He arrived at his bedroom. The bedside clock read 11:23. Four hours had passed since he left for the outside. He removed the sword from his waist and laid down on his bed. He noticed the coloring on the sheath was not the same as it was before he left. It was faded. Chris drew the sword. The sword slid out, followed by a trail of dust. The edges of the sword were no longer sharp, making it look as if he had cast aside the sword in a river and forgotten it.
Chris recalled hearing the message from Daniel stated that the air is currently corrosive. He carefully returned the blade to its sheath as to not scatter anymore dust in his room.
Chris laid back on his bed. He took his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his pictures. Picture by picture, he relived the memories of his past self. Seeing those pictures filled his heart with joy, sorrow, and anger.
Chris still had two hours until the work shift was over. Even in his past life, he had a hard time with killing time. He turned around and headed back to the gym. He walked into the equipment room and hung up the punching bag. Chris grabbed the two wooden swords sitting in the corner of the room.He approached the bag, so his left shoulder was facing the bag. Chris stood motionless for a minute, then suddenly lunged forwards striking the bag with the sword in his right hand. He stepped back and hit the bag again, this time with his left. He continued hitting the bag aggressively. All of his anger and frustration was being released into the punching bag. Chris hit the bag one last time, causing the bag to burst open. Sand leaked onto the floor, creating a pile under the bag.“Damnit,” Chris screamed, punching the bag, causing more sand to fall out. C
“Heather, wait a minute. I’m coming with you,” Chris said.“Huh? Wait, don’t tell me you want to take a shower with me,” Heather shrieked.Chris went back into the room and grabbed a drawstring bag and filled it with clothes. He ran out of the room and met up with Heather.“You never answered my question,” Heather said.“And what if I said I did want to shower with you?” Chris asked.Heather turned away from Chris and buried her face in her hands. Chris could tell that what he said embarrassed her.“You know I’m only kidding. However, the showers are all in one room with large dividers in between, so don&rsquo
Heather grabbed Chris’ sword and darted out of the room. She told Chris to remain in the room until she returned. She ran towards the conference room. If she had any hope of finding Max, that was where he would be. She burst through the door to the conference room. She was out of breath. “My, you seem bothered. Can I help you with something?” Max asked. “Yes, you can actually. I don’t know how fast word travels, but have you heard what happened to Chris?” “Yes, I am aware of his physical injuries. I am also aware that there were mental injuries as well, but I am unaware of the severity of these injuries and the cause of these injuries.” “I don’t want to share the specific details, but I want to inform you that he attempt
A bright light shone into Chris’ eyes. He could feel the wind rushing through his hair. A blue sky welcomed him once he opened his eyes. Chris looked below him; the world below him was non-existent. He was falling into an endless abyss.For a moment, he felt at peace. All of his troubles flew away in the wind. As he fell, the abyss below him formed into an empty field. The field was green and full of life. As he got closer to the ground, the green fields burned away and became a field of ash.His body hit the ground, causing his surroundings to become enveloped in a cloud of ash. As the dust settled, two figures emerged from the cloud. Their bodies were charred and could no longer able to be identified. The first figure stepped forward and spoke. “Why Chris? Why did you leave us to die?”“I&r
Chris opened his eyes. His body was shaking and he was sweating profusely. He sat up in the bed. It was 6:29am. Heather rolled over and looked at him. “Are you okay?,” she asked, half asleep.“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a really weird dream.”“What was it about?”“I can’t remember, but it felt like it went on forever.” Chris got out of bed and walked over to the mirror on the wall. He placed a finger on the bandages on his neck. Pain shot through his neck as he touched the bandage. His hand was throbbing, and he had a hard time moving his fingers without causing him any pain.“That’s a shame. Hopefully, it was a pleasant dream.”“I doubt it was,&rdq
Multiple shelves containing various balls and other equipment, such as hockey sticks, tennis rackets, frisbees, and more, sat in the far back of the storage room. Chris walked back to the shelves and scanned over the equipment.“Do you see anything that you want to do?” Heather asked.“Since you wanted me to talk to you about my emotions and I wanted to do something else, I thought just throwing a frisbee back and forth would be a good compromise. This will allow us to talk to each other while being active, and I’ve always found throwing a frisbee to be very relaxing.”“That sounds good, but let me warn you, I’m terrible at throwing.”“Don’t worry, I already know that.”
