Futuristic The Aftermath [ Tragictrees & Rattyray ]

[elytra]

The Aftermath
​

When the Zolny invaded, no one had really expected it.

You don't really expect those sort of things to happen on normal days, the sort of days where the sky is clear and the sun is shining, the type of days when you have things you have to do, and errands you have to run. Those days, the ones where nothing is really bad, but it isn't outstandingly good either, are the ones that are the most boring. They lull you into a sort of security, because nothing happens. You follow the same schedule you always do, on a sort of auto-pilot state of mind, just waiting until you get some free time during the day to do things you want to do. That was the sort of day it happened on, and maybe that's why no one really saw it coming. And, when you don't see things coming, it's easier for them to take you down.

That's what happened, about a year ago. It happened so quickly that no one really even had the chance to fight back, because for a moment, they weren't there, and then suddenly they were, destroying things and hauling people off. Within weeks, the bases for camps were built, and more people had been taken, forced into a sort of subdued state where they couldn't fight back if they wanted to. The number of people who hadn't been taken dwindled, and those who tried to fight back were taken care of quickly. A few more weeks, and the camps were a bit more permanent, and creatures from the aliens had been sent to hunt down the rest of the escapees. Then, months passed, and more people were gone, and more, and more, until seeing another person was either a miracle or a curse, because hostility had risen, and you had to do what you could to get food and clean water, not to mention other supplies and shelter. It was a coin flip, whether reactions to other people would be good or not.

So far, Daphne Eunice had been lucky.

As a medical student before the incident, she had been lucky enough to know various medical tricks, which came in handy whenever she was moving quickly and got injured. She had also made it a point to help out other people as she went, if she could and if they were willing. People had been willing and even grateful for all the instances that she had been in such situations, so her luck shone through again there. Another luck-filled occurrence was the fact she had been camping at the time, and so, she still had all her supplies, for the most part. She didn't need to raid as much as other people might have, and that was a good thing, because at first things had been crazy. She had stuck to the wilderness outside the city for about a month, waiting the crowds and riots out. She was lucky. In short? She was waiting for that luck to run out. It hadn't yet, but it couldn't last forever. She kept her expectations low.

Currently, she was dodging a patrol. She had tried to memorize the patterns and areas they scanned, but she hadn't been able to remember them as well as she had wanted to. It was difficult, and sometimes, they switched it up. They didn't always check buildings, though, mostly the streets and alleyways, and through shop windows. Office buildings and small businesses that didn't have food were passed over with not much more than a thought. They didn't have much comfort, nor many supplies, but as far as she was concerned, the fact she was safe surpassed both of those. So she had set herself up in a building, and, as it did every once in a while, a patrol was going by. She was staying away from the windows, under a desk, taking note of the exits if she had to run. So long as she didn't hear anyone come in, she was good. She clutched her weapon, a crowbar, a little tighter.

Her luck was running out.

 

[rattyray]

Things were . . . less than ideal on Earth as of right now.

When the Zolny first attacked everything felt like an overly convincing dream - no nightmare, that no one could really wake up from. But now, a year into the chaos, most of humanity has accepted that this is their new reality, whether they liked it or not.

The, conscious, human population was decreasing more and more as time slowly dragged on and the people who weren't being taken as slaves of sorts were turning on each other faster then thought possible. For some it was very discouraging, but for others like Eden Daniels it was even more motivating. You see, Eden refused to lie down and take things as they are, no, she wanted to fight back. She wanted to get her brother back more than anything in the world. She'd promised herself that she was going to take down these invaders, single-handedly if need be!

As realistic as her goal seemed it was the only thing keeping Eden from completely giving up. That's all that really matters, right, a will to live; no matter how small or big it may be.

You imagine her frustration when Eden found herself trapped in a building with no foreseeable escape without being caught by patrol. She, regretfully, couldn't really blame anybody but her stupid impulsive decisions. Eden had only been in the city for gas. Her truck was an old model; it ran on gas instead of electricity so it didn't get taken out by the EMP the Zolny sent when they first invaded. Most charging stations had at least one pump for gas run vehicles. She was supposed to be in and out of the city no problem, but of course she ran into some problems. Eden was barely in the city before she had to find a place to hide because of one of those things had been roaming the city.

