Chapter 2 - MORE Prologue

Italics - inner thoughts

*insert sound effect here* - *sounds*

Bold - EMPHASIS

Underline - Author's Note

After I finally finished my quick morning shower, I took care of my hygiene; brushing my teeth, spraying some deodorant on my arm pits, it stings a little too, and combing my hair, although that didn't really do much, it's still all curly-fluffy-like. Just the way I like it. Anyway, today is another day at the job, which, by the way, really sucks. But everyone's got to start somewhere, they say that 'the greatest come from the humblest beginnings!'… Pfft yeah right, only about less than one percent do, you can't just generalize one case and apply it to all the others, that's just wrong AND stupid. Every person is a different person whom come from different lives and circumstances, and that's not even the full "equation" of life if you could call it that. Damn, I remember being a kid was so fun and easy; little to no homework, television all day long, goofing around with classmates, playing video games all day long. But now that time is gone, and life goes on baby. And today I will start my epic journey! To another place! At a different time! To meet new people!

…

THE GAS STATION!

…

I begin to mentally prepare myself for another boring, exhausting, depressive day at Dayle's. The company I work at is a fresh one out of the gutter. They were lucky enough to not get completely fucked by the big players in the industry, I mean REALLY lucky. I'd say that as a company they're a little above average, the payment is decent at best and the managers are friendly enough to get around, as long as you don't arrive late to work, I learned that one the hard way two months ago, yikes.

However, there was tiny tipsy little flaw with the company, the customers.

Some people are nice and polite, some are motherfuckers I wish would get a stick shoved up their ass so far it would reach their brain and give them a big reality check, because some of those entitled cunts remind me of why I'm so fucking lonely. People are just too hard to deal with, maybe it's because I'm borderline autistic or maybe it's because my luck when it comes to socializing isn't the best(neither are my skills), but who knows. I'm stirring off topic, back to the present.

I pull my phone out of the charger I connected it to the night before, pleased to see that satisfying green number of 100% at the top right corner of the screen, even though I could just let it sit in the sun like a cracked egg on a side walk in Australia and charge it up thanks to the cellphone being powered by an almost unnoticeable solar panel on the back which would take around an hour of constant light being shone on the solar pannel, charging it manually is still much faster. Of course, I also take my keys, wallet, and wired earplugs with me before I take my leave, logically, but I still feel like I forgot something...

Ah! Of course! My laser gun.

Yes, LASER GUN.

It's part of the job at the gas station. I'm working as a clerk, but ALSO as a security guard, yay. The company claims it's, and I quote: "cost efficient to have one person do both jobs at the same time". Not that I disagree on the matter, it's just that I don't think I should wield a gun, with my "problems" and such. But it's fine I won't shoot any civilian pinky promise! Only bad guys haha, yeah.

Ah, the laser gun. Who knew that in less than a decade we would have a fucking, again, SOLAR POWERED guns to fuck around with. Some Smith dude from London invented the mechanism around 5 years ago and they've been hot as hell on the market, literally too. The variant's name is actually the "L-221". It's basically an M1911, but with fucking laser powered shots from the fucking SUN, thanks for the energy sun! The only downsides to laser powered weapons is that if you ran out of ammo, you're fucked. It takes around thirty minutes to recharge, which is more than enough time for some punk to fuck you up if you're not careful with them, not to even mention the idiots that actually burned themselves with those weapons. I still find it very funny. The L-221 consists of a "magazine", if you could call it, which has 57 rounds you can fire with, iron sights as expected of an unmodified weapon and the best part? It's almost completely silent. So yeah, the future really is now. But no flying cars though, there's really no reason to create those, like self-opening bags, just do it yourself ya lazy bum, and I know because I am lazy too, sometimes. Now, I could bore you with the whole mechanism of it, but to be honest even I don't know how the fuck they actuallt work, all I know is that sun powers gun, gun has infinite rechargable ammo, gun vert strong, oh da, veyr fucking excellent weapon, fuck yeah! Efficiency!

