I wake up with a grunt, my body sprawled across the cold, hard floor. I look around the room. Solid concrete walls surround me as I stand up. I look to my right, seeing the shelf full of rations. Cans of soup and meat are neatly arranged along it, and I grab a can of chicken noodle soup. Below me are many bottles of water, and I grab one.

I slowly open the door that connects me with the other room, nearly identical to mine. On the floor, huddled in blankets is a blonde haired girl.

“Cydney,” I say. “Get up.”

“WATCH IT!” I was greeted with a rather large knife. She puts it on the floor.

“Sorry, I thought you were a Annihilator.” She said.

“I know how you feel.”

She grabs water and a can of pineapple. We sit down together and have our breakfast. We now only eat twice every day, to save food. Better to be hungry than starving to death.

“How much food do you have left?” I ask.

“50 cans of food in my room, 200 in my storage. I also have 100 bottles of water overall. What about you?”

“25 cans of food, 100 in storage. 75 bottles of water.”

“I can’t believe we found this place. An old nuclear shelter, stocked with supplies. I feel lucky we survived the nuke dropped here 2 years ago.”

“Yeah.”
“C’mon, we need to get ready to leave. We’ve been planning to leave for a week. Mind if I bring my knife?”

“I’d suggest you would.”

We quickly get ready to face the world. Nobody really ever wanted to leave underground, but we went out to loot. Society has collapsed, so why would anyone care? We have food for about a year, and water for 3 months, not counting the nearby spring.

I throw on a tattered flannel over my t-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans and boots. We climb the ladder to find our city how it usually is. Full of rubble. Nearly collapsed buildings. The occasional body, but we rarely saw those. The Annihilators usually take them away. I get mad when I step out here, mad at the men and women deciding it’s ok to commit worldwide genocide, just because they believe our world is in need of a restart.

We hike out 5 miles south to find a run-down gas station, with food lined across the racks. We’ve been planning to loot here for a long time.

The bells ring as we walk in. I snatch a tote bag from one of the shelves and start grabbing supplies while Cydney empties the coolers of their water. We always filtered our water, even if it did come in a bottle. I found filters at a crumbling department store once. It collapsed 2 days later.

“So,” Cydney asks. “ When are we going to, I don’t know, try to kill an Annihilator?”

“Are you crazy? Those things are programmed to kill, nothing else!
We’ve found them laying around, and we’ve seen the weapons they’re loaded with. We can’t take risks, not yet.”

Before I had time to talk anymore, I felt something swoop by. I look around to try and find whatever it was. I see nothing.

“Run.”

Before we could make for the door, my face and hers were covered with hands. I see her elbow a shadowy figure in the stomach, and stabbing it with her knife that she falsely pulled on me before. I quickly punch my attacker straight in the saw, then kick him through the glass door we entered. Panic fills the room as I see her look at me, but before she could react, I felt a blow to the head. I was trying so hard to stay conscious, and before I pass out I hear the faint voice of Cydney, calling out to me.
“Alex!”

Everything goes dark.