Reliving An Apocalypse (and making your ex regret everything)

A Tragic Prologue

"You're coming with us on this expedition." 

Jake struts in, and the woman on the floor looks up. The distain on his face is palpable when he notices the grime coated on her face, and spares what is barely a glance at the ripped dress she's wearing: once white, now the color of urine and dirt. 

Leia, still lying on the ground, glances up with lifeless eyes. 

"Okay." 

C.E. 2016: Six years after the apocalypse, the year when the earth turned dark and seeds bloomed on the ground like that of a painting, turning a third of the population into what is now known as "demons"-- the undead, hunting down humans as prey and feeding on them as food. 

The shattering of society as it was came almost immediately. The government was unable to control public paranoia, and martial law only kept containment to small populations. The seven billion lives was reduced to that of one billion in simply two years, and factions began to arise, sprouting in urban locations that kept those that are still alive in small towns, walled in from the danger outside. 

Protection, however, doesn't equate to safety. 

Crime runs rampage in the factions towns: within just a few years, strength equated to power and control. 

Out of a world and a humanity doomed by extinction arose the top five percent: those whom turned into demons, but are still able to retain their consciousness, called Heroes. They utilized the control of elements: common ones included water, fire, earth, and air, and occasionally, others contained skills such as healing, electricity, and that of the mind. With research, the progression of a vaccine instead turned into that of turning individuals into Heroes, and improving powers. 

In a lawless world, survival became the primary focus: teams and groups quickly formed, ranging from three to ten people that travelled in bands to protect themselves from the outside world and salvage resources. As settlements rose, if you have a pretty face, you resort to selling your body. 

The leaders at the top often had five to ten different partners, but once again, in a world after the end, who can complain about strength?

Leia wasn't sure who gave the ones with power the awful name of "Heroes", but in any case, she wasn't one of them. She was still a third-year student in Brown the day the apocalypse arrived, and tagged along with her boyfriend Jack and a ragtag team of six for months. 

She watched the world change him. 

Jack was one of the first to develop powers, and controlled both fire and the team itself. Leia still remember the first months, when they would send out the girls to ask or beg for food when the convenience stores were  already taken by stronger groups-- when she starved herself for days on end and gave the portion of whatever they had gained to Jack. She did it out of faith: out of love, for the history and the once-upon-a-time when they were still deeply enamored with each other. Leia was pretty: in any case, she wasn't stupid enough to deny that, and Jack had  persisted in pursuing her for almost a year before she decided to go out with him. She was confident that he would continue to have to same interest for her, but there were some things about human morality that she apparently failed to acknowledge. 

Whatever love Jack once had for her was no longer there. 

Now that they were in a settlement, Jack had became one of the district leaders, and controlled an expedition team himself: with power naturally comes privileges, and long gone was the boy that have her flowers every weekend: he now had five girls to "serve" him, and Leia was only one: one that was not favored by him, either.