End of the Suburbs

Chpt 1: Beginning of the End

Dream
I'm standing in the middle of a crowd in downtown of some metropolitan city. I hear the vibrations of the dozens of conversations all buzzing at once. A man bumps me. I turn to scold him and I get bumped again by someone going in the opposite direction.
I turn to lay into them when I see a girl.
I look directly into her bright blue eyes and it's like I'm trapped. It's not so much that I can't turn away, I don't want to.
We've never met before but it's as if I know her. I blink and suddenly she's right in front of me.
She reaches for my face.
I grab her hand as she does but I slowly let my guard down.
She reaches for my shoulder, slowly sliding her hand to the back of my neck.
I allow it as she pulls me in for a kiss.
Instead of lips it's a rough tongue.
A 3 inch, pink, wet tongue slapping against my face.
I open my eyes and see it's my wolf Casper.
Reality
I push him off and hop up.
I realize that it was all a dream.
Casper starts to whine.
He's hungry.
I head downstairs to the cupboard to get him some food.
I'm almost out of dog food.
Only about a weeks supply left.
I open the refrigerator and realize I'm not in much better shape.
I hope the shipment comes soon.
"Good morning, Alex." a voice says from behind me.
I turn and see my kitchen window open.
My neighbor Mrs.Landon was there tending her garden.
"Good morning, Mrs.Landon." I said waving.
She'd lived next door to me for years now along with her husband and their son Donnie.
"Have you heard about the shipment?" she asked "I was hoping we'd get some grains, maybe potatoes."
"It was due two days ago." I responded.
She paused and looked at me.
"Oh, I hope they're alright." she said.
Realizing I was wearing nothing but my boxers I hurried and covered myself by opening one of the cabinets doors.
"Don't worry, you don't have anything I haven't seen before."she said
"Okay, tell Donnie I'll see him in class." I said as I slipped upstairs to get ready.
Today was shower day. I take a quick shower then grab my things and let Casper outside before I head to the community hall.
I teach self defense and survival crafts there.
We don't have all the classes like Algebra or social studies or World History.
We don't need to know the history of how the world ended, we just need to know how to survive it.

The End:
About 100 years ago the world was in chaos. There was so much discord with people killing each other. The people in charge got together and basically decided "No more guns".
This decision wasn't taken lightly.
Everywhere in the world it became illegal to sell, own, and make guns.
Immediately enforcement began, because of that it within 10 years before every gun in the world was destroyed.
For a short time the fighting stopped.
It didn't take long for disagreements to erupt again.
At that point fighting was done with blades and hand weapons. This made things even for the most part.
Now nobody knows who was the one to do it but one country decided since they couldn't use guns they'd use science.
They created a biological weapon in the form of a virus and introduced it to their enemies.
Another country got the same idea and made a virus of their own. That was about 60 years ago.
Somewhere along the way both viruses mutated and became something new that's like a rabies virus on steroids.
Any living creature that contracted it became super aggressive, and carnivorous to the point of being homicidal.
At that moment guns probably would have come on handy. Hindsight is 20/20.
The viruses took over a billion lives and the infected took a few billion more. It ended up wiping out life as we know it.
Governments fell worldwide.
Somebody eventually figured out the infected are *hydrophobic*. That's a big word for "afraid of water.
Now all that are left are townships consisting of the survivors who were semi-immune that are surrounded by man made water to keep the infected out.
We manage to maintain basic electricity and running water but not much else.
People used to have hope that one day we'll be able to go back to life how it was before the virus. Now most people don't even know what the world was like before the townships other than stories from their parents or grandparents.
We communicate with other townships through radio by way of the council.
They're the leaders of the civilization.
The only people who actually leave the townships are scavengers.
Scavengers are a group of people specifically trained to deal with life outside townships. It's dangerous work. Their jobs are to go out and look for supplies in the world that was abandoned.
They don't always come back.
When they do they usually bring food and supplies that help us live. Our township is in what used to be called Ohio. There about 250 people we send 7 out. It's risky traveling in such a large group but necessary in order to bring back enough supplies. The problem is they haven't made it back. It's been 11 days since they left.
I walk into the community hall building.
This is the same building where the townships leaders come to deliberate and decide rules for everyone.
I head to my class room to get ready for today's lesson.
Swordsmanship.
I teach use of multiple weapons the same as I was taught by my teacher, Duffy .
He left me over the class last year when he was recruited to be a scavenger. He was on the last mission that hadn't come back.
It's early.
I make sure there's enough practice swords for everyone. My class consists of all the kids in the township between 8 and 14 years old.
Just as I get ready theres a knock on the door.
"You're early. You couldn't wait for the lesson, huh." I say jokingly thinking it's one of my students.
It isn't.
It's actually one of the council guards.
My expression changes.
Immediately my mind starts to consider the worst.
"What is it?" I ask him.
I know him. We were in the same classes during training.
"Councillor Teague wants to see you." he says.
I pause for a second.
"Can it wait?" I ask. "My class starts-"
"Now." he interrupts
I stop what I'm doing and follow him to the council's chamber.
It's not just Teague.
All 5 councillors are on the chamber at their seats.
I take a deep breath.
This can't be good.
Councillor Teague is in the middle.
The door closes behind me. The guard stands by the door as I walk to the center of the room towards the bench.
She begins her speech by reiterating the fact that the scavengers have been gone for 11 day. The voyage was only scheduled to be 9. They should've been back by now.
Councillor Teague goes into detail about how she, along with the other councillors have started to fear the worst.
Because of this they were assembling a smaller team of 4 people to set out on a search and recovery mission.
In hopes that there is still something left to recover.
She presented the opportunity to be the fourth member of the team.
"The team will be scheduled to leave tomorrow morning." she said. "You have until then to let us know whether you accept."
Without hesitation I denied the offer.
She asked why.
"My students need me." I said.
She acknowledged me declining the offer and dismissed me from the chamber.
As soon as the door opened I bumped into Donnie.
"You have to go." he said.
"Aren't you supposed to be in class." I asked
"This is a once in a lifetime chance. You get to actually go outside the township. You have to go." he said.
"I don't." I said.
"I'm sure they're fine."
"But-" he started to object but I interrupted.
"But nothing. Get ready for today's lesson."I scolded.
We both went back i to the classroom. The lesson for the day was swordsmanship. There were 8 kids in the class. Each of them had their practice swords.
We went over basic movements and how to hold the sword.
When the day's over I dismiss everyone and head back home.
I called to Casper with a whistle.
He roams the township while I teach.
He always comes when I call.
Together we go back home.
I split a package of freeze dried beef with him.
I sit and think about whether or not I chose right.
Outside is dangerous but I'm sure they'll be fine. Duffy is the one that taught me to survive. If anybody can make it back its him.
I stare up at the skylight in my room and watch the sky as I drift off to sleep.
I'll probably have the same dream I have most night.
The dream of her.
The girl with no name.