Chapter One
The night falls once again, darkening the ruined world. I make my way down a path worn by the countless footsteps I've taken, searching for anything, anything living, any survivors. But I never find anything, and I always have to come back to the place I wish I could avoid. What the dark distorts to look like a tower of dark limbs looms in front of me, a soft orange glow coming from the center. I slide through a small, makeshift gap at the bottom, and walk over to the campfire, where she sits, waiting.
She's always staring at that photograph. Hoping that somehow it will bring them back to her. But it will never happen, they are gone for good. They made sure of that. I walk around and look at the photo, even though I've looked at it so many timed I have in burned into my mind now. It's a black and white photograph, taken with an antique camera. They always loved old fashioned things, that's why they lived in such an old house.
Anyway, the photograph shows a family.
A smiling, happy family.
A family that used to be.
A very young girl is being held in her father's strong arms. She's laughing and smiling. In real life, her hair was bright red, like fire. Read like her innocent blood, spilled in an apocalypse that should not have begun. Her father has curly, black hair, and is smiling. Everyone in the picture smiles, because they were happy then. They smiled before it all went wrong. There's a woman standing next to him, her blood red hair pulled into an elegant bun, her hand on the shoulder of the girl in front of her.
Her daughter.
My sister.
Star.
That picture is of my family, it is a window looking to the life I used to live, the life I wish with all my heart I could go back to. But I can't. I'm trapped. And I can't escape.
The two girls in the front of the picture are happy. They're smiling, they're lives are full of joy, and their families are right there with them. It's stupid to envy a photograph, but everything in there is so perfect, they never have to worry about anything.
It was that event that changed it all, that swept my life and family away in the blink of an eye.
All of it started with an explosion. The science facility had been experimenting on dangerous and unstable metals, and they exploded. It was a huge explosion, and covered most of Sunset Valley. But it started a chain reaction as well. Every single machine, every single metal or stone on the planet exploded with just as much force. But that wasn't the end. Everyone began a mad dash for anywhere safe. But there wasn't enough room in the shelters for everyone, and people began to hurt others to get where they wanted. But eventually it went past kill. It became murder, no one cared what they did, as long as they themselves survived.
Our house was on the outskirts of Sunset Valley. It hadn't been obliterated yet, but flames rapidly tore through it, so my father told us to hide in our basement. Star tripped, and I fell back to help her up. By the time we got back up, our parents and sister were already in the basement. But then it hit me.
Our gem collection.
They were standing right next to it.
And soon they would blow up and kill our family.
I ran to help them, to warn them, but they had already realized. They tried to run, but it had already started. My mother screamed one word at us, RUN!, and my young sister, her blue eyes wide with horror, reached out to us, and then it all ended...
I grabbed my sister's hand and ran away from the explosion, not giving my mind time to register what had happened. We ran, never stopping, until the metal frame of a house, the wood from it long gone, lost to the fires, crashed down around us. We sat there, surrounded by metal, safe from the fires, and the explosions. And then we truly realized that our parents were dead, our sister was gone, and they would never come back. And we cried, lost to a world of pain and sadness.
I don't know how much time we spent crying, screaming for our family, until we finally dried our faces and looked outside.
The apocalypse was over. And we were the only survivors.
We found stair leading to the small basement of whatever family had owned this house. The explosion had still damaged it, and it was in danger of caving in, but we found bags of canned food, and a lighter. We carried the things out of the basement, and decided to stay in the metal heap, searching for survivors during the day.
Looking back, I find it strange that my life could be blown to pieces in just a couple hours. But it's happened, and, despite my sadness, I can't undo it.
Star is still staring at the photo, so I tap on her shoulder to get her back into reality
She turns around, her eyes misty and sad. "What is it, Faith?"
I had been debating my idea for a while. But now I've come to a conclusion. "We have to leave."
She blinks once at me. "Why?"
"I just have to leave. I don't want to be so close to the place where our family-" I break off, and look down at the ash covered ground. We had decided long ago to only talk about that wherever we really needed to.
She sighs, and gets to her feet. "Okay, you win. Where do we go?"
I've already decided that. "Riverview."
She nods wordlessly, and picks up the bags with our food in them. Star slings the strap around her shoulder, and watches silently as I kick ash into the fire until it was gone. We grasp each other's hands, and I focus as hard as I can on emptying my mind of all emotion, and concentrating on one thought.
Riverview... Riverview... Riverview...
There's a flash of light, a feeling of complete peace I know will not last, and then everything around us is gone...
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Chapter Notes:
* Guh. I'll probably regret starting this story later, but whatever. -.-''
* This story was inspired by the TS3 Apocalypse challenge, as you've probably guessed.
* The thing they're doing at the end is Zeneportation.
* I know children can't do that in game, but whatever.
* I'll post pictures of the characters in a little bit.
* Please excuse the lack of chapter notes, but it's midnight where I am.
* Tell me what you think of this chapter! Pwease? :3