The artificial sunlight shone brightly through the single window in Chris’s room. Chris opened his eyes. The bed next to his was empty, and Heather left the lights on. He removed the bandage from his neck. A scab had formed over the cut and it no longer hurt to the touch. He still had a sharp pain in his knuckles whenever he moved his fingers.Chris walked down to the cafeteria for breakfast. He found Heather in the cafeteria and sat down next to her.“Good morning. Did you sleep well?” Heather asked.“Not as well as I would have liked to,” Chris replied. “I had a lot going through my mind.”“What kind of stuff were you thinking about,” Heather asked, pulling her hair behind her ear.
Chris excused himself and left the cafeteria. He found himself wandering back to the gym storage room. Before the world ended, Chris enjoyed building household items like furniture or shelves. He located a large box with a picture of a basketball hoop on the side. He dragged the box onto the gym floor and cut open the box. Metal pipes and bars rolled onto the floor. He tipped the box over and slid out the backboard, rim, and the base. Chris started by attaching the rim to the backboard along with the height adjusters. He fast two narrow support beams at the bottom of the large pole and another long narrow pole that attached to the middle of the big pole and the back of the height adjuster. Chris had difficulty tightening some bolts because they required him to move his hand in such a way that hurt his injured hand. He tightened the bolts that connected the ba
Something wet hit Chris’ face. He looked up to see Alexis standing behind a guard with a knife in his throat. Blood was spraying from his neck. The guards lifeless body fell to the floor. Chris watch three other guards fall around him. One guard remained, the one Evan was supposed to kill.The sound of a gunshot filled Chris’ ears. Evan stood still. The two of them stood frozen, oblivious to the world around them. The guard pushed Evan’s body off of him. It was then that Chris could see the hole in Evan’s chest. The hole was just under where his rib cage would be. A few seconds passed before the fifth guard fell to the floor dead and lifeless.Chris crawled over to Evan’s body. Evan was losing a lot of blood. “Did we win?” Evan asked.“Not yet, but I believe you already won,” Chris replied.“How could I have won when I’m clearly dying.”“You’re not dead yet. We can
The morning air caused goosebumps on Chris skin. It felt almost, relaxing. Today didn’t feel like most days. It wasn’t the same boring uneventful drag that it normal is. Today was the day. The day they would set themselves free. Chris rose out of bed. His body ached from the prison beds that were stiffer than bricks. Lincoln was the only other person awake in the cell. Chris looked at the watch built into his suit. 5:56. Seven hour until the break free. “How confident are you that this is going to work?” Lincoln asked, sitting up to face Chris. “I’m not sure but based on the plan you gave us it should work. The plan’s solid and the determination is there. We shoul
This has been a story that has been five years in the making. This went from a five page 2000 word document that I wrote with the help of a few friends the a well over 40,000 word novel. At this point, I don't have anymore of the story written out. This is due to a career change that takes up most of my time. I hope to continue writing this story and I'm even thinking of a possible sequel, however the process will be much slower than planned. I want to take the time to thank everyone who has read this story and a special thanks to everyone who has or will leave feedback. I wouldn't be able to do this without your support. Thank you, Caleb
“Wrap it up!” Philip bellowed. “Return to the yard for equipment inspection and free period.”Chris leaned over to Lincoln. “Why does the equipment need to be inspected?”“Don’t know. I guess to make sure they haven’t been tampered with.”“Makes sense.”Chris, Alexis, and Lincoln met up the members of cell twenty-five. Chris and Evan walked behind the rest of the group.“Did you find any useful information in your part center city?” Evan asked.“No. Just a bunch of clothing stores. However, the money that I brought with me should be enough for food and clothes for a few days. Alexis gave me the rundown of the city’s basic economic standing. Turns out I have the equivalent of four hundred dollars on me.”“Well I would consider that useful information. All we did was clean near the capitol. It’s a few larger buildings surrou
