Broken World

Chapter Two

The New World

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05th of March 2018

Chaos. One word that now defines the world we now live in.

Two and a half years have passed since the world we once knew came to a crashing halt. Power became nothing more than a myth, an urban legend.

The world population was halved that day, the streets littered with dead bodies, and buildings completely destroyed or on fire.

Kids screamed in the street, crying over their dead parents. People broke into the remaining buildings still standing, trying to take everything that they can hold. People were getting killed right in front of each other.

All civilised interactions were destroyed, every man and woman were out for himself or herself. No one was safe any more.

For someone who was so sheltered, protected, guarded, I am amazed to still be alive. If it wasn't for the training I had received from the boys I would have perished along with the other women who had not been so lucky.

At first I couldn't leave the house, too terrified of everything that was happening outside.

I had lived in my own little bubble, trying to forget about the screaming, the cries for help, the explosions that still went off nightly. Sometimes when I dreamt I never knew if I was awake or asleep, it was all so real.

I had waited there for a year for them to come back; afraid to leave in case I would miss them. But the food had almost run out, and I had to finally put my fears behind me and go looking for them.

I couldn't wait anymore.

I thank the stars that I had still kept up my training everyday, with not much more to do, that's mainly all I could do.

The guys had an underground shelter that would have lasted them three months or more, if anything were to happen. They also had all kinds of weaponry down there. So I had strapped a sniper rifle to my back, two hand guns hidden under my jacket, a knife in each boot, and one hidden in the belt buckle. I also had a Kanata strapped to my back, if I ever run out of ammunition.

I packet the essentials, mostly personal hygiene stuff, two changes of clothes, and plenty of underwear. But half of it was filled with ammunition. In the end clothes wouldn't matter if I ran out of bullets.

No one actually knows what happened. All I know from the talk, was that it was human made and it destroyed all forms of power world wide.

I never knew how they knew all this. If there is no power, how do they get their information. But I knew they were right. Otherwise the other countries would have helped us out by now, or I hope they would.

I'm brought back to the present, when I saw movement. Holding the rifle up to my eyes, I peered through it to see who it was. I sighed in relief when I saw it was only a child, no older than five or six. She was standing in the middle of the destroyed street crying.

The kid had to be with someone, there is no way she could have survived this long by herself.

I started looking around for any signs of more human life.

There.

Two adults hiding behind a burnt car. Obviously they are using the kid for bait. This is what the world had come to, using the child to lure out anyone stupid enough not to see it was a trap.

The unlucky person, who would be game enough to see if the child was ok, would most likely be killed and robbed of all their possessions.

I watch in silent anticipation to see what will happen.

No more than five minutes later, I watch as a middle-aged woman runs out of a building to the screaming child.

The two behind the car make a move just as she reaches the child, pulling guns on the woman.

Without a thought, I take aim and take out the two men who would have likely done a whole lot more to that woman than just kill her.

The woman and child stare in shock at the fallen men, realising what had happened. The woman looks around in fright and runs as fast as she can with the child back to the building.

A year ago I would have panicked, started crying, ran and hid, but I learnt that if you didn't make the first move, you would have been the one on the other side of the gun.

I'm not so naïve anymore. I have seen and done things that would have once before destroyed me.

I learnt to close my heart off to everything, the tears that I had shed for a year every night as I try to sleep, have long since dried up.

There is only room left for the strong these days and if you're not smart, you would get yourself killed.

After eighteen months of travelling across the burnt remains of America, I have only made it half way across. The constant hiding, being on alert and by myself is a tiring and emotional ride.

The only thing that has kept me going is the thought of seeing them again.

BOY'S POV

Two and a half years have passed since they last saw Sang.

Everyday they have all lived with that she was alone because of them. She begged them to take her with them, but they had said no, because they didn't trust the Academy around her.

They had talked about it countess times, most wanted her with them but they also didn't want her anywhere near the Academy.

She may have turned down the invitation to join the Academy, but only for our own benefit. We didn't want her in dangerous situations.

And look where that has got them.

On that night when everything went to hell, the Academy had pulled everyone into the underground shelter.

Where they stayed for three months before they were finally allowed to leave.

There were fights left, right and centre for those three months, no one wanted to be locked away, when they had loved ones out there that needed them.

But the Academy refused to budge on their decision, saying it was too dangerous out there right now and they would only get themselves killed.

So once the three months were up, they loaded themselves up with whatever weapons they could get a hold of and took to the destroyed streets, to make their way back to the one thing that made their world spin.

They should have made it home after two years of travel, but the roads were dangerous and they couldn't take any bold risks, getting them killed.

With what innocence they had left, it was soon destroyed by the acts they had to do, to keep them alive. Alive for Sang.

They could only think of what Sang had to go through to keep herself alive, if she was still alive.

But none of them voiced this. Afraid if they did, all their fears would come true.

So two years later, they were almost home, and they prayed that Sang would be waiting there for them.