Divided On Earth

~1~

THE EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE IN THIS NOVEL OCCUR 18 HOURS AFTER THE CONCLUSION OF ANARCHY ON EARTH

"Move!" Shouted the prison guard, prodding at the four of us with his nightstick. "No loitering in the registration! Head to Cell Block E for the cell assignments!"

Miranda, Leah, Daphne, and I were shoved away from the check in area of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, interrupting our conversation. Daphne began grumbling as we stalked away from the guard, one of hundreds guarding the huge facility. 

"They treat us with no respect... we're refugees, not inmates." She said, glaring back at the guard, who had already moved on to prodding new non-immunes.

"Tell me about it." I said, sighing.

The path to this point had been lengthy. After the plane sent from the Union City International Airport in Union City, New Jersey, touched down in Minnesota, we were thrown off the plane by the army, and then, after and extremely boring check in process, we ended up here.

Actually... it wasn't that lengthy if you think about it. What was lengthy was how we got to UCIA in the first place... and why.

It all started when the disease, GH-327, spread through the USA, possibly the world, without anyone knowing. It festered inside the population. Then, it hit a kill switch, killing almost everyone infected. The ones who didn't die became the strangers. Their minds were warped. They fed off of human flesh, and hunted down anything that could (or couldn't) move.

When everything fell, there was riots. Society crumbled to ruins. The strangers took control of the city. A bird ate a metaphorical snail. 

My group... we were out there for 21 days. It doesn't seem like a lot. But every day, was dealing with the guilt of another dead friend. Every day, was living with choice you could have made... or one you shouldn't have made.

We got split up at UCIA... Half of us to North Dakota. The other half here.

So many of us died. A friend that I had known since we were little kids. One that I didn't know well, but I considered a friend... and one that I trusted with my life... and he trusted me.

I tried my best, chap.

I snapped back to reality. I had realized that Daphne had asked me a question.

"Hm?" I asked.

"I said, what do we do if we get separated?"

"That's a question I don't want to focus on right now."

Daphne and Miranda had some similarities. Both had flowing, long, dark brown hair, and seemed to have the same interests, like in books as movies, like Sun Wars and Barry Potter.

They were still different though. Daphne wore glasses, and seemed a lot less scarred than Miranda. Her personality wasn't as hardened and disturbed, like the other survivors were. Hell... I had probably changed a lot from a month ago. She was pretty nice, but I didn't know her well enough to find out if she had a dark side.

"Why not?" Leah asked. "Too loopy of a subject?"

Leah was something. Leah's real name was Meleah, but she seemed to prefer the latter. She had long brown hair, showing signs of faded black hair dye. Her incredibly pale skin, brought out the scarily reflecting blue eyes that she had. She was definitely, not at all sane. However, she wasn't demented, like Jordan was. Jordan was in my group back in Union City. She was the human embodiment of Satan. Leah was crazy in a sort of fun way. One that never got annoying. At least not yet...

"Just something I don't want to talk about." I said, tiredly.

We started to walk down the gray pathway leading across the prison yard. Surrounding the compound was huge stone walls, with guard towers positioned in each corner. On top of the walls were barbed wire, with the occasional blood spike. 

The prison yard was fine though. Pockets of guards talked aimlessly among the fields, glaring at survivors as they passed, and seldom yelling at some of the teenagers. Straight ahead was a chain link fence surrounding the main prison building. From the maps I had seen earlier, there were five cell blocks. A through E. 

"Where do we go?" Miranda asked, looking around.

"I don't know." I said looking for a guard to help us.

There was a pair of them walking down the path near us.

"Excuse me?" I asked, walking closer.

"What the hell do you want?" One of them, a huge tower of muscle with a sub machine gun on his back, growled, stepping towards me. 

The intimidation game wasn't working on me. I continued, without wavering my voice.

"Do you happen to know the way to Cell Block E?" I asked, quietly.

"Why do you want it, maggot? You organizing a riot?" He said, voice raising, edging towards me.

"Hey... Stevenson. Chill." The second guard said, stepping forward, and pulling Stevenson away.

The other guard was noticeably smaller than Stevenson. He was muscular, but looked a lot nicer. Like a gentle giant... kinda?

"Shut up Wringer... I'm on to these punks-"

"There's nothing going on." Wringer said, and then looked at me. He smiled weakly. "Sorry... there's been talk about an underground rebellion here... the deliquents, I suppose. Cell Block E in just beyond those two doors up ahead. You should see Thomas. He's a pretty chill guard. He'll show you to your cells."

I nodded.

"Thank you... umm Mr. Wringer."

"It's Corporal Wringer." He said stiffly, and then pointed to Stevenson, who was still fuming. "That's Sergeant Stevenson, and I hope you will address us a such."  

"Sorry sir..." I said, taken aback a little.

Corporal Wringer, grinned, and nodded. "No problem kid."

He walked off with Stevenson, who was still muttering about rebels.

"What's his problem?" Leah asked, gesturing to Stevenson.

"Beats me." I said. "Let's just go."

They nodded, and we walked up the slope of the prison yard a little more until we got to the double doors leading to the Cell Block.

"Well... this is a prison. There's no getting around that. But let's make the most of this. It's our new home for now-" I began

"Ah, shut up, will you?" Miranda said, grimly. "The last time you made a speech like this, Jackson died."

I felt a little hurt. That speech I made had me going... and we DID make it across that bridge, didn't we?

Was it all for nothing?

I shrugged, and pushed open the door.

Good luck, kid.