Ebony Chronicles
I'm Waking Up To Ash and Dust
There was nothing but an eerie silence when I woke up covered in dust. There was a stench, I couldn't place it. It smelled like roadkill and hot metal like in my dad's mechanic shop. My clothes were scorched and I was naked…my skin was unharmed. In fact, my body felt fine. I felt more alive than I ever have in my 26 years. And yet, I ached like I was suffering the worst hangover of my life. How could I feel so horrible and so great at the same time?
Was I in shock?
Was I sick?
After what felt like hours of lying there staring at the bleak and cloudy sky, I stood up. I instantly wished I had just stayed on the ground. I was standing in a smoking crater the size of a football stadium in the middle of Las Vegas. Or what used to be Las Vegas. Buildings crumbled, everything was burning or destroyed. Ash rained from what I had thought were storm clouds, but were the aftermath of an explosion. The dust on my body? It was fallout.
Had we been bombed?
Was this a terrorist attack?
Oh God. How am I alive? Why am I not hurt?
I started checking myself, but as I had thought earlier, everything was intact. I was perfectly fine. How was this possible? More importantly, what in the hell was going on? Where were the rescue teams? The CIA, the FBI, the goddamn Homeland Security? Where were the helicopters and the News teams? Had they just not reached me yet? Am I alone? Am I… Dead?
Determined to find answers, I began to climb from the crater, struggling to find footholds. It wasn’t easy and I fell several times, managing to scrape myself up pretty good (definitely not dead then), but I was eventually able to push myself over the ledge. The ground cut at my bare feet, ash billowing with each step.
My blood pumped with adrenaline as I walked through the city - if you could call it that anymore. The buildings groaned and crumbled, small fires blazed, the roads were cramped with debris and roasted cars. I didn’t dare look inside any of them. In fact, I did my best to avoid looking at anything. Was I the only survivor out of millions? Would I even survive? Wasn’t radiation poisoning a huge threat in a nuclear bombing? If it even was a nuclear bomb. Maybe it was more like Boston, only part of the city. I hoped I was right, but I doubted it. There was destruction as far as I could see. And bombs like Boston don’t create a crater the size of a football stadium.
I rubbed my face in hopes to erase my mind of these thoughts. I was in shock, I was scared, and I was curious as hell. I wanted to know what happened. I don't even remember what I was doing before the bombing. Was I at work? No, I remember having the day off. I had a lie in and went for chinese for lunch. I remember leaving the restaurant with food and then nothing. My memory was blank. Maybe that’s when the bomb hit.
A shiver ran down my spine. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying my best to cover myself, but did it matter? There was no one here but me. I was alone.
Was I in shock?
Was I sick?
After what felt like hours of lying there staring at the bleak and cloudy sky, I stood up. I instantly wished I had just stayed on the ground. I was standing in a smoking crater the size of a football stadium in the middle of Las Vegas. Or what used to be Las Vegas. Buildings crumbled, everything was burning or destroyed. Ash rained from what I had thought were storm clouds, but were the aftermath of an explosion. The dust on my body? It was fallout.
Had we been bombed?
Was this a terrorist attack?
Oh God. How am I alive? Why am I not hurt?
I started checking myself, but as I had thought earlier, everything was intact. I was perfectly fine. How was this possible? More importantly, what in the hell was going on? Where were the rescue teams? The CIA, the FBI, the goddamn Homeland Security? Where were the helicopters and the News teams? Had they just not reached me yet? Am I alone? Am I… Dead?
Determined to find answers, I began to climb from the crater, struggling to find footholds. It wasn’t easy and I fell several times, managing to scrape myself up pretty good (definitely not dead then), but I was eventually able to push myself over the ledge. The ground cut at my bare feet, ash billowing with each step.
My blood pumped with adrenaline as I walked through the city - if you could call it that anymore. The buildings groaned and crumbled, small fires blazed, the roads were cramped with debris and roasted cars. I didn’t dare look inside any of them. In fact, I did my best to avoid looking at anything. Was I the only survivor out of millions? Would I even survive? Wasn’t radiation poisoning a huge threat in a nuclear bombing? If it even was a nuclear bomb. Maybe it was more like Boston, only part of the city. I hoped I was right, but I doubted it. There was destruction as far as I could see. And bombs like Boston don’t create a crater the size of a football stadium.
I rubbed my face in hopes to erase my mind of these thoughts. I was in shock, I was scared, and I was curious as hell. I wanted to know what happened. I don't even remember what I was doing before the bombing. Was I at work? No, I remember having the day off. I had a lie in and went for chinese for lunch. I remember leaving the restaurant with food and then nothing. My memory was blank. Maybe that’s when the bomb hit.
A shiver ran down my spine. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying my best to cover myself, but did it matter? There was no one here but me. I was alone.
♠ ♠ ♠
1st chapter out of 3 already prewritten. 4th chapter is being worked on. Chapters tend to get longer as they go. I will post the first 3 over the next couple of days to space it out and give myself time to get more written.I'm very excited for this story, I've been playing with this version for almost 3 years now. Hope you enjoy this first tidbit :)