Dawn

                             Dawn
                                       
                                    Chapter 1

         Thump. Thump. Isaac's heart was racing. Where in the world was everybody? No one was around, he was completely alone. The streets were filled with silence. The homes were filled with silence, and the air and sky and all the world around him was filled with silence. He could do nothing but yell and scream for someone to answer, yet no one would, because no one was there.
         Suddenly, he found himself not alone any more, but among many shadows. These shadows danced and sprung up from the ground and back down again, as if casting a malicious spell on him. The shadows ran from the houses and buildings all around him and in the darkness of night, Isaac ran from the shadows. He ran like nothing else mattered, all he thought about was his survival, nothing more, nothing less. The shadows gained on him, growling and screeching and gnashing. All the time, Isaac thought of only surviving.
         What was this? Isaac came upon a huge gaping trench in the street before him, and from within it a deep quietude overpowered his mind. He stared down the void for a long while, even when the shadows were upon him and dancing around him, casting their spell. With a sudden burst, flames from Hell jolted upward out of the void and engulfed Isaac. He screamed in terror, pain, anguish, nothing could help him, though. He was pulled down the fiery chasm, flailing his arms around as he fell, burning. Within moments, though, he hit the bottom...
         Isaac awoke, his whole body burning up, as if the dream he had just witnessed, was real. In any case, the sixteen-year old boy tried as best he could not to think about the dreadful nightmare and layed back down. Yet his mind and eyes soon wondered elsewhere, staring at a glowing light outside his window. It was not like the systematic shining of a street light, but like the randomness of flickering fire. As he layed on his bed, curious as to what it was, he could not help but realize how quiet everything was.
         Not a car had gone by, no airplanes in the sky. And certainly not any summertime crickets or other annoying bugs. Everything was dead silent. He sat up again, and took in the silence once more, before carefully getting off his bed. He crept to the window. As he looked beyond it, his eyes widened and his heart beat louder. A small pick-up truck had knocked down a street light and somehow caught on fire. He looked at the luminous blaze, then the truck itself. He wondered to himself. How could it be that he did not wake when the crash happened. His thoughts then went towards the scolded body, half hanging out of the drivers' side door, lifeless and still.
         He ran to his mom's bedroom, knowing he had to tell her about the accident. But when he came to her closed bedroom door, he haulted. No snoring. No snoring whatsoever came from beyond the door that had a picture of a kitten on it. His mom was always snoring, but why wasn't she snoring then. He knocked on the door.
         No answer.
         He knocked on the door once more, with an added "Mom!" to it.
         No answer.
         He opened the door, and he saw his mom, laying in her bed, under her covers asleep. Or was she asleep? Isaac couldn't tell, which made him even more frightened. He slowly walked to his moms' bed and stood beside her. She was not moving, nor snoring. She was as lifeless as the man hanging out of the pick-up truck. Frustrated, Isaac shook her shoulder.
         "Mom," he said, but like before she didn't react.
         Shaking her again and again, Isaac soon observed that his mom was not asleep at all. Tears fell down his pale cheeks, as he checked her pulse. There was none. More tears fell, and he soon sank to the floor next to his moms' bed and wept for a long while.
         After a few minutes, Isaac got to his feet and went to the kitchen, where he grabbed the phone to call 911. As he dialed he opened the curtains slightly, and looked out. It was still quiet, nothing moved or sounded out. When there was no answer on the phone, Isaac really became fearful. He set the phone on the table and as he did so, he saw a shadow outside. It passed his backyard and went through the sideyard in between his house and the neighbor's.
         He hurried up and grabbed his shoes and placed them on his feet. He had already had his regular clothes on when he fell to sleep, so he didn't need to bother with them. Isaac opened the front door, and again saw the truck ablaze. Half of him wanted to pursue the shadow, which he noticed passed on the otherside of a fence across the street, but another half wanted him to go to the neighbor's house and tell Ms. Murphy about what was going on. The latter one out in the end and he stepped down to the driveway and crossed over into Ms. Murphy's yard. He stepped up onto her front porch, which was only lavished with two potted ferns and knocked twice.          
         No answer. No answer.
         He knocked twice more, to wake her up just in case.
         No answer. No answer.
         Isaac didn't want this to happen. It was his dream all over again. He tried the next house, home to a friend of his moms'. There was absolutely no sound coming from within the house after he knocked four times again. He tried the next house, and then the next house. None of them would answer. It was when he came to the fifth house, did someone fortunately answer, to his relief. It was a boy, no older than ten. His hair was all messed up, as if he had just gotten out of bed. His eyes were filled with tears, but he didn't speak or make a sound.
         Isaac tried to be as polite as possible, on top of not getting all emotional over his mom's death. "Hey, are your mom and dad home?"
         The boy glared at him for a few moments, then shook his head yes.          "Where are they?" Isaac asked.
