Everyone knew the story of the end of the world, of the sun flares and the scorched earth outside the safe havens that would not know life for several hundreds of years. Researchers were trying to figure out how to make the areas inhabitable once again; but, it was difficult. Their world was slowly rebuilding, using knowledge and technologies that survived the end of the world.

Everyone knew the story of the collapse, the loss of life for the majority of those people who had survived the immediate fallout of the solar flares. They knew of the giant building in the middle of the dry zone that was slowly being taken over by plants. What nobody knew was what the building had been for. There were no documents left in any of the rooms that still stood. The few computers that were not in pieces had been wiped clean. There was no record of anybody that may have possibly been in that building at any point. There was only one thing signifying the building as anything. There, in the ivy that crept out of nowhere, over the sides of the building and through the cracks in the walls, was a single plaque on the side of the ruins. It simply read:

WICKED

"Hey, what's that?" asked Thomas as he slid into his usual seat there in the cafeteria of the university he was attending with a nod to the news screen in the corner. At twenty years old, Thomas was the youngest person in his field to be scouted as an intern for different corporations around the surviving cities around the world. He was smart, almost too smart, and that was why they wanted him. His classmates always teased him about it, but Thomas just laughed, made a self-deprecating comment, and shrugged. He had no interest in working at any of those businesses. They all claimed the same thing; to want to fix the world. Thomas was rather fond of his world, and held no desire to change anything.

The group of people he always sat with were others in his area of study, the ones he grew closest to, including his roommate. Ella, the only girl who even attempted to study mathematics, was a fiery red head with sharp, blue eyes and a wicked tongue. She was like a sister to Thomas and made sure that he never missed a deadline. She rolled her eyes at the fact that he had yet to hear the news. "You need to start paying attention to world events," she stated, sighing heavily as if the fact he had better things to do than watch the news was the worst thing ever. Which, to her, it probably was.

Thomas shrugged, reaching up to scratch the side of his face before pushing the stocking hat he wore back enough that it sat correctly on his head again. "So, you going to tell me what the story is about or not?"

Ella sighed heavily, as if it were a great inconvenience to have to speak to Thomas about what was going on. "Some kid was found in an alleyway in a town called Louisville. He was shoved into the bottom of a dumpster. No one knows who killed the kid or why, just that they don't want to be found."

She nodded toward the screen when the news broadcast put the young man's picture up once again. Thomas' stomach knotted uncomfortably as he studied the face on the screen, his grip tightening slightly on the fork in his hand. The face seemed very familiar to the student in a way that made the tightening grow so strong that he felt as if he were going to be sick. The tightness grew up his chest to his lungs until Thomas felt like he could not breathe.

He barely heard Ella as she asked him what was wrong, his breath coming in panicked pants that he could not explain away. Thomas shoved himself up from the table and quickly left the cafeteria, making his way out to the courtyard. Once outside, his breaths became easier, though each one rattled his bones. Thomas had no idea why he was reacting like he did, but he felt terrified and a deep sadness that he could not explain, either. Moments later, Ella came rushing to his side, and Thomas' brow furrowed as he looked to her, his brow furrowing. "I knew him," Thomas said softly, the words slow and hoarse in his throat. Ella's look of confusion matched the feeling that Thomas had, unable to explain just where the words came from. "I don't know how; but, I knew him."

"Tom," Ella started to say, flinching when Thomas glared at her. She had forgotten. He hated nicknames. "Thomas," she corrected, sighing softly as she shook her head. "You didn't. I've known you... forever. I would have known him too, and I didn't."

Wetting his lips idly, Thomas shook his head as he stared across the courtyard, his eyes darting from person to person as they went about their lives. "I knew him, Ella." Thomas could not explain it, did not know if he wanted to be able to. All he knew was that as he finally let his best friend lead him to their shared psychology class, he was met with a deeply settled feeling of something being wrong.

"We did it!" crowed Michael, better known as Mickey, as the gang sat around a circle table at one of the bars in town. Alcohol was slowly becoming popular as tricks for manufacturing it began to be circulated once again. A world rebuilding had right to simple pleasures, after all.

The six young men, and woman, who were known for working on a long-standing mathematics problem that could help with their energy crisis had finally cracked it earlier in the day. They were to be recognized by the university, as well as some random corporation that was funding the entire thing. Thomas could not really remember their name. He did not care too much, though. He was too busy trying to focus on anything but the unsettled feeling in his stomach that had not gone away since the news report he had seen several days before. Maybe it had something to do with the nightmares that were making it difficult for him to sleep. Pushing aside all those thoughts, Thomas smiled as he and his partners raised their shot glasses in a toast over the middle of the table before downing the amber liquid in the glass.

