Chapter 3

“Catching their breaths, the girl burst out into laughter. “Wow, that was amazing; I mean did you see how I split the beast's head amazing, right,” She said with a smile while looking at the guy who was leaning against the wall for support, still trying to catch his breath “Where did you get that sword? the guy asked as he looked at the sword in her hand. "Oh, the red one told me to grab it out of the tree cause it was stuck, but he told me to grab it and split the beast in half "the guy stared at her with a confused look, making her feel awkward. "why are you staring at me like that?" she asked.

The red one?

"Yeah,” she replied.

“...Well?” he asked.

“Well, what. . .?” she asked.

“Who is the red on?!” he asked loudly.

“Ohh. . . the red one is One of the good voices. She said

“Voices?” He remarked.

“Yeah,” she replied.

“The red one. . .told you. . . to grab that particular sword, to kill that beast,” he said as he started to walk towards her slowly.

“Uh. . .yeah, You're welcome, by the way”.

“I didn’t say ‘Thank You,’ so tell me more about the voice.”

“Well, Of Course!, He’s kinda like my-” Before she could say anything else, Redone shouted, “DON’T TELL HIM UNTIL IT’S TIME!” she nodded to herself and smiled at the guy and said, “Oh, Uh, nothing forget what I just said, my head is woozy from today” she nervously laughed. The guy crossed his arm, saying, “ I don’t believe you.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you; if you don’t believe me, then you don’t believe me.” She said while walking passed him, taking in the view of her surroundings. The ground floor and large open room were filled with dilapidated, obsolete machinery were trashed. Every surface had a thick layer of dust. EVERYTHING- the machines, the style, even the colors- was outdated. It looked as though time had refused to touch this place. “What is all this stuff. . .?” she inquired.

The guy was taking in his surroundings. “It looked like this used to be a factory; it needs a bit of fixing.” He mumbled as he touched a dusty machine. “You know if we could use this as our safe place.” He said while looking at the girl. The red one told her.

“Uhm. . .actually let’s just clean this table off for now. I have some food. Starving. You hungry?” he asked. “A little,” she said. As they finished setting the table, the guy opened his bag and started to pull out these containers filled with different types of food. “So what do you have to eat?” asked the girl as she scooted closer to the table. “I got roast beef, some fruits, mixed nuts and water.” said the guy. The girl made a disgusted face “Ew”

“Ew?” what do you MEAN “Ew. . .?” he offended.

“Uhh. . . I just mean that those options aren’t my favorites. . . You have anything else?” she said with an innocent smile. “No, I don’t have anything else, Your Highness.” she laughed as he glared at her. “What’s wrong?”

“You can’t afford to be picky now, girl.”

“O. . .kay, then I’ll just eat whatever you have”

He passed some of the food and they ate in silence.“So. . . what’s your name?” the girl asked. The guy looked at her and cleared his throat saying “My name is Ron, what about yours” She took a sip of her water and said “Harmony” ‌Ron‌ ‌nodded‌ ‌and said, "You have a beautiful name." She choked on her drink. “Thank You” He nodded his head. “We should get some rest then buy more food for tomorrow and fix this place up, how does that sound?” Harmony nodded her head while saying “Sounds great” After they got done eating, they searched the building to find some blankets and pillows. “ This is all I could find” Ron said as he held a few blanket and to pillows. “Perfect, Now let's 'Let's make a pallet and rest,' she said, "because I'm tired."‌ ‌They‌ ‌made‌ ‌their pallet‌ ‌and‌ ‌laid down.

Chapter 2

It was then she began to be aware of her surroundings. Acrid smoke billowed from dark footprints on the ground, and the sky was bile green. It appeared as though the sun had been eclipsed, casting strange and long shadows. Every single tree was aflame, and ashes fell like gray snowflakes. She had never felt so hollow. “This is your planet now. Said the red voice. “THIS is your planet.” It emphasized. A solitary tear fell from her eye. “Redone? Why does our planet look like this?” she said as she was taking in the view of the atmosphere. “Don’t cry, little one; it’ll be okay,” was all the Red one said. “CRACK” Turning her head, she heard the sound of a tree branch breaking. “Hello? who’s there?” Feeling herself being grabbed from behind and a hand covering her mouth, she squirmed in their hold, trying to get away. “Shh or they will hear us,” said a voice. She nodded her head, keeping quiet. As she stood there, she saw a black monster-type thing. A small whimper came from her. “Shh!” said the voice. As they watched the monster disappear, they stood there for a couple of minutes in silence; only their breathing was heard. As she felt herself being slowly released, she pushed the stranger away and shouted, “WHO ARE YOU! AND WHAT WAS THAT” she stared at the person who was in front of her; it was a male who wore a hooded Cardigan Long Cape Cloak Suit, a bow, and arrow set with a Balaclava Full Face Mask “Say something,” she said to him “DUCK,” his deep voice said. She tilted her head, trying to think what he meant. “Duck? What I don’t understand–” He shoved her to the ground and grabbed his bow and arrow from his quiver, and struck the monster in the eye. He then grabbed the girl by her wrist, yanking her to her feet, and started to run. From behind, they heard a furious scream of pain. She looked back and saw the monster drop down on all fours, its nostrils flaring. It began to chase them like a rabid dog, bounding over the cratered footprints in the earth. She screamed, “KEEP RUNNING!” The monster set free another ungodly roar with green saliva dripping from its lower jaw. From where its saliva landed on the ground, steam rose in wisps. “Don’t look back; keep running,” Said the mystery man as he was still holding onto her wrist (basically dragging her). “Can you run any faster?”

