A Girl Named Katie

The worldwide pandemics began in the year 2047; for decades, it raged a fury. Year after year, the virus mutated, each mutation stronger until most of the world population was gone. The few that have survived have been enslaved by a Draconian alien race. The elite has formed a secret government allowing the Draconian to rob earth's natural resources and enslave the human race. Earth's only hope is the Freedom Fighters.

Angel walked through the super mall, once full of sounds of excited teens shopping for the latest fashions; sweet smells of all the goodies that one might find in a place such as this no longer filled the air. Converted into a work camp for the Draconian, now only harbored sounds of agony and smelled of rot and decay. Staying in the dark shadows, Angel kept her eye's keen and took in her surroundings, searching for a way that she could escape.

Angel continued through the mall; she was tall and lean and agile as a feline. The dimly lit fires that burned in the abandoned shops reflected off her shiny black hair, her green eyes fixed on the shadows. She could sense someone watching her. Angel quickly ducked into a dark shop and waited for the cloaked figure; she stepped in behind and spoke in a low tone, stopping the cloaked figure dead still.

"Why are you watching me?" The dark figure turned around, slowly he lowered the hood of his clock so that she could see his face. "Oh my God! Abraham, is that really you?" Her voice was full of excitement.

"Yes, my dear, it is I, Abraham!" Tears glistened in his eyes. He took hold of her hands and pulled her further into the shop, away from anyone who might see them. Together in the darkness, he embraced her tightly.

"We thought you were dead," she whispered into his ear before he let her go.

"I almost was," he said back to her in his raspy voice. Abraham had been like a father to her.

Rebecca, Angel's mother, was an investigative reporter; she broke out the story about the government unleashing the virus that took out most of the population. After the story hit the media, many attempts were made on her life; she decided to leave Washington D.C. for Salt Lake City and go into hiding. Soon after she arrived, the Draconian started to round up any survivors from the decades of pandemics and imprison them in work camps. Rebecca managed to escape just as the Draconian stormed her neighborhood. She ran, holding three-year-old Angel in her arms into the snow-covered mountains, and didn't stop until she reached the tiny cabin of Abraham. He brought them into the warmth of his place, and the two stayed with Abraham from that night on. Together he and Rebecca started the Freedom Fighters.

"How long have you been here? "she asked.

"Nearly three years now," he replied.

"What! But why would you stay here for so long if you know of a way to escape!" she asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"I'm of more use here, my dear," he said reassuringly. Abraham took her by the hand and led her out of the shop. "We must hurry! The window is closing; we must get you out of here," he said hurriedly.

They left the shop in silence, staying in the shadows; they passed a small thin, frail woman sitting by a small fire holding a dead infant in an old tattered blanket. The woman held out one delicate, feeble hand begging for food for the already dead child she had in her arms.

They walked in the shadows for some time until they reached the abandoned food court; he quickly pulled her into an old hot dog stand. Abraham pushed aside an old rusty refrigerator; beneath it, a tunnel had been dug.

"Quickly!" Abraham said in a hushed voice. "The tunnel will lead you into the basement of a house close to the base of the mountains. It's a couple of miles long, so when you reach the basement, it will be daylight, stay there until nightfall. Godspeed, child." He quickly embraced her and then watched her disappear into the darkness of the tunnel. He moved the refrigerator back over the black hole.

Angel made her way through the darkness of the tunnel; she could smell the dampness of the earth. It didn't take her eyes long to adjust to the dark. Her mother always said that she could see in the night like a cat. She found her way to the end of the tunnel quickly and climbed up the makeshift ladder. She opened the hatch door that led into the basement of the abandoned house. Angel could see the first signs of daylight through the dirty window that faced the rising sun. She quietly made her way to the first floor into a ram-shacked kitchen. The cupboards had been long ago emptied by scavengers. All that remained was a rat looking for any morsel of food left behind. The living room was dark from the heavy quilts hung over the windows by the previous occupants.

Angel made her way to the open staircase and climbed the steps. She found herself facing down a short hallway with two doors to the right, a door to the left, and one at the end of the hallway. Opening the first door to the right, Angel could see that it had once belonged to a young girl. She stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Sunlight partly came through a crack in the blanket that hung over the solitary window in the room.

