Finally waking up after passing out, Daniel slowly gathered the strength to stand up while holding his head. “Ugh…how long was I out?” Daniel said to himself as he looked at his watch. As he pulled his watch closer into vision, it read: 4:45. “I was out of it for an hour? Ugh…what did I miss?” However, as he inspected the watch further, the wheels were back in their original position, and no button had been revealed on the side of it either. “Was it…all a dream?” he said to himself as his vision began to return. Looking around the room, Daniel realized that he was still in the old bomb shelter that his grandfather had made, but he was alone. No sign of Grandpa or any of those Omega soldiers. “Damn, did all of that really happen? …or did I imagine all of it? No, it must have been real…or else I wouldn’t be in the bomb shelter in the first place. I’ve got to get home and tell Mom and Dad what happened, call the cops or something.” He said out-loud as he ran out of the room.
Upon leaving the shelter and entering the lab, he realized that all of his grandfather’s machines were all busted, broken, and destroyed. Not only that, but it seemed as if no one had used them for years. Every corner that he looked in had a spider’s web along with a thick coat of dust that one could write their name in. “I haven’t been sleeping for too long have I? he said to himself as he ran his finger across a nearby table and brushing off the dust on his jacket. “No time to think about that now, gotta get home!” he said while running up the staircase and out of his grandfather’s home. The moment Daniel set foot outside, he couldn’t believe his eyes. “No…what happened here?”
The sky was pitch black with a smoky mist all around him. He could hear faint explosions and gun shots in the distance, and almost every home that he looked at had it’s personal battle wounds, as if a war was waged in his neighborhood. Dropping to his knees in pure shock, Daniel said aloud, “There’s no way…no way all of this could have happened in just an hour. It looks as if a nuke hit my home town.” Regaining his composure a bit, he looked around at some of the houses and as he did, he saw a few faces hide behind the curtains of their windows as if they were afraid of his presence. With a slight sigh of relief, “There may be hope for my parents after all. I better get home.” Without another thought in his mind, he ran back home while trying to avoid all sorts of debris that were littered in his way.
Upon reaching his house, Daniel saw that it was just as ruined as every other house in his neighborhood. Taking a big breath and hoping his family was still alive, he walked up the drive and opened the door. “Mom! Dad! Katie!” he yelled out as he walked slowly around the rooms of his home. After a few minutes of yelling the same words throughout the house, Daniel finally came across his own room. However, he could tell something wasn’t right. Even though everything in the room was broken in some way or another, none of it was his old furniture. “This isn’t right…my bed isn’t even in here. What the hell is going on?!” Daniel yelled out. “I’ll tell you what’s going on kid.” A familiar voice said from the doorway. Turning around, Daniel knew exactly who it was. “DAD! What’s going on? What happe…?” However, Daniel’s questioning was cut short when his father pointed a gun straight at him. “Dad…?”
“I don’t know why you keep calling me that kid, but I never had a son. My wife and daughter are dead after what happened to us. I guess I was the lucky one…then again, am I really lucky to live in a world like this?” Daniel’s father said in a paranoid tone of voice. “Mom and Katie are dead…?” Daniel said as he leaned against what looked like a ruined bookcase. “Dad, what happened?” Immediately, the gun was pointed at Daniel’s head again. “I told you kid! I never had a son!” With a small glance to the side, he noticed the watch on Daniel’s wrist. “You’re one of them aren’t you? A Syndicate Diver! I should kill you right now for what you did…” Seeing that his father was getting serious, Daniel’s only option was to jump out of the window. With a loud crash, Daniel jumped through the window and he landed on the scorched ground outside with a big thud. Picking himself up he ran as quickly as he could away from his home and the gunshots that were aimed in his direction.
When Daniel was finally out of breath, he took a look around at his surroundings. He saw that he was in the park he usually came to when he needed to relax, of course now nothing about this place was relaxing. The only noticeable landmark was the playground that had all of its paint peeled off leaving only a rusted metal mess of bars. Trying to take in all that had happened to him, Daniel sat down on a hill near the playground and attempted to make sense of what was going on. “The world is in ruin, most of my family is dead, and apparently I don’t even exist.” As he wracked his brain trying to make any sense of his situation, Daniel took off his jacket and saw the journal still in the inside pocket. Removing it from the pocket, he gave a small laugh. “Heh, too bad no one will read this. Still…” Almost drawn by an unknown force, Daniel removed the pen from the journal’s binding and he began to write on the first page.
July 8, 2004 (I think)
This is the first page in this journal. I’m not even sure what I’m writing about, the people who wanted to read this in the end don’t even know of my existence. I guess I’m just bored. The world around me has changed, everything I know and love is gone. My home, my family, everything I wanted to become…all gone.
Today started ok, I mean today’s my 18th birthday. I got some great presents, ate a little cake, and got to see some of my grandfather’s final creations. Ahh…Grandpa Matt. Where are you? There’s a reason you gave me this watch wasn’t there?
The moment Daniel wrote those final words, everything snapped into perspective. “The watch! It opened a portal to another dimension before those Omega guys stormed the shelter. Before I blacked out...is that what happened to me? However, just as everything was becoming clear to him, Daniel heard the sound of vehicle engines getting closer. Before he could do anything about it, he was surrounded by what looked like military jeeps. Now blinded by large searchlights, Daniel could only see the silhouettes of men as they approached him. Finally, one of the men said to him, “Daniel Ziegler?” Still covering his eyes from the bright lights, Daniel could only say, “Yeah, that’s me. How do you know my name?” The same voice called out to him again ignoring Daniel’s question, “Good. Our leader would like to have a word with you…”
To Be Continued...
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-sits and waits-