Prologue
It's bright, blindingly so. The sun shines down on a teenage boy denoting his features. His blonde hair falls messily in his face, and he opens his brownish-orangish eyes only to close them immediately from the light. He sits up and groans holding his aching head. He quickly takes in his surroundings. Rusty metal and overgrowth surround him, green and rustic red covering everything. He winces as he looks upwards, the sun blinding him yet again. His attention is then brought to his right. There lays a pair of pointy sunglasses and a note. He puts on the sunglasses thankful for the respite it brings his eyes and began reading the note. It says:
Your name is DIRK STRIDER, and you are currently 14 years old. You love PUPPETS. You also have an interest in BUILDING ROBOTS. You learned to RAP from me, your BRO. I am not important anymore, in fact you won't ever see me again (Not that you remember seeing me. You have amnesia now right?). In the CITY there is a HIGH-RISE APARTMENT BUILDING that you live in. There is a lifetime stock of SODA there for you, but everything else you must get from the GROCERY STORE. You are NOT ALONE. My sister's daughter, ROXY, is here with you only she lives FAR AWAY. You however live in the city of HOUSTON in TEXAS. You two are THE LAST ON EARTH. Please, enjoy your life from now on. We sure did have one heck of a fight to give you it.
BRO
Dirk stands with the note in hand and glances around at the large and empty world in front of him. He sighs then begins to walk forward, no particular place in his mind. He has no idea where this apartment building he is supposed to live in is supposed to be. He continues wandering around the earth, seeing ancient artifacts everywhere. Large objects containing windows and seats inside are very rustic and decayed. The greenery around him is overgrown to the point it threatens to take over the concrete he walks on. Buildings around him are old and look very unstable in age. The city is huge, at least the parts of it that he can see. Soon in his exploring, a tall building stands out from the others. It's not rustic like the rest or invaded by nature. It's just a tall building, the bottom half of it missing it's walls. The iron support beams scale halfway up the building then windows cover the rest from there to the roof high up in the sky. Drawn to the mysterious building, Dirk walks on towards it.
Walking inside the barren building shocked Dirk. Inside, all of the walls, floors, and stairs remained in tact, only the outside wall had fallen. Curious, Dirk wandered around the entire building, going to higher floors and looking around before ascending the stairs again. Soon, he makes it to the top floor and is shocked at what he sees. An apartment room had been set up, a couch here, a television there, computers and puppets lying everywhere. Dirk smiled slightly and continued exploring his new home. He opens up the refrigerator only to find a plethora of swords inside. Confused, he closes the fridge and turns around only to come eye to eye with a wooden puppet with no eyes. It has a small smile on its mouth, and while his face is wooden, his body (save for his hands and feet) are made of cloth. It wears an orange pinstriped suit and a blue shirt that says "CAL" in white letter on it. There is another note attached to the puppet. Dirk grabs and and reads it.
This puppet is named CAL. He is your BEST FRIEND. Treat him well and he will HELP you. You and him often SPAR against each other on the roof with the SWORDS found the fridge.
BRO
Dirk nods slightly at the note before throwing away. With Cal in his hands, he walks over to a large desk and marvels at the technology on it. There are five computer screens, the one in the middle being the largest. Each of them are connected, all displaying different images however. To the right is another desk also holds three more computers, the outside two being the largest. Behind him, a large panel lays on the wall. It shows a blank screen yet there is a remote and instructions lying on the coffee table for him. Not sure of what to do first, Dirk sits in a wheely chair and pulls himself to the desk with five computers. He moves the mouse, but it only appears on the middle screen. He then moves it far right, and the mouse transfers over to another screen. A small smirk working its way onto Dirk's face, he pulls up an internet browser on each screen and begins researching. He finds a news article which was the last thing posted to the internet.
The end of the Earth is coming. Every minute of every day, people are dying from an unknown cause. Doctors everywhere are trying to determine the cause of these mysterious deaths, but even the greatest doctors are falling victim to this unseen epidemic. Along side of these mysterious deaths, gas is becoming so scarce that gas cars are no longer permitted. The use of gas has been banned because of the low availability and global warming. Scientists have stated that our ozone layers are greatly depleted contributing to our rising temperatures. Repairs to the ozone layer are impossible; however with the recent ban on gas item, our weather patterns should return to normal soon. Also the recent planting of trees by our government should help to stabilize Earth's condition. Hopefully, with all that our government is doing, the Earth will return to normal and mankind will survive.
Dirk sits back in his chair after reading that short part of the last of the surviving humans. Even though it is truly horrifying what he read, he still wants to know more about the world. He wants to know how exactly the Earth ended but more importantly, he wants to know what other people were like before this happened. He wants to know how the world was before it stopped short of its full potential. There is nothing he wants more in this moment of his life.
Well that was the prologue to Us Against Time. I hope you enjoyed it (if it didn't bore you ;n;). I promise you I have a plan for this. I am very excited about how this will turn out actually, so just stick with me and hopefully you'll like it. There'll be Jake next chapter ;D See you then!