May

A pre dawn chill hung over the ravaged city. Pieces of damaged buildings were lying in chunks all along the streets, some still smoldering with black smoke. The distant sound of gunfire could be heard echoing throughout the city before it was silenced by a loud thud.

May helped her mother and brother out from the bomb shelter and into what remained of their home. The roof along with the entire second story had been ripped apart all the inside walls had crumbled into dust leaving the house as nothing more than an empty shell.

May entered what was once the kitchen but was now an unrecognizable nightmare. All the food had perished during the bombings. May returned to the living room where she found her brother struggling to comfort their mother.

"What do we do?" Max asked looking over at May. May tried to think but her mind had gone numb as she tried to process the current situation. "I-I…" May's voice trailed off. May knelt down beside her sobbing mother.

"Mom, we need you right now, we need you to be strong." May said softly "I can't…your father…I can't" her mother said between sobs. Outside the sound of engines could be heard followed by the whispers of voices. May rose back to her feet and turned to her brother "Stay here with mom." She said

"Where do you think you're going?" Max asked "Out, I need to know what's going on." Max let go of his mother "But we need to stay together." He insisted. May glanced at her mother then back at Max "I'll be back in a few minutes."

She turned her back to him and left the house.

Outside the stench had evolved into a horrid scent of burnt flesh. Cars had been scorched black, buildings that once stood had now disintegrated into dust. People were beginning to emerge from their bunkers and stood in awe of the destruction.

Some wandered aimlessly around the streets in a zombie like daze. One unfortunate man found his way onto the road and was struck by an emergency response vehicle, splattering him against a nearby street light.

May scanned around thinking about what she should do next; her mother had mentioned her father. "Perhaps he's ok." She thought. His office was only a mile from their home she could walk there in no time.

As the emergency responders whipped the last bit of the man of their windshield May set off towards her father's office.

The guard post that had once stood near her home no longer existed and the guard was nowhere to be found. People along the street paid little attention to her as they were focused on picking up what they could from the debris of their home.

A s she walked down the street a young boy wearing a tattered shirt and shorts with his face patched with black smoke, ran up to her begging for food. When May told him that she had none the boy burst into tears.

She hurried along down the street leaving the boy. She broke out into a sprint, running as quick as she could to reach her father's building. The street leading to her father's building was more heavily damaged than the streets surrounding her neighborhood. Concrete jutted out of the road making it impossible to drive on and just as difficult to run on.

She halted in place when she saw her father's building. It had been a 30 story steel building that towered above any other building in the area. All broadcasts, radio or TV, came from that building. Now before May was a pile of rubble.

May became numb, her legs slipped out from underneath her and she collapsed onto the concrete. "How are we going to survive now?"

She placed a hand on her stomach and felt a grumbling sensation.


I know this chapter is short and I know I haven't uploaded anything since august, and I sincerely apologize. It's been very busy for me, and to be honest I just haven't felt very motivated to write. Though I will try to change that and start uploading chapters more regularly (For Redemption also). Anyways to those of you reading this, thank you.

-AshandMay17