Chapter 1

The corner was a dreary place to be, surrounded by brick walls, everything was behind her now, and the only things that stood in the way were those cursed walls.  Her clothes were filthy and ripped in places. The once white ruffled mini skirt and flowing cobalt blue blouse were barely recognizable now. She laughed at the memory of putting them on for her last day of junior year, 17 years old and wearing clothes comparable to an elementary school child’s. Feeling the cold seeping through the bottoms of her worn black converse, allowing the tears to roll down her cheeks, she permitted her mind to roam to the reasons she had chosen them for that day. They had been John’s favorite, and since he was graduating she felt the need to do her boyfriend a service and let him see her in them one last time before he left for collage orientation the very next day. She had begged him to try to get a later session because he could only afford to fly to Oregon once that summer and wouldn’t be able to return but as much as he tried no one wanted to trade their spot with him. If only she had known what was going to happen that day, maybe she could have saved him……She lay on the ground hugging herself tight, it had been all her fault. For the millionth time in a month Fallon realized how completely alone she was.

Fallon woke up, her ratty jacket wrapped tightly around her curled figure. The old subway platform where she had taken shelter as quiet as ever, she would never get used to the eerie silence the trains had left behind when they stopped running.

            She stood, stretched her slender 5’10” body, and grabbed her two 45 caliber hand guns. Stuffing them hastily into the waist band of her skirt she prepared herself for the day’s gathering, she needed food, water, firewood, and ammunition. It was dangerous to venture above ground now, ever since the Dark Day it was every person for them self.

            Gangs popped up over night it seemed, all the beautiful order that had once existed was gone. The entire world was in ruin. She hated going above ground, seeing all the buildings that used to surround her no longer standing tall and proud but instead hollow, withered, and fallen skeletons of their former glory.

 It had begun in the Midwest, the news that morning described a horrible earthquake that had been so destructive that the news castor was giving numbers of the living instead of the dead and missing. Fallon’s entire school looked on in horror as images began to appear on all the social media sites and flash across the television screens. Eventually the hype died down and the day went on as usual. After school John offered to drive her home. They were driving down the streets of the city when suddenly he snapped the radio off and glanced at her before returning his gaze to the road. He appeared uncomfortable and worried.

“I need to talk to you about this collage thing.” His voice was strained and Fallon began to feel her stomach twist itself into knots.

“Ok, what is it?” she said trying to keep her voice even. He sighed and clenched his hands around the steering wheel.

“It’s just I don’t know if this is going to work with me being on the other side of the country. I really do care about you but I can’t pretend that everything will be fine while I’m gone. I might meet someone or you might meet someone and I don’t want either of us to give up an opportunity to be happy even if it’s with someone else. I know that this really isn’t what you want to hear right now but we both knew that this was coming…..” he trailed off, red in the face, knuckles white as clean paper. Fallon’s mind was racing but her heart felt as if it had stopped beating, her palms were sweaty yet she felt cold, and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. This was her John, the one she had gone to her first prom with, the one who had held her tight to keep her warm at every single football game. The one she had confided in and shared inside jokes with, the one she loved and the one she thought would help her make a long distance relationship work until she graduated and could go live with him where he was. Was he really doing this, pounding her heart into dust? Leaving her behind? Moving on? Breaking up with her? The first tear streamed down her cheek and fell into her lap. She looked at him, eyes stormy and full of pain and sadness, tears now flowing freely down her face. She wanted him to feel it, feel her falling to pieces inside, and feel how sick this was making her. Then something snapped inside her, the pain and anger subsided into an eerie calmness. Her voice was ice cold as she told him to drop her off at the next subway station. He said nothing more until she started to get out of the car.

“Fallon, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! It’s killing me too, it is! Please believe me, I’m only doing this so neither of us get hurt.” His pleads only made her emotions retreat farther inside of her, the expression on her face was slack and emotionless.

“Please get back in the car Fallon, let me drive you home, let me talk to you about this!”

By this time she had her back to him, she simply turned to him and as one last tear fell to the ground she whispered “No.” and ran.

 

Fallon stepped onto the pavement of what used to be Broadway and looked around: the gangs had been here. Recently. She drew one of her guns and started to look around. Only one building was unharmed and she knew to stay clear of it. Judging from the damage to the rest of the buildings there had been a territory war, the unharmed building was the final resting place for those not fortunate enough to live through it. These buildings were scattered all over the city, grim reminders of how fragile life is and how much the value of life had been abandoned. Gone were the days of cemeteries, peaceful death, and mourning. The only people that would show any remorse at the gang boys’ deaths would be the w****s that saw them on a regular basis. No one cared about those boys anymore. You joined a gang for what the recruiters said would be a family. A home. Protection. It was all a lie. They just wanted someone else to die for them in some stupid fight. Fallon knew better, she had learned to hate the gangs, they had killed her brother.

Alex had only been 14. That was the age they wanted though, young and gullible; all too eager to be part of a big rebellion.

It had only been chance that Fallon and Alex had been on the same train that day. At first Fallon was angry, she was his older sister, he shouldn’t see her crying over John. She took a deep breath and locked every shred of emotion deep inside herself. She could do all the crying she wanted behind her bedroom door.  They were talking about what chores they each had to do when they arrived home when they felt it. Everything started to shake, the lights in the train flickered. It was over in a few seconds but it still had everyone on the train worried. As they pulled up to the platform it happened again this time it was worse.

The rumble started off soft then it grew into a full roar, the ground started shaking violently, tiles fell from the walls; shattering on the floor, and all the lights went out. Not only did they go out, they exploded. They could hear the glass bulbs breaking. Then all hell broke loose as the tunnel on both ends of the train started to cave in, dust and glass flew everywhere. Fallon and Alex pulled the sleeves of her sweater around their mouths and noses and gasped for air through the material.

 They sat huddled together on the floor of the train, shaking in fear for what felt like hours with their eyes closed tight, listening to the world they knew come apart at the seams. Things screeching as they bent in ways they were not meant to bend. The metal roof of the train groaned under the weight of the tunnel. The worst part was the screaming; hundreds of people crying out in fear, men and women weeping for their families and children. Finally, in one horrific moment the ceiling gave way, all at once dozens of those voices were silenced.