Nano2015 Chapter 4

The three of them made it to the Lowry's home. It was right across the street from Leon and Alexis' place. On the way there, the only sign of the attack was that no one's phones were working. Everything else was normal.
All three knock on the door and hope Jayme, Del, and Gabe are all there.
Jayme answers the door, surprised to see them.
"Hey guys,  what's going on?"
Leon replied "We have some news, can we come in?"
Jamie opened the door wider to let them in. Gabe comes running down the hall
"Daddy who here?! Oh hi uncle Bale! " Bale waves at Gabe and says "Hello! Can we talk to your mommy and daddy?" Gabe giggles, nods, then runs into his room, like four year olds do.
Leon heads to their dinning room. "Is Del here? This concerns her too. It's pretty serious. "
Jayme checks the time, "No, she's not home yet. Her class is done in a half hour. Why? What's wrong? "
Alexis starts tearing up again. "We're being attacked. "
Jayme being confused,  shakes his head "What do you mean being attacked. "
Leon sighs. " Alexis and I were at the mall yesterday, and it was attacked by mechs. We didn't see anyone else survive. I don't know how we're alive right now. You need to get Del home now. We need to gather food and find somewhere safe. Does your phone work?"
Jayme was in disbelief. "Mechs? Like aliens? Is this a joke? Wouldn't we have heard about it?"
Bale looked at Jayme right in the eyes. "Why would we joke about something like this? Do you see Alexis crying? Do you see Leon's face? This is real. Get Del home so we can find a safe place for your son."
Jayme looked towards Gabe's door and heard him singing. He tried calling his wife to get her home. It went to voice mail a few times, but she finally answered.
" Hey sweetie. You need to come home now. It's an emergency. ...no,  no Gabe is fine, but you need to come home. Ok. See you soon, love you." He hung up the phone and said "She will be home soon. Where should we go when she gets here? What should I pack?"
Bale said "Get the essentials. Clothes, food, anything you can carry."
Jayme nodded and went to Gabe's room to start packing.
Alexis had gathered herself again and had tried to get her phone working by calling Leon, but it still didn't work.  "Leon, I think when we were...there..it did something to our phones. "
Leon took out his phone and tried it. "Yea, it's not working. I wonder if they had an EMP wave or something. If they did the mechs had to be made from something different. "
"Well, if that were the case how does our car still work?" Alexis asked Leon.
Leon just shook his head. "I don't know. We shouldn't worry about that. We need to figure out where to go. "
Alexis thought about it for a while. "What about towards the beach? There's a lot of forest and smaller towns. I'm sure we can find somewhere to stay for a while. Bale, what do you think? "
Bale stroked his beard a bit and said "I think it's a good start. Jayme, do you have everything? "
Jayme had a few bags packed. "I think so. Del should be here any minute,  she might want to grab some more things. "

Nano 2015 chapter 3

It had been quiet for hours. No shooting,  no one talking, nothing.  Leon decided now was the time to move. Alexis had been awake for a while now. It had to be now.
"Alexis, we have to go."
She just nodded. They both moved the boxes, quietly because they had no way of telling what was out there. Once they were out, Leon took the lead. Being in a mall, there were a lot of open spaces, so they tried to get back to their car quickly.

It looked like a war zone. Rubble everywhere. Blood splatters on the wall. Alexis couldn't believe her eyes. They were crouched behind some piled up benches, and she had to ask.

"What did you see out here? What caused this? Was it zombies? Why haven't we seen anything or anyone?"

Leon sushed her. "Later. Let's get out of the mall now."

They were close, but through the food court was very open so they went around through a store. They ducked behind the clothing racks making sure to stay out of sight. They found no one. Not even a body. Which surprised both of them considering all the shooting that went on.

They made it with ease to the exit, but they had to go around the outside of the mall. They stayed next to the walls, and made it to their car. Surprisingly only a few scratches to it, they were able to drive it out of the lot.
"What did you see?" Alexis asked.

Leon sighed. "It wasn't zombies. It was a mech. So I'm guessing aliens because we don't have that kind of technology yet. "

Alexis started laughing. "Aliens?! Oh god this is too much. What would aliens want with us?!"

Leon was confused. "You're laughing? I wouldn't lie to you after what we just went through! "

She shook her head trying to wrap her brain around the idea. "I'm sorry. I just, don't know how else to react." She paused.
"Well, where should we go? Do you think Bale is ok? Should we try to find him?"

