"There was a time where life was good."

Her voice crumbled as she talked, fallen embers that struck fire in her voice. Tears puddled in her eyes that were full with dull pain, a memoir that was bittersweet; still freshly planted in her brain since it all had started. "There was a time where I could see the sun. There was a time where I could see the moon, the houses on my street, and mothers on the sidewalk with their nagging children by their side. I miss the way I could walk home in a dress and surprisingly, I miss the fear I had."

"Marianne, finish your soup." Alice mumbled, her voice just as dull as the tears in the French woman's eyes. "Now is not the time to rub it in."

Anya looked at Alice solemnly from across the wooden table, her violet eyes full of strife that was unable to be smothered. "Let her finish."

Marianne silently thanked her for the moment being, nodding in response. "Remember when we were considered human, Alice?"

"Marianne, stop it this instant. You aren't helping, damn it."

Madeline mumbled under her breath, meddling with the tainted label on a soup can that was considered a godsend for their ways of life at this point. "They've murdered us to the point where we're not considered human, by killing us they've taken away our purpose. Might as well be better off dead."

Chun-Yan quietly sobbed into her hand, flashes of her little sister transitioning into her mind here and there. She couldn't handle the thought of her being dead somewhere. She probably was, to say the least. Her eggs in some scientific farm still stained with her cold blood. Shocking was the word to describe the world at this point. Absolutely terrifying. God should have never created mankind.

The room smelled like dust and squalor. The five of them were living off canned goods in a bunker without baths. The light from the mere couple candles refracted onto the walls, their shadows moving as they talked. Sustaining life was a necessity yet life itself was not there. The pure joys of life were drained from their eyes and so were their purposes. Life was dead for those women, and life was taken from women in general.

Marianne spoke in a tone that was hushed, knowing that danger was everywhere now and outside was a battleground. The five of them were chained together in trust and willpower for bolstering the last bit of life they still had. "Remember when we could go to school? God, I had so many memories in high-school. I remember homecoming like it was yesterday. I miss Lutz so much."

Madeline sighed. "Maman, Lutz doesn't know you're still alive."

"He couldn't know. No one can know we're still alive because to them we're already dead. I wish I could be human again, Madeline. I wish I could be in love again. Things have changed so much in the past couple years." Marianne already had tears falling down her face in ridden fashion, as if a dam had broken in her heart and words were flooding out of her mouth. "Pretend you're dead, Madeline. Maybe things will change. They can't kill you if you're already dead."

"God damn it, Marianne. Enough is enough."

"Alice, forgetting that it happened and it's still happening is not going to make it not exist. You need to open the wound and you need to disinfect it, whatever that means." Anya's words of wisdom were unspoken prayers to the sobbing Marianne across the table.

"No. We don't have to do anything. Eat your soup now- it's getting cold, Marianne. We're starving. It hurts." Alice shook her head in response. Her mind merely wanted to forget that it happened. Her memories have haunted her for far too long. She didn't want to pour salt in the wound.

There was another silence that separated all five of them apart. Each were all damaged differently but each were just as damaged as the next. All of them had secrets that haunted them and all of them had stories. All of their lives were not counted and all of them were considered dead. Women are being killed because their lives are unworthy and there is nothing to do but sit in silence.

"What are we going to do now, now that America as the last country left to be under siege?" Chun-Yan mumbled, "The whole world is now effected and we cannot end it."

"Watch the fire burn and eventually burn with it." Alice's voice was robotic, no tone- just a depressingly dull voice that spoke volumes. "Accept our fate and eventually know that we're worthless anyway, fighting the system is going to ignite the fire to the point where it burns the rest of us. The rest of us, as in the women with our hearts still beating."

"We need to save Amelia." Madeline muttered, "Where is she?"

Chun-Yan sighed. "I doubt she's still breathing. We'd be lucky if her body still functions."

"She can't be…. She couldn't be dead… That can't happen." Anya's eyes widened.

Alice's green orbs averted towards Anya in a glare. "We're already dead. Get used to it."

