Our Generation

Prologue

Grace clung to her mother, salty droplets that had been held in for so long finally spilling down her cheeks and landing on the small head of her daughter. They were called the lucky ones. Healthy. Still sane. Protected. Grace just felt caged.

She refused to turn her head and look at her new home. Maybe if she didn't, it wouldn't be true. She would wake up in a cold sweat, in her small one roomed apartment. Her mother would then pat her head and say she still had a few more months. But no matter how muched she wished it, when she opened her eyes, she was still staring at the large prison like building. All her praying was in vain. This was it. This was her fate.

To be taken away from the only family member she had left. To be beaten and trained into a mindless soldier, never doubting orders as she shot down the insane who rampaged the streets.

This was her fate. And there was nothing she could do. It was the way the world worked now. If the human race had any chance of surviving this outbreak, the children had to grow up and face reality.

They were the only hope for further generations. They must fight and find a cure. Or all hope was lost.

This was her fate. The weight of the world quite litterally on her shoulders. Which is why she dug her nails into her mothers soft cardigan, wishing she could go back home to find her brothers playing. Why? Why did they go?

They were most likely dead now. Shot by the doctors trying to save them. No matter what they tried, they couldn't find a cure. So, once you turned that was it. Game over. Bullet to the head. Nothing more. No funeral, incase the attendants caught the virus off your rotting corpse. She never got to say goodbye. She just came home and they were gone. She told them not to play outside. Did they listen? No.

"Grace..." Her mother felt her daughter shaking, guessing what she was thinking about.

"Grace, it's time" her mother sighed, accepting that she would now lose her daughter. Four children had now left her. How was she to cope?

"No" Grace shook her head, pulling her mother closer "no, I don't want to go. I want to stay with you"

"I know" fresh tears were now streaming down both faces. You could tell by one glance they were mother and daughter. The resemblance was slightly frightening.

Pale, freckle-less skin, wide green eyes filled with hope. Long dark eyelashes and small rosebud lips. Straight dark hair that fell into the right eye and came to their shoulders. Small build and artist's hands.

"I love you, don't you ever forget that" her shaking hands clasped her daughters face, pulling her away from her now wet chest.

"I love you too. I'll come back and find you, I promise" Grace swore, putting her own smaller hands over her mothers.

Grace's mother smiled at her daughters determination. But they both new that this was most likely the last time they'd see each other. Her mother would be sent away to a "safe" town, were they would protect her as best as they could from the virus. The government had lost hope in the adults of this world. All of the attention was focused on the children. They would be safe. They would be trained. They will restart society.

Grace was kissed one last time, before a guard came towards them, sensing that this was goodbye. Gently, he ripped Grace from her mothers arms, forcing her to take her small suitcase and join the cue of other sobbing children.

She turned her head, never leaving her mothers gaze. Her mother stood, looking suddenly smaller and more fragile without her daughter in her arms. The wind whipped at her messy bun, straggling hairs lashing at her face. Her cheeks and eyes splattered with a deep red, a never ending stream of tears, falling onto her open cardigan. Grace's grip had been hard and had torn it open when she was taken away.