After I finish preparing myself for the day ahead, I take on last good look at myself in the mirror and mentally sigh.

"Another day, another ten cents", I cynically think to myself. Again, the job pays well, but it's still exhausting to work 10 hours every day, excluding Saturday; on that day I spend quality time with my uncle, laughing our asses of at the hypocrisy of many political debates being broadcasted live, drinking beer and preparing my return to work when Sunday arrives. I can't wait till it's Saturday again, something to look forward to that's for sure.

I open the door to our home and lock it behind me, making sure to double check that it's definitely locked. After I do that, it is time to get in my car (which my uncle generously gifted to me since it was very old, from the 2010's kind of old) and drive off to work. Simple enough.

On the way to work I simply ignore the surroundings, having seen them a thousand times already. We live in a stereotypical suburban neighborhood; nice people, nice houses, nice weather, nice cars; just nice all around. In the distance you can see the towering skyscrapers of the big city, a plane flying high in the clear clean sky, it's so nice living in the suburban area, WAY less air pollution, not that it really affects the planet anymore as it did back in the early 2000's, and even if it was that bad, the planet couldn't give two shits about 2 legged-standing-up-right-furless-highly-intellectual creatures that burn shit in order to make power that burns more shit. We are but a spec for Earth, time is a concept invented by us humans and I almost ran a red light, man I gotta stop zoning out all the time, especially on the road since it'd be a shame to get arrested and jailed big time for running over some old lady, no thank you sir.

I continue driving on the road, making the needed turns to get to work. Nothing exciting really, just another regular day in my life, and I like it that way; simple, safe, and productive. Yaaaay.

As I pull up to the parking lot near the gas station, I see my favorite employee of the month, and the ONLY employee that works in this respectful establishment, Danny.

Danny is just like me, nice dude, skinny, clam and relaxed, only without the misery and dark tendencies I have from time to time, those include some really fucked up thoughts about suicide and "other" stuff, but I REFUSE to commit them, because I'm a man who chooses as he pleases, and I don't actually want to die, the darkness is pretty fucking scary.

As I get out of my car and walk towards the door, I see Danny waving at me through the front window, definitely happy to see me come to replace him at the counter, poor guy deserves a rest that's for sure. And as I walk into the store itself, it makes a ding sound and he greets me with "Ayy! Wassup man? How you been doin'?". Did I mention Danny is also black? No, I did not. That's because it doesn't matter, I still respect him as any normal fellow co-worker would, but it could get funny sometimes if we're cracking jokes about races and such, because I believe in equality between all races, genders, and religions; everyone gets made fun of, equally. That, is the power of comedy, bloody beautiful if you ask me.

"Hey man. Not much been going on, though I'm glad to see your ugly mug here. You know where's Ricky by any chance?", I reply to him. He chuckles at my subtle comment and quickly replies, "No man, I heard that nigga got the Spanish Flu a few days ago, so now we got some one who's supposed to come over right now to replace Ricky until he gets better". "Alright man thanks, take care now". I answer him, waving him goodbye as he walks out of the gas station.

I crack my knuckles as I sit at the register, taking a deep breath as a prepare myself one final time for whatever this day will throw at me, because no matter what it is, I'm sure I can deal with it.

…

…

…

Fifteen minutes have passed by and nobody has come into the store. Well might as well turn on the television beside me, I know it sounds incompetent but if someone wants to buy something I'll notice them when they come up to the counter, and if they try to steal something there are cameras at every dusty little corner in this place, so I wish good luck for them if they try that.

I lean my head on my right hand as I turn on the "box" television (the one that looks like a fucking box, no shit sherlock) with my left hand, switching between all the different channels in order to find something "entertaining" to say the least.

"…everything is absolute trash, man fuck television I'll just listen to music…"

I flick one of the switches on the side of the television and it turns into some generic pop-cultural music about being sad and depressed and wanting some love, ha almost relatable, almost.

