Prologue
He ran non stop, breathing heavily, not looking back. He couldn't bare to, SOMETHING was chasing him and though he didn't know what it was, he didn't care it WAS coming for him; terrible scratching and a clawing sound so loud, but it was almost as if it was coming from inside his chest His lungs burned, but he couldn't stop so he ran down the dark corridor, taking a left, he was now in a jungle face to face with a large mass dark as midnight. A panther, as they stared into each others souls, their deepest secrets, suddenly the panther let out a terrible roar that echoed through the jungle...
CHAPTER.1
6/14/18 8:44 pm
Ethan awoke with a start, his vision being blinded momentarily from quick movement, nightmares like this seemed to happen more often than usual, standing up he began to move towards the door; knocking aside everything in the path making a horribly loud smashing commotion, crashing, and bashing noises, like a trainwreck orchestra on their debut, but he didn’t care. He could tell something was wrong, he couldn’t explain it, but he then heard great loud whooshing sounds and a great horrible crackling in the hall outside his little hotel; that him and his friends were using for the night. They’d scavenged through many houses before they found enough food to feed the 30 people they had now. Reaching for the doorknob he stopped, it was hot, he moved his hand to the door it was quite warm as well.
"Maybe I’m still sleeping" Ethan said to himself, his longish black hair whipping through his face
He opened the door and all hell broke loose: ash, smoke, and fire flooded into the room, coughing violently he fell. Quickly he took ahold of the only fireproof blanket the entire group had, and bolted through the door and into the inferno to look for his friends or anyone left alive.
Turning left he came upon a barricade blocking his path. Like lightning he spun around and ran back across the intersection of hallways, he saw a few of his friends trapped by the blaze. Ethan ran toward them when the roof collapsed and blocked him from them, exhausted, maybe he was just oxygen starved but he thought a figure looking at him across the wreckage when he blacked out on the floor.
Ethan passed between consciousness and sleep for what felt like hours he was found by an unknown person, but he was glad to be out of there especially before...they showed up. Attracted by light and and loud noises it would only take a few minutes for them to appear like a ghost. Their ugly and disease ridden bodies, flesh torn faces, and they're mindless drooling and limping. With just a hunger..a burning, endless, and unrelenting need for flesh, torn, ripped, bloody, shredded flesh and they knew just where to get it..