         The boy left the door open and went down the hall and to the left. Isaac cautiously followed and saw a long hall where the boy stood. On the other end of the hall, Isaac heard growling and clawing of some sort on the far bedroom door. The boy stayed put, after pointing blankly at the far door, while Isaac slowly, but surely made his way down to the bedroom.
         When he came to the door, he quietly put his right hand on the door knob and put his left ear to the door. He could hear the scratching and growling more clearly then, and suddenly the door was bumped on the otherside. He breathed as calmly as he could and he got ready for whatever it was on the otherside of the door. With a one, two, three, he slowly opened the door slightly and found a overly dark room. He went to reach on the wall to the right to see if a light switch was there. Fortunately enough, there was one.
         The light switched on and a huge figure leaped up, after it had been standing just inches away from Isaac, and knocked him down. It was a large dog, most likely a rotweiler. It ran down the hall, scaring the boy to death. The dog soon ran outside, never to be seen again. The boy ran to Isaac's side as Isaac stood up once again.
         "Stay here," Isaac said, as he noticed what was inside the bedroom.
         The boy's parents lay in their bed, peacefully unresponsive to anything. Isaac felt his despair catch up to him quick, as he thought about seeing four people dead in one night. The boy, scared and miserable, peaked around the corner from the hall and began crying. His tears fell to the floor and Isaac turned to see him. Before anything else happened, the boy ran out of the house and into the suburban night.          
         Isaac tried to follow him, but eventually found himself in the middle of the street, far from his own house. He looked around him, feeling as if he was being watched. Shadows cast by the moon and street lights passed by him, and went from house to house. He thought for sure his dream was then real.
         He heard sinister laughter and wretched noises of things being beaten. He found himself, spinning around and around, trying to figure out where the shadows were at. He stopped, when he turned to the part of the street the made a T with another street. An obscure silhouette stood out just beyond the circle of light being projected from the nearest street light. He stood there, facing directly to Isaac, like a blackened mannequin.
         "Hello?!" Isaac asked, still frenzied over everything.
         The figure didn't speak for sometime, but soon stepped forward. This revealed a boy only about a year older than Isaac, but with lenghty black hair and a dark brown coat of leather that went down to his knees. The other boy, stood with unyielding eyes that kept piercing Isaac's very soul.
         "You must be a rock on water, a leaf left on the tree in the end of autumn," the figure said, his accent that of the deep south. "What brings the rock down here I wonder? Is it fear, anger, curiousity, or is it something else?"
         Isaac had no idea what the boy was talking about, but he didn't really care.
         "Do you have any idea what is going on here?" he asked. "Who are you, anyways?"
         "Who am I? I am you, I am him, I am her. I am who I want to be," the figure said. "The name's O'Riley, no other name so call me that. Now as for your first question, I am inclined to tell you only one thing... the world has come to a stop, there is no going forward or going back."
         O'Riley grinned after his last words, showing rotten, black teeth. All around Isaac, other figures surrouned him. They came out of the houses and wielded things such as baseball bats, golf clubs, hammers, knives, and even sticks. Isaac could only make out their weapons, but he knew they were unfriendly. He was afraid more than ever in his life, and he knew he probably wouldn't live to see another day.
         "Don't worry, you will join Him in the halls of eternal paradise in the stars above, or if you are unworthy..." O'Riley stopped and began laughing menacingly.
         Isaac saw a gap in the circle of O'Riley's followers. It was his only chance of survival, before he would be bludgeoned or stabbed to death. He took it, and narrowly dodged a swing of a bat. He ran, ran like he had never done before. All the time, O'Riley laughed and his gang chased Isaac down the street to the right.
         He was moving further and further away from his house, and he turned left, down a street he was completely familiar with. He saw his friend's house, if he could get there, he knew would probably be safe. Yet the gang kept coming, screaming and laughing the whole time, enjoying the whole experience. He reached his friend's frontyard, when he felt a sharp pain enter his body from his right leg. He fell onto the freshly cut grass, and felt blood curdling down his leg. A knife or other object had been thrown at him and he was cut badly.
         The pain was excruciating, but what was worse was that O'Riley's gang was over him in a heartbeat. They kicked him, stomped on him, and nearly whacked his head in, if not for three gunshots that fired in the air. The gang scattered in all directions and screamed. From his friends' house, a sixteen-year old boy came running down the yard and went to Isaac's side.
         "Isaac, you all right?" Adam, Isaac's friend asked.
         Isaac didn't answer and Adam lead him inside his house. He sat him on the couch in the living room and Adam went to fetch some bandages for Isaac's leg. After bandaging him up, Adam sat back on another couch on the opposite side and thought.
         "What's going on? Where is everyone?" Isaac asked.
         "I don't know what's going on, I've been up all night," Adam said. "It was around midnight, when I heard a few cars crash outside, I went to tell my mom, but she wasn't breathing..."
