After the bombing, nothing was the same. Trees no longer sprouted and the grass was a dull beige color. The sound of laughter was unheard throughout the land. The survivors hardly came out of their small broken down shacks that were made of withered wood pieces. Children sat on the ground and stared at the constant grey sky wishing for sunshine; their parents worked hard to find scraps of food, sometimes going through desperate measures for a tiny morsel.
Joe was behind a bush, a utility knife in his hand, waiting for the next living thing to pass by. He was desperate for food, and his stomach growled to prove it. Something was moving on the other side of his small hiding spot. Joe peeked through to see what it was. On the ground sat a young boy, maybe five or six years younger than Joe. He was kicking rocks across the vacant used-to-be-pavement road. He had a sad expression on his face. Joe felt his stomach churn, he was starving, but he didn’t know if he could kill a kid playing with rocks. Seeing him play with rocks was a simple gesture, but it was the most fun thing Joe has seen in months.
The kid walked past Joe, leaving nothing but his foot prints behind. Joe’s stomach heaved at the thought of chasing him down to kill him. It wasn’t worth throwing up what little nourishment he had in him. He sat and starred up at the plain grey sky and scowled at it.
“God help me,” Joe whispered, “I will not kill anyone younger than me, even if it means starving to death."
“I guess that means you won’t kill me then?” a feminine voice echoed behind him.
Joe turned around to see a girl, probably two years younger than him. Joe thought this girl was familiar from somewhere. She held up a makeshift bow and arrow that she probably carved herself. Her ebony hair was thrown behind her in the wind, her yellow eyes burning. The young boy sat behind her, an evil grin on his face.
“What the…” Joe stammered and got to his feet. The woman’s bow followed his every move.
“Sissy, do we get to eat soon?” The young boy looked up at her with a depressing look that could make just about anyone want to help him.
“Yes Johnny, we’ll have food very soon,” she was starring at Joe, her golden eyes sparkling sending shivers down Joe’s spine.
“Who. Are. You?” Joe stood there confused, unable to look away from the she-devil’s eyes.
“I have many names,” she scowled, “but you can call me Jasmine.” She pointed to the little boy behind her, “This is Johnny.”
“Johnny the Great to you,” Johnny added to Jasmine’s sentence.
“You said you won’t kill anyone younger than yourself,” Jasmine smirked. “I hope you keep your word, Joe.”
It wasn’t until she said Joe’s name that he finally recognized the supposed Jasmine. “Cindy? Cindy Ericson?” Joe looked at her his eyes wide. Cindy used to be blonde and a lot less scary looking, and a tad bit on the heavier side.
“Hi there,” She winked and pulled the string on her bow back to her shoulder. “I’m actually surprised you recognized me Joe. I do look a lot different now-a-days.”
Joe’s head was spinning and throbbing, he had never seen anyone who could scare him like Cindy could. Her arm was pulling the bow just a tad bit further, he was so close to her it was nearly impossible to miss him. Joe ignored his confused brain and spinned around, his leg kicking up into the air knocking the bow out of her hands. He saw the bow land twenty feet away and he ran in the opposite direction hopping over the bush and across the road. Behind him he could hear Cindy picking up the bow and starting at him again. Joe looked for something to hide behind, but there was nothing. He kept running, he knew that Cindy wouldn’t leave her brother behind unprotected, so all he had to do was keep running till she had to turn around for Johnny.
“I will never stop chasing you Joe!” She screamed as she slowed down and looked behind her at Johnny straining to catch up. “Never! You hear me? Never!” she bellowed across the vacant land and stopped waiting for Johnny, to catch up.
Joe’s feet were moving quickly it seemed and he was literally running for his life, and now he could never stop. If he killed them, he would die of guilt, but if he didn’t defend himself they would kill him. Either way, Joe was going to die and he knew it. For now all he had to do was run, but one day he was going to have to face them.
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The sunless day was coming to an end, and Joe's feet were soar from all the running, but he wasn't done yet. He had at least another three vacant blocks to go. He picked up the pace wanting to get back before what little light there was, disappeared.
Joe saw his small shack he made himself and grinned. The thought of getting back made him so happy, he'd been gone for too long. He approached the door and pushed it open. Joe frowned, his shack was empty. Not that it had anything in it. Joe went back outside and searched the horizon. He saw a speck in the distance.
"Emily?!" Joe screamed. The speck moved and he smiled. "Emily come home!"
"I'm coming!!" Emily shouted and skipped quickly towards Joe. Her face was pale and round, her dark brown hair fell down her back like a waterfall. Her black eyes shinning, making Joe smile.
"What have you been doing?" Joe laughed seeing that Emily had her hands full of assorted dead plants.
"I was hoping," Emily blushed a bit, her face tilting down. "If you could maybe, do that one trick?"
"Well, I guess I could," Joe took the plants in his hands clasping around them. He closed his eyes and bright rays of light came from his hands. Emily was in awe as the plants in his hands were turning green. Joe opened his eyes and smiled. "Here ya' go," Joe handed her a bushel of black eyed susan's.
"Thanks Joe!" Emily smiled and put the flowers up to her nose and sniffed them, inhaling their sweet scent.
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"She's so beautiful," Joe spoke softly into the viewing portal to Earth. His pure blue eyes glaring into it deeply, and his dirty blonde hair crowned his face as he looked down into the portal.
"Who's so beautiful?" Cindy spoke angrily from behind him. Her short blonde hair fell in her face, and her blue eyes filled with rage.
"You of coarse!" Joe lied and turned around. He wiped his brow and smiled at her.
"Better be," Cindy smirked and stood by Joe. "Whatcha lookin' at?" She looked into the portal and saw her. A short girl in her late teens, her dark hair blowing in the windy night air. "Well then Joe, who's that?"
"Oh that's just," Joe struggled with an answer. "That's Emily. She's well-- a person."
"Just Emily huh?" Cindy glared at Joe.
In the portal Emily was running. A couple of drunk drooling men were chasing her. Her face was scared and there were tears in her eyes.
"Oh God!" Joe screamed into the portal. He looked over at Cindy who was giggling. "You?!" Joe said accusingly.
"You have no proof," she smiled. "Lets go now hmm?" She grabbed his arm pulling him towards her.
Joe looked into the portal concentrating hard on it. Inside the men fell all over the ground and Emily escaped. Joe smiled and turned around following Cindy out of the portal room.
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When the darkness became just a little lighter, Joe woke up to Emily laying next to him and he smiled. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the back of her head. He heard tiny whimpering coming from her and she rolled around to face him.
"Morning," Emily smiled, her eyes shinning in the darkness.
"Morning," Joe squeezed her tighter and kissed her forehead.
Emily smiled and looked up at Joe. She closed her eyes and shoved her face into his chest. Joe squeezed her tighter, cuddling her closer. Her stomach growled and Joe frowned.
"When was the last time you ate?" Joe asked angrily, he knew that he gave her some food yesterday before he left.
"Uh--" Emily stammered. "A couple days ago."
"I gave you food yesterday morning," Joe looked down at her, upset that she hasn't ate.
"Well," Emily moved her head to look at him. "There were some kids, and- and- well... Joe, they were starving!"
"If you keep giving your food away you'll be starving too!" Joe sighed and hugged her. "Although it's so sweet of you to do that."
[img:ccc6f71bb7]http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab207/emilyisanangel15/racoon-1.jpg[/img:ccc6f71bb7]
