Welcome to Mayhem - Updated Often

Chapter 1 - UPDATED

Eighteen-year-old Emersyn Michaels sat beneath a large, old Chinese pistache tree near Mayhem's library on the edge of town. She loved the legend about how Mayhem, Oklahoma was founded. Two brothers had been banished from another town for "causing excessive mischief and mayhem." The older brother settled on a piece of land that he called "Mischief." The second brother settled on a plot that eventually grew into a town. He called it "Mayhem." The citizens of the small town had a fond regard for their founder's sense of humor and his rebellious nature.

Life used to be quiet and mostly idyllic here. Friday nights were for high school football or basketball games. Saturdays were for barbeques and spending time on Lake Texoma that beckoned from just beyond the eastern border of town. Sundays were for church and family dinners. Then seemingly overnight, this tiny piece of paradise, evaporated like a dream to morning's harsh light.

Jackson's lanky form blotted out the sun, causing Emersyn to look up from her book and smile. She was reading one of her favorite books from before the Plague. It transported her to a place of magic and hope and reminded her of when her life was full of sweetness and innocence; of all the things that have vanished in the past four years in face of the reality of fighting for survival. Her parents surprised her on her birthday with the complete set; she felt closer to them whenever she cracked the spine of one.

Emersyn, Jackson, and their PawPaw Frank were the only survivors in her family. She was fourteen years old at the beginning of the end. She remembered life before the Plague and she remembered when it transformed everyone's life thereafter. No children laughing as they raced through the park, no old men on benches outside the café, and no church on Sunday since the pastor passed as well as most of the congregation. The only place where there was an overabundance of residents was the local cemetery. The last year or so, they had been forced to cremate most of the dead as there was no more room and not enough people left to dig the graves quickly enough.

When the first outbreaks happened, the world came together with support for those affected. As time went on and more people became infected, communities adopted a more clannish attitude. Mayhem was not much different; they were became suspicious of anyone new in town after a particularly brutal assault by a neighboring community left many dead and half of the town's buildings and homes burnt to the ground. After that, parents kept their children close to home and armed adults began to patrol the streets to discourage further pillaging. The gentle air that seemed to envelope Mayhem for as long as Emersyn could remember was gone.

She had been the first in her family to contract the disease. Emersyn had never been more afraid in her life; years later she would look back on that time and realize that it didn't begin to plumb the depths of fear she would come to experience. Her mother cared for her and then Jackson when he too succumbed. As Emersyn began to recover, her mother fell ill. Within two weeks, Emersyn and Jackson would lose not only their mother, but their father too; leaving PawPaw Frank to raise them.

Her family wasn't the only one to suffer; the town once had 706 residents. Now it was closer to 250. Some of those that hadn't lost the battle with the illness or from raids, lost their battle with the grief that remained. Others couldn't stand to the constant reminder of the ones they had lost and left town.

Lost in her thoughts, Emersyn had missed what Jackson had said. It didn't take her long to get up to speed though, "It only will cause you more pain. Let it go," the nineteen year old urged her.

It was an old argument. He couldn't understand why she didn't leave the past in the past. Jackson preferred to deal with the present and push forward to the future. He soaked up any trade or skill anyone was willing and able to teach him or he could learn in a book. Reading fantasy books that brought back the past made no sense to him.

They were "Irish twins," born 10 months apart and had always been best friends, though Jackson tended to be overprotective; more so now that the world had gone to hell. He still checked on her periodically throughout the day before heading off to whatever task had been assigned to him or that he had decided to tackle. Jackson couldn't sit still for more than a couple of minutes before he was off again with a new project just like he was now - heading to one of the town's "fallback positions" in the old bank.

Emersyn smiled each and every time, not bothering to explain it to him again; the pain was bittersweet and kept her connected to her history so that she didn't lose herself midst all the grief and sorrow. It kept her whole. Jackson might not understand or agree with her need to escape within the pages of the books, but he had done everything possible to find her the complete set after her original copies were destroyed along with their house as a result of a fire during that devastating raid from about two years ago. He presented it with a flourish on this past Christmas morning. She smiled when she remembered the "gift wrap" of old grocery store plastic bags. He had never been the Michelangelo of wrapping, maybe the Picasso.

It was the most precious gift she ever received, especially when she found out her PawPaw Frank and the entire town had also helped Jackson in his hunt for the ever elusive novels. Emersyn felt guilty about the boring, but practical hunting kit that consisted of a bowie knife, pack, canteen, and compass she given him. She had located it in old boxes in the garage of neighbor that had died in one of the first waves of the illness. Jackson swore he loved the gift and began using it regularly, usually carrying it with him.

Distracted by her internal debate between helping Jackson check on the supplies at the bank and finishing the chapter she was reading, Emersyn was startled when suddenly the church bells rang and the town erupted in noise and chaotic activity. She searched for the source of the distress, being familiar with the circumstances that had caused them: the sentries had spotted strangers near town. Emersyn needed to know which direction they were traveling from so she could escape before the strangers were greeted by the "Welcoming Committee." The "Welcoming Committee" was the town's nomenclature for the representatives who engaged with strangers to determine their intentions and threat level.

As she scanned the area, the hair on the back of her neck stood up and she knew it was too late. Someone had breached the perimeter without being detected; the larger party spotted by the sentries had been a decoy for their scout to enter the town unobserved. The spy must have not spotted her until he was close enough for Emersyn to sense his presence. She knew she had mere seconds to react so she screamed as loudly as possible, "10-62! 10-62!" It was the town's alert devised by the Sheriff. Utilizing the old police code for "breaking and entering in progress," it indicated that someone had slipped past their defenses.

Without further warning, Emersyn felt a strong arm wrap around her midsection and a hand clamp down across her mouth. Fear clawed at her insides and threatened to seize her breathing. Her eyes met her brother's from where he stood across the town square and even from this distance, she could see her terror was mirrored in his eyes. At that moment, panic truly accosted her and she began to fight like a cornered animal.