The Day the World Changed

The Day the World Changed

As Allen strolled down the desert road the memory of that day hit him like a bullet. His brown hair lay across his face covering his piercing blue eyes. His perfectly white skin only marred by the red scar on his arm from that day. His muscles bulged from is old clothing, along with his bare feet dragging on the sandy road. Ever since they day he had been getting very skinny. His height made his body look tiny but his muscles made up for it. He always had an angry expression on his face. The memory from that day made him cringe. Since that day he had to learn to cope on his own.

With nobody in sight, the desert road was barren and forgotten. The rubble from the bombing surrounded him. The few survivors left fought over the scarce resources. Allen had gotten enough food and water to last until now. But, he ran out a couple of days before. The desert was bone dry and couldn't support living creatures. Allen felt weak and parched, trying to survive. His only solution seemed unbearable to him: teaming up with another survivor. The idea repulsed him. Yet out of need he knew he must do it.

With his new plan in mind he walked farther, toward where he used to live. As he walked over a hill the sight of total destruction overwhelmed him. In the spot, where his house once stood, only ash and broken wood remained. He thought he could still hear his family laughing but it was the whistling of the wind. As he stood there he asked himself why he survived and his family had not. A 14 year old boy shouldn't have to bear such a disaster.

It all began as a normal day. The family was cooking dinner and Allen went to the basement to grab some beans from the pantry. Just as he grabbed the beans he heard a noise as loud as thunder. The house shook and the movement knocked him to the ground. He ran upstairs to see what had happened yet he found nothing at the top of the stairs but wood and ash. He looked frantically through the rubble trying to find his parents. After hours of searching, he lost hope and knew his family had not survived. A spark as hot as lava flew up from the rubble and burned his arm. His mind seemed to change. His whole body was overwhelmed with excruciating pain. But then it went away. He fell to the ground and slept.

When he woke he was hit with the reality that he had no one, no family or friends. He thought he should just curl up and die because he saw the bombing had destroyed almost all of the people and supplies. Instead of giving up, Allen searched the area and found enough food and water to last him until now. Since he ran out of supplies he felt weak and parched and simply tried to survive. He had to find help soon.

Allen knew this desert like the back of his hand. As the only building left standing he thought the old grocery mart could serve as a good place to find supplies and maybe people. He trudged along, trying to pick his feet up off the ground. He was totally out of energy when he finally made it to the entrance. The hunger and thirst took over his body. He fell to the ground still alive but near death. "Food!" He yelled. "Water!" No reply. He used the last of his energy to pray he would die quickly anxious to see his parents and sister wherever you went when you die. As he started to lose consciousness he heard the voice of his savior.

The voice asked, "Are you okay?" He looked around trying to place the soft voice. To his left he found a girl as beautiful as an angel. He thought it had to be a hallucination. "Seriously, are you okay?" she asked again as she walked closer and opened a little bottle of red liquid. She put a drop in his mouth. Suddenly, his thirst and hunger ended and he jumped to his feet. "Thank you!" he said. "You're welcome." She replied. The girl had saved him. They walked together and Allen learned a lot about her. Like him, she had survived the bombing but lost her family. She had some food and water but not a lot. Alice, the angelic girl, seemed perfect. Yet no one is perfect and she had a big problem: a gang wanted her dead.

That almost made Allen decided to leave and just die. But she knew where they could find food and water so Allen trusted her. They cautiously made their way across the desert. In order to survive they had to find food and water but be very careful to keep watch for the gang. Every crack of a twig and tweet of a bird startled Allen and Alice. But they would soon find what they were looking for.

After days of searching, they felt ready to give up. They hadn't found any source of human life. In the distance Allen thought he could see a tree. "We are never going to find food or water." He said. "If we do we will probably get killed by the gang." Alice added. The look on her face made the hunger and thirst even worse. The days of searching had changed Alice. She was as broken as a prisoner of war. Since they hadn't slept in days, Alice closed her eyes and rested. Allen knew that tomorrow would likely be their last chance to find food and water. He decided to let himself rest because he needed energy for the search tomorrow.

"Allen, Allen, wake up!" Alice shouted. His eyes whipped open. "I see a backpack." She said. In the distance, Allen could see a blur. Guessing it was the backpack, they both sprinted towards it. The ground started to feel different as they got closer to the backpack. He looked down to see what had changed. It looked like a..."NET!" Allen screamed. The net snatched the two of them off of the ground and into the air. "I knew it was too good to be true." Alice sighed. A group of bulky men came out from behind a group of bushes. "Hello Alice." What were they going to do?