenage curly head girl with skin as pale as snow yelled at an elderly man standing in front of her. 

"There's no need to be rude." A teenage boy with burnt orange, short messy hair says to the girl stepping in to defend the elderly man.

"How about you mind your own business!" She retorts hauling her tiny fist back and then swinging at the boy but mistakenly whacks an innocent bystander instead. From that point on people all around me began to fighting. The elderly man from earlier was knocked to the ground. Just as I was about to help him up Rumi grabbed me by the collar of my shirt." What do you think you're doing Ronan? We don't have time to be trying to save anyone else when the world is in shambles." Rumi states with displeasure in his voice at my actions.

Weariness settled in my bones as we advanced towards the front of the line and I kept seeing the elderly man being trampled on by an angry mob of people fighting all around him.

"There's no more food and water left!" A burly police officer announced to the crowd after passing Rumi and I a big box of food and a case of bottled water. The already tense crowd grew even rowdier after realizing that they were going to have to survive another day without rashing. I stood close to Rumi like I was his shadow while gripping the case of bottled water with all my might.

"Stay close to me!" Rumi demands as he slowly creeps backward towards an old beat down pick up truck that has seen better days. He didn't have to tell me twice I was nearly two feet in front of him as the angry crowd began to advance towards us with murderous intent in their eyes.

"Boy give me that case of water." I hear coming from a gruff voice somewhere behind me.

"Keep moving Ronan!" Rumi commanded right beside me. My heart pounded furiously in the closed confines of my chest like a runaway train. The rain was pelting down on us like a swarm of bees attacking an intruder taking away their honey. It was so hard that I could barely see where I was going.

"Go that way Ronan," Rumi yelled pointing his slender pointer finger towards a musty yellow bus stashed in the shadows of a creepy alleyway. We squatted behind the car staying silent like a thief in the night. We were so quiet that you couldn't even hear us breathing. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of the rain beating down on the top of the car sounding like a heavy metal band taking place. We sat there for what seems like hours but in all reality, it was merely minutes.

"Let's go," Ronan says when the last of the angry mob of people pass by us. "Are you okay little brother?" He then asks me patting me on my shoulder. I was in a state of shock, so much so that I couldn't even speak. All I could do was nod my head yes in hopes that he could see my small feeble action.

This is a short story that I was invited to do a few days ago. Please vote and tell me what you think about it. Please keep in mind that I've never written in this genre before.

J.J. Niles