The Ashes Within

Chapter 1

AN: This is my first story to be published and will hopefully be the first of many. PLEASE don't steal my story, I have worked very hard on it and will continue to do so. If you have any suggestions for improving the story just leave a comment and I will see what I can do. ENJOY.

Oh and by the way, this has some strong content and will continue to through out the story, so reader discretion is advised.

The first thing that happened was the ringing, I didn’t notice it at first; it started as a whisper, but quickly progressed into a full fledged roar. Slowly , my other senses came to me. First I felt my breathing; a painful rasping thing, then came a throbbing headache. I groaned and tried to open my eyes. Damn they were heavy and to my disgust, glued shut by grime. Gross.

The sky looked heavy and filled with smoke. The smoke gave off a dry brown hue that vaguely reminded me of old blood. Damn it smelled bad too, like burning flesh and decaying bodies. Jeez, really did not help with that headache too. I sighed and tried to move the rest of my body only have a incredibly overwhelming wave of pain over come my senses.

I ground my teeth till I was sure they would all break and watched as my nails dug into my already bleeding palms.

What the hell? Why the fuck am I bleeding?  Things weren't right, that was for sure.

When the wave of pain passed I took a shaky breath and flexed my fingers, a bolt of pain shot up my arm but it was not as bad as my first attempt so, I took the risk and opened my hand and examine the damage.

My arm was covered in gore, pieces of glass and metal were stuck all over my palms and even up my forearms, drying blood leaked from the countless of wounds hiding  the color of my skin. Fresh blood flowed from the finger nail  marks in my palm.

Sparks flew before my eyes as I pushed myself to a crouch to see my surroundings; I sat on a tangled heap of glass and other debris. Very few buildings still stood, the ones that did were nothing more than concrete walls that barely clung to there frames.

Holy crap, What happened here?

I realized I was violently shaking. Panic was settling in. Then I caught a crumpled figure out of the corner of my eye. The smell of rotting flesh filled my nose yet again. I saw the glazed, dead eyes and was terribly sick.

What happened here? Why is this city destroyed? How did that woman die?

A new wave of pain hit me as I was busy vomiting, tears sprung from my eyes as  I slipped on my own puke and blood. I saw the piece of steel and twisted to avoid it but the world moved too fast and my maimed body too slow. My head hit it hard and there was a crack that echoed long after the world was thrown back into darkness.

I stood on the roof of the tallest skyscraper around. The fierce wind chilled my bones despite the thick leather jacket I wore; there was distant screaming over the howling wind too. I would have been worried but the sky was a impossibly clear blue, like the most beautiful sea one could imagine. A busy and glorious city surrounded the building on which I stood, beyond that a deep green forest swallowed the horizon.

But the screaming was getting louder.

It was clear that it was only one person, didn't stop me from wondering what the hell their problem was. It was beautiful here. I found myself wishing whoever they were would just shut up and quit disturbing  the scenery and I. However, they didn't. In fact, whoever this person was getting even lounder.

Then my body moved without permission. I turned and glared at a ageing man. He kept yelling all though the wind swept away his words before I could hear them. Then he stalked closer to me spitting as he howled what seemed to be insults.