When The World Ends

Simple Things

Seawater splattered through the rusted bars as a monsterous wave crashed into the asylum wall. Sun dawning on the horizon, Abiona Beckett narrowed her eyes from her cell in the wreckage that used to be the reknowned Corhult Asylum. Now, the place was nothing more than a wrecked and infested mansion of torment and death. Guards roamed the unstable halls at night, the remains of the asylum after the war of 4013 coated in dust and blood. The five floors remaining stood unstable, Abiona being on the fith often wished that this terrible place would crash down giving her an escape; one way or another.
Supply cupboards had been placed in the strangest of locations in case the guards and officers had to evacuate- cells had been stuffed with cans, water and other items, blow-up boats hidden under loose floorboards and guards carried new weopans around- enhanced for braking bones, knocking out and killing at a single strike. Abiona has been lucky not to fall into that group. Mealtimes were a joke- on a good day they would get half servings of a rancid stew, most days, they were left hungry. A government so cruel as to take children from their homes and bring them here without reason was heartless and sadistic.
She gave a sigh and flicked the switch on the guards' radio. This belonged in the break room, but no-one had seemed to miss it the last few months. Static cleared as cheery western music rose from the silence. She groaned as her stomach roared, feeling as of it were eating through her insides as she hoped that tomorrow, perhaps, there would be just a scrap of food left for her. Open wounds burned as the salt water crashed back through the rusted iron bars again, just as light started to flood the room. The music fell into an abrupt halt, a robotic voice taking over.

"This is not a test. The government has fallen. All members in power have stepped down after the assasination of the President. Foxmere has fallen. We will be attacked. Entire continents are bombing Foxmere is for power. Places affected will follow."
Abiona froze. Adrenaline filled her veins and a mixture of excitement and fear took over. This could mean a new start, a new beginning for her and the rest of the people trapped here. She didn't have to stay here any longer.
"All places affected follow. Aldrose. Ainwirst. Bydale. Eriveiw. Freyton. Glassvale. Griffinmead. Jaygate. Mallowbridge. -"
She felt faint with eletrifying glee. She reached over to cut the announcement short and stood up, her weak body suddenly feeling more alive than ever, but a tinge of hopelessness also showed. Locked in this cell, there was barely any escape.

She shivered, her fingers almost blue and her throat stinging from the salt she'd swallowed from the sea.
The sun blared into the room, now, clearly past four am when they were usually woken, but the door was still shut tight and bolted. The thing that has woken her in the first place- the officors fleeing the building.
"They're leaving us here to die."

Her heart skipped a beat. The two-inch-thick door was no option. The only other escape- through the bars.

She pulled herself up to the bars and gave a quick push for a shift on the sides of the barrier. Pressing her feet against them, she kicked out with the last of her streanth, the rusted bars almost giving way, but swinging down to free the window space. Just then, it dawned on her: so far she had nothing, no food, no water and no way to land safely after that height.

