The Final Survivors

1.

Darkness. That's all I saw. Complete and utter darkness. I couldn't even remember what had happened. I mean I remember leaving my new house, we had just moved to Kansas from California, and then I was just tackled and everything went black from there on. My head was pounding and I could faintly hear voices but my eyes just did not want to open. It was like they were permanently shut with no way of being opened and it was something I had never experienced before.

I should probably introduce myself before we get too far along. My names Jax Ashford and like I said before, I had just moved from a quaint town in California to a run-down city in Kansas. My dad left my family when I was little so I don't really know where he is, but my mom's great and so is my little brother Jason. My mom never told me why we moved here. All I was told before we left was that there were bigger and better opportunities out in the world and we should "get out and find them" or something like that anyways. I'm not going to lie when I say that this new town wasn't great. There were never any people out and it reminded me of a prison, all closed off and dreary. Windows were boarded up and there were gunshots every night, however I had just assumed that there was just a gun range nearby. I just didn't understand why we had moved from the bright, sunny California where all of my friends were to Kansas; the middle of nowhere, dark, and plain Kansas. I guess God had a plan for my family. My mom would always make us go to church on Sundays but now that we were here, we hadn't been in weeks. Everything here was just so different, and not necessarily a good different. In Cali I would always get this feeling if something was about to go wrong, and I've had that feeling the whole time we've been here. One night I guess my instincts were right because something did happen and I was never prepared for the outcome.

My head was pounding and it smelled like metallic blood. I think I was in a hospital but there was no way to tell unless I could open my eyes. They felt heavy like weights had been attached to them, but I finally managed to squint them open a little. You would never believe what I saw when I opened my eyes. I was on an uncomfortable hospital bed in a small room that looked like it was an old office space. There was a girl probably around my age, 18 or so, and a little boy that looked to be the same age as Jason who was 8. They both had their heads bowed and fingers clasped together, like they were praying. The girl had long dirty blonde hair that went down past where I could see and green eyes. The little boy had the same color hair that was short but brown eyes. Their faces looked alike with their small noses and big eyes. They were both skinny, like they hadn't had enough to eat, and they were tall. I could barely speak, but I managed a raspy "where am I?" The girl looked up startled that I had awakened from my deep slumber, her mouth forming a slight o shape. She sat there not knowing what to say so I took that as my opportunity to study her some more. She looked like she had been through a lot. She had dark circles under her eyes like she hadn't slept in weeks and a long scratch starting from her elbow all the way to her forearm. I wanted to ask her about the scratch but I didn't want to ask anything personal. Her clothes were dirty and scrunched up unlike what appeared to be her brothers neat and organized ones. I felt bad for her but I didn't even know her or what she had been through. She was beautiful, no doubt about it, but there was some kind of emotion in her eyes that told me she had been in here a while. Her brother on the other hand looked like he just wanted to leave and play with his friends and I didn't blame him. I mean what little kid would want to sit here and watch somebody who possibly had a concussion sleep? I heard some mumbling and watched her mouth move but I hadn't caught what she had said, too engrossed in her features. "What?" I said my face scrunching up before I realized that was a bad idea and only put more pressure on my head. "I said, how are you feeling?" she replied. "Um good I guess. My head is just pounding and who are you anyways watching me sleep like that?" Turning toward her brother she said, "Zeph why don't you go play with the other kids while I stay in here?" With a small grin and a short nod he was off and out of the room, almost like he was relieved that he didn't have to hear our conversation. "My name's Adrian and I just saw that you needed help out there so I brought you here" she easily replied, almost like it was rehearsed. I scrunched up my nose in disgust. Me needing help? Now that was the most unlikely thing I had ever heard of. "What are you talking about? I was just walking to the store. I always do that; why in the world would I need help, especially from a girl like you? I don't even know where I am or what happened and you expect me to just be grateful towards someone I don't even know who supposedly saved me?" She looked taken aback and I instantly regretted what I had said. Maybe I really did need the help and maybe she really did save me but I mean look at her, she was like 90 pounds and a scrawny stick. Suddenly her walkie talkie went off with an urgent message. "Aid I need you on the front line stat!" She stood up abruptly and muttered a goodbye while I was left there wandering what the hell the front line was and why she was needed for it. I had to find out what this place was and why I was here. I couldn't just sit here and wonder what was going on, I just had to know. So I got up and went to the door but it was locked and when I got tired of pounding on it I sat back down and waited. Waited for someone to come to my rescue yet again and someone to explain everything.