APOCALYPSE

Chapter Two

The sun light shined through the shattered glass, causing my eyes to flutter open. I sat up from the couch and felt a sharp pain on my arm, I looked down at my pale arms and saw a red scratch. My firm fingertip touched the bloody cut, a stinging pain shot through my body as I hissed loudly from the uncomfortable sensation.I saw the spring  that came from the couch shot out with a small speck of blood on the sharp tip, while I was asleep it had cut me. "Damn you" I muttered under my breath. I recalled the events that took last night, the loud and eerie screeched that came from outside of the cabin that left me uneased and puzzled. 

I gathered my bag from the floor that was filled with helpful tools and placed it on my back, the clicks of the canned goods were heard. My idea was to leave the moldy, cobweb-infested cabin to look for a safer and secured shelter that could help me hide from the aliens that roamed Earth. Each step I took the floorboards creaked because the floors were old with mold on top. I made it to the door, my hand reached out for the door knob but before I could open it, the intense wind blew it open. I sighed loudly and went outside, the cold temperature made me shiver and my hair blew in my face. I brushed my hair away from my face so I could see, while I was walking I felt a string on the ground hit my ankle and there I was, in a net in the air, captured. 

"We got something!" I heard a male's voice yell, he sounded like a young adult. "Really?!" Yet another male asked, his voice was rather deeper than the other. I heard footsteps come closer to the net, "It's a girl!" The boy looked like he was in his teenage years of life, his dark fluffy hair covered his caramel skinned forehead. His outfit was a mess with multiple colors, the sweater he wore had holes and scrapes on with the colors containing blues and greens. He completed the look with a pair of dirty white sweatpants and white socks with black polkadots on the design.

 "Can you let me down?" I questioned the boy who wore the sweater from above, I felt uncomfortable as my leg started to cramp  through the holes of the net. Instead of the sweater boy answering, a new person spoke. "Nope. Cleo! Come quick!" The male with the deeper voice called out for someone else. My eyes moved to look at the new boy, his style was completely different. He had dark, straight hair that complimented his light pale skin. He wore a dark jean jacket with pockets on his chest, underneath was a well-worn gray  Band T-shirt that had a faded lightning bolt on it, the pants he wore were a bit oversize as it went all the way down to his feet, to complete the look his light brown backpack slung over his shoulder. 

 The air thickened once a brown female emerged from the trees with a tall man besides her, she was confused about the situation. "Our trap worked but it caught a human" The sweater wearing boy explained what happened to the people who came out from the trees. "We should take her down" The man chimed in, I took a closer look at the fellow human. His look gave me the vibe of a typical 'nerd' look. The clear glasses he wore laid on the bridge of his nose, to help his eyesight. The blue and white flannel shirt was buttoned all the way up and his pants were up on his waist with a black belt. His shirt looked neat with a small amount of dirt on the fabric.

The female took charge "Yeah take her down, it looks uncomfortable" her calm voice ordered. The paler boy had a different perspective "I think we should just keep her up there and steal her stuff" I felt a rush of frustration to the point I couldn't hold back "Okay, first of all if you don't let me down I will find a way out" I threatened "And second, Don't steal my things!" I shouted loudly, it echoed through the trees. I tossed and turned in hopes to escape the rope, but even with my best effort I couldn't escape, I was stuck. "Hmm, looks like you can't leave" his voice was full of mockery, I bit the inside of my cheek from anger. 

The jean jacket boy grabbed my bag that laid on the crunchy leaves and unzipped the silver zipper "Yo, she has food!" He exclaimed while holding a canned good that I took from the moldy cabin. He continued to dig through my bag and found my water bottle "and water? Jack pot!" He said with excitement "hey stop! That's mine!" I yelled urgently, I needed to water in case I would get thirsty, it's a valuable item. 

Fortunately, the female that was a part of the group decided it would be a good thing to take me out from the net.  She lowered the light brown net on the floor and cut it with ease from the pocket knife she had, creating an opening I could crawl out. I freed myself from the hard rope and removed it from my body, I stepped up to the boy who stole my belongings. "Give me my stuff back and I'll leave" The boy had a smug expression before throwing it to the nerdy adult. The man pulled out a pastel colored unicorn plush toy that my sister once had before my family vanished. 

I snatched the toy back with a glare "Aww she needs a toy for comfort, sad." he remarked with sarcasm, I rolled my blue eyes from his annoyance. "what is this picture of you and these other people?" The adult who had glasses questioned, holding up a small printed picture. He adjusted his clear glasses and stared at the photo "It's my family. What? Are you going to take this away from me too? Why are you even looking at my stuff?" I answered him with attitude.  "Well, we search for stuff when we find someone. Make sure they have no devices of any sort, aliens and bad people can track it and may kill us all. We wanted to be careful here," he clarified. 

"Shawn's right. We can't risk our lives" The brown girl, Cleo, said when she approached me. "I'm Cleo. That's Santiago" She pointed to the boy who wore the holey sweater "and that's Leo" She gestured to the pale boy with straight hair  "Okay. Leo, give me back my food and water" I demanded with my arms crossed over my chest and waited for a response "Why? I'm starving" The corner of his mouth turned into a smirk, he thought he was superior to me. 

"Maybe because I found it?" I snatched the canned goods from Leo's grasp swiftly "Hey! You little douche!" He yelled in anger, I was making him rage. "well would you look at that!" I taunted and teased him, I could see him ball up his fist. Cleo intervened with calm " Guys, calm down now, okay? No need to fight" Everyone fell silent, indicating she had the role of the leadership of the group. 

I noticed Cleo's distinctive eye colors, one of her eyes had a light shade of blue and the other was a dark brown color that made her stand out. Her hair was dark and curly that was medium length and stopped at her shoulder, the curls were slightly messy with strains of hair sticking out. She wore a dark velvet shirt with a white skull in front as the design, a long sleeve shirt layered underneath it, jeans that reached her ankle and a spiky belt to help her jeans stay up. 

"Can I get my stuff now? I got places I need to be" My foot tapped impatiently on the dead grass "Yeah sure, guys go get her stuff" Cleo ordered the others, Shawn handed me back my bag that he took, I snatched it from his hands causing him to lean forwards a bit. My direction went back to Leo, with a roll coming from his eyes, he gave me back my water bottle. Santiago didn't take anything from me, instead he just waved towards me but I ignored him. 

"Now that you've got your stuff, where are you headed? Maybe we can help you?" Cleo offered her help "Anywhere to stay so I can do my research" I explained to her what I wanted to do. Cleo licked her lips then smiled "we have a place you can stay, we live there.. Only if you want to come." I thought for some time, it could be a good idea to have backup while the Aliens attacked, but I also needed peace and quiet so I could do my research. "Is there more than one room?" I asked with my left eyebrow raised, Cleo nodded her head eagerly. I turned around to face the others, Shawn, the one with glasses, nodded his head with his brown hair moving along, Santiago gave me a thumbs up, liking the idea. Leo had a different reaction, he sighed loudly "why does she have to come along? We have enough members already" He complained to Cleo  "Maybe because I can help you guys find the aliens" Leo fell silent, the only thing coming out from his mouth was a sigh. 

Cleo spoke up "Alright, looks like we have another member. Welcome"