"My only option is to jump five stories and sail." She muttered.
"Well for that you'll need a boat."
She span around, so fast she almost fell over.
"Zander!" She screamed, "How did you get here?"
He smiled coyly as he wandered towards the window.
"That's for me to know and you to find out. Good job on the window, by the way."
"Thanks."
"Well, one way or another, we need to get out of here. What have we got to work with?"
"The bed, radio, four raincoats-"
"How'd you get hold of four raincoats?"
"Stealing. Same way I got the radio."
"Why? Uh, nevermind. So, now that the door's open, we have access to the storage room and all the other cell blocks."
"Well, great! We can rescue everyone else!"
"They're long gone."
"Wha- you...?"
"Some things have to be done."
"Why?"
"We can't afford to lose any supplies, especially for a whole block. If you'd kept your radio broadcast on, you would have known that they're planning to bomb this place. We need to leave as soon as possible."
"So it's just us?"
He grinned. "Not exactly."
As if on que, the door swung open.
Three figures queued by the door, each dragging black bags full to the brim with supplies.
"Alright, what have we got?" Zander pushed her into the wall as he took the bags and the three children crowded into the tiny room.
"Zane, don't be rude!" A girl with bright blonde hair stepped forward from the small crowd. "Hi, I'm Maya."
"Abiona."
"Hi!"
"Ethan." A boy stepped forward and held out his hand.
"Sage." Another boy cleared his throat and looked up at Zander.
"My brother." Zander confirmed. "Anyway, what's in the bag, Maya?
"Two pillows, eight blankets, a change of clothes for each of us, I hope side ten is okay for you, Abi-"
"Can we get back?"
"Sorry, Zander. I got a tent, a fire blanket and a picnic basket."
"They had all that in the supply closet?" Ethan asked.
"I did some snooping elsewhere."
"Let's not get distracted. We have roughly three hours until the bomb hits. Beckett, you put both the radios in the first bag." He stared down his nose at them while Ethan read out the contents of his bag: "Twelve cans of soup, a saucepan, a camping stove and eighteen gas canisters."
"Alright, and you got the blow-up boat, Sage?" Zander asked.
"Three, actually. All blown up. And a spare pop-up tent in the bag."
"Right. Maya, can you-"
"On it!"
"Zander what are-"
"A rope. To get down. Now, by my calculations, the building is around 20 metres high from here, all the coats and scarves at the strongest possible way of tying it would make around seventeen metres. Abiona, I need you to climb down with the boat and drop the last three metres into it so we know it's safe."
"Why me?"
"You're a thief. You stole a radio and three raincoats."
"I'm sorry, which one of us is a serial killer?"
"Everyone but you."
"And me." Maya cut in. "I only killed one. In my defence, they were trying to kill me too."
"You're all insane!" She stumbled towards the bed, her heart racing, thinking she might be next. She only knew Zander, and briefly at that and had no survival skills. She was a target, and the rest would have a larger share of supplies in her absence. Her only purpose in this group was the crash dummy.

"You got that right. Here." Zander pushed the end of the rope into her hands and shoved her towards the window. She took one final breath as the group looked on... and jumped. She saw the boat fly down beneath her and splash in the water as the rope caught her at three metres above it.
"It's not that high." She whispered to herself. "Just jump to the boat." She put her feet against the bricks behind her and pushed as she let her hands slip from the rope. Seconds later, she found herself lying on the boat, tears in her eyes from the impact.
Another boat flew down beside her and a figure landed fell into it a second later. Maya stood up and hopped into Abiona's boat as a bag was tossed from the window. Maya jumped out to catch it, laying it down in the other boat.
Next came the last two bags, which landed perfectly on the bag of pillows and blankets, which the girls lay in the two other boats as instructed, securing them with the rope.
As soon as they had finished, they heard Ethan's cry of 'CANNONBALL!' He shot into the water from the rope, his jeans soaked through as he climbed back into the boat.
Sage landed upright on the third boat, holding the door as he started to tie the board together with it.
Zander came last, holding a thick, blue rope, which he had apparently collected from the supply closet beforehand. He used this to safely lower himself into the boat, with metres of rope to spare.
He then pulled the rest of the rope down and handed one and to Maya, telling her to replace it with the makeshift one. He did the same on his boat, before handing the other end to the boys in the boat behind him. Maya knotted her end of the rope as Ethan did the same.
"Where d'you learn knots like that?" Maya asked, the rope falling apart in her hands.
"Scouts." He answered. "Did it until I was fourteen. Then I... uh, Came... here."
"Wow. Wish I went. I came here at five. Do mine?" Ethan hopped over the boats into hers, and took the end of rope from her. "See, you take this end... put it here... and then take this end and pull. It's simple, really." With that, he ran back over to his boat and pushed it off from the wall. The waves caught the first boat and pulled the rest behind.
As each of them put on a raincoat to prepare for the upcoming storm, the sea pulled them all towards a dim future.

Important

Just a heads up, if you liked this part and are considering reading on, this chapter has been re-edited whereas the second will be finished on the 12th May, and the third and fourth will be re-editedsome time after that, and any may be taken down for a few minutes. Feel free to read anyway, but keep in mind it's just a model and not in any way the final peice.