Welcome back people. I am Animorph92 and you may know me as the dude who wrote Love, Lust and Life. I hope you enjoy this story just as much and even more so as I have collaborated with my good friend Jamsaner (author of Buried Creativity and Discovery). I came up with the idea and we brainstormed together to make this so this is a joint effort and I hope you stick with it because lots of exciting stuff is to come. Enjoy!
CHAPTER ONE
Victoria Vega
New York City. The Big Apple. There would have been a time when I would've stood in awe watching the people of this bustling city walk past me as my dreams took over the space in my mind. But it was hard to feel this way with dead bodies littering the streets we walked on in this now desolate city. Paper and trash riddled the street like a disease. Cars were broken and parked in unusual places, some in the middle of the street. Most of the stores and small businesses seemed looted. Everything was empty, broken and silent. I felt all alone in this new world but then I would look in front of me and see Beck, Cat, Robbie and Jade. Then I'd look over my shoulder and Andre would be walking behind me with a smile ready. For me. That smile often kept me from going crazy, having him behind me almost made me feel safe. Almost.
We separated into groups of two and scattered the area with our first mission: find food. Andre went off with Robbie and Beck took Cat with him. It left me with Jade. But this wasn't the Jade we all knew. Before all this happened Jade was kept in check by Beck but that was getting harder and harder as this war went on. Jade back then was openly manipulative and repulsed by me but she had managed to go once step further: she ignored me. My existence was something that she found hard to accept now. It sometimes got to me, to not understand why she hated me. But her ignorance was somehow better than her attention both for the group and for me. I still heard her voice but only on special occasions like when we were under imminent threat.
I tried to stay focused as we walked into a side alley towards an interesting warehouse factory. I tried the door handle but it wouldn't budge. As I turned around to look for an object to force the door open I heard the loud sound of wood splintering and then the thud of something hitting the floor. As I looked back Jade was already disappearing into the dark factory. I followed suit while shaking my head at the way Jade casually kicked down the door to the warehouse. Jade walked down past the various high tech equipment mostly ignoring it but it didn't fly be her either. The thing I had noticed. This warehouse had logos of Mountain Dew all over it. I eyed 6 or 7 crates of it stacked on top of each other. At least I think it was Mountain Dew.
Of course it was. I tried to remember the taste of it as my mouth began to water and I knew we had come across a big haul. I climbed the railing which was next to the stacked up crates and as I climbed I paused for a minute and caught my breath while looking around at the warehouse. I spotted Jade looking at what seemed like a dead body. But then it moved with a sudden jerk and Jade pulled out her gun. I panicked and my foot slipped on the railing one of my hands now flailing by my side. "Jade! Help!" I cried out but she was already dealing with the old man that we had thought was a dead body. "Who are you! TELL ME NOW!" I was going to fall and I knew it. But just as my sweaty palm let go of the railing I felt someone grab my wrist.
I looked up into a face of a boy my age no older than eighteen. He pulled me up and placed me down on the top crate. "Please don't shoot him! He's my grandfather. We don't mean any harm." I got up just as the boy turned around to look at me. Eyes pleading. "Please tell your friend. Not to hurt him."
I laughed in my mind at the thought of Jade being my friend. I had more chance of befriending a Zowl. "Lower the gun, Jade. They don't want to hurt us." Jade lowered her gun and instead helped the old man up. "Thank you dear for not shooting me." Jade shrugged. "Yeah whatever gramps." The old man smiled and gave a thumbs up to his grandson. I looked at him as he turned around looking at me, his face beaming. "Thank you." I smiled back at him and realized that it was wrong of me to call him a boy. He was a young man around 18 my age. He was tall in height, had short black hair and easy on the eyes too, I noticed. This was thanks to spending the last year with the same three guys. Not that Beck, Andre or even Robbie were…I shook away my thoughts and focused.
"So do you have a name or can I just call you tall, dark and handsome?" He blushed at my compliment but stuck his hand out too. I shook it and he introduced himself. "My name is Aniq Imran." My brain finally recognized his accent. He was British. "Aniq! Are you alright up there son?" his grandfather yelled from down below. He yelled back and assured him that he was safe. "Go find Connor now. He said he was going to search the supermarket across the street." Aniq nodded at his grandfathers command and turned around to me. "You were searching for the Mountain Dew weren't you…" I forgot to introduce myself and did when he paused mid sentence.
"Tori Vega. My name is Tori Vega." He smiles again and it reminds me of Andre's, a smile that gives me energy and makes me happy. "Well. Tori Vega it's absolutely wonderful to meet you. Would you like to help me find my friend Connor Farmer?" He went over to the edge of the crate where a hole was situated and pulled out two bottles of Mountain Dew. He passed them to me. "It would be my honor." I said with a laugh and he laughed along with me. I opened a bottle of Mountain Dew and drank greedily. The taste was better than I had imagined and all the familiarity of the sweet taste came back.
"TORI! You wanna hurry up!" I heard Jade say. I stood over the railing and threw her the other Mountain Dew bottle which she caught effortlessly. I thought I heard her say 'Thank You' but then I shrugged it off. I'm probably high off the Mountain Dew, I thought. I looked back at Aniq. "Let's go find Connor." We climbed down from the railing and then left the warehouse. I heard familiar shouting voices as we came outside and Jade and I both looked at each other before running off out of the alleyway. The street was empty and brightened by the sunlight shining on the pavement almost to a point that I was unable to see the scene in front of me.
A young teenage boy around 15-16 was on his knees and held at gunpoint by Andre and Beck. Robbie stood with his arm in front of Cat protecting her from the young boy. A thought popped into my mind just as Aniq came running up behind me. "Connor!" I shouted. He looked over at me confused then smiled when he saw Aniq and his grandfather. "Aniq! Gramps! Can you tell these guys I don't mean any harm." Beck and Andre both gave me a look before noticing the two unfamiliar faces behind me. "Relax guys. He's with us."