Tristan Harlow:
Sitting in the back of my family's old, light-brown minivan, I stare out toward the endless, empty field of Kansas's countryside. There's something about the beautiful, green grass mixing with the clear, cloudless blue sky that is giving me a sense of bliss.
"Hey, Tristan," my younger brother, Josh, yells. "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing much," I reply, "Just enjoying the scenery."
"Oh, what's so special about grass in an empty field," ask my younger sister, Ruby. "You know you have plenty of grass back home. In both your front and back yard. "
Sighing, I turn my head and look at my parents and siblings. My dad is busy driving while my mom is keeping him company. Josh is back to playing on his phone while Ruby is focused on drawing in her notebook. All the while, I have nothing to do but just look out the window.
"Cheer up son," my dad says from the upfront. "Today is your birthday! You should be happy!"
"I am dad," I say, yawning. "But what I'm not happy about is how early we had to get up. We got up at six in the morning and have been driving non-stop since."
"I'm sorry that your grandparents lived three hours away," my mom says, giggles afterward, "But hey, think about it like this. Once we're at your grandparents' house, in the wide-open countryside, you can do anything and everything you want."
"What I want is to get back to sleep," I whisper to myself.
"Only about one hour left before we arrive," dad yells.
"Swell," I say, putting on a fake smile. "I can't wait."
"Yeah," Ruby laughs, still drawing. "I can't wait to see them."
A little curious to see what my sister is drawing, I lean over and take a peek. It appears to be two skeletons, with hairs and clothes almost identical to grandpa and grandma.
"Well, that's a little creepy," I thought.
Returning to the scenery view, I stare out the window. For a while, everything looks normal. Until the clear, cloudless, blue sky starts to turn black and red almost instantly.
"Hey," my mom says. "What just happened? It was clear a few seconds ago."
Mesmerize by the sudden, odd-looking black sky, our attention is redirected to something else, something appearing in the sky. Looking like some sort of frisbee, it is round and silver and covered by bright white lights on its sides. The silver thing looks as big as two football fields side by side. Out of nowhere, four more 'saucers' appear, all of them looking the same. They are all slowly descending from the black sky."
"What are those," I ask, pressing my face and hands against the windows.
"What," Josh asks, looking away from his game. Bumping me out of the way, he looks out the window.
"What in the world," he says, his wide eyes matching all of ours. All of us watching the saucers, even my dad, see some of the bright white lights come flying off! Flying down, they land all over, some in the empty fields next to us, a few behind us, and a couple right beside us. The balls of bright lights, not much bigger than a basketball, hover for a while before exploding!
The field beside us blowing up, a rain of dirt and pebbles shoot out from the ground and into the sky! The road behind us is covered in fires and potholes! The ones beside us shake the van so bad, it nearly tips over!
"Drive," my mom yells, holding onto her seatbelt.
Without a second to waste, my dad stomps on the gas and launches the van forward. Driving faster than we ever have, my dad is trying to drive fast while dodging the exploding balls of lights! As more and more come flying off the saucers, my mom looks back and tells us to keep our heads down!
"Come on," I scream, grabbing my brother's and sister's heads and pushing down. Covering our ears with our hands, we listen as my dad screams more!
"Come on," he starts, swerving right and left. "Come on! Come on!"
Lifting my head for a second to look out the window, I see more flying saucers appear, their lights flying off and heading right for us! Soon, they almost become impossible to dodge! As my dad takes a sharp right, the rubbers burning off our tires, I see something not too far away.
"Dad," I scream, grabbing the corners of the seats and pulling myself up. "Mom! Look over there!"
Pointing to what looks like a small farmhouse only a few miles further up the road, my dad straightens the van and heads right for it. Still dodging the lights, I grab Josh and Ruby and pull them up.
"Look," I cry, pointing at the farmhouse. "Help! We can get help here! Help!"
Feeling a burst of joy after what seems like an eternity, we finally reach the farmhouse.
"Oh my god," my mom says as we pull up to the farmhouse.
The farmhouse is destroyed. Both the giant, red barn, and the house next to it we didn't see before are destroyed. All that remains are piles of simmering, black pieces of wood. What is worse than the burnt buildings are the two burnt corpses.
Laying on the ground, not too far from us, are two burnt corpses. Red and still sizzling, both of the bodies look as if they are trying to crawl away, one hand far out in front and the other near the head, one leg bends while the other behind.
Sickening by it all, feeling like I am going to throw up, I look at my family. Josh is covering his eyes. Ruby is crying. My mom is hyperventilating. My dad's hands drop to his sides. While looking at the burnt people, we forget about the flying saucers and their lights. Before we can do anything, the bright lights surround us, exploding seconds later.