And so my day goes on, customers come and go, some are nice, some are mean, but it's alright. Just got to close my heart and their words won't hurt me. Funny story, it took me almost a full fucking decade to learn how to do that, thanks to years of being bullied and castrated from any group of anyone would call "friends" , hell even the geeks told me to fuck off, politely of course. And I'm glad they did so, because it made me a stronger man, mentally speaking, words can't hurt me ha ha! I'm far more toxic than Chernobyl when I go full on "rant-mode" , but I can still hold my tongue when I must. I have to thank my parents for raising me to be a good boy, and my uncle of course, can't forget to give him some credit.

I look at the clock above the glass double doors which is the way I got into this place in the first place, who would have guessed! "Hmm... 5:57 PM. That guy who's supposed to replace Ricky didn't even contact as at all, weird." I proceed to turn off the television but accidentally switch it back to the main channels. "I'm so stupid how did I forget which switch is which, man it's like forgetting which switch turns on and off the light at your house; pretty fucking dumb.".

Before I have the time to completely turn it off, something interesting actually comes up on the news for once.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name's Harry and with me is Sarah reporting on live information coming up right now. The tensions between China, Russia, and the United States of America are at their peak, with unclarified intentions from every representative at the current negotiation that is happening right now in the White House. Wait, why in the White House aren't they supposed to do that in a Conference?", "Well, I don't know about that Harry but right now I'm being informed that there is a commotion in the meeting room…and there seems to be some sort of…", the lady then puts her index and middle finger to her earpiece to listen better to the other end of the line, "wait… what do you?... wha-… oh god… o-oh god…", "Sarah is everything okay? What are they saying?" Harry asks with a raising feeling of dread. "I've j-just been informed that all t-the representatives have been shot dea- ", suddenly the television cuts to static. "Wait what the fuck? Is this some sort of joke?" I say out loudly, playing with the switches and buttons, trying to make it do something, but it's still nothing but static. "Okay this is getting really weird, what in the hell is up with them?". Just then, it turns back on and there's an emergency broadcast repeating itself across all channels. "Attention all citizens of the Uni- *static* Ameri- *static*, you must seek shelter immedi- * static* there has been a- *static* and launched over nine hundre- *more static* nuclear warhe- *even more static*".

The television goes completely black. Now I'm very fucking scared. "What the fuck is going on!? Why the hell is going on with the radio signals and shit? Is this some sort of Martial Law scenario?". I decide to walk out of the gas station to see what's going on while pulling out my cellphone and dialing my uncle's number.

…

He isn't answering. That's not good, because he always answers his phone calls, even if he's using the restroom or at work.

I look around to see people looking just as if not even more confused than I am. Some are frantically running around, and others are trying to figure out what the hell is happening at the moment.

I quickly jog to my car holding my backpack in one hand the keys in the other, opening the door and getting in while throwing my bag on the passenger's sit. Then hazardously driving off back home, almost hitting a pedestrian on the way out of the parking lot.

As I'm driving as fast as I legally can, I try to call Jake again, but to no avail. I also try to turn on the radio, but that only spurts more static noise. "This isn't right, nothing is right! What the actual fuck even is this day!? There's no service, no connection to any channels or radio signals and NO FUCKING TRAFFIC LIGHTS?!", in addition to the two first abnormalities I quickly realize I'm subconsciously dodging cars left and right like I'm playing Grand Theft Auto V on one of Lester's heist missions, miraculously I manage to evade about six cars before I finally reach the safety of my home.

I quickly get out of the car, not bothering to turn off the engine or even lock the car. I take out my bag from the passenger side and hastily walk to the front porch of the house, bringing my keys up to the door in order to open it-

*BOOM*

That sound makes my ears increasingly ring louder and louder. Quickly followed by a shockwave that knocks me down to the ground. I hold my head in pain trying to speak out loud, but I can't hear myself at all. Finally, after a few seconds of that maddening ringing I hear everything normally again.

