Green Day

The sun was blinding, almost as if an artist had dropped a splatter of white paint on the otherwise bleak canvas. The world had practically been washed away, it had left the grass a dirty brown color rather than the vibrant green it once was, trees barely stood anymore-if they did, they were dead rotting corpses, shells of the nature that used to fill the land. A flashing green light had gone off one day and the world had been plunged into chaos, nobody knew where the fateful light came from and nobody knew how it had been triggered-but that didn’t matter anymore, resources were scarce and humanity had been destroyed-at least that is how it seemed to nineteen-year-old Nathaniel, and six-year-old Chloe. “Where are we going?” Chloe asked, wrapping her fingers through Nathaniel’s, squeezing his hand for a sense of comfort. “I’m not entirely sure.” Nathaniel responded, looking around warily. He hadn’t gotten much sleep the last few days, the dirt ground didn’t make the most comfortable surface to nap on. Chloe seemed to have an ample amount of energy no matter how far they traveled or how little sleep they got. Nathaniel knew they were still in the city they grew up in from the half-destroyed road signs that marked the sides of the dirt paths which had once been major motorways or main roads. Everything seemed so bleak now, there wasn’t a morsel of hope left in their world. They hadn’t seen another living person in weeks-the last one they saw looked like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie-he was wandering around staring at nothingness, he seemed to look straight through them- as if they were just ghosts in the wind. Nathaniel wouldn’t let them end up like that, this horrific plague-like environment would have to kill them before he let them turn into zombies. They stumbled down the dirt road, Nathaniel’s legs ached in a protest-every inch of his calf muscle screamed for him to stop for a moment but they needed to power on. They needed to find some sort of humanity, he refused to give up hope that they would someday find a group of people that would help them. He had no idea where his parents had disappeared to but he doubted they were alive, he didn’t have the heart to tell Chloe that her parents may be dead so he told her they were on a journey to find them and that’s why they couldn’t slow down. “Nathaniel.” Chloe said in a quizzical tone, he knew another question was coming-she asked about a hundred questions a day, and while he would normally snap at her for asking so much, he understood why she was so curious-she was only six and this was all rather over whelming. “Where are mum and dad?” Nathaniel felt his heart shatter, little fractures crept around the edges and squeezed It until he felt a pang of pain and sympathy. He didn’t know how to answer that question

without breaking down, he could only keep up this fake strong resolve for so long…he stuttered as her wide, innocent eyes looked up at him there was so much hope in them…so much light and love. He tried his hardest not to feel naïve for believing they would live just because of the mischievous glint in her eyes, but he couldn’t help it. “We are going to find them now.” He said with a fake smile, tucking a strand of chestnut hair behind her ears. She had been quite a chubby child but over the last few weeks food had been scarce and they had spent their days walking for miles, she was skin and bones now-she resembled the bare trees which laced either side of the road. “But, what if they get bored?” She asked, sounding rather frightened. “Bored of what?” Nathaniel asked, his brow furrowing, he was rather confused about what she meant. “Bored of playing hide and seek.” Nathaniel didn’t think his heart could ache anymore but he was wrong, he felt tears prickle at his eyes and he walked away for a moment. “Come on, we need to find them.” The remainder of the afternoon, they were both silent-they were exhausted, hungry, and dying for a drop of water. Every time they passed a cell tower, Nathaniel would pull his phone out and try his hardest to get service-his battery was declining rapidly, he had tried to keep it switched off as much as possible over the last week but that little glimmer of undying hope in his chest convinced him to turn it on every now and then as if a message from his mother would magically appear, beckoning them to her location. They decided to settle down for the night at the end of the road where there was once a fruitful forest, there was just deep sand with little color whatsoever. As they drifted off to sleep, Nathaniel heard a distant whirring…he practically leaped from the ground-the first thing which caught his eye was a person in the distance. His heart practically lit aflame as they waved at him, his smile was short-lived as what looked like a flying submarine passed above him-finally, somebody was here to rescue them. He yanked Chloe awake, who got up in protest, rubbing her eyes tiredly. The person in the distance waved towards the vehicle in the sky and it slowly approached him. Nathaniel beamed as the man began jumping to get their attention… That was until he dropped dead on the floor, a flashing, green beam left the ship and zapped him-there was no struggle, no sense of pain- he just dropped. Nathaniel’s heart rate sped up, he gripped Chloe’s hand and he began running. They heard the ship whir towards them and they sprinted into the forest of dead trees. Branches snagged at Nathaniel’s skin and he heard Chloe crying out as he forced her to run faster. She faltered just for a moment and went crashing to the floor.

“Chloe!” Nathaniel shouted out, as he pulled her onto his back- he nearly stumbled at how surprisingly light she was. So many things were running through his head, the green light that had come from the ship was the same one he had seen that fateful morning that the world seemed to end…but the government official name was on the side of the dystopian looking ship which means they had something to do with it, they had willingly wiped out half of the population-but why? Nathaniel didn’t understand, questions spun around his mind-why did they want everyone dead? Why had Nathaniel and Chloe been spared? What the hell would they do now? They were being hunted, they felt like deer running from a lion-Nathaniel saw a cave, it had half-collapsed in on itself but was still a good hiding place. He shoved Choe head first into the alcove and he followed after her. They could still hear that bone-grinding, metallic whirring. He held a trembling hand to his sister’s mouth and nodded reassuringly as the terrifying ship circled over head. He saw tears fall from Chloe’s eyes and he silently begged her to stay quiet, if they were found then he had no doubt they would be killed without mercy just like that man. They waited hours, the whirring stopped but Nathaniel didn’t want to move-he didn’t want to risk both of their lives. Very slowly, his hope was fading away…any hope he had for salvation or life after the destruction of the world had disintegrated, almost like it never existed in the first place. Nathaniel didn’t remember falling asleep but when he awoke to see the moon shining like a haunting orb in the sky, he knew he had slept far too long. He went to wake Chloe up but was distracted by something glowing in the corner of the cave. It was his phone. It was turned on, and something was on the screen. He scrambled to grab it and brushed off the dust and dirt from the dim screen. Bold words made a statement on the screen, drawing his eyes to each individual syllable. Congratulations, Nathaniel and Chloe thorn. You have survived phase one of our population control, phase two begins now. What did that mean? What was phase 2? And who had caused phase 1? Nathaniel woke Chloe-they had slept for long enough. As she stirred, he heard a large growl from the dead forest outside. Something that looked like it was from hell crept around the corner, it’s skin was black ad sticky-almost resembling tar… it’s eye sockets were hollow-nothing but malice filled it’s eyes. It’s teeth were pointy and dripping. His phone pinged.

RUN. That was the only word on the screen-let phase two begin.