Before I begin, I need to determine some things first. I truly hope that you read this in your mind or even out loud the way I heard it in my mind.
Some of the characters have accents, including the main character. For this first part, and the rest of this story, I write in an Irish dialect, so the spelling may be a bit odd. This is first person and that is my reason for writing it the way I did. The list of accents for this "chapter" : Main Character and Connor: Irish. Thomas: Heavy Proper British. Lei: Light Chinese everyone else thus far is just American accent. No southern drawl or anything like that.
I implore you to go look up some Irish accent dialogue, to properly get the full effect.
Well now that's clarified, I hope you enjoy another one of my apocalypse themed books. :D
When t'e ground is consumed by marauders and gangs, fightin' for supplies and territory, t'ere's not a lot of safe places. T'ere's t'e few safe houses spread around t'e country, t'e woods, or t'ere's t'e place I call home, t'e rooftops and trees. I am one of t'e few tryin' to make a difference in the havoc of t'is new world. Ot'ers are my lads, Connor, Thomas, and Lei.
I've known Connor since we left Ireland four years ago. We had just turned 19. We decided t'at we needed a change. We'd heard of a team of freerunners in London. T'ey called t'emselves Urban Freeflow. Dats where we met Thomas. We traveled for a year, wit' t'e team, as a part of our initiation. We ran in places like Brazil, France, Turkey, and China. When we got to Bangkok, we met up with the lads at 3Run Parkour. Thomas hooked up with Lei. He decided to stay, and Connor and I could not leave him.
So t'e team moved on. Anot'er t'ree months past, and we decided to try out America. We stopped in Los Angeles and met wit' Tempest. A buddy of Thomas, Jesse La Flair, took us to his 5 favorite places to run. T'en we tried out t'eir academy. After a week of runnin', surfin', and lookin' t'e pretty ladies, we moved on to New York. We had t'e lads from Parkour Generations give us a tour. We stayed t'ere for about 2 weeks. T'ey told us dat t'ere were a few places to take look at in Florida and Ohio.
But we never made it ta Florida. Dats when all hell broke lose. We were in Columbus, runnin' wit' a group downtown. But we had just stopped for drinks at t'e local. Connor and I ordered a couple jars. We sat in a snug, and I turned my head to t'e tele, and I could not believe what I was seein'. It was a video of a recently destroyed city. T'en I looked at t'e title. "Dirty Nuclear Bomb Goes Off in San Francisco". I hoped dat Tempest was okay."Connor, are ya seein' dis?" I asked.
"Oh my god." Thomas turned around to t'e tele.
"Breaking news, another dirty bomb has gone off in New York. Millions are dead. The President has declared a state of emergency." T'e news anchor reported.
"I have information, that the group of extremists responsible for the dirty bombs, have been receiving support and supplies from Russia. The Secretary of Defense and I have agreed that it is necessary to return hostility. Therefore, Congress has declared war on Russia."
So we decided dat we would stay wit' a friend of Lei's. Just until it'all blew over. I mean, how long could it last. Lei's friend lived an hour away, a town called Heat' (Heath). I' twas not dat big, a lot shops and fast food, but not much else. It felt calm for a short while. I even started speakin' wit' a fine little bird. Her name was Emily. I even remember when we met.
Thomas, Lei, Connor, Brooke and I, were all at t'e mall. Thomas had just started t'e topic of a time when we were brutally bolloxed. For which Connor and I was t'e same night. We were sittin' in t'e food court, and Connor was explainin' away. When a pretty las caught my eye. Thomas saw me lookin' and turned to see what at. "You have your eye on a pretty lady?" He said. Every time he talked seemed to make a small table of lasies giggle.
"I do," noddin' at t'e lasies' table, "and you have yourself a fan club." He glanced back at t'e table, and kissed Lei. T'e girls stopped t'eir gigglin' . "You did not have to ruin t'eir dreams."
"Well it looks like yours will be coming true. Those ladies t'at you be lookin' at are on t'eir way over." Connor laughed. But it was no joke. The bird I has lookin' at was walkin' towards us. She had a smile on her beautiful face. None of t'e lasies at home ever looked like her, even when I was bolloxed. T'ey walked past, but she looked back and saw me eyein' her. She quickly looked back to her friends.
"Excuse me while I go and catch a ride." I got up and jogged after her. "Excuse me las," I said to get her attention, she turned around, "But what is a dote like you doin' wit'out her fella?" Her and her friends giggled. I could see her scarlet.
"And what exactly is a dote?" She asked me. Her voice like an angel.
"Oh, forgive my Irish terms. Not used to talkin' wit' Americans. A dote is a cute girl." Now even her friends noticed her scarlet.
"Well, this cute girl doesn't have a fella." She eyed me up and down. "Yet." I smiled at her. "Do you have a girlfriend?" Her friends start to walk away, one whispered to her.
"I don't. Yet." She held out her hand.
"I'm Emily." I bent down and kissed her hand.
"Liam."