People are screaming.

The windows of the all the houses and cars are completely broken.

The sky is reddening.

And there's a large mushroom cloud where the city used to be.

"WAIT WHAT THE FUCK?!"

I struggle getting up from the shockwave but thanks to the adrenaline it subsides the pain in my side from my sudden fall. I just realize what happened. The confusion on the news channel, the severed connection, the emergency broadcast, the explosion, the shockwave, the big ass fucking mushroom cloud in the sky. It all makes sense.

Nuclear war.

I have so many fucking questions right now, but I have to stay calm, yes CALM even if the world will soon look like some wicked version of Fallout or even worse. First I must find my uncle, my homeboy Danny, and other people I may be able to contact. Then I must loot as much shit as I can before anyone else, hoping to find mainly food, water, medicine, filters, solar panels, building materials, invent a new currency based of electronic parts and- "wait, I'm in the blast radius".

And here goes my flawless mastermind plan.

I just now realize I'm going to fucking die, and I don't want to die. I begin to silently cry, the tears forming in my eyes slowly sliding down my face, leaving a teasing feeling on my cheeks. I didn't even get to say goodbye to Uncle, or Danny, or even Ricky who's going to die while already being sick with The Flu. I didn't even get to work my dream job as a game developer, I didn't get to do so many fucking things in my life, it's too soon god, but you don't care do you? Of course you don't, how could you? Creating a specie of your own reflection and then burning it away like a coverless book.

I fall onto my knees, weeping quietly while I await my death. You know what's scarier than knowing you'll die one day? Knowing that you're going to die NOW. It's not fair. I didn't even ask for much in life, I was satisfied with myself so far, so why must I die now? "And why the fuck am I asking myself all those dumb fucking questions?". It doesn't matter, they don't matter, nothing matters. I can see the fire wave just beyond the horizon, consuming every living being and structure standing in its way.

I weakly smile at the sight, I've always joked about death but when it's right in front of me with no way to escape it, I collapse and wait for it to take me. At least I'll see my family again, hopefully, with Jake too. I really miss them, I guess you can look at this positively too, no more pain, no more worry, either a light, a fire, or simply nothing at all, and funnily enough they are all options I'd consider to be acceptable.

The fire is just about to reach me. I tightly hold my bag close to me, although there isn't really a point, all my stuff is going to burn with me anyway. The snacks were good though, I'm kinda sad I ate them all in my shift, they were just too good to leave for later because then they'd become all soggy and tasteless.

I still don't wanna die, but there's nothing I can do but watch as my world burns to ashes and everything around me dies, and soon I'll join them too. All this time I've zoned out the terrible screams and scenes all around me with people panickinig like they've got Rabies while others are just like me, accepting the painful truth. Good for them.

As the fire is about to reach me, I see a light becoming brighter and brighter the closer the blast wave gets to me, it's probably just some weird optical illusion from the blast itself. And as I close my eyes, my last thoughts are about what if the car crash didn't take place? What if they were all still alive? Damn, I really miss my little sister, I do hope she's in a better place, if there is one.

Maybe there's a god out there, maybe there is none, perhaps even aliens exist and there are infinite universes out there, one of them being an identical to this one without this bloody catastrophe ever happening. Maybe it's nothing but fiction. God knows. I don't.

…

…

Farewell, cruel world

…

…

. . .

Author's Note:

So guys, what did you think of my second chapter?

Again, this is the story I'v ever written.

I'll try to begin building up some of the lore in the MGE universe and even add more "emotion" to the story when characters interact with each other and also when the protagonist does some cool shit.

I'd love to receive any CONSTRUCTIVE feedback from you, and not just "uGh tHiS iS so fReAKinG gAy dUdE" or some dumb shit like that, feel free to write your opinion, I just won't read the idiotic and painfully obvious trolly ones.

Hope you enjoyed reading it so far!

Yours truly,

-FHM