I look out over what used to be a city. It's hard to imagine what my father says used to be here. He says that it used to be called Las Vegas, Nevada and was teeming with life, it was the city that never slept. Now... Well now the buildings are crumbling, what used to be neon lights hang loosely, and everything is covered in either grass, vines, or some other form of plant. I grip my bow tighter in my hand as a mule deer crosses approximately twenty-five yards in front of me. I pull the string back, aim, and release. A perfect shot to the heart, immediate death, and not too much damage to the meat. I sprint to it quickly, remove the arrow, and begin to gut it. The quicker I move the quicker I can get out of this place.
Though this place used to be called Las Vegas, it is now called Sector 72. It's been closed down to any living human being for almost six years, but it is also one of the few places near home that I can hunt. My father doesn't like me to go far, in case I need help, but I haven't run into any trouble since I began hunting on my own. If my brother, Lucas, were here though I would have been in trouble the second we left the boundaries of home. Lucas is two years older and, as he labels himself, a 'ladies man', but he has yet to get the one girl he has wanted for ten years. My best friend Amelia. Amelia and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. She has a crush on my brother, but her father would never let her date him. She's beautiful, so I don't blame Lucas for wanting her. She has long blond hair, perfect body, and can make friends with even the most heinous of people.
Crrrrack! I jolted upright at the sound and scanned the area around me. The sun was setting and I had about fifteen minutes to make a thirty minute journey, and that was if I ran the whole way when I didn't have a sack of deer meat on my back. Crrrrack! It was definitely time to leave. I slung my pack over my shoulder, grabbed my bow, and ran towards the shelter of the trees. There was only one thing that kept you safe from the Phantoms and that was daylight, something I was quickly running out of. We didn't exactly know what the Phantoms were - which is why we called them that - because no one had lived to tell you what they were after an encounter with them.
Ten minutes.
I ran hard, my breathing ragged and my muscles burning from pushing myself. I didn't have time to stop where I normally would to get a drink of water. I didn't stop at the water fall. I didn't stop when I heard a mocking bird. I didn't stop when I fell over a tree limb.
Five minutes.
The last rays of sunlight were fading and I was still a good fifteen minutes from home. I couldn't stop now though because, I would surely die then. At least if I was running the Phantoms would be stuck far behind me by the time they could come out of the shadows and hopefully stay behind me. Even as the last of light slipped away I still pushed myself harder and harder with each step. My eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, but my mind still played tricks on me. I saw things move in the shadows and behind bushes that weren't there and when an owl shrieked above me it sounded like the scream of the Phantoms.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity, I saw the outer walls of the compound. I smiled in the darkness as I approached the front gates where Cooper Anderson stood. I saw the alarmed look on his face when he saw me running and so I slowed to a more reasonable pace.
"Hey, Coop." I smiled and waved at him.
He smiled back and wrapped an arm around me, but I could still see him looking at the trees behind me. "Hey, Delia. Pretty late to be out, ain't it?" Cooper was originally from Sector 53 - or Louisiana - and moved here with his younger sister - otherwise known as Katherine Anderson, the one girl I cannot stand to be around - fifteen years ago. We are almost as good of friends as Amelia and I.
"I got stuck in the city."
"What were you doing there? You're going to get into trouble one of these days." He shook his head at me and whistled for the other guard to open the gate. "See you around, Del."
