Chapter One - Gone
This is the hardest story
That I've ever told
No hope or love or glory
Happy ending's gone forevermore
Mika - Happy Ending
-0-
Death. It was everywhere nowadays. There was no escaping it. Everyone died. Everyone left in the end. That was the reality they lived in now, the reality they were being forced to accept. The gun that sat heavy in her hands only served to prove the truth in that statement and nail home the fact she was now completely alone. Alone in a world that no longer cared or even gave a damn you were before everything went to hell.
Winter was coming; the growing chill in the air was getting thicker and harder to ignore but still the sweat had broke out across her forehead and she wiped at it with the back of her hand. Her dark hair was a tangled, matted mess tied back in a braid, loose tendrils framing her tired and weary face. Her breath was visible on the air as she breathed out in small bursts, her green eyes fixated on the make-shift cross sticking out of the ground in front of her.
Amy was alone. For the first time since this had started she was where she'd always feared she'd be. Alone, and that terrified her more than those damn aliens, more than dying. What was there left to fight for when you had no one to fight with? What did you do? Her eyes drifted back down to the gun in her hands and she pondered on her options. Pondered on what this world had now forced her to become.
Looking up at the cross, at the freshly dug grave tears filled her eyes. Guilt and loss filled her entire body and she shook her head. "Why did you save me?" she whispered out loud, knowing that he wouldn't answer. Instead she allowed her mind to rewind back to that day, to the day he'd saved her.
Chaos. That was the only way to describe this. Thick smoke and raging flames erupted from the row of houses to the left. Debris of stone and steel exploded all around them, splinters biting into any exposed flesh it could find. Screams penetrated the air as people ran around frantic, bleeding, trying to escape. Some even resorted to attacking each other, all in a bid to save themselves. Their acts, their movements becoming almost animilistic, as the instinct for self-preservation kicked in.
Amy was on her knees, wedged between two cars, her bloodied hands attempting to protect her head as metal rained. Burnt and bloodied bodies crumbled to the ground around her. The smell of burning flesh, the thick smell of the smoke filtered through the air so quickly, filling her nasal passages, leaving her almost choking on it. Fear gripped her aching body in a vice like hold, keeping her grounded, frozen in place, unable to run or escape. Instead all she could do was remain rooted in place, praying for it to be over.
It had all happened so fast. In the blink of an eye the world was crashing down around her, everything was changing so quickly and violently it was terrifying. Her breath caught in her throat as a body fell in front of her, the wild, frantic look in that woman's was haunting and as Amy reached out to help her, the woman hit out, pushing the young girl back before clambering to her feet and running.
Amy watched her go, tears leaving their tracks down her soot covered face. Swallowing down the terror consuming her body she peered from between the cars, silent as she took a moment to observe the chaos surrounding her. Alarms filled the air, screams grew louder as bullets began to ring out all around. Her home, her street was now smack bang in the middle of a warzone and Amy knew she had to move. The bullets were drawing closer, the screams more panicked and as she pushed up from behind the cars and stood she could understand why.
Those spider like aliens, were scurrying out of the shadows, the smoke, climbing over roofs, into houses, killing anyone who tried to fight. With wide eyes, Amy turned to run only to have a body crash hard into hers, both of them crashing into the gravel. A scream tore from her throat as pain radiated down her left arm, as the other body moved above her, not caring that she was hurt as he stumbled to his feet and ran.
With watery eyes Amy pushed herself up, ignoring the pain as best she could she tried to stand. A yelp sounded from her mouth when the car she was using as leverage dipped, something heavy landing atop of it. Glancing up she froze and fell back once more when her eyes landed on the spider like creature now stalking her. Holding her arm against her chest she tried to move back only when she did the alien jumped down, its body towering over hers.
Shrinking back Amy readied herself for whatever was to come, only when the creature raised its arm back to strike her there was a loud bang and its head exploded. As it's body fell she looked up in disbelief to see her savior standing there with a sawed off shotgun aimed directly where the aliens head had once been. The look on his face would have been terrifying had he not just saved her life.
"You okay?" he asked, his gruff, no nonsense voice comforting in a strange sort of way. He quickly dipped low to haul her up, not allowing her to answer with anything more than a nod, before he began dragging her off the road towards the alley between two nearest houses, "Come on we gotta get outta here."
That had been it. Like the invasion, their first meeting had been quick, their bond secured forever in the blink of an eye. From that, from that moment he'd saved her from being captured, Amy loved Oscar. The man had become had become her family, her best-friend, her big-brother. He was why she refused to give up. As long as they had each other, the world didn't seem so bad, as scary.
Along the way she'd learned his wife had been killed by the Spiders, his son harnessed a prisoner of the aliens. Oscar never gave up hope though; he believed completely that one day his son would return that the aliens would leave once they realized humanity wasn't backing down. His faith and belief drove Amy, made her believe and gave her hope.
Now that was gone. Oscar was gone, just like her parents, her family, friends, and boy-friend. His promise of never leaving broken into a million pieces and Amy felt lost. Afraid.
The heavy silence in the woods was broken by a great crash of thunder from above, lightening lit up the steadily darkening skies and the heavens quickly opened. Rain began to fall and for moment Amy remained rooted on the ground. There was nothing left for her here anymore, she knew this and it broke her fractured heart.
Taking a breath she pushed herself up from the mossy floor, securing the duffle bag around her shoulders. Once more she looked down at the gun, then to the grave and for a moment hesitated. Though as the seconds ticked on and the woods grew darker she took a step back and slipped the gun into the back of her jeans. Taking another step back she readied herself to leave, only letting out a small whisper as she turned her back for one final time.
"Goodbye."
-0-
Here it is, I finally decided to brave it and post my first and only Falling Skies fic. I've had this stored on my computer for over a year now and wanted to share it with you guys. I know OFC's can sometimes be a little hit and miss but I love Amy, I love her journey and I'm still excited to see where she's going and most of all I'm excited to take you guys along for the ride to. With what I have written up already I can promise you a lot of drama, angst, heartache, horror but also humor, touching moments, passion, and a whole mountain of other stuff.
Now I'll shut up rambling, hopefully you guys like this introduction chapter enough to let me know what you think.
Nat