Oblivious Demise

Author's Note:

Whatever's italicized is Pito's POV. Bold is KD's. Plain is Kitten's.

This is our story.

This is how we became free in a world too far gone.

If you're scared, back away now.

If not, read on.

Be warned, this is no fantasy.

We were the last hope, and we didn't even know it.

Prologue

Pito:

The end is never permanent. Every leader has those who would gladly overthrow them. When the world's close to ending, where do you turn? Joy could never thrive here. Only misery. Pain. President Locke had no idea what he got himself into, the day he decided the world was his to steal. As the world will burn, so shall our will to fight back. If we decide to stand up, it needs to be now, before our spirits break under the heat of the flames we are forced to bear.

KD:

When you have nothing left to fight for, you give up. The world ending doesn't seem so bad if the only thing you lived for had been ripped away. Open minds greet the world, scarred and bleeding hearts leave the world. If we stand up one last time, maybe, just maybe we can be free. Unless we fall once more... Our bodies are broken with our wills by the choking smog of uniformity.

Kitten:

We're trapped here; never to be free. When she fell, so did the world. Our last hope laid in her strength. Without her, we are nothing. Society is crumbling. People are giving into what Locke wants. Soon, we will be his people. Not our own. Humanity can never be saved now. From too great a height, have we fallen. Shortly, the world shall be overtaken by the burning touch of conformity.

Pito:

Broken glass surrounded me. The scent of burning metal and wood assaulted my nose. I forced my body to move. One step after the other. It won't be long, not long at all. I will fall here. My body will collapse, and I shall move no more. I took one last step forward, desperately trying to make it to the front door when my legs gave out from underneath me. There was a cry from my back. A scream followed. Nothing now. The girl I tried to save had fallen into the fires. This was all my fault... Now we're both going to die. It was my idea to stay here. It cost the girl her life, and now, it will cost me, mine. My vision was darkening... Can't breathe... Can't move.

I don't know how much time passed before I woke up. The first thing I see is a crying girl, her reddish brown hair seems fiery in the light. Her face lights up as she notices I'm alive. Immediately reaching for a damp cloth, she wipes my face. Her eyes are such a strange brown. Her skin, as pale as snow. Turning my head slightly, I notice a tall boy looking worried. His arm's around her waist. His strangely pale brown eyes pierce through my body. His light brown skin was marred with the obvious signs of charcoal. The pain in his eyes frightened me. No one had ever looked at me like that. How long was I asleep? Where's the girl I tried to save? Opening my mouth to speak, the boy silenced me.

"Don't be a fool. You're too injured to argue. Nothing will come out the way you want it to. If it wasn't for Kitten, I wouldn't have known you were even in that burning building. Why were you there?" the boy inquired.

It was hard to think back to why we had decided to stay in that forsaken building. I opened my mouth, and to my surprise, the words rushed out of me. "You remember the rains from two weeks ago? Well, I had found a girl who was really ill. I took her here, so she could rest and get better. When the place went up in flames, I desperately tried to get her out, but my legs gave out from underneath me. She fell off of my back into the flames.." I shuddered, holding back a hysterical sob. Continuing, "I tried to save her... As I reached to get her, my vision went black. You found me. I don't know how much time has passed."

Kitten looked at me strangely. "Rain from two weeks ago? There was no rain. That was the acid bath President Locke gave the rebels. You were in rebel territory?" she said in a hushed tone.