Ravaged Land - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel Read Free Page A

jumbled and fuzzy it was hard to tell what was going on, but it appeared as though the whole state of North Dakota was covered in the colors red and purple. A small portion of our state had the yellow coloring but there wasn’t a single area that had clear sky. Everything in our state and the surrounding states was currently experiencing severe weather. This was bad. The worst part of it all was that when they put the radar in motion it showed more coming. It was an endless storm of heavy rain, damaging winds, hail, tornadoes and dangerous lightning. They cut away to what appeared to be the map of the whole United States and parts of Mexico and Canada. I gasped.
    “What’s wrong?” asked the girl not even attempting to disguise her shaking voice. She now had a large piece of gauze taped to her forehead with a red dot in the center where the blood was soaking in.
    “It’s just all red, that just can’t be right.” The words spilled out. I spoke before thinking. It hadn’t been my intention to make anyone more scared or on edge than they already were.
    “What’s all red?” the tall one asked.
    “Everything, I mean, it’s not even possible! It’s everywhere, the whole United States, Canada, it’s all covered with these storms, can that be?” I flapped my arms at the TV and looked at the others waiting for any kind of logical answer, but they stared back at me as if I had the answers, which I didn’t. I wasn’t even sure this was all really happening. Everything we had been through to get here seemed like it had to have been a bad dream. Only it wasn’t.
    “We are safe down here,” Ryan said trying to keep everyone calm. “I know you’re worried about your families, I am too, but there isn’t much we can do until this all passes. We are several feet underground, this place has been flood tested, nothing can get us. It was designed to keep my family safe if there was some sort of end of the world disaster… like bombs or whatever. My grandpa was a prepper, he knew what he was doing, he was a little crazy about it…” he stopped himself, swallowed hard, “thank God he was though. I just hope my family….”
    His words were getting stuck in his throat, it seemed as though he was having trouble talking after he said his ‘grandpa was a prepper’ as in past tense. I wasn’t sure if that had meant his grandpa had died since building the shelter or if he was just assuming that his grandpa wouldn’t have survived the deadly storm outside. But I wasn’t going to ask. I already felt guilty that it was me down here and not his family.
    Everyone was silent probably thinking of their own families. I refused to think of all the things that could have happened to my mom, at least not right now. She had survived a lot of hardships in her life, losing her mother to cancer, my dad cheating on her with a 24-year-old stripper, a horrible divorce, a stint with an abusive boyfriend and that was only the beginning. If anyone would get through this storm, it would be her. I didn’t need to waste time thinking about it, I’d go to her as soon as I could.
    “KrrrrrrrOHMYGOD! Krrrrrr…wizzzzzzzz….” The newscaster screamed and the station blacked out completely. There was no sound, no picture, not even any gray snowy fuzz. TV was gone.
    “I’ll try the radio,” Ryan said, “Uhh by the way, I’m Ryan for those that don’t know me.” I already knew him, I had a few classes with him but he was quiet, I didn’t really know anything about him other than his name.
    “Owen.” He and I were in study hall together but I couldn’t ever remember his name. I’d see him and think his name was Evan, he had shiny black hair and he was all muscle, solid and outgoing. I think everyone in school liked him.
    “I know who all of you are but anyway, I’m Dean, and this is my little sister Sienna.” She forced a quick smile but I could tell she was trying to hide the fact that she was scared out of her mind. Dean was tall,