Unbound

Chapter One

Eli

It was the same nightmare every night.

I shivered in my bed. It was only a cool September morning. Despite the summer heat was still lingering along, a cool and lukewarm breeze blew ever so slightly from my window. Yet this was not the reason why I have shivered. I was still plagued by these relentless nightmares. They were starting to get at me and I was beginning to wonder if I should start seeking some help.

I pulled my body away from my soft bed and stretched my sleepy muscles. As a son of an atheletic coach, I've made sure I was always fit and in top shape. It was normal for my family to be sports fans after all.

I opened up my window to clear out the last remnants of my dream. Despite the August heat warming me, I shivered from the chill running down my spine. I still remembered it all.

Closing my eyes only made the dream come back to life even more. It wasn't my first time that I had these dreams. Lately, they've been coming at me as if they have a vengeance against me. It was the same exact dream.

In a dream, I drown in a sea of what I can assume is blood. The blood of what or who is unknown but the pungent smell is everywhere. Thankfully there is no gore or viscera but I have a feeling if these dreams continue, I will eventually come across some. Hopefully not.

The dream continues with me hearing what begins as a gentle whisper in my ear until it screams loudly in my skull. Only one message.

UnIFy oR diE!

I scream out of my own torturous fear but that only makes me drink the salty and coppery liquid that I'm swimming in. I choke on it and it only makes me sink deeper in the crimson abyss. Just as I am about to drown to death, I manage only to catch a glimpse of a mangled corpse... But entirely wrapped around this weird, giant, smooth-looking box. Whatever this monstrosity is, it only laughs at the pitiful sight of me. I then wake up in a pool of my own sweat.

This has been going on ever since August had begun. School wouldn't be starting up until September and I was beginning to worry that if these dreams kept going on, I might go insane. I haven't told anyone about these wicked dreams but I decided to keep them a secret. My mom would freak out in panic if she ever heard about this. My family was severely Christian.

Eventually I closed my window door and got dressed. As I stepped out of my room, I landed flat on my face. The second story floor shook slightly as the floorboards creaked and moaned, with dust particles stirred up. It was as if the house was awoken slightly and I groaned in annoyance. I knew who did this. I looked up and saw a giggling face, hidden in the dark of my parent's room. It had seem like I have fell victim to one of many of my little brother's vicious pranks. This time, a tripwire that lead to have now a ruined, bleach-stained shirt. Sighing in frustration, I gave my brother a glare as he smiled in amusement. A second later, I came back out later with a new shirt on. Isaiah was gone, probably went out to play or eat breakfast. He should know better. The house we lived in was over 100 years old, a house that survived through The Great Collapse. Houses likes these were extremely rare. Not all of them survived through the Collaspe and they're on the verge of breaking down, due to the new environment they're now accustomed to.

Coming downstairs was my mom working on a homemade Apple pie, which happened to be my favorite food of hers. It still bugged my mind how my mom was able to learn how to cook, despite our ancestors lost so much knowledge. She claims that when she worked as a scavenger, she found old world book from city libraries and would read and study them. She must've had a good photographic memory to remember all of those recipes.

My breakfast was considered of buttered bread and eggs. Just a simple meal. Not as good as what Dad makes but every meal was hard to make if you only had memory as your guide.

No one knows how or why we got to where we are. All we know is that one day, the world collapsed and we shattered into groups, known as Tribals. The group that my ancestors were form was a lucky one; Alongside with some other families, we were safe from becoming feral by seclusion, away from the blood-thirsty savages. A life we were saved off.

My dad told me that far to the west was the land of axe-wielding, monster-worshipping, cold-blooded humans that had the hearts of animals. The way I was raised was that these creatures weren't human and it was our right to kill them, for we were of, "The Clean Blood". All they were carnivorous beast. We were of the sane.

I have never met a beastie-human before and I doubt I'll ever will, to be honest. None of us were allowed to leave our Community. We were safe from the world inside our barriers. My hometown, a place known as Wilinto, was thankfully safe from a sea barrier and we had plently of men to defend our community. I theorized that someday I would be volunteered to work as a guard. My dad worked as a one for a short amount of time and he had mixed feeling about it. Not a good job from what I heard but the pay is pretty decent. The only downside is that the sleep schedule. But enough of that.

As I finished off the rest of my meal and left the house to begin my chores, I couldn't help but to think about what was out there beyond the walls. My curiosity was sometimes a force that often lead me to trouble, a habit that stuck with me since day 1. I knew why weren't allowed to leave but I often wondered... Has anyone ever left the Community? Or at least tried to?

But that was enough of that for now. There was wood to stock and tools to be sharpen. But I felt like something out there was calling me.

And little did I know, that my world that consisted of two walls and an ocean view was about to be shattered.