         Adam stopped, then, trying to act tougher, went on. "An hour after that, I heard those guys out there breaking into houses. They've tried twice to get in here, but I took my dad's gun and... and shot one of them."
         Silence for a moment, but then Isaac went to the door. He heard shouting and saw O'Riley's gang dragging a girl, Whitney Acosta, out of her home across the street. She was screaming, but nothing could be done. O'Riley himself pulled a gun out and shot her in the head. She fell, like a lump of potatoes.
         Isaac began to hate them, all of them. It was the first time he had been angry that night, but he knew he wanted to kill them all. Was what he had just seen, what the world was coming to? Where people who are not even adults, murder each other in cold blood? He felt he had to do something.
         "That gun alone won't stop all of them, and we need some place other than this place to stay," Isaac said, limping back to the couch.
         "Where do you suggest? It's not like we have much of a choice," Adam said.
         "Well, maybe the high school, it might be secure enough."
         Adam laughed, then saw Isaac was serious. "We can't defend a place like that all by ourselves. Besides, I think that we should stay here. They aren't an army."
         "Who's to say they won't be? That O'Riley guy, he seems like he could persuade people-"
         "O'Riley? I've heard that name before. Ya, James O'Riley."
         "You know him?"
         "No, but he's supposed to be a new student at the high school. He's crazy if you ask me."
         "I can tell," Isaac said and went back to the door. "We go now or never, it seems to be clear."
         Adam thought for a long moment. "Fine, but I get the gun."
         Isaac took up a baseball bat of his own and they both cautiously left the house, looking all around them. They viewed the corpse of the girl in the street and went down the way Isaac came, saddened and angry.
         It was not until they went forward for a long while, did they see other people. They were all gloomy, and most were small children, roaming around their yards. Isaac and Adam, knowing what they should do, tell all of them to head for the high school. One of the people outside, Shane Stark, greeted them even with sadness in his mind and heart.
         As they walked, more of the teenagers and children gathered in a small group down the road and then to Main street. They turned left when they reached this street and eventually found themselves going up the parking lot and to the entrance of the high school. The whole group, being only about thirty in number, saw fires arising in the neighborhood they once lived in, but no more did they.


                                        Chapter 2

         Inside the school, Isaac, finding some sort of courage and will in him, had everyone calm down and sent to the Main Gymnasium. It was dawn, by the time they had gotten everyone to calm down about the situation, and Shane and Adam both pointed out that they needed food and other supplies if they were going to last longer than a couple days. Isaac, who was respected only by a few of the survivors, took on that role and lead Adam to his grandparent's house, just down the street.
         Adam started up Isaac's grandpa's truck and Isaac went inside the house to gather weapons for defending themselves. Isaac approached his grandparent's bedroom, where his grandpa's gunrack stood. he opened the door and gathered up all the guns and ammunition he could get, not wanting to stay any longer than possible.
         The truck went from house to house down Main street and gathered up all the canned foods they could fit in the back of the truck. Back to the high school they went, but this time, they found a lot more people than there were.
         Shane ran up to them as others started unloading the truck.
         "More came, seeing the lights on the high school, at least a hundred of them," Shane said.          
         All that day, they heard nothing but screaming and the sounds of a massacre all around them. The high school was untouched by O'Riley, seeing as how fortified it had become. When night fell once more, Isaac went to the roof where Shane and a few others watched over the scourged town.
         "Do you think God is testing us?" Shane asked Isaac.
         Isaac didn't know how to reply. "I don't really know..."
         "The world was so wrong before all of this and now, I'm beginning to think it's even worse," Shane said. "Sure there are fewer people, possibly every adult is dead. But look at what this has done to the children of Earth and its young adults. We're massacring each other like before. People are killing people like before."
         Far off, in the thick layers of mist and fog, Isaac and Shane could both hear gun shots. They were not too far, yet not too close. Then other gunshots were heard elsewhere to the north and then to the east. It seemed the whole world was in chaos.
         Isaac looked down, straight into the dense fog in the night. He suddenly saw a person. A boy, probably thirteen. Behind him, others followed. There were hundreds of them, and they came to the doors of the gigantic high school.
         Isaac ran down to the atrium, and had Adam and Lamar Hensley, a junior, unlock the doors. The mass of people poured into the school, children and teenagers alike, all frightened and exhausted.
         Among the crowd, a boy, no more than Isaac's age, stepped out, carrying a pump action shotgun in one hand and a blood stained knife in the other. The knife dripped all over the floor before him, while he walked towards Isaac.
         "I suppose you think you're in charge? Either way, these are all that's left," Jeff Wheeler, the boy with the shotgun, said. "They came up on us at all sides, we Eric and Daniel and I shot down a few, but the rest, about twelve ran off to the south."
