“Get up! Get up!” I said running along the well-built structure that withheld the water plant. Small grumbles and moans came flooding through all of the sleeping bags and blankets that we had all piled on the night before. Everyone seemed to not be morning people at all. Nobody was up at all, except a few simple people around brewing coffees and teas for everyone. The freezing temperatures were still pounding down upon us and the town of Rivesville. I had on a large coat filled with goats fur, since any other animals in Rivesville had already died of coldness. Everyone else around me was covered in blankets, quilts, and beach towels. Anything they could find was being used. People had even taken showers in the hot springs that were outside of the water plant, that was were all of the extra water went. Being winter, it was heated. Shivering, I decided to go over to my brother to see if he was okay.
“Dale? Dale you there?” I said, pushing his sleeping bag over to find a half-asleep Dale. Just a little moan and I knew he wasn’t waking up anytime soon. I hopped up on his bag and jumped on his half-asleep body.
"Up, up up!" I joked around with him and laughed, kinda like old times at the shack where I would always wake him up. I was like a personal alarm clock. I then remembered something.. the rest of the family. Where was Mom and Dad? What about Grandma Driver? I hadn't even thought of them after everything that happened lately had been on my mind. I looked around and whispered in Dale's ear silently,
"What about Mom and Dad? Do you think they're alive?" For once, I wasn't talking about this soon to be war. I was actually stressed out about something else.. Great.
"Excuse me!" I called out among the half-asleep people. "I need to get a group of soldiers to come with me to my old house? Most of you know where it is, the old run down shack just a bit out of town? I'll be leading you."
A few people got up around me and volunteered to go with me. A girl by the name of Jenny walked up and introduced herself, then shook my hand like I was actually somebody important. It was actually a very big surprise to me. I looked around and put on a few extra uniforms and blankets, to block out the cold. I walked over to where the coffee was and grabbed a cup as the sweet liquid filled my chest. I turned to face the door and unlocked every lock that seemed to be on it, and stepped into the cold winter air. It should still be Autumn, but once again, Sweden and whoever was with them had totally different ideas.
I walked through the cold feet of snow that seemed to cover the whole landscape. Everything was white and no exceptions. We passed the market and bodies lay lifeless around the whole town. I wonder if this was how it was around the whole US, but how was I supposed to know? The TV's around town didn't work anymore, so we were certainly cut off from the rest of the world. I snapped back into reality as we kept walking through the now dead market.
"Raid all the stores, look for any foods or fabrics." I commented as the soliders stormed whatever was left. People were frozen in time, and literally. I looked around and examined the market. I went over to the middle of it where the fountain that was so beautiful it seemed, was frozen. The bench that sat beneath it was frozen, also, but I sat down there anyways.
It didn't seem real. People I had seen just yesterday were already dead, and many people were dying from hunger already. Was this what they wanted? Us to become a third world country? because they sure did get what they wanted. Every house had already or was in the process of collapsing, and children were seen dead in the hands of their own mothers. It was a sickening sight. I closed my eyes and remember a happy childhood memory, trying to get away from this place. I was brought back to the sights once one of my soldiers tapped my shoulder.
"Yes?" I mumbled, not even opening my eyes to see who it was.
"We've found your parents, Ma'am." The boy said with a serious expression to his face. He looked pale, and I could tell he saw something he really didn't want to see. He motioned for me to follow him, as I reluctantly got up and followed. He walked into the old coffee shop that stood in the Market as I could already see what they had found. In the back of the room, an old man and woman were covered in blood. They hadn't died of natural causes. Above them, written on the wall, were three simple words.
