After years, it seemed that some of the population was starting to make an increase. Places became populated with new life and there was hope - hope that the human being would live on through near extinction; hope that they could build up their lives to what it once was and learn from their mistakes. All of that soon came crashing down though. Hope was soon lost. Life soon followed. A deadly virus that targeted people in their 20's seemed to hit everyone. It would make people in their 20's older and weaker than what they should be. They'd be dead by 25.
It killed off all the older generations. Now no human seems to be older than 25. And with this virus came the hopes of a cure. Stories were past on and new hope was give. People split into gangs - each with a different motivation for finding the cure. Some want it for themselves, for power; others want it to help as an overall cure. War could be on the horizon again over 'The Key'.
Is a potential war over a cure worth it? Is the cure even real, or is it just another made up story to give children hope that one day they may lead normal, healthy lives once more.
Adelaide Norman - Somewhere in the City Ruins of No Man's Land - East
Some time after dark. Year 2204 (BWW3 - Before World War Three) Year 104 (AWW3 - After World War Three)
They'd walked for hours. That's what they did every day to find water, food and then protection. It was the same thing day in and day out. Adelaide knew that it would be different being part of a gang. She was sixteen and here she was, dragging her five-year-old sister around with her. It was wrong. They should have done what their father had insisted on doing - finding a gang that would offer security, food and medical care should they need it. It was his passion for his family to head to the West or the East and try to bargain a place within their compounds. Both wanted to find the Key and get the cure to this awful virus that had taken over, killing everyone that survived to their mid-twenties. She knew 'The Prophecy' by heart. Her father had recited it to her and her mother every morning, afternoon and evening. He'd lived to find 'The Key' and also died trying to find it. His last words to her had been 'The Prophecy':
...There is one thing left to save mankind though. A Key. This Key can cure 1000 problems and also cause 1000 more, yet it doesn't fit in, nor open any locks or lead to any rooms. The tender love, and beauty crafted into making this Key, flows from top to bottom, to be seen by all. When staring at 'The Key' no one is any wiser, and neither is 'The Key' itself.
The virus had claimed her father's life first, then a few short months later it had taken her mother's life. Adelaide had been eleven and she'd been left with her baby sister, Charisse to care for. It wasn't easy. It never was. Adelaide was more like a mother to the girl than a sister, but she coped. She had to. Adelaide would never let anything happen to her sister. And that is why, at night, she always found someplace for shelter. It would be a death sentence for the pair to be out of a night.
"We'll stop here for the night. It's secure." Adelaide spoke, her tone hard and cold as she started to check the windows and doors of the ruined building - an old apartment complex in the middle of the city she'd come across that they were now inside. They were in a ground floor room, with two windows, a couple of rooms off to the side. Luckily the main door was still in tact though it didn't lock and just about closed. There were a few uncovered windows on each wall.
She needed to find a way of boarding up the windows. Wolves and all kinds of wild animals roamed the ruins looking for food. And worse, rogues like themselves were around. Adelaide and Charisse weren't dangerous. They weren't attackers, but there were a lot of rogues that killed and looted others. It was, after all, survival of the fittest. Attack or be attacked.
Adelaide and Charisse were just lucky.
"I have some meat we can eat. We'll have to start a fire though to cook it. But I don't want to attract attention. Are you hungry. Maybe we could wait until morning. It'll be safer to eat then." She explained to her sister. Unfortunately there was nothing to board the windows up. She would have to stay awake tonight and keep a watch. Charisse needed to get some sleep. "I'll stay watch tonight. Get some sleep." She glanced over at the girl to make sure she was listening before looking out of the window to see if anything could be seen.
Nothing. It was totally darkness. And totally silence. To her, that meant they were safe. For now. Adelaide wanted to tell herself that they'd be okay for now, that she too could sleep with her sister, but she didn't trust out here. They were still in the open. They still had no protection.
No, she wasn't going to sleep. Not tonight, anyway.