“Edward, Peter, Lincoln, Alexis, grab your equipment and get to work,” Philip demanded. “Greenies, you’re with me.”“Yes sir!” they replied in unison. The four young inmates grabbed trash bags, gloves, and a grabber and departed into the city. Chris and Evan followed Philip into a small alleyway leading into the outskirts of the city.Compared to center city, these streets were vacant and run down. Each building was two stories tall with a flat room on top. Every building was built to be identical. The color had seemed to drain away leaving nothing but dead looking buildings.“If you don’t mind me asking sir. How come there are so many abandoned buildings here?” Chris asked.“I may have already told you this, but since my memory can be foggy sometimes, I’ll tell you again. When we first arrived here, every building had residents living in them. But due to the lack of jobs, peopl
The morning did not greet Chris with sunlight. Instead, he was greeted by an eighteen-year-old girl screaming in his face.“You need to wake up, Chris. If you don’t, you’ll be sent off to the torture chamber,” she shouted.“Ok, I’m up, and are you sure about the whole torture chamber thing?”“No, but just get up.”Chris saw Lincoln standing in the room’s corner. He looked back at Chris and mouthed the words “I tried to stop her.” As if Alexis waking him up was a bad thing.Chris met up with Evan and his cellmates in the cafeteria for breakfast. “Evan, I need to talk to you about something,” Chris said, signally Evan away from the table. Evan got up and walked over to Chris’ side of the table.“So, what do you want? You here to harass Peter again?”“No, I wanted to apologize to you about how I acted last night. I understand that
The sound of a buzzer came over the loudspeaker. Chris looked around to figure out what this meant. The metal doors of the cell opened. He could hear voices coming from both ends of the halls.“I guess it’s that time of the day already. We must get going before they yell at us for being late to dinner,” Alexis said.“I didn’t think we were here for that long. Guess time passes differently when you can’t notice your surroundings.”“Yeah, we can’t linger around here too long, or else there won't be any food left for us. Still, one benefit of being in here. We don’t have to worry about starving to death.”Alexis grabs Lincoln’s arm and ran out of the cell. Chris followed them shortly after. They encountered a long line of juvenile delinquents lined up in the main hall, waiting to get food. Chris filed in line behind a tall with a muscular physique.“So, how do things normall
The room was empty except for a table and two chairs. Philip had Chris sit in the chair opposite of him. “Let's get this started. What is your name?”“Chris.”“Your full name?”“Christopher Woodsen.”“Thank you. Next question, what district are you from?”“I’m not sure I follow what you mean by district.”“What part of the city are you from?”“I’m not from this bunker.”“Then where are you from?”“Noah’s Ark #151, sir.”“You said 151, correct?”“I did, sir.” Chris could tell this was where the interview was going to go downhill.Philip’s tone of voice changed. He no longer sounded like an angry drill Sargent, but a normal adult. “I don’t recall ever see that number anywhere. Could you tell me where it is?”&ldq
A small keypad protruded from the ground above the door. Jackson walked up to the keypad. “How much you want to bet the passcode is the same for every bunker?” Jackson joked.“I can’t say I’d put much on that, but it’s better to try than to just wait around,” Chris replied.Jackson punched a code into the grey box. Within seconds, the door slowly opened. A set of stairs appeared under the door that led to a long hallway.The hallway share an appearance with bunker #151. It had one storage room off to the side where the suits were stored, and an elevator at the end of the hall. The only actual difference was this bunker had a working elevator.Chris looked at the sign above the elevator. There was a blinking green arro