Aftermath [in work]

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Janice awoke with a loud yawn. Lee laid asleep beside her, cuddling into his blanket. "I'll be back." Janice whispered with a smile. She quietly exited out of the tent, and saw no one else was awake, or atleast they weren't outside. A golden ray of sunlight slowly slithered down the stairs.

Janice hopped onto the platform, and approached the dusty stairs. Spiders crawled up the walls, searching for food themselves. Janice made her way up the stairs, and was almost blinded by the sun rising up from behind a half-destroyed skyscraper.

The atmosphere was a dull gray, even if the golden sun was blooming. Everything was so lifeless, but at this point it was normal. Janice began exploring up and down the street, looking into the houses and shops. Then she began exploring more of the area, the farthest she went was five blocks. Then, she found an old friend's house.

She knew it was his because of the swing set he had planted in his front yard. About a year ago it was clean and tidy and supported weight. Now, the metal bar was rusted and the seats were chipped and covered in webs. They would break if so much of a book rested on it. The house was once an ugly yellow, but now the paint was chipped and stale. The front door was broken, and the windows were too. She stared at the house for a few short minutes, before she saw something in the house.

From outside the fence she could see a tall figure. Its back was hunched over, its skin was a scaly gray. It faced away from Janice, peering into the old kitchen of the house. The creature held a human-made shotgun in its arms, resting it. Janice gasped silently, and spinned around only to run back. If that thing was only a few streets away, then she would have to tell them.

When she saw a group of Zodiacs standing beside the metro entrance, she stopped in her tracks. She dived behind a broken-down car, and peered through the window frame. There were five of them, wielding rifles.

"That's where we saw them." One of them said. "Alright, let's take the hit now before they awake." Another said. They all loaded up their rifles, and looked down at the metro station. Janice gulped, and balled her hands into a fist. Lee was still down there, she thought to herself.

She stood up from the car, and saw them slowly enter into the station. She wanted to scream, but the Zodiacs would hear her and not the camp. Instead, she watched helplessly as they crept downwards. Just then, a squad of bulk men appeared from nowhere, charging at the station entrance. They had high-advanced rifles and shotguns. They ran to the front steps in a single line, and immediately opened fire.

Janice ran towards them to watch what was happening. When she had made it, all the Zodiacs were already dead on the steps. The men looked at Janice and one asked, "How many survivors down there?" Janice choked on words but finally managed to stutter, "L-lots of them! Come down and look for yourself. There's more of them out there, though." The man nodded as if he already knew, and they all made their way down the stairs.

Victor stood infront of the crowd of people with his revolver out. From the squad, a tall black male stepped ahead in charge. "We're from North Star, sir. Heard of us?" He immediately told Victor, who shook his head. "A post-apocolyptic army from the entire world. We're the biggest rebel group out there, and we're kicking some ass. We didn't expect to see some survivors still left here."

"There's lots of us left. In camps however. Them Nova saves us." One of the elderly woman spoke up from the crowd.

The man nodded, "I heard of the Nova group. However, we're here to recruit. We have our supply truck outside just down the street. We can take you all to our closest HQ, hell, we can maybe even use this as an HQ. Sir, what do you say?"

Without hesitation Victor barked, "No. Thank you, but we can do fine without you." The man shrugged and smirked at the old Victor, and walked passed him and spoke to the rest, "We're going to clear the area for you all. Then you can get some supplies from us. We have food, weaponry, better some mattresses."

Victor wrinkled his nose and shook his head. He stomped off into his tent.

The man shook his head and muttered under his breath, "What an ignorant guy." He turned around, and exited out with his squad. "Come and get some supplies now." He yelled, while walking up the stairs. Most of the crowd left outside in cheer. Janice and Lee and some other folks remained. She noticed Jonas staid.

Lee ran towards Janice and hugged her tight. "I missed you." He cried out. Janice hugged him back and whispered, "I missed you too, little buddy." Jonas approached the two and asked Janice where she had gone off to. "I just went exploring. I-I saw one of them. Without a skin disguise, Jonas."

Jonas nodded and muttered, "They're pretty ugly creatures. Look on the bright side though, you're alive and here! Hah, isn't that a good thing?" Janice sighed and rubbed her shoulder. "I was about to stand by while the Zodiacs entered the station. If it weren't for those guys, everyone here would of died."

Jonas nudged her shoulder and said, "It's all fine. Hey, why don't we go get some stuff?" Janice agrees, and they both went with Lee.

By the time they got there, there was little to no supplies left. After an hour of searching, they only got one mattress and a bit of their own canned foods. Jonas let Janice and Lee take the mattress, and he helped them set it up. Afterwards, Janice put Lee back to sleep, then the remaining two sat on the edge of the waiting station.

"Jonas?" Janice asked, slapping her hand against a spider. Jonas looked at her and gave a nod. "Yesterday Victor killed that man. . .without hesitiation." Jonas sighed, and looked down at his lap. "The guy lost his children. Not by the Zodiacs, but by people. Some bandits shot his children right in his face, and he killed all of them with that revolver of his. It's not much of an excuse for his cold-blood but you get the point."

Janice was shocked for a moment, but she blinked. "Wow. . .thats horrible." Was all she could say. Jonas nodded and leaned back. He closed his eyes and said, "We've all lost someone at one point. We're bound to lose more unless someone stops the Zodiacs, but there's no point. Their Mother Brain is here, we can't destroy that. If we do, we crush half the world."

"It's a risk we're willing to take." A voice spoke behind them. They both turned and saw the man from before. "What do you mean?" Jonas asked. "Well," the man started, "North Star has found tons and tons of nukes located around America. We already have our sights targeted at the Mother Brain. However, our problem is we need an energy orb they have."

"Energy orb?" Janice echoed. The man nodded and continued, "A small metalic orb with radioactive energy inside. It's what powers their ships. One orb can turn a normal nuke into a mega-nuke, in simple terms. Once we get the Mother Brain, we kick the rest of their ass."

Jonas stood up and turned to him. "Where's the closest HQ?"

"Two miles South, find the abondoned theater."

"Thanks."

The man nodded, and then walked back up the stairs.

"Victor doesn't want anyone to go, Jonas." Janice sighed. Jonas looked down at her and laughed, "You think we all follow his rules?" He walked off to his tent, leaving Janice behind.

She hopped back into the tracks, and looked into the darkness of the tunnel. If Parasites hid in there, what else could be in there? "This place gives me creeps. . ." Janice shivered, walking to her tent.