Existence

Chapter One

You really never know what you have until it's gone. We hear this saying at least once in our lives; we just never believe it. We carry on with our daily routines like it's never going to change. What happens when it does? What happens when you wake up in the middle of the night and all of a sudden everything you have come to know and love is gone? You panic, part of it is from loss, shock, and heartache. But the rest is emptiness from the missing piece in your heart that was once filled with all these emotions is gone and replaced with one main goal. Survival.

July 8, 2018, a normal summer day of prep hosted pool parties, family cookouts, and just hanging out with friends at the community park. You would think that nothing could go wrong except maybe you get a little sunburn. That's probably what most people went to sleep thinking. But it was the last thing they would ever think, because they wouldn't wake up. Except for a few.

How does Victoria Alloy, me, a seventeen year old girl from Willard,Ohio become one of those few survivors? That's the question all of us have been asking. After the Great Loss, the few hundred survivors gathered into groups and set up camps around the world. Most of us awoke during the night to the faint screams of our siblings and parents before they fell over limp. Two of my friends, Brenna and Tyler also survived the Great Loss so I guess I could be considered luckier then some others. Not by much though.

"Hey aren't you coming to eat?" Brenna asked peaking her head into my room. "I'm not hungry." I said sitting down the only family portrait left of my brother Daniel, me, and our parents. "V, you haven't eaten in two days." she said with her dark brown eyes trying to persuade me with a puppy dog face. "Please?" "Fine but we're going to have to stock up on more supplies, we can't afford to run out of food too fast. We have to make what we have last for a month." I said moving my light brown hair out of my face. I was always told I look just like my mother. We have the same brown hair and brown/green hazel eyes. But now I don't have her anymore. 

I make my way down the stairs to the pantry where all of our food is, which I might add all taste like powered rice. "Has Tyler been back yet?" I ask Brenna as I open a package of flavorless spaghetti. "He stopped by this morning, he said he had to help unload everything at the food center." Brenna said while building up the fire. "Oh, another run?" I responded, "Didn't they just go on one like two weeks ago?". "Apparently we're already in need of more supplies." she answered with a shrug of her shoulders.