They said it all ended in a day. The world, once filled with plants, animals, humans, practically buzzing with life. It all ended in an instant. Some say there were invaders from the sky, others said the humans did it to themselves, but whatever happened, the world as they knew it ended.
Thousands were killed and the rest were left to fend for themselves in this shattered, broken world.
In one of the last great cities of Earth, now ruins covered by nature, a young girl with strawberry blonde hair rushed into a small building, what had once been a general store. She was wearing a green shit with very short sleeves, khaki shorts and old, slightly worn boots. Her hair was in a short ponytail and there was a plaster on her left cheek, concealing some recent scar.
Opening the door of the former establishment, the girl looked around with her blue eyes. The food here was still rotten, the putrid smell filled her nostrils, but there wasn't much else to eat in this part of the city.
As she found some mouldy meat, encased in what used to be a fridge, the girl tried to budge the door open, but it was bolted shut.
She sighed. "Looks like I'm going this the old-fashioned way." She reached to her backpack and pulled out a crowbar, tapping it in her palm. She held it over her head and brought it down over the glass.
The glass in front of the girl smashed to pieces as the crowbar hit, small slivers of the sharp material raining on the floor. She reached inside, pulling out the mouldy meat and sausages, tucking them up into her bag.
The girl knew she had to get back to her hideout soon. The sun was setting and the animals would often start hunting as it got dark, and she'd rather be eating food than becoming it.
As she took a deep breath next to what was once a car, she panted. Running tended to take a lot out of her.
To think, after the ten years since it all ended, she would still be alive.
She had clear memories of the day it ended. She was walking home from school, when the reports of massive explosions came on the news in her home.
Then the sirens started and before she knew it, her entire family was hidden in an underground bunker, as the large explosions rocked the face of the Earth.
She could remember the ground shaking and the bunker collapsing down from a tremor, nearly burying her and her family alive.
But she and her mother remained unscathed. Her father wasn't so lucky, as he was crushed by the rubble.
Her mother was gone now too, and she missed her deeply, longing for her caring embrace and warm hugs. She shed a tear, but quickly wiped it. Now was not the time for letting herself be lost in the past. Now was the time to get the hell out of there.
As she looked around, the girl heard the sounds of growling from behind her. She turned to see a pack of wolves slowly closing in on her. Their jaws were open, their claws sharpened, ready to tear into her flesh. They were out for blood, but the girl knew she wouldn't be taken that easily.
She reached into her bag and took out a small pistol, quickly loading it with a magazine. There were only five bullets, but she knew she wouldn't be able to take them in a fight.
She held her gun outward, pulling the trigger and firing a shot into the cracked tarmac between her and the wolves.
The beasts startled, giving her a quick second to leap into a nearby street and make a run for it.
As she ran off, she muttered, "Idiot-you wasted a fucking bullet. You know how hard those are to come by."
But she didn't have time to scold herself now. The wolves were now chasing her as a pack of five, each one ready to slice her into pieces.
The girl pantsed, running as fast as she could. She tried to remember the layout of these streets, but she was too focused on not becoming dog food.
She darted into a nearby subway, very much abandoned. She knew the wolves would probably lose her in the tunnels, at least she hoped they would.
As she raced down the steps, she fired another bullet from her gun, hoping to keep the wolves at a safe distance. She didn't care about ammo at this point. She just wanted to survive this encounter with the beasts.
The wolves were started once again, but one of them quickly started to chase after her down the tunnel.
The girl sighed. "Fuck, no wonder people used to go hunting with these things." She kept running through the tunnels of the old subway, eventually coming to an abandoned platform, train still in the station. There were still corpses there, of passengers of those who had died long ago.
It was a bleak sight, but the girl knew she had to try something and couldn't worry about her environment now.
She climbed into one of the abandoned carriages, taking refuge under a dirty old seat.
The girl closed her eyes and held her breath, trying to make sure the beast wouldn't find her.
The wolf then arrived on the platform, quickly sniffing the air, it's olfactory senses hoping to find its prey soon.
The girl heard the soft growling of the wolf, hearing it pace across the abandoned station, hunting for her.
Please don't get me, Please, don't get me, Please don't get me, She begged to herself, shutting her lids tight. She was starting to get scared now. The beast would surely find her and there was no way out.
She then heard the sound of the door crashing open and saw four furry legs gently creep into the train carriage. The beast was nearing her position, sniffing her out.
The girl held her breath, covering her mouth so she wouldn't scream in terror. She could hear it's breathing, long, deep breathing.
Just then, she heard the sound of a shotgun being cocked, and a female voice shouting, "Fuck off, fleabag!" There was a loud gunshot, and the wolf suddenly whimpered like a pup, fleeing out of the train and the subway as a whole.
Poking her head up, the girl then saw a slightly older woman with long blonde hair in a french braid, holding a shotgun in her arms. As she quickly scanned the area with her eyes, she gazed at the girl, holding out her hand. "You okay, Anna?"
Anna slowly nodded, relieved to see a fellow survivor, her sister no less.. "Just a bit shook, Elsa, but otherwise okay."
Elsa grabbed Anna's hand, helping her stand up. "I told you never to go off on your own," she told her. "This part of the city is too dangerous for a kid like you."
"Hello!" Anna remarked. "I'm not a kid anymore, Elsa, I'm eighteen! And last time I checked you were only three years older than me!"
Rolling her eyes, Elsa then put her weapon on her back. Her little sister always was the bickering type, but she still loved her. She then put a hand on her shoulder, giving her the best relieving smile she could do at a time like this. Times were bleak, but they had each other.
Sighing, Anna looked down. Elsa was right, she shouldn't have gone off on her own. "I... I'm sorry, Elsa. It's just... our food is starting to run low and I'd rather we didn't starve to death."
"I know, but we'll deal with it when we run out, Anna," Elsa insisted. "In this world, we need to focus on the here and now, rather than what's ahead of us. Besides, I'd rather spend another night living rather than worrying about food."
Anna felt Elsa take her hand, as the blonde gave her a soft kiss on the cheek She then took a moment to look around the abandoned subway, having not seen it before in her many jaunts around the ruined city. It was a bleak place to be sure, just like everywhere else she and Elsa had gone.
"Do you... do you remember what it was like before all this?" Anna asked. "I mean...back when we were still little kids."
"I do," Elsa said. "But as I said, we shouldn't dwell on the past. When the world has lost so much, we can only look forward, little sister." She then smiled. "Come on, we need to get going. It's gonna be dark soon and I'd rather we got back to our camp before the wolves came back."
Her younger sister nodded. "Lead the way, Elsa." She then picked up her bag and followed her out of the tunnels, heading back to the place that they both called home.
xXx
Author's note: This fic was originally supposed to be the start of a brand new mulitchap Elsanna fic, in a world inspired by the last of us and half life, with Elsa as a GLADOS style AI. Sadly, I never got around to making that fic, focusing on Tundra instead. But I've taken what I did get done and re-work it into this. In the original version, it was Hans saving Anna's ass, not Elsa.
If anyone is still interested in seeing that AU, I do plan on bringing it back in some form, but maybe not with Elsa as an AI. That might be a bit weird to do tbh.
Anyway see ya next time!