So now, here she was, hiding in a random building with her truck parked maybe a block or two away all because of some gas. And the funny thing was that she didn't even need the gas, her truck's tank was full. She was just stocking up. Her paranoia and fear caught up to her and trapped her in a trance of impulsive decisions.

Eden muttered a string of curse words to herself as she speedily ran through the corridor of some random building she ran into. In a moment of panic she picked a random door and ran through it without even checking the room beforehand. Eden didn't really have to keep running, she'd lost the Zolny that was chasing after her through the confusing alleyways of the city, but of course she had yet to realize this. She slammed the door behind her and slid to the ground, her back to the door, quietly heaving as she tried to catch her breath. A bead of sweat raced down her face.

 

[elytra]

Daphne had been near sure that she was in the clear. She had found office buildings to be the safest place, considering they had nothing of use in them. No beds, no real food or water, no weapons, no reason to be there. People were mostly focused on places they knew they could get supplies, and that was a rookie mistake, because those were always checked first. The Zolny knew that people needed food and water, and would try to go and get it. Daphne had almost done that herself at one point, but had proceeded to witness someone get captures due to it, and so she had decided that, unless desperate, she would not approach stores or places that were obviously stocked with food and water. Instead, she went to places like aquariums and zoos, where everything was dead and decaying, and hit up the snack machines, which weren't the healthiest option, but a safer one. She would use her crowbar to smash the glass, then shove everything in her bag. The best hauls were the ones that included things like bags of nuts and granola bars, things that weren't healthy, but not necessarily going to instantly clog her arteries. There were also drink machines around, and while getting into those was a little harder, it was worth it.

So she thought she was good. She wasn't.

She wasn't good, because she heard the door open, then close. That meant that someone was in the room, and not only that, but they were in the room with her. Either they were Zolny, they were a normal person, or they were a person that would be ready to shank her as soon as they noticed her. Those were the only options, and only one of them was good. Usually, in her experience, the good option happened a lot, so either she could hide until they left and risk being caught and killed out of suspicion, or she could show herself and get it over with. It was a small room. Confrontation was probably a matter that would probably have to be dealt with.

She took a deep breath, clutching the crow bar, before getting up quickly, pointing it at whoever had just entered the room. Human. They were human. That didn't mean they weren't dangerous, though. If they had a gun, she was screwed. They looked tired, though, so she doubted this was an attempted raid. "Don't move. Or...well....don't move, if you have a gun. I'm not in the mood for anything funny, alright?" She said. Act tough, act tough. Appearances were near everything. Appearances could stop things before they began.

 

[rattyray]

Eden would be lying if she said she didn't nearly jump out of her skin when the girl popped up seemingly out of nowhere.

Good thing Eden is a very skilled liar.

Her eyes widened and she took a sharp intake of breath. She tried her very best to hide her surprise but she didn't know if she was doing a good job or not. Her hand quickly went for the gun holster around her waist but she stopped when she saw . . . something in the person's hand. The lights were out so it was kind of hard to see what they had. Eden raised her hands in surrender, with a heavy sigh, and slowly got to her feet. "This is not how I planned on my afternoon going," she muttered dejectedly to herself. Eden put on a scowl (which was basically her neutral expression) once she was face to face with this person. After a year of this mess Eden realized that you either have to toughen up or get trampled; good thing she was tough going into this thing.

"Look, I'm not here to hurt you, so please put the . . ." Eden finally focused her eyes on what the person had and she could only roll her eyes in response. She dropped her arms and crossed them over her chest. "Really? A crowbar?" she asked, in slight disbelief. It was almost funny and at the same time kind of worrying. If this person thought that a crowbar would protect them from a Zolny or one of their hounds they were sorely mistaken. Although they made it up to this point in the invasion so they must be doing something right.

With a small shake of her head Eden uncrossed her arms and hiked up the straps of the backpack she was wearing. In a way Eden was relieved that this person only had a crowbar but that doesn't mean she's going to let her guard down. You never know what somebody has up their sleeve. "Like I said, I'm not going to try and hurt you or whatever, I just need a place to hide while things die down out there," she said and pointed out a window, "then I'll be on my merry way. Deal?" Eden really hoped that they let her stay because she really didn't want to resort to her plan B - which was to knock this person out and hope by the time they wake up she'd be gone.