As we soon started to call them, the chimeras came too fast, too unexpected, and too strong. Barely having time for a counterattack, their attacks spread all over the Earth. Appearing all over, some in cities, some in the counties, and a few even in the middle of the ocean, they move fast and within only a few months, entire nations are reduced to nothing more than burning trash. The chimeras' invasion was fierce. With their spacecraft and advanced weapons, no military in the world stood a chance. Hardly any rest or supply, soldiers were slaughtered like pigs, and very soon, the air itself became a weapon. The chimeras' spacecraft leaking some sort of poison into the air, the people and even the animals that breathe it in were horribly mutated, turning into monsters that attack anything and everything they see. What few of us survived both the invasion and the poisonous air had no other choice but to flee into underground bunkers. Located in onl
Tristan Harlow: Shaking my blood from my hand, I look at Rebecca. "Deals like the one I've just offered you are about as rare as an apple these days," Rebecca says, letting down her fist. "Come on, drifter. You're planning to get out of here soon, right? Well, can't you use one last payday before you go? One massive payday? With all the ration cards you got coming, you can buy whatever the hell you'll need and want; foods, water, gas filters, bullets, new guns. The list goes on and on." "A lot like this," I say, crossing my arms. "Fine! I'll go on your damn suicide mission! A smile growing across Rebecca's face, she nudges her head and begins walking. Following behind her, she fills me in on some missing details. "The warehouse is in Zone 10, so we'll have to go through a few checkpoints to reach it. Still got that fake ID I got you on day one?" "Right here," I reply, pulling the ID from my pocket. "Tristan Harlow, res
Tristan:Falling on something cold, wet, and slimey, I can't see anything past the dark sewer water as it begins to carry me away! Lunging at anything I could, I manage to grab something within reach and use it to pull myself up!Coughing into my hand, I wipe my eyes before looking around. Luckily, the rushing water didn't carry me far, only about six feet from where Rebecca is."You okay drifter," she yells from all the way up there."Fine," I yell back, wiping away some more water. "Just fine! Should've just left when I had the chance."Finding some better footing, I climb my way back up and to Rebecca."You stink of dog water," Rebecca jokes when I finally reach her."Yeah fuck you too. Just get inside before I go back for a swim."Climbing into the narrow sewer line, we once again crouch walk for a while, my legs growing tired with each step until finally, Rebecca stops and points upward. Looking up, I see
Tristan: "Fuck you," I say after the same rebel that saved me from Rex pushes me into a small, black room. The rusty metal door closing and locking behind me, I look around for a little bit. "This is an empty room," I say, seeing only four stone walls and a small ass chair under a hanging light. Shaking my head, I turn around and start banging my fists against the door. "Hey," I scream, "Hey! What the hell am I doing here! Why am I even here! Let me out! Let me out now!" Switching from banging with my fists to kicking, I stomp my whole foot against the door. "Let me out," I yell over and over. "Let me out of here now!" Stomping on it for what felt like the hundredth time, it opens suddenly, and before I can do anything, someone hit me with something. Screaming and falling back, I look up to see a tall man with dirty-yellow hair and a yellow and red jacket on. Beside him are two others rebels, all three of them armed wi
Tristan: "You have to be fucking kidding me," I say, staring at the little kid. "Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you? You want us to escort some little brat to the next state over? No! Fuck that." "Hey screw you," the kid yells. "And by the way, I don't want to go with either of you two. I'm staying here with Martin." "Bailey," Martin says, turning and getting on a knee. "We talked about this. You need to go with these two. Being with me, with any Rebels, is too dangerous nowadays. The military is hunting us down. We lost two bases in the last months and far too many friends and families. That is why I have hired these two. They are the best at surviving on the outside." Bailey: I look at the two, the two "best at surviving on the outside".
Tristan: The outside is the same as I remember it. The sky is dark-red, with massive black clouds. Hiding behind the clouds is the sun, though it's hardly much more than just a pale yellow circle. Looking around, I see nothing more than miles and miles of a barren wasteland, litter with signs of what the planet used to be like. There are rusted cars everywhere, anything even remotely useful taken long ago. Fallen logs and twigs cover most of the bare dirt. The roads themselves can hardly be called roads anymore such most of them are gone, leaving giant gaps. "This is the outside," the package asks, shielding her eyes as she looks at the sky. "Where's the sun?" "It's behind the clouds of poison," I say, pulling Rebecca up and out before putting the sewer cover back.
Tristan Fenway Park is a massive stadium, a combination of old-fashioned brick walls with rusted, green beams. As Rebecca, the package, and I make our way toward the entrance, I can't help but notice all the abandoned military vehicles and knocked-over fences everywhere. "You said this was a shelter before," the package asks, examining a run-down, rusted military truck. The wheels are flat and decay, the windows are all broken and shattered, and the tarp that covered the back is ripped and torn. "Yeah," Rebecca replies. "The first few years when the chimera invasion started, the military told us to gather here. We grabbed whatever we could and carried it here." Stepping over a metal fence, we reach the entrance and walk past some booths. Careful not to make too much noise as we walk through a maze of long, dark, empty hallways, Rebecca and my lighter being our only guide, we eventually reach the seating area, and beyond that, the fiel
Tristan: "Come on," I cry, shaking my gun all over and firing. "Come on. Come on!" Shooting another bullet, this bullet hit the infected woman in the back, stunning her and giving me the opportunity I need. Pushing the infected off of me, I shoot it in the head, killing it, before facing the hoard. "Damn it!" I slam my free hand on the bottom of my pistol and start firing every bullet I have left in this pistol into the hoard. Killing a bunch of the infected and hurting a few more, I stop when I start to hear clicking sounds instead of gunfire. "Empty." Despite all the infected I killed, there are still too many to fight head-on. Tossing my gun and hitting an infected right in the head, I then turn around and start to run again. Running through the maze of tents, picking whichever direction I think is best, I finally reach what looks like the spot where I split from Rebecca and Bailey. "Home base," I tell mysel