Nightmare State

Chapter 1

I lived in Saro. Its a big town but full of gangs. Everyday was normal there. Kids would be playing on the sidewalk. Nothing ever went bad. There was a occasional fight here and there, but nothing bad. Until they arrived. The "monsters". Just one touch and you're stuck in a nightmare. When they arrived, everything went to hell. The government disappeared. Electricity went out. Hospitals closed. Schools stopped. The whole world was put in a state of terror. They put up walls around all the places that hadn't been invaded yet. Only rich people were allowed in there. Everyone who didn't have the money to get in the safe cities were trapped. Families. Children. Mothers. Fathers. People ran to the wall to try to escape the hell but no one made it. At least no one I know of. This all happened while I was just six. I remember it so vividly. The terror. The screams. I was in kindergarten. My friends and I stood there crying. The teacher was already taken by the monsters. I ran out of the room as fast as I could but my friends did't make it. I never found my mother. I don't think I will.

Its been twelve years already. I survived in the shadows, running from them. It hasn't been easy but it's better than being stuck in a nightmare forever. It's starting to feel like this is a nightmare. I was able to keep a garden I had behind my house growing. I knew how to grow fruits and all because my mother loved gardening. I usually am able to sneak into a grocery store to get other stuff like clothing, but something stopped me today. It didn't stop me in a bad way. No. It was shocking. Usually I go to a store and find the bodies of those who were trapped in a nightmare on the ground. They stop aging, their eyes turn white, and their face is full of fear. This time though, I passed by a body and they woke up. It was a man. He looked eighteen, but it's been twelve years. He looked scared, lost, and confused. Hell, he has every reason to be scared. How did he wake up though? It's the first time I've ever seen someone wake up. He looked around til he saw me standing at least a few feet behind him, next to the door of the grocery store. His eyes were still white but slowly turning back to whatever color they used to be. After a few seconds, he looked at me as if he recognized me. I just walked away. Right when I turn around, I see it. The monster. It stares at me with its glowing red eyes and smiles with its sharp yellow teeth. Its body looks like a cloud of smoke in the form of a hunchback giant. Just being near it, I feel goosebumps. It starts to float near me but I turn around and start to run. I see the man and he's on the floor while staring at the monster, except this time, he ain't smiling. I pick him up and start to run a bit. He's a little heavy but I can't stop. My camp is close by. I can make it. I can make it. He starts to struggle so I let him down. Right when I put him down, he picks me up and runs faster then I was on the street. "Hold on tight." he said with a smirk. I look behind and I see around three new monsters chasing us. Wait, where are we going? "Umm, where are we going exactly?" I ask. "Anywhere they aren't." he responds with a hint of sarcasm. He turns into an alleyway. "You just trapped us!" I yell. Right after I spoke he covered my mouth with his hand and hides behind a garbage can. The monsters walked into the alleyway but they didn't walk close enough to us to see us. After they left, I pushed his hand off of my mouth and just stared at him with shock in my eyes. "So now what?" he says. "I-" Right when I speak, I'm struck with confusion. What DO we do now? There are definatly too many monsters on the street to run to my camp. I look around til I see a ladder to one of the building's window. I point to it and respond, "Let's climb up there and try to hide out for awhile." He nods and says, "Want me to give you a lift so you can grab it?" "Sure." He kneels and puts his hands together so I can get closer. I grab the ladder and bring it down to where we can climb it. Once we climb it, I try to open the window to realize that it's locked. I turn to him and start to zone out while speaking. "It's locked. We could try to pick the lock or we could climb to the roof and-" All of a sudden, I hear a loud shatter sound. I turn back around to see that he entered by breaking the window. Who is this guy? "Sorry but you were talking too much and I needed an escape. Are you coming?" I enter and give him a stare. "So Mister. Know-it-all, how will we stop those monsters from entering?" He points to a hammer. "I'll board up the windows." "Ok then. I'll check the kitchen for some food and water." I walk away and check the kitchen. The whole place was empty. Expected to be honest. There are a few survivors I've meet and a few gangs that raid places. I found out about them the hard way. A while back they raided me. Luckily, I have some carrots and apples that I grew in my bag, but I only had one bottle of water. If this happened a month ago, I would have some meat because they used to do supply drops, but they stopped after the last supply drop crashed and exploded. I went back to where he- Wait. I don't know his name. I'll ask him. "What's your name?" "Just call me Troy." "Your name's Troy?" "No. Just call me Troy. What do I call you?" I stood there for a while before speaking. "Kat. Call me Kat." "Ok Kat, so we should probably stay here til it's safe to go to where ever you stay. Since it may be awhile til it's safe, we should sleep now so we can leave at night in the shadows. Sound good?" I nod and go to the couch. "You can sleep in the bed and I'll sleep on the couch." He says. "No thanks, this couch is comfy." He shrugs and walks away. Right when he walks away, I doze off to sleep.