A beeping noise is all that I hear in my mind. I keep walking on the black platform towards a flickering light of rose red. What could this be? I reach my hand out towards it and as my fingers press against the red sphere it glows brighter and the faint voice of someone familiar can be heard.
"Kasper... Kasper! Wake up you're still on shift," The voice shouts.
The world around me fades to white and I open my eyes to see a keyboard with a flashing red light on it. "What the hell are you doing?" The voice says. I turn my head to the rather short person behind me. Robbert, the boss, or so he has us call him, but everyone knows the only reason he's in charge is because he managed to weasel his way into our recently fired managers place.
"Are you gonna keep staring at me like a drunken baby or are you gonna talk, like a big boy," Robbert says in a tone used for making someone feel stupid. It has little to no effect considering he's a blubbering idiot.
"Yes Robbert, what is it now?" I reply, even replying to him is a task. It's not like when a friend wants to talk and you reply. No, replying to Robbert is forced and strenuous.
"What I want is a worker, not a drunken baby." Robbert says.
Taking in a deep breath. I ready myself because here comes a lecture on how I'm a slacker, and how I'll never be in the position he is because I'm not "Professional" As if he would know what professional is. His mouth just keeps moving yet all I can hear is blabbering and nonsensical noises. Listening to him is tedious. It's just a downright bore. God will he ever shut up? His words finally come to a halt
"And that is why I am a green belt In Kay-rah-tay, Because I'm a winner. You know what you are Kasper," Robbert continues yammering.
"What am I?" I ask with a sigh. "You're a big stupid ridiculously retarded loser, and you know what. You aren't even good enough to work here," Robbert shouts at me.
"Wow sir, you know what? You're right, I am to good for this shitty and mediocre low class job. I quit," I Look down at my desk, "And you bet your ass I am taking my stapler," I say smiling and showing off the stapler.
"And you know what else Rob. Take your raunchy ass comb-over and shove it up your ass." I shout into the building as I slam the door behind me.
That felt good, really good, as a matter of fact I feel like going back in that building and... and... Pleading to get my job back. What was I thinking?
Damn my short temper. So now not only am I 18 and unemployed, I also have been evicted from my house. Bum life here I come! I continue walking across the dusty grounds that was once grass towards the parking lot, and there it is. My beautiful piece-o-shit hunchback car. At least it runs, I guess thats the whole point of it. It seems as if everyone around me gets to live luxurious lives, and I get stuck with the scraps. Oh well. I start turning the key trying to open the door.
"Stupid lock, stupid car," I murmur under my breath as I click the key back a forth trying to jimmy the lock but to no avail. I back up from the door, staring it down, eyes in a blaze of anger. I kick the door hard and fall to the ground. "God dammit!" I exclaim. I press my hands down into the sand pushing myself up off the ground. I wipe the sand from my plaid over shirt and follow down to the black shirt behind it, I swipe my hands over my dark blue jeans getting the sand off of them. I look back up to the car in an irritated fashion.
"Screw you car, you piece of shit!" I shout at the car.
What am I doing? Getting angry at a car?I turn away and start walking, but just as I am taking my third step I hear the eerie creaking sound like that of an old wooden door. I turn back to my car to see the door open wide. I stomp back towards it. I am just plainly furious. I get inside and shut the door behind me, I'm feeling a sense of relief right now, finally inside the car I have spent so much time attempting to get in. I put the key in the ignition and turn it, the engine makes 3 revving noises and stops. I turn it again to the same outcome. I sit there, the sense of relief distant now. I stare blankly out the windshield drunk with anger. When suddenly the glove compartment opens, I look inside to see my watch. My father gave me this watch, and suddenly it reminds me of my family. I feel a small flicker and happiness spark inside of me. The door creeks open once again and I take this as my leave.
I exit the car and start walking towards the long road to Chicago I fasten the watch around my wrist and stare at it for a minute. The fabled words of my father coming back now telling me the same thing they always did. Never give up, life is a challenge and sometimes you gotta lose to win. After 10 years I still have not forgotten that quote. Maybe I should trust those words. I stop in the road turning around to go back to my car, when suddenly I see something that leaves my jaw open. Some asshole is driving out of the parking lot with my car.