Thomas coughed as he placed the glass on the table, laughing through the burning sensation as Carl thumped him on the back. "We are officially the biggest nerds on this damn planet," Carl insisted with a lop-sided grin. "Anyone would be stupid not to hire us. We're gonna fix the world."

Thomas frowned a little at his friend's words, but it went unnoticed as everyone around him continued celebrating. Something about everything felt so familiar, and wrong. Thomas did not like it. The hairs on the back of his neck practically stood on end, and Thomas sighed softly, glancing around him as Richard poured them all another shot. As Thomas downed another shot (not choking on it that time), he found his wandering gaze stopping on some figure lurking in one of the shadowy corners. He could not see a face, but Thomas swore the person was watching him. It made him feel like running; but, instead, he laughed at a joke that Ella told and took another shot.

As the night went on and his friends grew more and more intoxicated, Thomas grew more sober. He stopped drinking after his third shot, unable to focus on much else with that figure in the corner watching him. "I think I'm gonna head home," Thomas told Ella, who pouted immediately and grabbed his arm.

"Please stay," she replied, brushing her bangs out of her eyes with her free hand. "It's not the same without you here."

Thomas shook his head a little with a sigh. "I've got a paper for English to do, still."

Ella glanced over to where Brian had managed to get Mickey to dance, much to Harry's displeasure, before looking back to Thomas. "I'll walk with you." She smiled softly and grabbed her jacket before the two of them announced to the others that they were heading out. There were some jeers and pleas to stay, but eventually the two of them made it outside.

Thomas tried to not look back over his shoulder very often, but as they walked along the sidewalk, he could not help but feel like someone was following him. "Tommy, are you okay?" Ella asked, making Thomas' attention snap to her face immediately.

"What did you just call me?" replied the other mathematics student, an edge to his voice that he did not mean, but made Ella flinch a little.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. Forgot that you don't like nicknames." Ella smiled softly with a shrug of her shoulders before she let out a deep breath and looked up to the star-strewn sky. "I don't get why you don't though. Still, are you okay?"

"Fine." The word did not even seem completely honest to himself, and if the look Ella gave him was anything to go buy, she did not believe it, either. "I'm just... 'Ve not been sleeping well. Nightmares."

"About what?" Ella's brow furrowed as she linked her arm with Thomas', not letting him pull away despite his attempts. "C'mon, Thomas. You can tell me."

Thomas, honestly, was not so sure of that. Used to be, he could trust Ella with everything; of late, however. Well, Thomas was not sure who he could trust. The young man was not one to really question things in his life; but, ever since that news article and his dreams began, he found that the several years of nothing in his memory was more and more unsettling. Thomas could remember living with his mother somewhere that seemed more rural than urban; but, then there was nothing from a young age up until he found himself arriving at college with a knowledge that he had been accepted after graduating at the top of his class. He knew that he had gone to some private school, and he knew that he was in the mathematics department. He did not remember any of it, though; and, that set Thomas more on edge the more he thought about it.

After a moment, Thomas let out a breath that he did not even realize that he was holding, and he said, "I'm not really sure. It's... dark, and there's something chasing me; but, then everything's too bright and too hot. I can practically feel the sun burning my skin when I wake. It's the same dream every night, but I barely remember any of it when I wake up."

Ella hummed softly as they walked into the dorm building, brushing her hair out of her face once again. "Well, Thomas, it's just a dream," replied Ella, smiling softly at her friend as she gently squeezed his arm before hitting the button to call the elevator down to the ground floor. "Come up to mine. We can watch that documentary on what we know about the collapse."

"No, thanks, Ella." Thomas sighed and shook his head, running his fingers through his hands before they stepped onto the elevator. He hit the button for her floor and then his, which was three floors above hers. "I think I'm just gonna try to get some sleep." As expected, Ella tried to convince him to change his mind; but, a few minutes later, he was unlocking the door to his dorm and going in alone.

Thomas shrugged off his jacket and tossed it over to drape over a chair in the corner as he made his way over to his bed. With a heavy sigh, the young man collapsed onto the bed and closed his eyes, not even bothering to take off his shoes. Thomas was almost asleep when a familiar voice that caused a warmth in his chest crossed through his consciousness, "Stupid shank".