Wow, I'll admit, I'm rather surprised at all the reviews this got. I really appreciate it.

Grandma Ricky: Thanks, I was hoping the emotions not appearing wouldn't result in a backlash.

DnBeanie: Yeah, but there is a legitimate reason for why they're not appearing. As I said before, it's Riley who I wanted to develop as a character. And for the epidemic, there was NO WAY I would be dwelling on it. It was hard enough writing it for one chapter, I just wanted that to be done with so we could move on.

I am a burglar: Good luck for you.

TheOneAndOnly1993: Yeah, as you'll find out, Annis isn't exactly the most ideal of best friends.

The Crossover Guardian: Was it 'The Girl Who Owned A City'? It was really weird, actually; I came up with the idea, and then I learned about the book. It was surprising at how much my story resembled that one.

Guest: Riley and Annis' relationship is expanded on, but it isn't the main relationship in the story.

Two Months Later

Riley passed through the streets of San Francisco, heading towards the hotel where she now lived at. During the two months that the adults had all been gone, it had started snowing over the city.

Riley wore her trademark yellow jacket as she slowly walked across the sidewalk. She watched silently as the younger children played in the snow, having a snowball fight at the front of the hotel. For the life of her, Riley didn't know why the younger children seemed so happy, considering their parents were all dead.

The city itself had gone through some changes as well. The vast majority of the factories throughout the city had been shut down shortly before all the adults had died out. The older children had been taught some of the mechanisms to keep the basics of the city to function, including the internet and the phone systems. It hadn't been an easy process, but they had just barely managed.

Since the adults had died off, some of the children moved throughout the city. Homeless children could now move into apartments and other houses and make it their own. Others even moved into such places as stores and restaurants. Some children also took other children in to live with them.

A few unruly children sometimes stole things throughout the city. Riley, however, didn't particularly care. After all, was it really thievery when most of the stuff stolen didn't truly belong to anyone in the first place?

As Riley passed by the children, she recognized a few of them. She saw a four year old girl with bright red hair in pigtails, trying to join the older children in the snowball fight. Riley watched in half-pity when the girl was inevitably knocked over by a snowball to the face.

Riley rolled her eyes. She knew that it was somewhat rude to do so, but she still couldn't fathom how dumb the girl was, getting into a snowball fight where she could easily get hurt. However, she was snapped out of her thoughts when she, herself, was struck in the face by a rather large snowball.

Remember in movies, when someone would be hit by a snowball and it would harmlessly poof against them? In reality, it wasn't like that. The snowball was packed with ice, and Riley was struck so hard she went crashing to the ground.

Before Riley could get up and sock whoever had hit her with the snowball, she heard someone shout, "Hey, watch out!"

Spinning her head around, Riley gasped when she saw a boy, ice-skating towards her. He had a similar freaked-out expression, and he tried to swerve to avoid her, but tripped right over her. The two crashed on top of each other.

Riley groaned and pushed the boy off of her. She instantly recognized him. He was some hyperactive kid who lived in the store close to the hotel. He was a younger boy, about ten years old, with short brown hair and bright green eyes.

"So sorry, ma'am," The boy apologized quickly, ruffling his hair. Riley got to her feet, several inches taller than the boy.

"Uh, thanks, Mr..." Riley never did know his name.

"Jake," The boy introduced. "Your name is Riley Andersen, right?"

Riley raised an eyebrow, somewhat piqued that the boy knew her name, but not the other way around.

"Your that girl who tried to run away from her home a year back, right?" Jake correctly guessed. Riley eyed him and backed away slowly, uncomfortable that the kid knew about that. She'd tried to push that memory into the back of her head ever since she returned home, but it was as if the memory was stuck with her.

"It's not something I like to remember," Riley muttered, then quickly said, "Take off, kid." With that, she bolted towards the door to the hotel, swung it open, and ran inside.

Riley certainly liked being in the hotel more than being outside. The hotel had close to a thousand children living in it, most of whom Riley knew from her neighborhood and school. All of her close friends lived in the hotel.

When she was in the hotel, Riley felt more joyful. Her apathetic, gloomy look was replaced with that of happiness and cheerfulness. She passed by the kids she knew, nodding at them, waving at others, and even occasionally saying, "Hello!" and "How you doing?"

Filled with some new joy, Riley happily walked into the elevator, joined by a few of her former classmates. The elevator brought them up to their hallway, and they walked out.

"You doing that hockey game this afternoon?" Riley asked one girl, who nodded. Riley sometimes played hockey with her friends as a pass time.

Riley skipped into her room. It had been redecorated since she moved in, the walls adorned with furniture and portraits of Riley with her parents. She treasured them, as they were her only remaining memories of her parents.

Riley then sat down on the bed, rubbing the bed covers with her palm. In her room, she felt happier, more content. In her room, she felt truly at peace.

Little did she know, that peace would soon come to an end.

Reviews are appreciated.