Curiosity Book 1 ✔️

Chapter 1

       I sit down on the couch, staring out of the window. The red brick hill I lived on, once an averagely busy street, now an abandoned road. Only the occasional person dressed in black would walk up and down it. It's been a week since I'd last seen any of my friends.

       One week since I've used a light switch. Seven days since I've seen anyone other than the family I live with. One hundred and sixty eight hours since I've been outside. Ten thousand and eighty seconds since I've had contact with society.

       I used to be able to walk outside and see parents sitting on their porches as their children ran around and played in the yard. As I stared out the window now, all I could see were grey skies, abandoned sidewalks and lonely roads.

       I thought back to the news broadcast telling us our new rules and regulations that must be followed. If they were not followed, there would be severe consequences.

       Please, for your own safety, lock all doors and windows. Re-enforce any security. Hide away any keys. After this announcement shut off all lights and any running water. Abandon any electrical objects to avoid being noticed. There is no time to explain why. Hopefully you'll never find out. This may scare you, but I promise, there is no need to panic. Do as I say and you'll be safe. Money is of no value at this point, so if anyone comes to you; bargaining with money will be pointless. Stay indoors. It is of high importance to keep that all in line. If disobeyed, you'll see how bad a simple news caster can get.

       The last thing I saw was the woman speaking, pull out a gun and aim it at the camera crew. The last thing I heard, were multiple screams and countless gunshots.

       I have no clue what happened after that. I just know that sitting here won't do anything to help me find out. I want to know what happened to society during the week I've been locked up in my own home.

       I packed a bag of extra clothes and a spare pair of shoes, some small snacks, a water bottle, a notebook and multiple pens and pencils. I grabbed some printer paper and a pen, and began writing quickly.

Family,
I had to. You know I couldn't stay inside. I just couldn't. I'm sorry.
~Cameira <3

       I folded the note up, setting it on a vacant piano in my living room. I waited until a few hours past sunset before finally crawling out of the only window in the house that was easily accessible and didn't lock.

       I jumped down the short distance between the window and the ground and started running down the hill. I didn't look back. I kept running until I was at a usually busy intersection. This was when I noticed the cars. All the crashed cars. This was when I noticed the bodies. The blood.

       One woman was clutching her child's limp hand as it hung out of the burning car. There was a child, wandering aimlessly through the wreckage. Her dress torn, hair a mess, arm burnt, shoes missing, eyes vacant. There was a man, laying next to a heap of metal that used to be a car. I was unsure if he was alive or not, or if the blood surrounding him was his.

       I put this aside, there's no need to be concerned for them at this point, they're lost causes. I started walking again, blocking everything around me out. I kept on the road, since the sidewalk no longer seemed sturdy. Why did I think walking on a bridge would be safe? Oh right, because no one told me how bad of a condition society had gotten into.

       Looking into the dark horizon, all that I can see is very dark clouds of smoke and very large fires. It's been a little over a week, there's no way society could have gone this far downhill.

       What the hell happened to the government? Or the police? What about the fire department? That'd be real dandy and helpful at this moment.

       I continued walking to the end of the crumbling bridge. What I found at the end of it was unlike anything I'd expected.

       Buildings, shattered like glass to the ground. Knocked down as if they were a newborn baby, unable to hold their heavy head up. The post office was still partially together, meaning the brick walls were still standing. Everything else, windows, steps, and railings were blown apart, shot to pieces.

       I crossed the empty street. Well, it would be considered empty if you didn't include the blood, bodies, or the cars. I didn't count them, there's no need to. They're not moving, they can't.

       I kept walking, looking straight ahead; my face void of emotion.

       "Help." "Please... Wate-" Voices rang around me, I ignored them. It's obvious that helping them now has no advantage for either of us. They'll be dying soon and I'd be losing my small amount of supplies. The annoyance of their voices droned out as I began climbing over the rubble of the broken remains of the old courthouse.

       I could have walked around, but there'd have been more people to ignore that way. The only people that could be here would be inside or under the rubble.

       I decided to sit on top of the stable part of the rubble I had just climbed. I pulled a sweet red apple from my bag and thought over what could have happened for this to occur.

       Perhaps the woman from the broadcast was in a gang or a terrorist group that was plotting against the government. They had to be extremely skilled to bring the country to its knees like this. They could have had people in the government, they had to have had a large following to accomplish such a feat.

       "Look!" A youthful feminine voice called out from below.

       "Is she part of our group?" An older, but still young, masculine voice sounded

        "Most likely not," A second male voice.

         "You guys could just talk to me, instead of about me where I can hear you," I joined their conversation about me. This silenced them for a moment.

        "Are you Western, Northern, or Southern?" The female asked softly.

       "Or neutral?"

       "I'm neutral, I guess. I don't even know what you are talking about."  

       "Would you mind coming down from the rubble?" The first male voice asked authoritatively.

      "Who are you?" I asked.

       "I'm Capri." Female.
       "I'm Kai." Authoritative male.
       "I'm Faris." Second male.

       "I'm Cameira. I'll come down. If you tell me what you know about what happened to the country."

       "Yes, I will tell you every piece of information I have gathered about our current situation."

       "Thank you."

       I began to climb down towards strangers I could soon betray.