By Josh Tyer
Blog stringer/free-lancer Josh Tyer introduces us to the first episode in a series.
The black enveloped her. Her thoughts were mismatched. She had not yet realized the ringing in her ears. It had fallen into a high-pitched white noise. She opened her eyes as the cracks of light shone down onto her face. A blur of a man’s face appeared through the cracks. Her eyes fluttered as she fell back into the depths of her mind.
Her eyes shot open; a cold sweat had overtaken her. Now the light was all around her, warming her sides. She looked up. The cinder block suspended above her head had been removed, along with the rubble covering up her arms and legs. She lunged towards this feeling of freedom, yet she couldn’t move. She looked side to side. Her eyes flared wildly as she tried to scream for help, but nothing came out. She was trapped, an onlooker in her own body. That blur of a face she had seen before looked down from above her. She tried to get up and run. She needed to get up and run.
Her mind was screaming, and she was sprinting, running, jumping, leaping away from everything weighing her down. Still, her arms would not spring her up, and her legs wouldn’t lunge her forward. She saw the outline of the man’s mouth move.
“You’re safe,” he seemed to say.
She couldn’t keep hold for much longer. She lost consciousness.
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“Eden?”
“Yes, Adam?”
“How are you feeling?”
“Sore, but I can keep walking.”
It must have been days, maybe even weeks. I can’t remember. It all feels like a haze. All it felt like was a cycle of immense pain, thirst, hunger, and unconsciousness. I was trapped under debris when it happened. Our city, our families, everyone, destroyed. The calamity tore everything we knew and loved away. Now, we wander in the shell of what was.
If it weren’t for Adam, I wouldn’t be where I am now. Adam rescued me from the collapsed building that had pinned me down. I was with my family when it struck. A bright light filled the windows. It tore the walls apart. It flung rubble across the sky and crushed the ground it fell upon. That’s all I can recall from the explosion.
“Eden? What are you writing?”
“Nothing really.”
“Are you sure?” Adam leaned over to see text scrawled across a dirty page.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“…Hey… do you see that?” She pointed towards the grey broken towers.
“Over there, above the buildings?”
“It’s… smoke?”
Adam’s face drained, and a shudder shook him to his core.
Editor: Shelby Armor
….waiting…eagerly….for more!