Survival

Thick grey clouds covered the sky making it another gloomy day in hell. The sun hadn't been seen since the third trial of hell as some called it. Even before that happened it wasn't seen that much due to the dark grey smoke of burning buildings. Smoke still lingers in the air from buildings still burning or have recently been set on fire by some idiot who thinks he's doing this world a favor.

There were millions of people on Earth before the apocalypse started and now there were only a few thousand struggling to survive. Most of those who are surviving a lot easier than some aren't even human. These non-humans aren't the zombies that roam the streets waiting for the next person or animal to go by so they can eat its flesh. No, these living creatures are werewolves and vampires. There's even talk at some camps that one witch still exists in this new world. And to top it all off, some people have been seeing the ghosts of their dead family members.

However, Alexia Phoenix is someone who is far from being supernatural. After losing her parents and younger brother at the beginning of all this mess, she had to learn to take on the world all by herself. It was hard at first, but as the days went by it got somewhat easier that is until the second and third trials of hell happened. Alexia would be hiding from the lunatics the world has caused and they would suddenly disappear without a trace. No bodies, no clothes, not a single item from the person. It was as if they never existed to begin with. Alexia was relieved that they just vanished, but it also frightened her. Would that happen to her? Who knew. It seemed unpredictable.

The third trial is what really scared Alexia. Not long after the random vanishings, the ground began trembling. Alexia assumed it was small earthquakes now happening, but soon found out that that wasn't the case. It was until she was walking through the forest outside her hometown that she found the water was rising in ponds and rivers. There had been no rain in months and it was as if the water was swallowing up the ground. Alexia took a stick and drew a line in the dirt before standing back and watching the river water. Within minutes it had risen up to the line in the dirt. She didn't know why or even how it was happening, but crossing the river began to seem like a bad idea.

Alexia went back into the town where a few residents still were. Her hometown had around five thousand people before all this happened. Now it had maybe ten or eleven from what she saw. She knew that one couple had locked themselves in their house where it was safer. She met them at a store one day as they were stocking up on food like a few other people were doing. When they found out that she had no family left they invited her to stay with them. Alexia politely turned down the invite since she didn't know them and rather be alone.

Alexia didn't think the world could get much worse, but the world proved her wrong. After a few days in her hometown, she decided to take the risk and leave it all together to go towards the closest city. Food was scarce here and she was tired for searching for something to eat. The only way she could travel was by foot. Her backpack with a few items was slung on her back and the handgun she found stayed in her hand as she followed the abandoned highway. It took nearly a week to arrive to the city that was burning to the ground.

As she made her way farther into the city she quickly realized how worse the world could get. It was the smell of rotting corpses that hit her first. Knowing it was a big city, she just assumed it was the dead bodies piling up everywhere. She then saw people next and quickly hid in an alleyway. She peeked around the corner to see the people slowly moving toward her through the smoke of a nearby building that was on fire. One of these people got a little too close to the flames and its arm caught on fire. It kept coming towards her without even caring about its arm burning. As the group got closer she noticed that these weren't people at all. She thought they were fictional and only in movies, but right in front of her were zombies. She could see the dead flesh on their bodies and the blood from eating who or whatever their latest snack was. Some were letting out groans as they staggered their way towards their next meal. Alexia quickly began heading back out of the city to avoid being that meal.

Since then Alexia has been slowly making her way west towards the Pacific Ocean in hopes of finding a boat before the ground beneath her disappears. All she could do is pray that she would make it or at least have a boat before that happens. She also prayed for food since each passing day she was getting closer and closer to her own death.