ᴄʀᴜᴍʙʟᴇᴅ

+1+

The ground shakes once more. Morgan was used to this because there was basically an earthquake a day. The same family screaming, the mother on the ground praying.

Suddenly a large piece of a building fell. Leaving another crack in the crooked road. Another piece fell, barely missing the mother. She screamed and ran with no destination. Morgan rolled and ducked behind the torn up couch. He wrapped his hands, covering his neck, basic procedure that he was taught in second grade. Even though he is 14 now, this procedure still helps him stay alive. The rumbling stopped.

No, it couldn't have stopped. It never stops this early, there's gotta be more.

As expected, the shaking started again. Much harder than it was before. More screaming emitted from the crowds. Blood splattered on windows, walls, and roads, bricks, and glass shards, falling from above. He crawled under the table, hoping for more security and protection.

Mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, all being smashed, suffocated, starved, murdered. There is no hope. This world is being completely destroyed. Family members suffering as all of the stores, and houses either collapsed to the ground or unreachable. A family of 5 is now living off of food from the garbage. Their house is a little hut made of plywood and blankets. It would be rather comfy and fun if they weren't about to die any second.

The boy rolled out from under the table and examined his body, looking for cuts or fresh wounds. He scraped some dried blood from yesterday off of his arm and shook the dust and debris out of his already dirty, dirty blond hair. He steadied himself and looked at the damage this quake has done.

Buildings have fallen, the small wooden hut the family lived in was smashed by a tree. He turned around to look at the damage his house has taken. The apartment complex fell down weeks ago, along with his mom, but the first floor is still in living condition. So he makes the best of it. His electric blue eyes were fixed on a bloody, crushed, arm of the praying mother as she lies underneath a boulder. He looks around even more and found more bodies than usual. More blood, more debris, fewer people.

A quiet moan broke the silence. Morgan turned around abruptly, trying to find the source. He heard it again, this time he can tell it was coming from another apartment. Apartment 4A. A small family lived there. He's met the mother and father, but he has yet to meet the son they were always talking about. He opened the door and crept into the house. The kid's parents work for the government and were sent away, was what Morgan was told. Morgan looked around for any signs of life and heard a moan again. This time it was coming from down the hall.

The hallway was messy and covered in dust from the weak floorboards and destroyed complex upstairs. He made his way towards a small closet at the end. He opened the door to find a small boy covered in dust, holding his knees and being blocked by a wooden beam. If this beam falls, the whole closet will go down and crush the little boy. Morgan couldn't tell what he looked like because of the dirt covering every inch of his face. He could tell the boy was slightly younger than him. Probably 10 or 11.

"Are you okay?" Morgans cracking voice asked, hoping for a response from the terrified boy. He looked up, revealing his shining emerald green eyes. He whimpered and wiped his face.

"I'm scared." The little boy's voice broke as a tears started pouring down his face. Morgan got on his knees and faced the boy. 

"It's okay. I'm going to get you out of here." As Morgan stood up, the floorboards creaked and the beam shifted slightly, causing the small child to wince.

"Do you think you can fit through this opening?" He asked, motioning to the small gap between the two beams. He nodded and tried to stand up, which resulted in almost falling down again. He gained balance and managed to climb through the hole. The little boy looked up at him and hugged him, ranting on how he was his savior and how he could have died. 

"What's your name?" He asked the small child.

"Michael." The boy smiled.

"Nice to meet you Michael, my name is Morgan. Now let's go get you cleaned up." He shook the boy's hand.

Hey.... so this is the first time I did something like this so please give me all the feedback you can. The chapters will be way different from this and have way more details on the characters and their backgrounds, I just wanted to get this started. See you next chapter :D