Undone By Blood

Prologue

Prologue

35 Years Later

My mother used to tell me stories. Stories about monsters and how the entire earth was full of them. My grandparents are one of the reasons humans are still alive. And as I walk through my home, the base camp they created to keep us safe, I can't help but be absolutely grateful for the safety they provided for us and our little piece of the world. And the opportunities they gave for the New World.

The representatives visiting from the official New World are stunned by how fortified and advanced our camp is. They say there are hundreds of people still living a nomadic lifestyle up north. I follow behind my mother as she leads them across all of our camp's property. They ask her what they should officially call our camp. They need names to keep us organized with the hundreds of other camps they have united together. I still can't wrap my mind around that. Hundreds of other places like us with just as many people as we do. I don't know what so many people would look like together.

My mother's face shifts into a solemn expression as she considers their question and  remembers the stories she's told me since I was a little girl.

"Well, the main farm, the one that started all of this, is referred to as Fallon's Hill. Everyone pretty much uses that as our title, if we refer to ourselves with a title at all."

One of the men's faces glows with a spark of curiosity as he turns bright blue eyes on my mother.

"And why's that?"

"One of the founders left behind a legacy that really changed the way our people thought, we gained an insight from her that had been lost when humanity fell. She...well...it would be easier for me to show you rather than to tell you."

The two men share a quick look before the blue eyed one nods excitedly.

"We'd like to see that. Anything about the Fall is quite fascinating. And my co-worker here is an expert on the decline of morals before base camps began to rise up."

I can tell my mother is a bit irritated now, but she plasters on a smile and leads them through the numerous expanses of property and farmland that makes up camp. The two men carefully take note of all the people and supplies they see. It's almost like they have never seen plows, cattle, horses, and men at work. I'm busily watching the blue-eyed man's facial expressions when I am brutally shoved to the ground.

"Hey loser!" my best friend and cousin, Ty Evans, says obnoxiously. I rolled to my feet, blew my dark curls out of my face, and prepared to assault the idiot when I noticed the small form of Zacky, or Lil Z , as a lot of the older adults liked to call him, standing behind Ty and looking considerably uncomfortable.

I drop my fists and shuffle my feet. Ty stares at me in confusion until he glances behind him at Zacky. He huffs dramatically and rolls his gray eyes in irritation. 

"I am so done with the two of you, like, I can't even stand to be in the presence of ya'll right now."

He turned away, and, in true Ty fashion, ran across the corn fields to go and flirt with Cameron's friends just to irritate her. My eyes shifted to Zacky's as he cleared his throat awkwardly. Ever since we had hit our preteen years, the both of us had been stuck in the sticky, uncomfortable dance of teenage affections. This was the longest either of us had held eye contact in months, I thought, only for him to bashfully duck his head and hide those jade eyes from view as he lifted his ivory hand and pointed behind me.

I started as I realized my mother and the New World men had left me behind and were almost to the little blue farmhouse. I sprinted down the old red dirt path, only stopping to shout a rushed goodbye as I realized I was being rude. The glaring sun warmed my back as I hurried to meet my mother. A breeze rocked the cornstalks into a curve so they were hanging just above my head. An easy smile spread across my face as I remembered hiding in the rows and rows of vegetation while playing hide-n-seek with Zacky, Ty, Cameron, Bruno, and Ezekiel. Our parents may have thrown a fit, all except for Grandpa, of course, but I could tell they had all thought about doing the same themselves.