"Hey... Hey!" I shout as I start running towards the car, I cant quite see the driver. In fact I cant see him at all. The car pulls out of the parking lot and begins driving down the road to Chicago. I run after it leaning down to pick up a rock and chuck it at the car, It collides with the windshield with a satisfying break of glass. Great... now I'm walking home. I continue walking down the long stretched out road to Chicago, the dusty atmosphere only making my mood even more miserable. Each step is a burden and the suns heat is beginning to get the best of me. I look above the skyscrapers of Chicago and can see dark image's above them. Are they actually there? Probably not, considering I've been under the hot sun for at least 40 minutes. I start entering the city and it has already become clear that something has happened.
The military is cutting off access to the city and aren't letting people in. All around me are strange face's, people rabbling about. What has happened, this is all quite crazy for me, surrounded by unknown people who are bashing and pushing me out of the way. Yet a flicker of comfort hits me when the face of someone familiar shows up.
"J... Jaird?" I say.
I see him look around for the source of my voice but considering the amount of people I'll have to do better, I look to my right to see a flipped dumpster I climb on top of it and shout towards him.
"Hey Jaird, Over here!" He turns his head to my direction and starts walking towards the base of the dumpster. I climb down beside him.
"What the hell is going on?" I ask almost scared for an answer.
"You mean you don't know?" Jaird responds.
I briefly look at him to assess what could be happening. His clothing is covered in black ash and powder. His jeans ripped in the knees.
"I've been out of town working, and then I came back to this. What happened while I was gone last night?" I say, my eyes fluttering with a sense of fear.
"Lets go somewhere more quiet, come on follow me," Jaird says while walking away from the crowd.
I begin following him through the immense amount of people until finally coming to a halt inside a partially destroyed house.
"So what's all this about then?" I ask, at this point I am quite eager to know.
"While you were gone, shit got real. It was dark, midnight, I was at home when everything went downhill. I heard a noise of clashing steel and I peered out my window. At first I thought maybe drinking three of four shots of vodka might be having some weird visual effect on me, but I saw robotic things running rampant in the streets. I ran to my door and threw my shoes on, when I got outside people were dying, buildings on fire. Cars flipped over and burning, it was hell." Jaird explains, a clear sense of fear and sadness visible on his ash covered face.
I pat him on the shoulder. Somethings amiss. There is some part of this he's not telling me.
"Jaird... what happened?" I ask my voice shaken with fear.
"It's your sister." He replies, devastation evident in his voice.
"What happened to Lauren?" I say, my throat choked with emotion on what he might say next.
"I was on a phone call with her when this happened... the call cut out after a sound of smashing... I'm sorry Kasper... I think she's gone." Jaird says
And while those words are uttered out of his mouth my eyes grow red with the whelming of tears. The impact of what he has said hits me fully and I fall back leaning against a wall and sliding down into a sitting position.
Even in the devastating moment, I can't help but remember me and my sister joking about this sort of thing... About movie like moments, screaming into the sky as the camera zooms out. I wish this were a movie. I could simply rewind it to before I heard of this. To the night before, I could have done something... but no, I was gone.
"I... I should have been here." I say in a low depressed tone.
"There's nothing you could have done Kasper," Jaird replies as if knowing that would cheer me up.
"Did she... say where she was? Before the call went out." I ask hoping for somewhere safe where I can reach her.
"She was at her friends apartment, she was just on the elevator close to the bottom." He says.
"How do you know it was at the bottom?" I reply, his last statement striking me as funny.
"She was joking about the elevator and how it's like being inside a metal Chinese takeout box." He says, this puts a small smirk on my face.
She always had the better sense of humor. Wait... an elevator.
"Which elevator was she in?" I ask in a almost excited attitude.
"The one to the east of the building... why?" he replies.
I spring to my feet.
"That elevator is built like a damn tank! She could still be alive!" I say excitedly "Come on!" I say rushing towards the militarized wall.
Three men in black body armor with rifles stand pushing back the enraged crowd.
"Get Back!" He shouts at me while pushing me back.
"Please listen to me, My sister might still be alive, If you aren't gonna let me in... then you're gonna have to shoot me," I say standing in front of him.
"You'll have to shoot me as well!" Jaird shouts while walking up to the guards.
The guards facial expression looks distraught.
"Look... if I let you both in I'll have a full scale riot on my hands... but I know your pain,"
He hesitates, his eyes scatter around looking in different directions in an impulsive panic attack state.
"Take this key and open the gate around the side, don't get caught, because if you do... I don't know you," He explains while handing me a small metallic key.