Leon smirked a little.

"That's the best idea you've had all day."

Alexis smiled back. "We'll get through this. I know we will."

Leon started driving out to Bale's house. It was all the way across town, near their apartment, so they took the back roads. Cars were emptied on the street, so it took Leon a little bit to maneuver through all the cars, but once they were on the back roads it was empty. 

Alexis was staring out the window as they drove, thinking.
I should really trust my instincts better. But I wonder if we would have survived at home.

All of a sudden she heard her stomach growl.
"We really should find some food." She said.
Leon agreed. "But where? I haven't seen any people at all."
Alexis looked around.

"True. Well we're not too far away from Bale's place, maybe we should wait until we get there."

Leon nodded. They sat in silence until they were back in the city. It was like this part wasn't touched yet, like it was a normal day. Alexis took out her phone from her pocket. 
"I have bars. I'm going to call him."  She pulled up Bale's number in her phone, but when she tried to dial it wouldn't go through. "How can this have happened,  and no one knows about it?! Do you think the mech will come out here? "

"I don't know, but we can use this time to our advantage.  After we get Bale, we can go to winco and get more of those preserved food containers. Then we need to check on the Lowry's and make sure they're ok and we can form a plan from there. We have to act fast though."

Alexis nodded. "Maybe if we head out to the country where there aren't many people we would be safer. If not, we need to find a place similar to the back room, because we were apparently the only people they didn't get. "

She grabbed Leon's hand. "We can do this. We can survive. "

They made it to Bale's place. Bale and Leon had been friends for a long time, before Leon had even met Alexis. He even helped Leon with his proposal to Alexis. The three of them along well.

Leon got out of the car, and said

"Stay here. I'll see if he's home."
Alexis nodded. Bale's car was in the driveway, so he had to be home. She kept looking around to make sure nothing was coming. She saw Bale open the door, and Leon motioned to her to come in. When she walked in, Leon was already telling Bale what was happening.

"...and I shit you not, a mech was out there! We stayed in the back, but we need to find a safe place now. Have you heard from Del, or Jayme? "

Bale's face was pale. He was very tall compared to Alexis, but then again so was everyone else. He was silent for a minute trying to process what Leon had told him.
"Are you serious? "
Alexis looked down and shook her head. "I... I wish it was a joke. "
Tears started falling down her face.
"There were so many people there, and now they're gone. There was blood everywhere. I don't know how we survived, but we have an advantage now. "
Leon came over and held Alexis.  Bale nodded and started going through his things.
"Just give me a few minutes, I'll pack and we can go. Did you have any ideas of where to go?"
Leon nodded. "Yea, we were thinking in the country, or something. We don't have a set plan yet. If you have any ideas, they're definitely welcomed. "
Bale slung his backpack over his shoulder.
"Let's go check on Delaney and Jayme. I'll follow you. "

They got in their cars and headed towards the Lowry's place. They had to make sure they were okay.

Nano 2015 Chapter 2

The mall. Buzzing with people everywhere. The smells of the food court. Normally Alexis would have loved being here, but she had a bad feeling in pit of her stomach. She looked around, made sure Leon was close.

"Are we going to just head to the toy store? I really feel like we shouldn't be here."
Leon looked around.

"OK. Let's go ahead and get Gabe's present and go."

Alexis  could tell  Leon was a bit annoyed, so she didn't push the matter further. She followed him to the toy store. They found a stuffed spaceship they knew Gabe would love, and were on their way to go home. Suddenly Leon grabs Alexis and whispers in her ear.
"Stay calm. Follow me. Do exactly as I say."
Alexis feels tears welling up, but nods that she understood. She carefully follows Leon into the back of a small jewelry store. Once back there Leon motions to her at stay down. She sits against a wall and then she hears it.

*boom* *boom* *boom*

Right next to the store. Leon holds Alexis as tight as he can without hurting her. Shes trembling from the terror she can hear outside.

"Shhh. I'm here. Stay quiet. I'm never leaving you."

Leon whispers in her ear. She's holding back a scream as she buries her head I his chest. The shooting continues for a while, but not all of the shots sound like guns. Some of them almost sound like something from Star Wars, like it was some sort of energy and not bullets, confusing both of them.

They lost track of time sitting there for what felt like hours. Alexis looked at Leon to see what he wanted to do next. Leon gave Alexis a squeeze and whispered
"I'll be right back."

