The Morning After (Part 1)
A story I wrote for a contest on Reddit. It's not my best work but I intend to continue the story in the future.
Mylo awoke to a bright light shining through his window. Figuring it was time to get out of bed, the tired red fox sat up and swiveled around to face his bedroom door. A quick glance at his phone alarmed him; "Only 4:23 and I've got 15 unread messages? Shit." After reading the first message, he jumped out of bed, grabbed a Rockstar from the mini fridge he used as a nightstand, and threw on some jeans and a hoodie.
Meanwhile on the other side of town, Tenzin was going through a similar experience. The young Tibetan Sand fox had always been looked up to by his friends, despite being a mere 21 years old. He grabbed his phone to find that he had 23 unread messages. "You've got to be kidding me" he muttered to himself. He put on his boots, grabbed his concealed carry, a Smith and Wesson .357 snub-nose revolver, donned a loose jacket and headed for the door.
As Mylo opened his bedroom door, he noticed two things; first, the place reeked of smoke. Secondly, his living room was destroyed. Looking up, he saw smoke rising from the surrounding buildings. Now completely awake, he used the rubble as stepping stones to get to street level. "Thank God I was in the basement" he thought to himself, his jaw wide open. Looking around to piece together what had happened, he saw a pile of rubble where he normally parked his motorcycle. "Oh hell no!" he shouted as he sprinted over to the pile and began lifting pieces of wood and bricks off the bike as quickly as he could. He finally dug deep enough to see the canvas colored cover he always threw over his bike at night. "Please be ok! Please be just fine!" he cried. Removing the cover, he discovered that the gas tank was dented and the paint was scratched, but there were no leaks. He rolled the bike into the street and straddled the old Ducati. He gave the kickstarter a solid kick and the bike roared to life, the throaty sound echoing through the eerily silent streets.
Tenzin only had to read the first couple messages before things clicked:
4:14 AM - Dmitri: "TENZIN, GET UP! THEY'RE HERE!"
4:17 AM - Jenny: "OH MY GOD! TENZIN, THEY'VE COME!"
There was no doubt in his mind who they were. He'd been keeping track of their patterns for 2 years now and, just like he'd warned the city council, they were here.
They were The Federation. An elitist group based in what used to be Eastern Europe. Shortly after the European Union fell apart, the United Nations followed suit, essentially leaving each individual country to fend for itself. Civil unrest led to civil wars and one by one, countries fell apart, eventually leaving most of Europe in shambles. The Federation arose from the ashes of several small countries, most of which were in Eastern Europe. They were growing in size and had outposts across Europe and were looking to expand further. Now, they were knocking on North America's door.
As Mylo's Ducati rumbled up the abandoned streets, he surveyed the damage. Entire buildings were torn apart and what remained of the cable car lines were strewn across the road. His city was completely destroyed, a total loss.
Tenzin fired up his truck and traversed the rubble. He knew exactly where he needed to be and he should've been there yesterday. Pushing the truck as fast as it would go over the torn up asphalt and chunks of fallen buildings, he raced towards the meeting place. Spotting his turn, he slowed down and pulled into the abandoned parking garage, heading down to the basement level. After parking and covering his truck, he walked towards the spot in the wall he'd been through many times before. Without missing a beat, he stepped right into the wall and was promptly greeted by his fellow patriots. Something needed to be done and they were the ones to do it.
To be continued...