aaaaaazHey Guys! So I recently came up with a new story idea, and I just finished plotting it and everything. I decided to put it to the test here, and see if any of you guys like it! Well, for those of you who ship PruMano. This is my otp and I thought this pairing suited the plot well. Really this chapter just explains and kind of introduces everyone, I'll be telling it from Lovino's point of veiw in third person. Probably because I really suck at writing in first person. This will probably be my last authors note on this story itself, unless I have to apologize for taking too long to post chapters. Hopefully that won't happen though, I plan to keep this story up to date. I know most of you who actually read my stories probably don't read my authors note, but for those of you who do I'll stop now and let you get to the story!

~Jay

1: Sepia Sky

The world hadn't always been such a small place. It hadn't always been just the horizon that Lovino could see atop the roof of his house, or the very edge of his front yard. It hadn't always been eating the same thing every night, still hungry even after dinner because meals were so sparing. Life before hadn't always been lying awake in his bed, on edge, wondering what the next day would come. It hadn't always been wondering if he'd live long enough to see the world rebuild itself, if it ever would.

Lovino had started to lose hope. What was he thinking? Surely the human population would die out soon, left in a world littered by beasts of a failed vaccine and the rotting corpses of people who had died, catching the unknown virus too soon to be saved. He could remember the days that the supposedly life-saving vaccine for the certain virus had come out, people lined up at clinics for miles, just waiting for a dose of what was to save the world. And though the certain virus had been eradicated just weeks later, it was the vaccine that had set the world in backward motion. People losing their minds, falling off the brink of insanity. Cannibalism over common sense, betrayal and those who were brutal and merciless.

And in Lovino's mind, zombies sounded way better than the apocolyptic world he was living - no, surviving- in right now.

But even so it was almost traumatizing to think of all humanity, wiped out in one clean swipe. History, knowledge, all gone. Of course, maybe those filthy Raiders would make it if their group became powerful enough, but the world had to end sometime.

It didn't change the fact that it could've ended it a better way.

But Lovino had been known for his rather negative attitude anyway, so what did it matter? Ever since Feliciano had disappeared and Raiders had taken over his neighborhood he had nothing to look forward to. Beacuse of this Granpa Rome had only become more overprotective, Lovino wasn't even allowed to go scavenging anymore!

Well, that was about to change. Lovino had decided to run away. Where? He wasn't quite sure, there was really no place to run, after all. Running away wasn't his only excuse. If there was one more part to his plan of escaping hell, it was finding Feliciano. Dead or alive. Lovino sure hoped he wasn't dead, but regardless he was going to find his brother. Even if he had to search the ends of the earth, and even if it meant dying in the process.

XxxX

Hazel eyes peered through the window painted with a predawn sky, early morning clouds tinted sepia. It was almost like looking at an old photograph, the veiw was so worn and faded that Lovino felt like he could pick it up in a frame of glass. But this was it. Today was the day that he would get to see the world beyond his front yard. Careful not to wake his grandfather who was thankfully still asleep down the hallway, Lovino crept down the stairs to the basement of the house, grabbing his backpack along the way. School had been cancelled for nearly four years, so he'd had no need for it.

Dumping its contents out onto the basement floor, crumpled papers and worn down books hit the floor, along with broken lead pencils and mechanical pencils with no graphite left. He kicked the four-year-old worksheets aside, starting to fill the pack with necessities. Canned food, water bottles, a box of matches and bullets. A gun and knife in his belt. Lovino wasn't much for physical combat, but if he couldn't run, he would fight. And his aim was exceptional.

Quietly making his way back upstairs he listened to make sure Rome was still asleep, before tossing a folded up note on the table of the kitchen. It didn't explain what he was doing or where he was going, just a messy, handwritten scrawl of scentences saying he'd be out and wouldn't be back for a while.

How long a while would be, Lovino had no idea. Taking one last look at the note on the table, he left, Closing the door ever so softly as not to alert anyone he was leaving.

Staring up at the sky for a moment, he kept one hand on his gun, ready to pull it out any second. He could see the inner city wall from the corner of his vision, but unlike most he wasn't headed toward it. Even if the place sounded like a dream, plenty of food, living people, and no Raiders or beasts. But what did it matter if he went toward the wall? They probably wouldn't let him in anyway, and there was no way Feliciano would be behind the wall. His brother had been infected around the time he disappeared, and they didn't let the infected behind the wall.

It would be dawn soon. Lovino needed to at least be out of the neighborhood by then, knowing his grandfather wouldn't venture any farther than that. So he headed west, taking off in a sprint. Of he could get out of the neighborhood by dawn, he would be out of Raider territory. At least, until he came up on the eight-lane highway. But he still had a ways to go before then.

XxxX

It'd never occured to him how deathly quiet the streets were so early in the morning. The only sound he heard was the echoing of his quick footsteps against the pavement of the empty streets, every now and then passing a permanentaly stopped car on either side of the paved street. The silence was soothing yet eerily unsettling at the same time, as he ran from the still rising sun, away from the east horizon. Lovino had no idea where to go, where to start, where to search. If he'd even survive alone out here, long enough to find his brother.

But he kept running, even as his legs started to hurt and the weight of the pack on his back seemed to grow heavier. He kept a steady pace, though he was running out of breath. He wouldn't stop until he'd made it out, and he could feel himself getting closer.

Finally reaching the gate that separated the streets and houses from the downtown area, Lovino adjusted the pack on his shoulders and gripped the brushed metal of the gate, rusted and worn away. It looked as if it was about to shatter but he knew the gate could hold his weight. Looking behind him for a moment to see the sun just beginning to peak over the horizon, the sky tinted muted shades of orange, purple, pink and blue. It would've been a beautiful sight, if there wasn't such a bad meaning behind it. Raiders would be out in mere minutes, and with that knowledge the Italian knew he didn't have much time to regain his breath and get himself over the gate.

He stood panting for a moment for a moment, his hand gripping the metal gate so tight his knuckles were white. He couldn't stop now, and there was no way he was going back. Hoisting one foot on the rusted metal of the gate, he began to climb. Lovino could see just past the rusty gate, from what led to the still, dead looking outer city. It's only movements being tumbleweeds that blew west, the direction he was headed for. Swinging his legs over the top of the gate, Lovino jumped, landing on his feet with a thud.

This is it, he thought. He felt so dangerously free, no longer in the confines of his front yard. But who knew where the road would leave him? Was he really going to find his brother, or was this just a test of survival?

Lovino would just have to wait and see.

To Be Continued...

Augh excuse me if this chapter is kind of short and boring. I don't get straight into the shippy-shippy thing yet, but that will build soon enough. also, I don't think I explained some stuff very well. I'd rather not bore you guys with a long explanation, but you'll hopefully get the gist of it later. Raiders are the main antagonist group, who usually have a tattoo that signify what group of raiders they are apart of. In this case, the West Raiders are the group that's taken over Lovino's neighborhood.

Mind you, this is more of an apocolyptic kind of thing. Basically there was this unknown virus that spread and killed many (I haven't come up with a good name for it yet.) And the government made this supposed vaccine. Due to the traces of virus in the vaccine which reacted to chemicals in the vaccine itself, People who got more than 3 doses of it turned into beasts. You know, massive strength, cannibalism, etc.

I won't spoil Gil's cover, but I can assure you there will be more awesomeness in the next chapter. Thank you for reading and if it's not too much, please leave a reveiw! They really help me as a writer and constructive criticism is totally okay.