All Chapters of My Shattered World: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Every day, on every street, in every city… the view is the same.Of course, I don’t mean what it actually looks like, but there’s a dreary monotony to the landscape. Ruins, in all directions. Heaps of broken concrete and fractured steel beams- the collapsing bodies of what had once been homes, shops, and office buildings- baking in the heat of the unrelenting sun. Once-fanciful fountains are now identifiable only by their outlines and what’s left of their plumbing pipes. There’s no plant life… not even dead ones. They were scavenged early on, in the desperate struggle for food that had eventually cost half the population their lives.The smell is indescribable. It’s misery, anguish… and death.I see movement… a flash here and there, the survivors scuttling be

I stand in the sitting room of Grandfather’s house, listening to his jokes and laughter. Grandmother serves honey-sweet Nektar- the preferred drink of most kids I knew- and a plate of fresh cookies from the replicator in their kitchen. Some prefer to cook their own meals, others prefer to have food made for them instantly. We are free to choose whatever we wish. Our world is perfect… you can have anything you want, at any time.Grandfather gets a call and goes to his study to answer. I’m stealthy, even at the tender age of eight, and I follow. As I listen, dawning realization hits me. Grandfather is somehow involved with the Council! They’re calling him in… some kind of meeting, something about annual maintenance.I know what maintenance is. It’s about fixing or cleaning things… but he’s n

It was time to go to the Pit. I felt the excitement from the rest of the team akin to going to some amusement park, and they were all talking about it… though most of the chatter seemed to revolve around their significant others.Forty kept glancing at me, smiling meaningfully. I had no idea what it was about… okay, yeah, I had a feeling I knew what her glances meant, but… why? What could have made her so stuck on me?Forty-five was flabbergasted when I came out of my room in uniform. He wore shorts and a t-shirt, with rough-woven sandals. “Dude… Pit night means you dress down! Don’t you have a dress-down uniform?”“I… uh…”“No, he doesn’t. Make sure he gets one.”

I woke up gasping and covered in sweat. What a strange dream… was it just a dream?I heard an alarm, and I was out of time to figure it out. Jumping out of bed, I quickly dressed and hurried out to the hallway, lining up with the others. It was my first… actually, I wasn’t sure what to call it. From what I’d heard so far, it was about “scavenging”. We’d go out and scavenge.I saw Forty at the head of the line. As she’d warned, she didn’t look or even smile at me. I let it go. It would be hard to wait until night, but I’d be patient.Somehow, I had the feeling that waiting for things to happen was a big part of my life.Once roll call was complete, we went to the dining room and ate in silence. We were given ju

I met the squad just inside of the Underground. They looked at Forty’s injury, barely covering the smirks that were still painfully obvious. Her first command action with the Betas, and she was the only injury.Or was she… where was Forty-Eight?I asked and got a head shake. “He tried to move through the sewers and they cut him down,” Forty-Five explained. “We didn’t dare go after him, but he was hit about a dozen times, so I’m sure he’s dead.”Forty sighed. “Right. What else did you learn, if anything?”“I think that should wait,” I told her, prompting a few gasps from the rest of the squad. “You need a medic.”“Who the hell do y