Madeline shifted in her seat. She had already devised a plan in her quiet mumbling that seemed impossible at the moment, however, did she honestly didn't care about it in the first place. If it got them killed, fine.

"We need to find Amelia. We need to bring her back here."

Alice quickly stood up from her seat. "What are you, insane?"

The Canadian woman thought up of a clever comeback but abruptly snuffed it, gathering her thoughts again before responding. "She's my sister. I care about her more than I care about myself, dumbass."

"Madeline, whatever you do, do not walk out of this bunker. You hear me?" Marianne scolded her, her red puffy face looking even redder in the yellow hued candlelight. "You'd get killed out there."

"I'm finding Amelia, maman. You can't stop me." Madeline yelled. "God damn it, everything I try to do I get torn down for it! I'm going to do something good for once and be the god damn hero everyone assumes me to be, and if I do die- I'd be happier than the rest of you, still rotting in this god damn bunker."

"Madeline Williams, watch your mouth this instant!" Marianne screamed, "Don't you dare go out there!"

Madeline flipped the bird before grabbing Anya by the collar of her jacket, almost dragging her out the locked door of the bunker. She laughed inventively before locking the bunker from the outside, leaving her own mother behind. "Anya's coming with me."

Marianne flung herself towards Madeline in an attempt to drag her back inside, but her motherly instinct was too late. Madeline had run out the door with Anya in tow and was probably going to kill herself. The French woman screamed in response, attacking the door with all her might. "MADELINE!"

Alice ran up to Marianne, quickly wrapping her arms around the panicking mother whom Alice could relate to, trying to calm her down the best she could. "Marianne, oh my stars…. It's going to be alright."

"NO, DAMN IT. IT ISN'T. MY DAUGHTER IS GOING TO DIE OUT THERE AND I CANNOT STOP HER."

The Chinese lady that was still sitting at the table, her eyes fixated in shock on the floor, could not make out any words. She tried to comprehend what just happened, but it all happened too fast and poor Chun-Yan could not handle it. "You're forgetting about… Anya…"

"Now's not the time, Chun-Yan." Alice stroked the hair on Marianne's head, letting her sob into her shoulders. "Now's not the time."

Anya screamed, looking around the bunker as if she hadn't seen the sunlight in years. "Madeline…. I can't freaking believe you…."

"I know. We're going to find Amelia together whether you like it or not. I'm sorry, you've never seen me like this." Madeline assured her, "I'm just freaking pissed."

Anya looked at her as if Madeline had two heads. "So, because you're pissed, you're going to sacrifice both our lives?"

"Basically."

The two of them refused to look at each other for a moment and silence filled the void.

The world around them was almost intact. Large trees surrounded them as if it was a militia and the birds unknowingly chirped happily in the horizon. It was almost so beautifully ignorant that it gave Madeline hope, that at least the birds are happy. At least the birds aren't being killed off because of their body parts. The grass was green and it seemed like a perfectly happy place to live, except the fact that it isn't. Life wasn't for their kind anymore so they had to be eradicated. That's how it's been and ever shall be for the past two years.

The five of them escaped two years ago when it started, luckily, and found a small bunker hidden in a grove of large trees. Coincidentally, they had disguised it well enough that the group of extremists didn't find them.

Anya thought kept thinking about it as they walked, going nowhere, aimlessly wandering around the forest without any sense of direction.

"Where do we even look for Amelia, anyway?" Anya broke the silence between them.

"We need to get to Amelia's house. It's actually close, I'm pretty sure. Don't you remember this forest? The forest miles behind our business offices? Remember when we actually had a purpose, remember when we actually had jobs-"

"Madeline, stop it. This whole 'remember when' shit is getting old." Anya interrupted her. "And yes, I do remember this place."

"Now, I'm pretty sure it's about 10 miles from here. That's pretty far, in perspective, but we'll survive." Madeline answered, "We have to head north. That's all I remember."

Anya quickly glanced at Madeline before returning her eyes back to the cloudy skies above. "That's sure comforting, but I'll take it."

