When the riots started, Erin was still in the city. She was in the back of a gun store, talking to the owner who had been a friend of her fathers. She'd handed him the list her parents had given her and it was simple; a gun, bullets and any weapon of Erin's choice, she then handed him a plastic bag filled with money – god knows how her parents got their hands on that much money or where the money even came from, but she was given it along with the list. For all she knew, her parents could've robbed a bank to get the money.

Ricky – the store owner – handed Erin a black 9mm pistol while he placed a small box filled with bullets on the desk in front of her. "You know how to shoot it, kid?" He asked, eyeing the teenager carefully, mentally thinking about what kind of people her parents must've been to send their seventeen year old daughter to gun store alone and with no weapons on her after everything that was happening in the streets lately.

Erin's eyes narrowed a little at Ricky as she held the gun in one hand, placing the box of ammunition in her backpack with the other. "I've seen the movies, you aim at your target and you pull the trigger, I'm not stupid. And besides, I'm not gonna be the one firing it; I'm guessing my parents are."

Ricky's eyes narrowed too, focusing on Erin's face before looking towards her backpack and shrugging his shoulders. "I suppose you're right, kid. Now, your parents left a note at the end of the list, they want you to have any weapon of your choice – and they do mean anything, but being the adult here, don't make it a bomb; those things are dangerous for kids like you and I don't have any in stock."

Erin looked at all the weapons that were around the small room and quickly picked a katana, marvelling at its beauty and ability to slash into things. "I want this one," she smiled as she held it in her hands. It was beautiful, and she wanted it as soon as she saw it.

Ricky came up beside her, placing the katana in a sheath before placing it into Erin's backpack. "It's all yours, kid. Now remember; these are weapons, not toys."

Erin rolled her eyes at that, already knowing it off by heart. "Yeah, yeah, I know. And my name is Erin, not kid."

It was Ricky's turn to roll his eyes but he said nothing, a small smile coming onto his lips as he watched Erin but his smile soon dropped once he heard the sound of glass shattering from the front of the store. He quickly moved towards the security cameras and watched as people broke into the store. The rioters broke into the store and started grabbing any weapon they could get their hands on, breaking into the class containers with their bare fists to get to the guns.

All the color drained from Erin's face as she slowly walked towards the door but instead of locking it, her body seemed to just move through the door and into the chaos of the store.

Almost as soon as she was out, Erin was faced with a rioter, his face covered in blood and dark face paint. She was completely frozen with fear until she felt a fist come into contact with her left eye, causing her to fall backwards from the force of the punch. Erin was still in shock for a moment before she filled with rage and punched the rioter back, using her full body weight to climb onto him to punch him more until she was lifted off him by Ricky and brought back towards the back of the store.

"Get off me! I had him! I could take him on, let me go!" She screamed, trying to get out of the grip of Ricky by kicking repeatedly and struggling with all the energy she had left in her.

Ricky placed Erin down on a chair, locking the door behind him. "Erin, if I let you keep fighting like that, your parents would kill me just for letting you get into a full-blown fist fight."

"I don't care what my parents say or do! I can hold my own, as you saw me do. Now I demand you let me back into that room so I can finish what I started."

Ricky sighed, hiding his face in his hands for a moment before he looked back towards Erin. "If you truly feel this way, I suppose there will be no stopping you," he reluctantly opened the door and allowed Erin to step back inside the store, how overrun with rioters.

Taking a deep breath, Erin slowly stood up and stormed back into the store, grabbing a piece of broken glass as she made her way towards one of the rioters, stabbing the glass into his neck before she used her body weight to weigh him down so she could easily knock him out at least. The rioter, however, was just as eager to fight as she was. He grabbed her arms and forced her body off his, causing Erin to fall off him and onto the glass covered floor, the glass cutting several holes in her clothing.

Letting out a loud scream of anger, Erin forced herself up and grabbed another piece of glass and started stabbing the rioter repeatedly in the neck and chest until she was pulled off him by another rioter who then kicked Erin in the chest, sending her flying backwards into the front desk, which made Erin almost certain she broke something.

The rioter ran towards her, knife in hand and Erin was almost certain she would die but the blow never came, instead Ricky shot the rioter clean in the head before he came over towards Erin, offering her a hand to allow herself to stand back up. "I won't be able to protect you anymore, Erin, I'm sorry. Please be careful, and don't look back. Go home; your parents will be worried about you." He told her firmly, handing Erin her backpack and almost shoved her out of the back door, closing it behind her.

Once she was outside, Erin saw her bike that had been completely destroyed and scowled to herself. Bloody idiots. Rolling her eyes and pulling up the hood over her head, she started the long walk back home. She kept a hand firmly on the handle of her backpack that had her belongings inside it, just to make sure nobody stole anything. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the rioters around her, screaming at each other and acting more like animals than humans. They reminded her of her parents when they didn't get their own way; they'd destroy everything around them, screaming and swearing at each other until one of them gave up, simply tired themselves out or someone called the cops.

Several hours later, Erin was stumbling along the dark streets, barely able to keep her eyes open and keep moving. She was tired. Tired of running, fighting, screaming… she was tired of everything. She could barely see out of her left eye due to it being swollen up to the size of a golf ball last time she looked in a mirror several hours ago, along with seeing a few cuts along her body.

Turning into her street, she saw Nick Clark sitting outside her home with a worried look on his face. A small smile came onto Erin's lips as she stumbled towards him. "Nick," she almost whispered once she reached him, watching him stand up and hold onto her gently, as if she was made of glass. Before he could ask any questions, she pressed her lips to his quickly then her world went black.

Note

Now that this chapter is complete – I'll probably go to writing each chapter to go with the episodes so it would make more sense. But I hope you guys are enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!

I've decided that this book will be set during season one and I'll write a sequel that will be set during season two – heck; I've even started planning it. And I'll post it as soon as this story is finished.

Until next time;

Lorna.