"Thank you," I reply.
We start walking back away from the gate as if to not make a scene. Turning the corner we see the small metal gate and the keyhole for they key we were given. I click the key into place and turn it to the right opening the metal gate like door. Jaird and I walk inside and close the gate tightly behind us. We walk forward along the trail of destruction. Burnt buildings, flipped cars that now burn a cleansing fire, bodies line some of the streets. Chicago has become a place of death and I find myself becoming more and more distraught with each passing step. What if Lauren isn't alive, what if this venture is in vain? No, I must wipe those thoughts from my mind. I find my eyes following fragments of newspaper as they roll over on the ground. I find this journey into the heart of the city a disturbing one, these neighborhoods are all familiar. I knew some of the people who lived in them. That building right there, the one my cousin used to work at.
"So... what route do you think we should take?" Jaird says while stopping at a crossroads.
"Uh... I've never been led the wrong way by going right so lets go with my senses." I reply,
Of course what I'm saying is stupid. Trust my senses, Look where that got me today.
"Wait... lets just think a minute longer," I reply to myself.
We sit on an old broken down bench. I find my gaze staring down at my feet. How are we gonna pull this off. There are giant robots running around the streets blowing things up and we are just walking. Suddenly a rustling noise can be heard from a car wreck.
"What was that?" Jaird says raising an eyebrow.
I turn to the direction of a car that is flipped, this one is different from the others for starters it's not on fire, and a voice can be heard from it.
"Lets find out,"I say running towards the car. I lean down and look inside the car to see yet again another familiar face.
"Chase? Chase is that you?" I say.
The face peers towards me, bright blue eyes stare me down in a reddened facial expression caused from being upside down for god knows how long. Chase makes a series of grunts and groans before falling from the seat and smashing against the roof of the car. Me and Jaird both pull him out of the car dragging him into the open air.
"Chase you alright?" I ask.
Chase blinks his eyes tightly.
"I was... driving away and Boom I was flipped and knocked out," He replies letting out a cough.
Another muffled voice can be heard.
"Hello? Don't forget me!" the voice shouts.
I go back to the car peering into the backseat window to be greeted by another friend. I open the door and pull our friend Avery out of the car. I prop him against a large piece of concrete.
"It's so good to know other friends survived," I say letting out a quick smile.
"It's good to be right side up again." Chase says rubbing the back of his neck.
"How did you guys end up in the same car?" Jaird asks.
Chase looks up towards Jaird clearing his throat of the ashes picked up from the air.
"Well. Last night when everything went to hell, I was running to my car. There were explosions and gunfire. When I started the car Avery jumped in the backseat and yelled at me to drive. We kept going and going when suddenly one of those robot... things smashed into the side of our car flipping us over, and thats all I remember." Chase explains,
My eyes quiver at the thought that they could both have been dead.
"Well... At least you're both alive." I reply in a futile attempt to lift the moment.
"So... What are you guys still doing in the city?" Avery asks.
"Yeah. Why the hell haven't you gotten out of ground zero?" Chase adds to Avery's comment.
"Ground Zero? So Chicago isn't the only place?" I ask, hoping for a negative.
"Chicago is ground zero, but not by much... It seems the rest of the world is knee deep in shit as well." Chase says, his voice glooming over the thought that everyone he knows... everyone I know could be dead.
"That still doesn't answer the question... Why are you here?" Avery asks again
His eyes staring at me like a blazed fire. He feels anger against today, I wouldn't bother asking what it Is that's bothering him but it's noticeable.
"We're here to find my sister," I say my voice lightly shaken with each passing word.
"She's still alive!" Chase exclaims.
"We don't know for sure, but Kasper says the elevator she was in is built like a tank," Jaird answers in a stern tone.
"So you run into a city, that even the military is finding hard to contain, with a highly unreliable source, to find Lauren?"
Avery asks, in a tone that speaks his mind for him. You're totally crazy Kasper.
"That's the plan," I reply.
"Well alright then... I'm in." Avery says while standing up.
"Count me in. You can't run out into a battlefield without a squad." Chase says.
That saying brings a feeling of hope to me. We might actually be able to get there.
"We should probably get going, I'd rather not stick around anywhere to long," Jaird states.
He's right, who knows what could happen after nightfall. I stare off at some of the broken down buildings and find myself letting out a loud gulp. We might not make it out of the city, but in the end... will it be worth it.