The two of them walked for hours. They seemed to be in shock, their eyes gazing over all the things that sparked their memories of times that seemed happier. Madeline could see the old well that mysteriously got there. Amelia and Madeline used to tell stories about that well being a magical portal to another realm. Amelia fell down it once. It never went far.

Anya saw sunflowers in the wild for the first time in forever. It was peaceful yet nerve-wracking for them, walking in the forest all vulnerable like that. They had no weapons, no reassuring promise of life, just the two of them wandering north and hoping for an answered prayer. The two of them had no idea where life was taking them, yet they seemed to be in peace.

The skies were grey yet the forest was green. The forest was green and the flowers were blue, yellow, red, purple, so many colors came into perspective that were merely something Anya dreamed of.

The sun kept lowering in the sky and so were their hopes, yet Madeline still kept walking. Anya still followed her, believe it or not.

It began to rain and Madeline still kept going. Madeline loved her sister so much even though her heart was damaged, Madeline was going to do whatever it took to find her; even if it costed her life.

Anya felt the same way. Except she was forced into it.

"We're almost there. I promise." Madeline swore, "I can see the swing set in her yard, c'mon!"

Anya began to run and so did the Canadian woman. The two of them ran into her backyard out of breath, yet still full of hope. The swing set was still there.

Anya and Madeline took one look at the house and gasped. The house itself seemed vacant, the windows were smashed into and the door was open. Madeline's dreamy blue eyes suddenly welled up with tears. "She's probably…. P-probably-"

"No. It can't be. It just can't… Oh my god, please no." Anya screamed, her fists hitting the soft ground in pure exhaustion. "They've taken everything away from us. They can't just take away Amelia…. They just can't…"

Madeline sat on the grass. Her eyes were wide and somewhat expressionless at this point, mouthing off silently in her thoughts. "Now, we have to go back."

Anya took one glance at the setting sun. "We need to get back there. Soon."

"No… I can't just leave this house here like this. I can't leave Amelia here." Madeline shook her head.

Anya choked back on her words. "Amelia isn't here anymore, Madeline."

Madeline gave Anya a look of silent strife, breaking out into tears onto the grass- lying on the ground and refusing to move. Her legs gave out and so did she, lying on the ground with her hands covering her face.

"We have to look back. Madeline, please; just remember that if we cannot find her, it's going to be alright. She'd be in a…. Happier place."

"I don't want to leave. I want Amelia here, now."

Anya sat down with her as well. "I'm afraid that we don't have the power to do that, Madeline."

"I want to die, Anya."

Anya frowned, tears puddling in her violet eyes as well. "Please don't… say that."

"Anya, let's just sit here and just pretend the world isn't as messed up as it is." Madeline frowned. "Let's forget about the world. Let's make our own world right here."

"What would we name our new world anyway?"

Madeline's frown turned into a playful smile, wiping her wet eyes with her sleeve. "RusCan."

"As you wish."

The both of them laughed before returning their gaze to the sky, Madeline grabbing hold of Anya's hand. Their minds wandered about a happier world for them. Madeline simply let her head rest on Anya's shoulder after a while.

The two of them seemed happy for the time being. It was one of the most peaceful moments Anya had ever experienced in years.

A loud bang filled the air as the birds on the trees quickly flew off. Anya screamed, a bullet now lodged in Madeline's chest from an unknown gun. The Canadian woman's eyes widened as she fell backwards, paling almost instantly. Anya wailed as she quickly got up, scanning the area out of panic before running towards the forest path.

Anya had to get out of there.

The Russian woman sprinted, tears falling down her face onto her jacket, adrenaline coursing through her veins like it had been shot into her.

All good things must come to an end. Anya knew that to be true. Anya had to tell the others. Anya had to live.

Poor Marianne, she thought.

The rest of them had to live. They had to live in order to be treated as actual lives. That was the only way they could fix it, Anya thought.

Anya didn't have much time to think, and Anya ran.