The Insurgency

The Beginning

Elara's POV

'Where is he?' I wonder for the twentieth time since my father left to go pick up some groceries in town. I tap my fingers nervously on the counter watching the clock. 'It's nearly ten pm, he should've been home hours ago...' I think nervously, the feeling of dread settling in my stomach. Deciding to call him I get up off the bar stool wander over to phone. Quickly I punch in his number then anxiously hold the phone to my ear as it rings. It rings for a while before his voicemail picked up. "You've reached Craig, I'm busy now so please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

Now my worries were officially confirmed. If there's one thing I know about my dad, is that he always answers the phone when I call him. Especially when he's out so far away. I feel my heartbeat speed up while I wrack my mind for a explanation, but come up short. 'This so isn't like my father, he would never leave me alone this long.'

Suddenly I hear the sound of a car pulling into our driveway, thinking it was my dad my heart leaps excitedly in my chest and I run to the window. But it stops dead when I see the black van sitting in the driveway. My dad drives a grey truck and no one ever comes back towards our house, let alone in a giant black van. Panicked I locked the door and turned off all the lights as quickly as my body will let me. Then sprint to my room barricading the door with my dresser. 'They must've gotten dad....I guess they found our address in his phone and want me now as well, dammit. I don't know what I'm gonna do without dad... I can't leave him but...' I look around my room and quickly grab my "survival" bag. My dad made me always have a bag ready for if something like this happened. 'Not that I ever thought it would...' I swallow hard shaking my thoughts away and focusing on the task at hand.

Racing over to the window I peer out, the Manna have gotten out now and are looking around the front yard. 'It's now or never.' I tell myself and take a deep breath, slowly I push the window open and pull myself onto the window sill. Quietly I then push off and drop down into the bushes. 'God where am I gonna go?! I don't know anyone and it's late. The nearest town is miles from here.' Sighing I creep along the ground staying low and moving as quick as I can. It's cold and there's a slight dampness to the air from the rain earlier this afternoon. I try to make as little noise as possible as I hurry along into the woods. Letting out a breath of relief when I'm far enough away to be out of view of the house, I look around finally taking in my surroundings. 'My dad is probably in town...assuming he got away.' I swallow nervously looking at my phone and pulling up a GPS. Thanking the cell towers for still standing after everything, I quickly punch in the address for the grocery store in town and start walking. 'God I'm not wearing the right shoes for this. At least have enough reception out here and don't have to walk aimlessly, hoping I reach town...' I think looking down at my beat up converse and one bar of service.

I walk for god knows how long and eventually arrive at the small grocery store in town and slowly walk in looking around. The stores a mess, food thrown everywhere, selves knocked over, glass cracked and shattered across the floor. If that wasn't disturbing enough, my anxiety spikes even more when I see no one around. 'Great....' I think to myself and a walk around the store. I grab some food shoving it in my bag for later and leave the store feeling defeated. Then slowly I make my way into alleyway taking out my phone to try and call my dad again. Right as I take it out I hear something fall next to me, freezing I try to calm my breathing, not looking up from the ground.

"Your not Manna are you?..." I hear a deep slightly raspy voice say from above me. I try not to make any movements and hold my breath, feeling as though every movement is being tracked and analyzed. "Not talking huh? Okay." I hear the sound of the safety on a gun being clicked off and cold metal placed against my temple. "I'll ask again. Your not Manna are you?" 'Oh god oh god oh god. Who is this guy?! I'm gonna die in this disgusting alleyway with no one to find me and all these years will be for nothing!' I swallow down my fear and stutter out a reply.

"N-no...I-I'm not..." I turn my head and look at the person, trying to ignore the barrel of the gun pressing against my head. We stand there in silence for what seems like hours before the gun in slowly lowered and the man backs away.

"You better not be lying to me or I'll shoot your brains out faster than you can think." The mystery man says slipping the gun into its holster. I nod silently, scared to say anything that will give him the wrong impression. I take a moment to scan him, or what I can see of him. He's tall, incredibly so, his skin is a smooth tan and his piercing green eyes are full of caution as they scan me as well. He's wearing a dark hood and scarf covering most of his face and head, dark tight jeans are covering his long legs and a bag is slung over his shoulder. 'Damn he's kinda hot. Wait stop he almost killed you like five minutes ago Elara!' I look away quickly fighting a light blush burning it's way onto my face.

