13 Years of Struggle

Chapter 4

We walked alleyway through alleyway until we were far away from where Jackson had just died. Kolson was still crying and he walked by himself refusing to acknowledge me or Anais. He kept looking back hoping Jackson was following behind. But he wasn’t 

         We saw what the army had done outside the supposed safe zone. Bodies of civilians shot in the head were littered all around. Some children. Trash was everywhere and cars were parked abandoned on the roadside with words written on the dusty windows that said, God help us or God forgive us.  

               We continued on. Walking and walking nonstop for miles seeing the same thing over and over. Dead bodies and trash everywhere. We made it to the suburbs of the city. It was so quiet. There was nobody except us. All we could hear was our own heavy breathing. 

              We walked up a large hill towards a neighborhood and Kolson had by now stopped crying. Now he just walked in silence. I looked at him with pity. I sighed and looked back at Anais who looked drained of emotion. She looked up at me and didn’t say anything. 

        We started walking again and then the sound of jets pierced our eardrums as they flew overhead. Military Helicopters flew over afterwards. I looked at Anais confused. She looked at me with a confused expression as well. 

             We turned around to look. We saw the skyline of Chicago. The lights still shined bright in the city. But quickly that changed. The power went out fast, block by block until it was completely in darkness. 
             We covered our mouths when the Jets and Helicopters that had flown by overhead a minute ago dropped Napalm bombs into the streets. The now dark streets of Chicago lit up in orange flames and gray smoke. 

                I covered my mouth as I gasped at the sight I was witnessing. There were most likely thousands of people still inside the city and they were bombing everything. They were killing thousands of people.  

              “ We need to go now.” Anais spoke up as she grabbed Kolson’s hand. He didn’t protest and just followed her. I sighed and turned around. 

             “ Yeah let’s keep going.” We slowly started walking away from now the smoldering wreck which once was Chicago 

          We got further and further away from Chicago. The moon was fully lit in the sky providing the only light as we pressed forward. I heard Kolson yawn and I noticed his eyes were starting to droop.  

              I sighed. We needed to find a place for the night and rest. I looked around the best I could in the dark. I saw the outline of some houses as my eyes adjusted to the dark. But then I looked at a large 2 story house with a candlelight illuminating in the window. 

                I looked at Anais who was now holding an asleep Kolson in her arms. She nodded and motioned for me to go check it out. 

             I slowly pulled out the knife I had and walked cautiously over towards the house. I opened its white gate and walked up the brick walkway. I quietly climbed up the creaky wooden steps up to the front door. 

             I put my hand out towards the knob to pull it open. But the door immediately swung open, knocking me back onto the porch floor. By the time I looked up I saw a man holding a shotgun and aiming it at me. From What I could see he was around 6 feet tall, he had spiky black hair, plump lips, a graying beard, and was very pale with Hazel eyes. 

           A maybe 5 foot 6 teenage girl was standing behind him. She had long black hair, Emerald eyes, Small lips, and she was pale like the man.