Within the path of the sunlight stood a desk against the wall. There was a diary fitting for a young girl, onto lay a ting gold heart-shaped locket. Angel moved the locket aside and picked up the Diary, and in the thin ray of light, she began to read.

June 15, 2087

Dear Diary,

Yesterday, I buried Cody next to Mama and daddy. It was also my fifteenth birthday. Brad left two days ago to search for food and water. He has never stayed away from home this long. I am worried something has happened to him. Maybe Tracers got him or worse. I am so afraid and so alone. If Brad doesn't come home tonight, I will have to go out to find food and water myself. I hope Brad comes home.

Katie

Angel picked up the locket and pushed the tiny button on the side, opening the heart. Peering back at her was the faces of an attractive couple, both with blond hair and smiling faces. She closed the locket entombing the couple forever. Angel picked up the dairy once again, flipping back through the pages until it fell open to a page on its own as if the Diary itself had made a choice. Still holding the locket, she began to read once again.

October 7, 2087

Dear Diary,

Mama came home from work today. She said that the CDC was shutting down! . Mama has a worried look on her face like never before. After dinner, I heard her and daddy talking in hushed voices. I couldn't make out everything that was said. Mama told daddy that the virus has mutated and that nobody was going to be immune. I heard her say it was going to get worse than ever before. I'm so afraid. Mama told us at dinner not to worry that we were prepared. I could tell Mama was trying to stay calm. We have plenty of food and water if needed for at least three months, daddy told us. I pray this is true.

Katie

Angel laid the gold chain of the locket between the Diary pages, book-marking that day of entry. She tucked the Diary in her jacket and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Angel made her way to the door at the end of the hallway and stepped inside. Inside, she could see that it was the room of the blond couple smiling in the photos entombed inside the locket. She walked over to a long dresser; on top were framed photographs of the couple with three children, two boys, and a girl.

Angel made her way down the staircase through the kitchen and down the steps leading into the basement, where she would try and get some rest until nightfall, when it would be safer to travel. She had to be careful. Tracers roamed the abandoned neighborhoods such as this, looking for stray survivors. Tracers were the scum of mankind. When the Draconian enslaved the pandemic survivors, they sold out even their own families. Tracers were now the bounty hunters for the Draconian, directly sent out to capture any rebels who managed to escape the enslavement or work camps. They are nomads, allowed to roam free.

Angel waited for the dim light behind the dirty glass to darken. Sleep had not come to her, images of the family in the framed photos haunted her, the eyes of the young girl burned forever in her memory. She continued to the young girl's Diary until the dim light behind the dirty window turned into darkness.

Angel slipped the Diary back into her jacket, the locket once again laid carefully between its pages. She went out through the cellar doors into the black night. Angel made it through the maze of abandoned houses. She found her way to the trails that led up the mountain and back home to the Freedom Fighters. Angel knew the area well. She had come to the city often scavenging for supplies. This trip was different. She came to gain intel on the Galactic Federation Summit, a secret meeting held each year with our elite. This year the Freedom Fighters intended to fill the meeting place with explosives taking out the Draconian and our world government run by the elite. Angel had the secret location and needed to get back with the intel to free the earth and mankind before all was lost. She had to get back home before it was too late. Angel walked throughout the night, taking shelter in a small cave just as the sun began to peek over the mountains. She made a small fire and settled next to its warmth. Angel took out the Diary and opened it to where the gold heart-shaped locket laid between its pages. She turned to the next page and began to read.

October 8, 2087

Dear Diary,

This morning we moved into our hidden bunker. Mama and daddy keep telling us that everything will be okay. Still, there is a betrayal in Mama's eyes that tells me different.

Katie

Angel continued to read through the page-filled entries. The pages marked days and then months. The recorded entries of the ghost of a young girl's voice jumped out from the handwritten pages. Angel read until the last entry in the Diary. If not for her Diary, the young girl's existence would have been left unknown. The book was more than just the words of a young girl. It was a historical account of one of the last survivors, a young girl named Katie.