Chp.2
6/15/18 12:42 am
Jumping up, covered in sweat, Ethan noticed he was in a hospital room, he almost thought he was dreaming, but he soon realized that this was no dream the walls were covered in what looked like premature mold and the sheets over him were nothing more than old newspaper. He was not alone, looking around he saw a whole lot of people staring at him, mouth gaping like he’d just died and came back. Then a series of questions and stories broke out, like a frenzy to see whose voice would reach his ears first, then without warning a loud yell made the room go silent once more.
"Scelia." he muttered. She was the prettiest, loudest, and most worrisome girl he'd ever met, even before the collapse. Usually she had a t-shirt and jeans on and sometimes she let her hair hang down to her shoulders, and he loved it when she did that it made his heart swell up. She rarely acted like a girl much anymore, but she had her moments.
"I thought you were dead" she said loudly, a tear slipping down her cheek.
"She doesn’t seem happy to see you." someone whispered behind him a firmly placed hand now rested on his shoulder.
She stormed towards the door, when she stopped and yelled
"EVERYONE OUT!" her voice quivered, The room quickly cleared including Scelia though she a little faster than the rest, clearly upset so no one dared bother her now.
“What was that all about?” Ethan said aloud
Suddenly, a small figure appeared next to him, making him jolt into a fighting position as best he could. When he realized it was Ralph he relaxed, Ralph was a rather short boy or shorter than most his age -around fourteen that is- with large round glasses and short choppy hair from a rusty pair of scissors the group found a while back. He also always wore the same pair of dirty navy corduroy overalls, though he rarely wore shoes because he was a strategist not a fighter and their agreement worked well. He wasn’t asked to fight and they weren’t asked to read books or plan, that was his job and he loved to do it, he always sat in a folded position with a book, magazine, or map of some kind thrust firmly into his face.
“Hey Ethan, what happened to you in there?” Ralph asked.
“I could ask you the same question.”
“Well, I was trapped in the flames with Steve, John, and Angie when the fire broke out.”
Ethan looked at him quizzically, “Wait, then how’d you get out?”
“ This guy Aaron; he put out the flames and pointed us to the door then kept going, he was awesome we would’ve died had it not been for him, us and half of the crew” Ralph answered truthfully.
“What about the other half?”
Ralph gave Ethan a grim look and shook his head
“Well still could you remind me to thank him when I get the chance?” Ethan said.
Ethan then proceeded to tell Ralph the story to where remembered, then he began to fall asleep so Ralph left him to recover in peace.
Chp. 3
6/14/18 8:32 pm
There are a group of men outside an old hotel building, they’re arguing over a decision, one has a torch the other is yelling at him,
“You can’t just do this!” said a man clad in dirty clothes.
“They’ve been stealing food from here for weeks!” said the other obviously the leader, wearing a steel studded leather jacket and jeans that looked far too tight to be on a man, holding an old torch
“GODDAMN IT MAX, THEY’RE JUST KIDS!” the dirty man yelled.
“Then its better they die this way!” the leader could see his men wavering he feared they’d change their minds soon.
“This is so wrong!”
The leader took this last opportunity to change his mind, and sent it up in flames
“I’m sorry about this Aaron, I really am.” then the man threw the torch into the building. Within seconds the room began to catch fire and soon the entire building was alight, pouring out flames and smoke, like a dragon coiling it’s wicked tail of ash and dust onward into the the moonlit night, looking like something straight out of Dante’s Inferno. Finally Steve decided that was enough quickly he grabbed the nearest object-a car door that is- and slams it into Max and knocks him out,
“CARRY HIM OUTTA HERE!!” Aaron yelled, the rest of the men grabbed their unconscious leader and carried him away, still holding onto the car door Aaron slammed into the closest entrance to the building, he dropped the car door and ran inside. Then seeing a group three trapped by the blaze, he then slid a fire extinguisher down the hallway and put a bullet in it-from his chrome desert eagle he found in a soldier only a few hours before- quickly he put the gun back in his holster and ran after them.
“Thank God that worked.” one kid said. Aaron noticed how different they were, one was short and fatter than the rest with an almost ratty look, one was spindly and thin like a basketball player, and the third was a girl of average weight and size but she was quite pretty or must be to someone her age.
“Hurry up and go outside!” he commanded them
“There are more down that way!” the ratty one bellowed choking on the ash and smoke. Aaron took off down the hallway as often as he saw anyone and helped if he could this was his fault he didn’t stop. Max when he had the chance and he would make up for it, or die trying. he was headed for the door thinking he’d gotten everyone possible when he saw a shadow move, turning on his heels he nearly jumped, straight in front of him he saw a cloaked figure just standing there like a statue for a moment.
Aaron almost believed that satan himself had come to claim him when the support between them collapsed, sending a new wave of smoke and sparks to lick at his face like a hungry demon, once the dust settled, he again he saw the figure but this time a pale white arm covered his view, suddenly the figure collapsed. he decided that if this was his time let him try to save the cloaked figure at least, climbing between the fallen supports and ducking under caved ceiling pieces, Aaron finally reached him, a closer look revealed a silvery cloth around him.
“Fireproof?” he said aloud, though the young pale boy inside had not moved and Aaron didn’t think he would if he left the child here much longer. So, wrapping up the -surprisingly light- boy he ran for the nearest exit-a window- and as the fire to his back erupted he jumped hoping to land on something soft- but two year old trash would have to do-he landed with a thump and hurriedly carried the young one to the others who all carried him on their shoulders. Aaron thought this odd until he realized that this must be their leader, thats why he had the fireproof tarp, and he’d saved him, hopefully they would forgive him for his wrong choices and let him stay with them.
for the moment anyway.
Chp.4
6/17/18 1:36 pm
Ethan could hear faint voices near his bed, they were quiet and whispered
“What are we gonna do he’s been sleeping for 2 days?” one said
“What are you saying?” said the other
“Maybe we should just put him out of his misery I’d imagine he’s in a lot of pain”
“No!” the second said, hushed as best as possible “think about what you’re saying!”
“I am! We can’t keep holding our weight and his!” the first said honestly
“We can’t just kill him, he’s our leader”
“Well , Scelia seems to be handling things pretty well”
“They’re in love, what’ll stop her from killing or worse exiling you once she found out it was you?” the second said.
He knew there were three but the third wasn’t talking at all, Ethan wondered what the third thought when suddenly a much deeper than he thought possible said.
“I think you two should shut it, one because it’s not your call to make, two he’s awake.”
Looking up at them he saw that one was Billy an ugly creep who’s been pushing to get rid of people for weeks, then he saw Erik not exactly a ladies man but that doesn’t stop him from trying to “woo” any girl that’ll go anywhere near him, the two of them jumped and suddenly looked very frail compared to the angry Ethan now bearing down on them.
“You two OUT, NOW!” Ethan bellowed at them, “you” he pointed at the burly teenage - very native american looking guy Ethan thought “did you just say that because you knew i was awake?” the deep voiced teen simply walked towards the door, opened it and said,
“I guess we’ll never know” closing the door behind him.
Left by himself Ethan felt very alone, “who can i trust” he thought, “who’s not gonna kick me the second i’m down?” his mind then wandered and he fell into a depressed trance
Walking up the stairs Ethan could hear an alarming number of people yelling that he was gone but no he would not be wavered, he just kept walking until he reached the roof, seeing the autumn sky and smelling the trees and the world around was the best experience Ethan ever felt since DayZ -day zero or day zombie whichever is prefered- since then all has been evil, running, and anger.
As Ethan took a step onto the parapet he felt the cool breeze blow through his hair, he took another step he could feel the urge to jump rising in himself like a thousand tiny voices screaming
“JUMP!” but in fact there was another voice screaming for him not to, except this one was a little louder and he recognized the voice but he couldn’t place it, it was there in the back of his mind or maybe it was behind him, suddenly Ethan heard screaming and fighting noises and thought they had seen a rabid dog something of the caliber but no he was wrong
...dead wrong...
Chp.5
6/17/18 5:46 pm
“So much blood!” Ethan sounding like a scared child ”how can there be this much blood?”
“I don’t know!” Aaron said, being the only one with any kind of cpr training, therefore he was the closest fit for the job on such short notice.
“Well what can we do!?” Ethan was becoming psychotic “she can’t die!”
“I’m doing everything i can!” Aaron yelled, he again tried to focus, Aaron understood Ethans view but if this kid kept yelling in his ear she was gonna die.
“That’s not good enough!” he screamed at Aaron tears now streaming down his face. Aaron looked at the two guards standing by the door and motioned for them to grab him, they walked towards him but he didn’t want to leave, he was going to fight back she was his and he would fight for her even if it was a lost cause
“NO” he grunted sliding one of the guards across the blood spattered floor “You’re not taking her from me!” at this moment of anger, fury, and fear Ethan didn’t see two guards who were looking out for him, he saw two evil demons trying to take him away from her, he would not have it.
“Never!” Ethan lurched at one and the guard was stronger-than he had anticipated- and caught him and squeezed him like a bear, the other butted him with a bedpan and Ethan went limp, the stronger of the two grabbed Ethan’s arms and legs and threw him over his shoulders and carried him out.
“She’s breathing, but just” Aaron said to himself realizing that all three were gone, “hey, when he wakes up tell to get in here as fast as possible, I don’t know how long she’ll last” Aaron grabbed her arm to feel her pulse and then began to put shackles-that someone in an insane asylum might wear if they were violent or self harming- and tightened then quickly to her wrists, Aaron then spoke directly to her “I’m sorry kid but Ethans gonna have to go out there to save you”, Aaron motioned to the window which showed the outside world and all that was visible for miles was smoke and fire and even an occasional gunshot or firefight.

