Chapter 1: A Turn of Events

It began like any other day before "they" came. Jon, a pasty white kid ranging in at about 5' 9 and 15 years old. Has a face sprinkled with some acne and deep, dark brown eyes. Sporting some dirty blonde hair that reaches his ears and a freckled mess of shoulders. Jon has a skinny body build and a certain way with the ladies. He is able to make even the prettiest of girls weak in the knees. Struggling with some trust issues stemming from past experiences, cause him to make decisions based on the outcome it has for himself. He doesn't know who he can trust in this newfound apocalyptic wasteland, not even his best friend Brandon. And if it comes down to it, Jon is not afraid to survive by "any" means necessary. Especially if it means finding his mother and sisters. Brandon on the other hand, coming in at around 6", and having dark brown hair and light blue eyes, is a manipulator who strives in situations of conflict. Drawn between his inner angel wishing only to help his friends and family. And his conflicting demons bent on destruction. Brandon is just trying to survive this new world with his family and others close to him, but his new found "dark passenger" has other ideas. Brandon has always known he had this inner evil, but was able to chain it inside and block it out, but once he took a man's life. This evil voice was no longer ignorable. Now, Brandon must face his demons. And those closest to him may pay the price. The story begins one night with Brandon and Jon in Brandon's room. Jon had come over to stay the night to play some video games when they were interrupted by their friend Aimee with a text. She wanted to meet up with them by Brandon's house and hang out. Apparently she didn't live far, but they had no idea where she lived. Jon, thinking that he might get lucky or wasted, or both, said "fuck yeah!" Brandon did not really care either way so he went along with it. They placed sheets under blankets to make it look like they were asleep and snuck out of the bedroom window. They didn't want Brandon's parents knowing they were gone in case they came back plastered. They walked across the lawn towards the street which split into a left and a right. The two made a left, and just started walking. Brandon lived in a rural setting with not much around. About a mile down the road was a lake with a bunch of white trash surrounding it in beat up homes inhabited by drug dealers. With neglect showing on the rotting walls and beaten up patios. It was surely not a place for people to have a dream home. Unless you looked at the house through LSD impaired eyes. Which most of it's inhabitants did. And so begin's the journey that will change their lives. Forever…

"Brandon?" Asked Jon.

"Yeah?"

"What is life?" Brandon looked over at Jon with a creased brow.

"I swear to god you're the dumbest person I know."

"I'm just making conversation." Said Jon a little offended. Jon then let out a little chuckle. "Do you think we're gonna' get high?"

"You're not going to get high, Aimee doesn't do that shit. She's a good kid. Unlike your trouble makin' ass." Said Brandon.

Jon looked shocked.

"Me? Not a good kid? No shit asshole."

After a few minutes of laughter and a few jokes. Jon lost the smile on his face, and replaced it with concern.

"Sooo, we are going the right way, right?" Said Jon.

"Would you like to turn around Jon? Oh wait!" Said Brandon with fake laughter. And also realizing that they had zero clue where she lived. "Then we also might be going the wrong way too! Cause someone, forgot to ask the bitch where she lived!"

"I'm just saying, what if she lives like, not at the lake. What if she lives in town?" Said Jon. Pointing the complete opposite direction." Jon continued asking questions.

Brandon didn't respond to any of them. He was looking at the pile of scrap metal to his right. There was some kind of junk pile of metal fenced off. Nobody knew why it was there, or who put it there. But he would love nothing more than to scrap all of it. They called it the Scrapyard. Because of all the potential scrap laying inside it. But it was kinda' just this wet dream he had. All that money, just sitting there for the taking.

"Hello? Brandon!"

This snapped Brandon out of his greedy trance.

"Huh? What?"

"I'm just saying what if she doesn't even come? What if she bails and goes to Avalon's or something."

Just when Brandon was about to ask why she'd bail...

"BEEP! BEEP!" Someone yelled in the darkness that encroached in front of them.

Jon, being a prison inmate's son, and the nephew of a notorious drug dealer. Bolted right into the Scrapyard, fearing for his life. Brandon, instead faced down the voice, and glanced up into the darkness to see a bike coming full speed at him. Brandon jumped left to avoid getting run over. The bike whizzed by Brandon and did a U-Turn.

"How's it going Aimee?" Guessed Brandon.

"Pretty good. You?" Asked Aimee.

"Well, I'm a man down. Jon bolted into the Scrapyard."

"Scrapyard?" Asked Aimee not knowing about Brandon and Jon's names for landmarks.

Brandon pointed to the mountains of metal, gravel, and tipped silos.

"Oh ok, let's go find him."

"Yeah we don't want him hurting his 'fragile' self." Joked Brandon.

Brandon and Aimee walked towards the barbwire fence. Aimee looked around, trying to find their friend in the endless darkness.

"Jon! Jon! Hello?" Aimee yelled.

Brandon jumped over to Aimee and shushed her.

"There's a house right there. What if they hear us?"

Aimee scoffed and said. "I don't give a fuck."

Aimee walked on around the fence yelling for Jon.

Brandon stopped and watched Aimee for a second and sighed "Of course you don't."

"You coming Brandon?" Yelled Aimee.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Said Brandon.

Brandon jogged up to a stopped Aimee's side.

"Why did you stop?" Asked Brandon.

Aimee shushed him

"Oh, now were quiet." Said Brandon.

"SHHHHHHH." Said Aimee louder.

Brandon got quiet after a few giggles to himself and listened. He heard growling and snarling, like a wild animal. Then he heard something that froze Brandon to the core.

"HELP!"

"Jon?" Brandon said in reply.

Brandon pushed past Aimee and sprinted to the source of the sound.

"Jon?" Asked Brandon, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound.

"Brandon!" Yelled Jon.

Brandon burned left and headed into the mouth of an overturned silo. It was a two way silo. Shaped almost exactly like the interior of an airplane, minus the seats. Brandon flipped on his phone's light to see through the darkness. To find a man was bent over a screaming Jon who was struggling to hold off the man who appeared to be growling. The man also appeared to have holes torn all across his shirt. What was also odd about this man was. He looked like something out of a bad zombie movie…