“I’m running as quickly as I CAN!!” The creature was gaining on them, and then the most unfortunate thing occurred: he tripped. “GET UP!” she screamed “I’M TRYING!!” he returned. She helped him to his feet, but they had already lost valuable time. They had already lost their lead. It was within 16 feet of them as they hobbled towards the door a building. “I can’t go on any further, I have to get rid of this beast, so you’ll have to go on without me.” She looked at the guy and shook her head no. “No!. . . I’m not leaving you with whatever THAT is!” without saying anything else, he pushed her to the side as he felt the beast dragging its claw between them. Avoiding another claw attack the guy dogded it, he reached for his bow and arrow but the beast clawed the weapon out of his hands. Not knowing what to do next, he sat there as the beast got close to his face as he was covering his face with his hands shielding himself, he heard a scream coming from the girl. “Ahh!” she shouted as she jumped up and sliced the beast head in half with the mighty sword. He looked at her in confusion, slowly smiling, “Nicely done. . . Now, Come on. . .” She helped him up putting one arm around her shoulder as they entered the building.

Chapter 1

It was July 9th in the 2000s, around 11:30 pm, when it all began

30minutes still to pass through before the sky splinters like wood; cracks stretched west to east, north to south. “Storm’s coming,” she said

Everyone looked at her, confused about what she was talking about; They just started to laugh and call her a “psycho.” She stood up from her seat and said in a severe tone, “You gotta believe me,” but they didn’t listen as they just continued to laugh or ignore her. Laughter. . . MORE laughter. She had been ridiculed for most of her short life, her 17 years on this planet, so this wasn’t new. It was, however, Different now THIS TIME. . .they was coming; it was a hallucination, nor in her imagination, it was genuine this time. She ran outside in FULL PANIC she looked around and saw a man walking by on his phone she grabbed onto the man’s arm shaking him and telling him that “they are coming” but the man shook her off and continued to walk and talk on his phone.

“Why does no one believe me? Why are they ignoring me.” As she was in her thoughts, the ground began to rumble. Softly at first, like the whispers of vibration that follow an earthquake, but very obviously increasing in both intensity of movement and sound. She screamed, “HE’S HERE!!” Everyone stopped to look at her when a lady came to her and asked if she was okay. “Don’t look up; cover your ears and eyes.” But it was too late; they were already looking up at the sky, being hypnotized. “NO NO!!” she started to wave her hands in front of their faces, but nothing happened. She didn’t get a reaction from them; they were just. . . FROZEN in place. “No, this can’t be happening” As she began to panic, she felt her body shake like she was having a seizure and her nose began to bleed, and her eyes started to roll in the back of her head. As she tried to fight it off, it became more robust. “Mmm, N-no” was all that came out of her mouth. She felt herself being tackled to the ground like someone was on her shielding her from it. She couldn’t move. “Hello,” said an unfamiliar voice. She tried to focus her eyes on whoever had just spoken to her but found no one. “I’ve returned.” the voice said again. Her mind felt abuzz with hundreds of bees, so loud she couldn’t even think through that buzzing; the voice spoke again, the only clarity she was offered, “You need to take deep breaths. NOW. Listening to the voice, she took in a couple of deep breaths. “Good, can you hear me?” she nodded her head as she couldn’t speak. “Okay, good, I’m going to get us out of here, do you trust me?” once again, she nodded her head as she felt herself being lifted and carried somewhere. “Do me a favor and keep your eyes closed, okay? I’ll tell you when you are free to open them.” The voice said. She felt a gust of wind flow through her hair; she felt safe in this person's arms. But the whispers only became louder and ruder inside her head. “No,” she said as she shook her head, frightened by their words. A sense of panic and confusion enveloped her, sharpening the dull edge of her consciousness. “ No.” said the original voice sternly. “You do not listen to him,” said the red voice. “Don’t listen to them; listen to the sound of my voice, not theirs; just hang on a little longer; we are almost there...You said you trust me, correct, ”? She nodded again. “Then TRUST ME.” replied the voice. “Who ARE you?” “I am the red one.”

“Okay red one, who is carrying me?” There was no answer, just the sound of the wind blowing. “Hello, you there?” she said, but there was still no answer, so she was about to open her eyes to see until she heard the red voice shout “DON’T YOU DARE, I SAID NOT TO OPEN YOUR EYES, DON’T DISOBEY ME!” she quickly shut her eyes tightly “ I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” The red voice sighed, explaining, “ I apologize for shouting, but I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping your eyes closed until I tell you it’s safe. Now, please keep them shut until then. Understand?” . . . Okay.” she replied

“You have to trust this person; I know you’re scared, but please. . . trust in this person because I sent them to help you and bring you to safety” she nodded her head and began to relax her body. Finally, they reached a safe spot; she felt herself being put down, “Okay, now open your eyes,” the red voice said. She slowly opened her eyes and gasped.