When Leon let go, Alexis curled up in the corner. She hadn't noticed what was around her until now. Boxes stacked up very high. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was so lucky to have Leon be there for her, and know just what to say so their position was never given away. Leon opened the door a tiny bit. Voices could be heard,but Alexis wasn't sure what language it was. Leon came back to Alexis and whispered

"We need to stay in here for a while. Stay quiet. I'm going to move some of these boxes in front of the door, can you help me?"

Alexis was in shock. She shook her head no, and stayed in the corner. She couldn't find her words. Leon just nodded and started moving the boxes in front of the door, carefully and as quietly as he could. When he was done he sat next to Alexis and tried to comfort her by holding her. He knew saying anything right now could have her in tears, and their lives depended on staying silent. 

The shooting started up again, this time the energy sound was closer. It was a good thing Leon moved them to the back wall because a blue light flashed, and a hole appeared in the front. Luckily it was small, so no one, or thing, could see them. Leon tried to get a closer look. What he saw he'd seen before in movies and games. It was a mech, with two legs. The body only had guns, no arms. The metal had a strange blue color to it. The look of horror on his face was almost too much for Alexis.

Trying to stay quiet she finally was able to say

"Wh...what is it?"

Leon just shook his head and said

"Later."

He sat next to her, and hoped they weren't able to be detected. Hoping the mechs would leave soon, they had no choice but to stay in the little room. Leon knew they would have to go out eventually, hopefully Alexis would be able to handle this. He let her fall asleep while he kept watch, not knowing what their future had in store for them, he just hoped they could survive.

Nano2k15 Chapter 1

Alexis just got home from work. She didn't mind her job, but customer service was not what she had in mind for a career. Her day had been particularly stressful. For some reason all the customers today were in a bad mood, which put her in a bad mood too.She took a deep breath.

Home. I can relax and unwind. I hope Leon is in a good mood, and I'm really hoping he actually did something today. 

She walked up the stairs to their apartment and went inside to be greated by their two cats, Sabby and Sylvie.

"Hi kitties! I missed you!" she said as she scooped up Sylvie.

"Hey, how was your day?" Alexis asked Leon and she was nuzzling the cat.

"It was fine. Dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes. I was streaming a little bit earlier. This one was super naughty today, she kept jumping on the fridge." Leon said as he pointed at Sylvie. Alexis shook her head and put the cat down and then she gave Leon a kiss.
"After dinner we need to get Gabe's present. His party is tomorrow. I can't believe how big he's getting!"
"Oh I know. What should we get him?"
"Well, he's really into space right now. Maybe a spaceship?"
"Sounds good. Where did you want to go? I was thinking the mall, so we could walk around a bit. We haven't been there in a while."
Alexis smiled. "You know I never say no to the mall!"

Both of them finished their dinner, and headed to the mall. Alexis started getting nervous. She had previously been at a mall during a shooting, and while she had been back to the mall since then, a small part of her was still scared. 

"Leon, I think we should be quick. I have a bad feeling about going there today."

Leon put a supportive hand on her knee.

"Ok, we will be in and out. You don't have worry. Besides, they've hired extra security ever since the shooting, they've made sure it's safe. I'll be with you the whole time."

Alexis smiled at Leon.  He alway knew what to say to make her feel better. She still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling, but knowing Leon would be with her made it bearable. She stared out the window looking at the cloudy sky. Living in the Pacific Northwest, the sky was cloudy a lot of the time. Today, it had an odd hue to it, but she thought it was pretty. It was almost green, and it reminded her of the storms from her home in the Midwest. She started thinking about her family she left back there. Alexis missed them, but she loved her life with Leon out here. 

Before she knew it they had reached their destination. 

©C.Andreas

Galaxy of longing

A galaxy of longing
Where needs are never met
One is always wanting
Never satisfied
Never enough

Can you imagine
Living in a galaxy of longing
Never being satisfied
Never having enough

Such a terrible feeling
To always be longing
To always be wanting


©C.Andreas
Creativewritingprompts.com #170

String of laughter

A crowded room
Full of friends
Reminiscing of an old inside joke
One starts to laugh
Another one starts to chuckle
Soon a string of laughter
Erupts through the room

Creativewritingprompts.com #43
©C.Andreas

Beauty

Beauty crowds me till I die
There is nothing more beautiful
Than the people I love
Husband, friends, family
The views I see daily
Mountains, hills, waterfalls
Beauty is all around me
Look and you will see
Love is beauty
©C.Andreas

Creativewritingpromts.com #335