Chapter1

Nina slowly walked along the meadows path. She came to a stop and looked around the colorful meadow. Green grass, Flowers of all kinds and colors, Large mushrooms, and a small river to top it all off. It looked like a scene from a fairytale, and she was a princess. She wore a baby blue dress, with short sleeves, long white tights, and a nice pair of Mary Jane shoes. The outfit complimented her chocolate brown eyes, and raven black hair, that was styled into two pigtails falling on her shoulders. Her eyebrows furrowed at the sight of trees. "Trees, and grass, and flowers?" Nina thought outloud. "I know that feeling." another voice responded. The voice sounded monotone and dead like. Nina spun around, possibly faster than lightning. There right beside her...stood a girl. "We look...similar?" She thought silently. The girl had coal black hair, settled in a nice bob cut, and cold, almost amethyst colored eyes. She wore the same white tights and mary jane shoes. Instead of a baby blue dress, she wore a red one, and instead of two white bows holding two pigtails, she had a small hairpin that was red. "Who are you?" Nina asked. The girl looked into Nina's eyes and said "My name is Nalani, i'm your sister." Nina did have two sisters, but this Nalani girl certainly wasn't one of them. "We're twins." Nalani clarified seeing the confused look on Nina's face. Nina stood mouth agape, unable to utter a sound. Suddenly she pulled Nalani into a hug. The two spoke about anything and everything. Nina learned that Nalani was given up for adoption, because twins were too much work. She also learned Nalani and her had a sister named Naomi, who was sent along with Nalani. Nalani's last name was Iona. Nalani Iona. Then everything went white, and Nalani was no longer there.

Nina awoke to see a cement ceiling, like always. She sat up and scanned the empty room. Imagine a cement cube, and inside the cube there were no windows, at least 30 other people, limited everything, one set of iron doors, leading out into a complete wasteland. Yeah, that's where she lived. A cement block. Everyone in there was still asleep, leaving Nina to her thoughts. "The same dream? Again?" She said quietly to herself. Every night, she dreamt about Nalani Iona. Her long lost twin sister. Her thoughts slowly, but surely wandered away from Nalani and to "How in the world did i get into this situation?" In all honesty, she knew exactly how, but what's wrong with reminiscing? "I have been here since I was 10. What am i now? 12? 13? It doesn't matter." Nina thought. "Being alive is way more important." Nina has never once left the shelter, since she arrived,...since the world ended. She lay back down on her tattered pillow, and began to think. "Well i guess it isn't the end of the world. Just the end of anything still living." She thought silently. Nina remembered how this all came to be. The day all this started.

It started in February, a week or two after valentine's day. It started out normal, for her small neighborhood that was on the outskirts of Honolulu. The end came in waves. The first wave was heat. Not normal heat, heat so extreme and intense it made people want to die, and a lot of them did. The air was so hot, like breathing in fire, or swallowing a hot coal. The heat caused fires to light themselves. Cars, Trees, Trash, buildings? All of it was burned. After that, to prevent Ash and dust from getting into people's lungs, they made sure everyone who was outside wore something to cover the mouth and nose. Some people also wore goggles or things to cover the eyes, so ash didn't get in them. The worst part of wave one? The fires and heat never went away, or went out. The second wave was sickness. Wiping out over half of the population. Nina had gotten sick with fever, leaving her two sisters Emmalyn and Lucilla to take care of all of them, and you know keep them living and sustained. The third wave came while she was still sick. Rain. No not the rain that could flood an entire city, but rain that looked like oil, ink, and tar all mixed together. Nina now realises it must've been because of the heat. Nina hartley remembers, but she remembers it making small pebble sized holes in the roof. During that time Nina was stuck under a table with her siblings, drifting in and out of consciousness. She soon got better, unlike billions of others. The fourth wave followed right behind Nina's recover. Earthquakes. These were not the "30 seconds to a minute" kinds. These were 10 minute kinds, that thrashed violently, like a caged animal. The shaking got so bad that most of the second floor to their house was gone. Crumbled into dust. Nina had passed out from the constant shaking, and being thrown around. The next time she awoke, she was here in the shelter. She asked where exactly it was located, and turns out she was in Breman, Germany. Hundreds of miles from Honolulu, Hawaii. Hundreds of miles from Emmalyn and Lucilla. She had missed them dearly, but never made a move. She had put in absolutely no effort. Why? She was terrified. Afraid of thieves, or nowadays people call them raiders. Afraid of the monstrous beasts that people have become. Of course all this could be false. All her information was given to her by a guy named Mike. Mike was the first person Nina talked to, he was a member of the scavengers. Scavengers were people who hunted for food and supplies. He had very pale skin and blue eyes. He had brown hair and was like Nina's big brother. Always putting her first, always sharing his rations. He would always tell her about the outside world. "I heard there are people using others as...resources." Nina recalled him saying once. Cannibalism...yeah. Mike had went out one day, and never came back. Nina assumed he was dead. Mike had given her a small notepad and colored pencils, he wrote down some rules she should know, if she ever were to leave, such as...

Never go on major roads. Cannibals usually hang around there.

Trading posts still operate in big cities

The north is completely underwater, don't go that way.

Six, one, three. Six hours of sleep, one meal a day, and three gulps of water every five hours.

Don't breathe in too much ash you'll get sick

Save your rations

Nina decided to go through her rations again. Three cans of beans, a canteen, a compass, a pair of scissors, some protein and granola bars, a pocket knife, notepad, pen, colored pencils, and her battered teddy bear. She also managed to steal a few things. A box of bandaids, and ski goggles.

Nina put everything into her worn out backpack, including her pillow and ripped, grey, dirty blanket. After she was done, someone snatched the pack. "Hey! Give it back!" Nina yelled waking up a few people, and gaining quite a bit of attention. "And what are you gonna do about it?" The man said in an annoyed, teasing way. Nina pulled the pack out of the man's hands, and tried to run, but was slammed into the wall. Head pounding she stared at the man, quickly getting up and trying to take the pack again. "Listen here you little-" The man's sentence was cut off by pounding on the iron doors. Everyone froze and went silent, like icicles. Some people struggled to hide while others stood frozen in place. Nina grabbed her pack, and hid between two cots. The banging on the doors got harsher and more violent. Nina was sure if this room had windows, they'd all be dead by now. She heard something on the door break. "That must've been the lock." Nina thought sullenly. No one made a noise. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The metal doors creaked open, with the noise of chalk scraping across a chalkboard. Several footsteps were heard. They were filling her ears, like nothing else was there. Only one thought was left. "The raiders are here."