A Changed World

A falling.

"This is outrageous!" tommy's dad exclaimed as the blue glow of the television shown across his face.
"What?" tommy interrogated as he entered the dark room where his father sit drinking and watching television.
"The president's been killed!"
"You're kidding?!
"No, I'm not, this is crazy!"
Tommy peered at the television in time to see a tan helicopter land in the lawn as hooded men jumped out and fired bullets across the grass toward the some police with automatic rifles. The camera shook as a rocket in the background hit a nearby building.
"What do we do?" Tommy's worries throbbed through his mind.
"Not a damn thing! We're sitting ducks!" His father threw the almost empty beer can at the wall near the t.v.
" I need to go!"
"Be back by midnight, there's no rules now!" His father stared at the television as the camera cut out.
As tommy snuck out the back door he heard sirens and helicopters all around him in the winter darkness. The sound of a solitary gunshot echoed through the air. Tommy walked toward the gate and unlatched the door and stepped through.

Tommy lived on a quiet street with few children and a peaceful kind of feeling. Tonight the street wasn't as peaceful though. The fire around even his suburb neighborhood made the dark sky seem orange and the air was thick and hot in the winter evening. As he walked to the front of the house he saw a boy being attacked by a dog in the street screaming for his life. Tommy ran in the house and grabbed what he knew he shouldn't have had, but after all there was no rules now. He opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out the Ruger nine millimeter he stole from his cousin last summer and sprinted back down the stairs. The front door flew open as tommy stepped out and aimed the heavy gun. He'd shot a gun before but not in a situation like this. He wrapped his finger around the small trigger and squeezed. The noise made tommy jump but he knew he hit one of thing there. Thoughts began racing through his mind; "I just killed something!" "did I shoot the kid?!" "Am I okay?" "Did I miss?" "That was loud". Tommy stepped in the direction of two dark figures lying in a pile. Blood was pooling around them. One of the beings was twitching as he realized the vicious dog might be alive. He pointed the gun at the pile as he stepped closer. He kicked the dog off of the boy. That's when he realized, he had shot through the dog into the boy. He stared into the crying eyes of the kid that seemed his age. The kid was moaning and crying and bleeding. Tommy was panicked and had no body to control at this point. He was forced to watch as the boy he'd accidentally shot die in front of him in smokey night air.

After pulling himself away from the dying boy he ran to the local gas station where a burning police car was parked. Tommy walked through the broken glass doors. The counter by the door was painted with blood and the floor was tracked in mud and snow. Tommy slowly walked to the back of the store to the refrigerators were. There was no food. Nothing was left the shelves were bare and nothing but the occasional actually healthy snack. He walked to the side of the store thinking of what people wouldn't take. He pulled the lever on the coffee machine and the hot dark liquid poured out. He drank a cup and strolled to the "employees only" doors and walked through. The back room was cold but the boxes seemed not to be as looted. Taking a knife out of his pocket he cut open a box. The box showed bags and bags of chips. He stuffed his backpack and pockets with food and as he began to leave a middle aged man ran through the door.

Tommy jumped behind a shelf and heard as the man hummed a tune. The nearly bald man was carrying a shotgun and stripping the shelves. Tommy crouched and half ran for the door and almost missed the door when he heard the shotgun blast. As he ran for home he started to stumble he stared at his leg and noticed that a few BBs had dug deep into his leg. An electrical van was at the end of street. He drug his leg to the van and went in the back doors. After finding electrical pliers he sat and dug them into his calf. The noise and sight made him puke but he tore each BB out. As he pulled out the wires inside a yellow spool he stabbed them through his flesh and twisted them closing his painful wounds. Luckily the van started and he managed to drive it home. When he got there he found his father sleeping in a basement closet and a bunch of food stashed next to him. Tommy noticed the rifle by his side and yelled but quietly "dad!, don't shoot me". And tommy set up a bed near him.