The World Burnt Around Us

Chapter 1

(Author note: This is a work in progress and I'm not much of a writer :3)

It all started on a peaceful summer morning, or so I was led to believe. Within seconds of me standing up the world around me was blown to dust and rubble.

The room that I grew up in was engulfed in fire. My house had been blown up, dark smoke and ashes filled my lungs as I struggled to get the rubble that had fallen on me off of my lower body.

"What-" I wheeze midway through my sentence as smoke fills my lungs.

I freeze as I realize my house isn't the only one that had been bombed, my entire city was being bombed. People running out of their houses, some being shot, some sobbing, others dead.

"The fuck..?" I mutter as I push the rubble off my waist and legs with struggle. I looked around, my eyes met those of a child who had been abandoned.

"..who are you..?" The girl asks cautiously, clearly terrified, holding up a small pocket knife trying to scare me off.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you.. promise." I speak softly trying not to scare the child.

The child slowly lowers the knife, walking towards me carefully. "Who are you..?" She repeats her question.

"I'm Theo, and you are, little one?” I explain softly, trying to keep her calm.

“..Aria..” she muttered.

“That's a beautiful name, kiddo..” I smile at her, holding a hand out for her to grab. “I'm not gonna hurt you.” I reassure her with a gentle voice.

She carefully takes my hand, looking up at me before hugging me as tears form in her eyes. “Hey, it's okay, little one…”

As she clings to me, I stand up holding her tightly before walking to the town hall where I thought rescue services would be.

Instead of rescue services I spotted some survivors huddled together. Some were my age, and others were younger. A few were injured and crying while the others were trying to comfort them.

“Calm down please, Sam..” One of the survivors cradled the other on their lap, having wrapped their blown off arm with a piece of clothing. I assumed the missing arm was from an explosion. Despite their sobbing they seemed calm enough for me to approach. So I did.

As I approached them only one of them noticed me and stood in front of the group, supposedly trying to protect them despite their visibly injured body.

“Hey, hey.. I’m not gonna hurt you, promise. I’m Theo and this is Aria, what’re your names..?” I spoke softly as to try not to scare them more than they already were, more than we all were.

“I’m Rayne.. The one holding Samuel is Hunter.. the others are Atlas and Archer..” Azeal mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

“Alright, Azeal.. Can any of you carry Samuel? He looks out of it.” I motioned towards Samuel who had stopped sobbing but had zoned out, he looked like he was finally processing losing an arm.

“I can.. Can someone carry Atlas?” Archer stood up, seeming to know that the others were too injured to carry someone.

“I got them..” I murmur quickly, putting Aria down before picking Atlas and putting them on my back. “Sorry, you’ll have to walk Aria..” She nodded in acknowledgement to my statement, seeming to understand why she had to walk.

“Anyone know anywhere we could set up camp..?” Aria muttered. Everyone shook their heads, seems like we’re fucked.

“I think we should go in groups, we can meet back here in a bit. One group should find a place to set up camp, the other group will find supplies like blankets, food, water, things like that. Is that a good idea?” I suggested the idea I found most logical at the moment. To my surprise everyone nodded at my idea.

So we divided the group into two teams, team A had Atlas, Hunter, Aria and I. Team B had Rayne, Samuel, and Archer. Team A looked for supplies and Team B looked for a place to set up camp.

My team went towards the plaza, Aria and Hunter went to look for food while I carried Atlas around while I looked for blankets and things to help everyone sleep. While I was looking Atlas had woken up and started panicking as he didn’t know who I was. I don’t blame him since I was just a stranger carrying him.

“Hey. Calm down, bud. I'm Theo, Hunter is here too just in a different building, alright?” I grab his shoulders gently, trying to make him understand.

Slowly, he nodded. Seeming to have realized I wasn't a threat to him. Though he was still skeptical of me.

Atlas eventually decided to help me search for supplies. To my surprise he found a pile of blankets in the back of one of the department stores. Meanwhile I found a few pillows and a medkit under some rubble. Sure, they weren’t the cleanest but we have to work with what we have in this situation.

Eventually we heard Aria and Hunter shouting our names, so we grabbed our supplies and quickly made a beeline towards their shouting. Once we arrived we realized they had found much more necessary supplies than us, they had found food, bottled water, a few medkits, a full bottle of painkillers and melatonin gummies.

“Holy hell! You guys got good stuff!” I exclaimed excitedly, smiling slightly at the duo.

“We should get some radios soon too..” Atlas spoke up, everyone there knew he was right and that we needed radios to properly communicate, especially when split up like this.

“Maybe that little abandoned toy store down the street?” Hunter suggests, scratching the back of his neck. I nodded, it was a good idea.

“Yea, that’s a good idea Hunter. We’ll do that.” I agreed with him, nodding.

Everyone else agreed so we started to make our way to the toy store. It was a short walk, only took about 15 minutes to get there and get out with a 10 pack of small walkie talkies and batteries. Mission accomplished, I guess.

“We better go to the decided meet up spot now, aye?” Atlas spoke slowly, we all knew that was gonna be the next stop, but it was nice having someone vocalize it.

As we start walking I hear what sounds like footsteps behind us so I turn around to see.. A fucking rabbit. Got my anxiety boiling for nothing as per usual. I quickly fix my composure, taking a deep breath and speeding up to catch up with the group. Making it seem like I wasn’t spooked by a damn rabbit.

When we reached the spot we agreed was our meeting spot we saw Rayne, Archer and Samuel, who was able to stand. I assumed that they already found a spot we could camp at.

“Did y’all find a place to camp?” I questioned before yawning, the exhaustion and reality of the situation finally hitting me.

“Mhm, like 2 miles east we found a cave behind some vines. Is that good?” Archer spoke, his voice raspy.

“Yea, that’s perfect, good job Archer!” Hunter praised him, smiling.

“Can we go there now..?” Aria yawned, clearly exhausted.

Archer nodded at her question, picking her up before leading us to the cave they found.