"Who are you?" I manage to ask through my embarrassment. He hesitates watching me for a minute, looking of any hint of a threat. Finding, I'm guessing none, he replies with a quick answer.

"Fallon." I stare at him for a second and nod. 'Doesn't quite answer my question but I'm guessing he's still cautious of me.' I think to myself before I hear a throat clear and snap my head up to Fallon. He has a eyebrow raised and for a second I'm confused before I realize I haven't given him my name yet.

"I'm Elara. I live a few miles from here but my father went missing, so I came out here to look for him." I supply looking up at his cloaked face. 'Maybe I over shared but I don't have much to lose at this point, maybe he can help, who knows.' He looks at me oddly for a minute, seeming weighing something in his mind before coming to a decision.

"I can help you find him. But not right now, the Manna just raided this town so we need to move. Come with me." He says this and turns around not giving me a chance to reply. He starts making his way deeper into the alley, leaving me there dumbfounded. I stand there for a minute contemplating whether or not it was a good idea to trust him. I mean he is a creepy stranger who almost shot me 5 minutes ago. "You coming or not?" He asks and I jump, looking over at him watching me impatiently. I swallow down my nerves and decide to quickly follow.

~~~~

"Where are we going? There's not another town for a while." I ask trying to keep up with his quick pace. He ignores me and keep walking, climbing over a few stray trash cans and rubble along the way. Sighing in frustration I follow, stumbling behind him.

Glancing around at the rundown crumbling buildings, I try to imagine a time when they weren't like this. But they've been this way for 50 years. Since the manna started taking over and the world was changed forever by a new species. It started with large cities and islands, but quickly spread throughout the entire country and world. Destroying everything they could and taking whatever supplies they need. Capturing humans to use for experiments and whatever labor they needed done. They built their new advanced cities on the coast lines, drawing in power from the water and sun. With in the first 50 years Manna had completely taken over and had 3 empires built. Heavily guarded and said to have weaponry so advanced that human weapons wouldn't even stand a chance. No human dared venture to the cities and if they did, none lived to tell the tale.

Now whatever humans are left, live their lives in hiding. Constantly running from the Manna and fighting to stay alive and free. Me and my dad weren't any different. Usually staying in one town for a month or less before moving onto the next. Until now that is, for all I know he could be captured and/or dead. I sigh heavily into my hands trying to control my thoughts. 'Stay focused. Now's not the time to be having a panic attack.'

We'd been walking for about 2 hours now and are in the middle of, as one might say, bum fuck nowhere. This city obviously had been abandoned for years, not even trees grew here anymore. The soil was too eroided and any pollinators had long migrated. All that was left was a few scavenger birds and the occasional rat. 'Just lovely...' I think to myself kicking a piece of rubble.

"Okay here we are." Fallon says from a few feet in front of me. I look up and scan the small one story building. It looked like a single flick could send it tumbling with the rest of the rubble. I bite back my remarks and follows him in. "Close your eyes." He says turning to a door. I look at him confused but the look he gives me leaves little room for negotiating. Sighing I do as I'm told, laying a hand over my eyes and closing them. I hear a few clicks and odd noises and then am pushed through what I'm guessing is a doorway. "Okay open them."

I slowly open my eyes looking around. There's a set of stairs that lead down into a bright area. I hear many voices, both male and female from below and the smell of must and sweat in the air. But it's surprisingly clear and has a certain calmness around it that I haven't breathed in a while. Taking a breath I head down the stairs behind Fallon slowly, careful not to slip and crack my head open. When we reach the bottom I look out at a large cavern. What I see has me almost stumbling back in shock. There are kids of all ages, colors, and genders walking around the cavern. Each dressed in distinct fighting gear and a headset on. The cavern in wide and tall, seeming to have serval stories and rooms. It's incredible to say the least, like a whole other word hidden beneath the rubble.

"Wow..." I say dumbing taking it all in. A small smirk appears on the corner on Fallon's mouth while he watches me gape at the cavern. 'I've never seen anything like this. But it's smart, the manna would never think to look here.' I think to myself trying to look at everything. Fallon turns to me and rests a hand on my shoulder. I look up at him and see a small smile playing on his lips still.

"Welcome to the insurgency Elara."