Mania

Chapter 1

After

     Rule Number One of the Apocalypse: trust no one.
     Not even if your starving to death in the middle of a forest.
     Thankfully, there are no rules about stealing.
     I trudge my way towards a little plume of smoke with high hopes of someone roasting a chicken. Oh my God, I would kill for a bite of chicken or anything fried and dripping with grease.
     I make my way to a makeshift campsite that looks similar to mine and I spot a bird that was roasting over a fire. It wasn't fully cooked yet and I contemplate to take it and cook it myself but everyone knows that lighting a fire is nearly suicidal. Almost everyone.
     I hear a click of a gun and I hear someone ask, "Who are you?"
     I whirl around to see a boy with a scruffy beard and sunken eyes pointing a rifle at me. In reply, I pull out my small hand gun and I lock it.
     I open my mouth and I reply, "I'm Claire." It's been forever since I've spoke and I have nearly forgotten my name. You could say that I've been alone for a while. "You?"
     "Tyler." He lowers his gun and he seems to evaluate me. His eyes calculate my grimy face and stringy, blonde, hair but I do pride myself in my dental hygiene. "How long've you been out here?
     "A few months." I guess but I've lost track of how long I've been out here.
     "I just got here. I came from Kansas City." He says and hairs stand up on my arms. The cities are utter havoc. Now, they're full of disease and looters and worse things than that. "You hungry?" He asks and he crouches down to the fire.
     I begin to nod with a small smile but it slowly fades away from my lips. On the back of his neck, there was a rash composing of yellow, black, and blue. It could've been mistaken for a bruise. He has Acid Fever. The Fever was created by The Mania to kill the ones who wouldn't conform but it backfired sorely and it ravishes our population. Our poor, dwindling, population.
     "I'm so sorry." I whisper and I fire at the back of his head with my gun. He drops like a sack of rocks into the fire. I immediately feel sick to my stomach but I saved him from dying from the Acid Fever and that would be a far worse death.
     Since he could've touched anything at his camp, I left empty handed. The plague earned the name, "Acid Fever", because the plague destroys your intestines by increasing the level of stomach acid and the acid will burn you from the inside out.  The first sign of it is something as simple as a dry mouth or a little cough, then your skin begins to bruise and you develop a fever, then comes the convulsions. You begin throwing up blood and the fever rises. You either die of a heat stroke or of the acid eating your insides.
     My hunger intensifies as I walk along a desolate road in search of food. A few cars litter the road but they're no good because there's no way I could get a car to a gas station and it would be a miracle if I could find gas. The other countries cut off trade with The United States under The Mania's rule so bye-bye oil and other goods. We had oil for a while from our land and stored up oil but it depleted quickly.
     A cold gust of wind blows and I put my hands in my pockets, shivering. My fingers curl around my brother's lighter and I rub the smooth top of it. "I'm giving it to you, Claire, because it's gonna get dark soon." My brother, Asher, said and placed the lighter into my hand. It sure got dark. It got dark when The Mania overthrew our government and announced a purge nationwide. It got darker when they cut the power grid.
     I stumble across a gas station with holes everywhere and ivy climbing the walls. I walk in and glass crunches underneath my boots. I stuff my bag (along with my face) with jerky and water and I my hungry slowly ebbs away. I begin to search the rest of the gas station for any other types food. I find the booze rack and I find it comical that there's not even a shot glass left.
     Oh, the world is going up in flames! Quick! Grab the booze!
     I leave and I return back to my little camp by nightfall and I set my heavy bag on the ground. I squirm into my sleeping bag and I fiddle with my father's wedding ring that was looped around a chain on my neck.
    At night, the woods seem larger than they are and every sound seems to be amplified. It gets harder to fall asleep every night. I force my eyes to close and I whisper the Lord's Prayer. I fall asleep moments after that.

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     Mom died a month after The Mania unleashed the Acid Fever. I suggested to take her to be hospital but dad said no because the hospital would be even worse. So, she died in their room and dad buried her in our backyard.
     I had an idea of what was going on but I wished I had someone who would be by me when dad wasn't. I had a little sister, her name was Rose. She was only seven and I left her. She's probably dead because of me. My brother went college in Washington and he's probably dead right now. I sent my last text to him. It was a simple I love you and I'm glad it wasn't anything else. It would be comical for it to be something like make sure to pick up some milk.
     It's odd to think that a year ago, this would be the last place that I'd thought I'd be.

_______________________________________________________Yay guys! First chapter! Make sure to comment and vote!