The Great Story

[~Erratic~]

The sky has been dark for as long as I can remember.

Nothing has been the same after the Ascension. Floods, earthquakes, terrible storms, war...and so much death. When it happened, no one knew what to do. Confusion and chaos consumed the world as fire and water took care of the rest. I was one of the lucky ones -one of the few to even survive. But now... I almost wish I hadn't.

[scmarshtacky]

(Here goes nothing. XP)

In my lifeless eyes, it seemed like there was very little to actually live for. My family was dead and my home was gone. Each day I struggled to find a scrap of food or something to drink, anything to keep myself going another day. Maybe I should've just laid down on the dirt streets and given up; so many people had done that already, but an unknown force in the back of my mind kept me going against my will.

[~Erratic~]

As I rested my head against the brick wall behind me, my hands played with the apple I'd managed to find outside of a demolished grocery store. Like many buildings, this one had succumbed to the wrath of the elements and then had been scavenged through by looters. Not that it really mattered... The apple was like gold in my hands. It was bruised and a little dirty, but over all it looked rather edible.

How ironic, I thought, that the world should end and a measly apple should fair better than those who harvested it. The apple in my hands really shouldn't exist. It felt like i held the fruit of forbidden knowledge itself: hardly bruised yet from an Eden that existed no more.

Right when I was about to taste my prize, a shadow fell over me. I paused mid-bite, tensing up as my eyes travelled up to see my visitor.

"Hey Kat," he smiled.

[scmarshtacky]

"Wha'cha got there?" he continued, glancing down at the fruit I had in my hands.

"An apple, as you can see," I replied bluntly, taking a large bite of the fruit.

"Been rummaging around in this filthy place again huh?"

My eyes narrowed on him in a silent threat. I had met this moody teenage guy about a week ago in the middle of town dressed in some fancy robe-like outfit. No doubt he was the son of a rich and important man, but like the rest of us, his family had been destroyed and torn apart in the past couple of weeks. Now, he had nothing left to whatever name he'd originally had.

We've run into each other twice since then and each time he has tried to take whatever food I've managed to scavenge or has tried to force me to find food for him. It infuriates me. How could he have survived the Ascension when my family, who knew far more about survival, had died pointlessly?

[~Erratic~]

"Relax, I don't plan on stealing your filthy fruit," his dark voice murmured. Instead, he stood looking down on me. Somehow, that bothered me a bit more than if he would have grabbed the apple right out of my hands.

"Look," I sighed, and with my free hand brushed my ebony hair away from my face. "Just tell me what you want." I stood up, tired of looking up at his smirk. Rather short, my eye level only met his chin.

"So glad you've asked!" A strange sparkle lit in his green eyes, and I felt a twinge of excitement pass through me. Or was it fear? It was hard to tell the difference now: adrenaline was adrenaline.

"You won't have to eat anymore garbage, Kat. I heard of a place, sort of like a market, not too far north near the old Wimbley building, that's giving away food rations! They have wonderful things, like watermelon and even chicken. I... was kind of hoping you'd come with me. I'm regrettably unsure whether I should go alone," And with that, he waited for an answer.

He had to be joking. It was too good to be true. "You do know it's probably a trap. To catch those not taken dring the Ascension, right?"

[scmarshtacky]

(Sorry, it's a little on the short side. :P)

"What's the point of trapping the people around here?" he replied. "They're all half-dead rats anyway. Except you of course." He flashed a half smirk, half smile in my direction.

Biting my bottom lip, I glanced from the starving lot of people on the street, to the apple in my hand, to his face and back again. "Fine..." I agreed slowly. I didn't particularly want to spend any extra time around this guy, but food was my number one priority right now. If it meant that I could get by a few days without rummaging in dilapidated stores and houses for scraps, it was worth it.

"Excellent!" he said cheerfully, grabbing me by the wrist and hauling me off down the road.

[~Erratic~]

Walking down Main street was definitely nothing like it was a month ago. Before the Ascension, this was the brightest part of the city. Some of the best resturants brought people from far and wide; a wide variety of shopping brought rich people to town. Now, there wasn't a shop or resturant that didn't have a busted window or door. Some buildings were now charred, and some of those still even smoked today.

But, the worse thing that bothered me as I followed my "friend" through the broken streets was the stench. Sewage, rotting food...death. I dared not look around the street too closely. I'd made that mistake two weeks in. The amount of dead bodies surrounding us was more than I wanted to think about. Many people were left after the Ascension and they were desperate. People had gathered here, drawn in by all of the resources. These terrified people went to drastic measures to get what they wanted. Our city's own Civil War occured on the very asphault my feet walked on. I'm sure almost everyone involved died. Those left didn't care enough to o one cared to bury those who had perished.

So, I kept my eyes down until we reached Wimbley Court. If there was a market around here, I somewhat expected there to be a line of people outside of the Wimbley building... but nothing stirred. Everything seemed too still. I slowed behind Him and eventually stopped.

"Are you sure this is right?" My voice echoed in the street, making me seem loud.

[scmarshtacky]

"Of course," he answered slowly, without turning around to look at me. "This is definitely the place." He walked up to the battered wooden door, and pushed it inward. With a loud moan of the hinges, the door opened to reveal a completely dark room inside.

A trill of fear shot through me. This definitely wasn't right. I was sure that whatever was inside was something I didn't want to be a part of. I mentally chided myself for believing him; there was no such thing as a nice, free meal anymore. I took a quick step backward, but before I could make an escape, he grabbed onto my wrist. "Let me go!" I screamed, trying to wrench myself from his grasp.

"No. Not until you see it." He strode forward through the door with his hand still locked on my wrist. I had little choice but to follow him into the darkness.

He stopped when we seemed to be in the middle of a large room. For a seemingly endless amount of time, there was utter silence. Then, with a loud 'click' the lights in the room began to turn on one at a time.

[~Erratic~]

And...

The room was empty.

My thumping heart suddenly dropped. Rage built up inside me. How could I let him trick me, or let him freak me out for that matter? "What the hell?!" I growled at him, my free hand grasping for a handful of his collar as I pulled him down to my level. "Tell me what's going on, you --"

"It's Gabriel," He pulled away from my grip with a vicious jerk, but kept a firm hold upon my wrist. "And calm down, Kat. You don't want to make a poor first impression. Your life may actually depend on it." His smile caused my heart to start thumping again. "They told me to bring one, and I finally caught you. I finally gained your trust enough to catch you."

Although my fearful eyes were locked on Gabriel, a shadow at the far side of the room caught my attention.

[scmarshtacky]

Slowly, the shadow stepped out into the light to reveal the form of a man. As he analyzed my appearance, I observed him. What astounded me the most was his cleanliness. His fair skin was not at all dirty and his white shirt and jeans sported no stains. How had he managed to pull that off under the current circumstances?

"You're a little smaller and frailer than we were hoping for..." he began, crossing his arms as he stared at me with clear green eyes. "But I guess with the state of the world right now, it's not particularly surprising. We'll fix that up in time."

"Who... who are you?" I said, voice barely above a whisper. "And what do you want with me?"