Ethan walked towards the volcano it looked as if it was about to explode yet it wasn’t hot in fact for hell was a lot colder than he had imagined, “what the hell?” Ethan wondered, or something else, climbing down the volcano he saw a little girl with no eyes, only dark pits, he had the strange urge to stick his fingers in and see if there was an end, but the thought was so absurd that Ethan pulled his hand close to his body as if to resist the urge. suddenly she spoke, but not in the voice of a little girl, more like a legion of demons,
“leave before the winters end, or lose the one you love again”

Ethan woke up hours later in a dazed panic, he looked at the clock, it was 9:16 he jumped slightly, he had to find Scelia before anything bad happened to her, he had to be sure she was okay, sometimes when people got hurt they became…infected so he was truly worried for everyone, strange enough there was no-one to greet him when he woke up this time
“I guess they got tired of me getting knocked out” he felt the bump on the back of his head a large bump had formed and was extremely painful to touch “one of these days i’m gonna get brain damage” He said aloud.

Swaying slightly Ethan slid his legs off the bed, he unsteadily stood up and began to walk supporting himself on whatever he could reach, he stepped into the hall, he noticed that it was several rooms down from where he was before, looking around Ethan soon saw a staircase and seeing a small trickle of blood onto them he decided to follow it, upon reaching the stairs Ethan shook his legs and decided he was good, he stood up straight and began to walk down the stairs carefully but as normal looking as possible if they saw he was still feeling the effects of being unconscious they would make him get back in bed and he would not have that..

As he approached the room, he noticed lots of shadows on the silhouetted wall, upon moving closer he heard whispers and conversations in secret.
“Why are they here without me?” Ethan said quietly, as if on cue Aaron walked in the hallway and hugged Ethan.
“Umm okay?” ethan said.
“You’re lucky that I have shown you such kindness after how you treated me” Aaron told him with no zealous whatever “Come here,” Aaron said, “you’re gonna want to hear this.”