         Jeff looked at Adam and Lamar, and smirked. "This is your army? If they come back we won't be so lucky. Most we found and saved were children no older than twelve."
         "Shane Stark and Tommy Meyer, are up top looking out for anything, we've also got at least a hundred or so survivors in the main gym," Isaac said. He didn't like Jeff at all, he was cruel, and especially heartless. Yet he knew they had to work together if anything was to get done. "You should go and rest, we've got everything covered."
         "I'm sure you do, but I'm taking control of this place for now on. You understand me?" Jeff said and walked off, shouting out orders for everyone to get to the main gym. Eric Reynolds and Daniel Acosta were behind him and they snickered at Isaac and his friends.
         Before Daniel left with them though, he went up to Isaac and asked him a question.
         "Have you seen my sister, Whitney? I hope she made it here all right."
         Isaacs' face turned to sorrow. He stuttered for a moment, trying to think of the right words, then spoke. "Whitney... she's dead, Daniel."
         Daniel's face was full of horror. "What? No! She can't be, she can't be!"
         "I'm sorry, man," Adam said.
         Daniel went into a crazed frenzy, crying and weeping. He slammed his head against one of the walls several times, then punched it and turned around. As he kept crying, he slid down to the floor, his face full of rage and suffering.
         "My baby sister, my sister!..." He continued to cry, so Isaac left him alone for a while.
         The rest of the night was spent seperating the survivors into age groups, which Jeff suggested. Anyone older than fourteen, which weren't many, were to report to the main gymnasium. Those who weren't infants and toddlers, which were the fewest, were taken care of by everyone else in the cafeteria. Jeff designated guards on all entrances and had the main gym doubly protected.
         Five hundred and twenty three was the final head count. Of those, only about one hundred were teenagers. They, as told to, assembled in the main gym, so that they may figure out a plan of what to do next. Most didn't care, they were too frightened and depressed. A few believed they needed a leader, someone to lead them through the mess of the world. Isaac, probably being the only one not making conversation or speaking whatsoever, sat at the top of the bleachers on the gym's western side. He was the only one sitting on that side, besides a few boys who were obviously friends with Jeff.
         As he listened to the conversations, which soon turned to bickering, he became disgusted. The whole world had gone to hell, their parents were dead. Every adult was dead, for that matter and they were fighting over who gets to be the "leader". Isaac didn't care about leaders, all he wanted was to survive and he thought that was what should be done at the moment. Concentrating on, not the new leadership, but working together to survive.
         He may have been a quiet and relatively shy boy for most of his life, but something inside him, an instinct maybe, one of implacable proportions, told him to stop it all. Isaac stood, facing one of the things he had been most afraid of in his life and began to speak.
         "Listen!" he yelled, but nobody heard him. "Listen!"
         A few heard him, and when he yelled for a third time, everyone looked up to see him standing on the steps of the western bleachers.
         "Everyone, quiet!!"
         Silence filled the huge room, engulfing them all like fire. Isaac began to walk down the steps, looking around him and trying to remain calm.
         You can do this, come on you can do this. He said to himself.
         Just open your mouth and say what you have to say. Just do it. Come on, come on. One, two, three...
         "Listen, does it really matter about who gets to be leader or not?" he said to his audience. "What we need to do is get food and supplies that can last us for a long time. None of you want a leader anyways, you want someone to put your troubles on-"
         He looked around as he touched down on the wooden gym floor. Everybody was watching for some reason or another.
         Continue.
         "If we work together, we'll last a lot longer than when we're fussing and fighting over who will be a nice mayor or whatever."
         "So you suggest that you be the leader!?" yelled out someone to his left.
         Isaac shook his head. "No. All I'm saying is that we should concentrate on getting what we need to survive, before we establish any kind of leadership or government in the future."
         He stepped to the center of the gymnasium, looking all around him. "I ask that you help me save what hope there is left in Dawn's Hope. No, I beg you! Please, in the name of God, help yourselves, and the person sitting next to you, behind you, and in front of you. Because, if you don't, and we don't work together, we will all die."
         Adam stood up from the eastern part of the gym and agreed with his friend. Lamar and Shane did the same. Jeff and his friends on the other hand were furious.
         "Why should we listen to some dumbass sophomore like you? Huh?! You aren't the oldest, so you're definately no the wisest. I say we elect a leader and they decide what's best for the future!" Jeff declared.
         A few on Jeff's side, his numerous friends included, agreed to his terms. Yet, for the most part, many liked Isaac's idea best. Most everyone agreed with Isaac, even though most really could care less.
         "All right, what do we do first?" asked someone in the crowd.
         Isaac thought a moment, then spoke again. "We should get more food. Anything you can find that can last a long time. Then we'll need medicine and things like that. Lastly, we'll need weapons and guns to not only defend ourselves, but also to hunt for food."
         So, it began. Groups were established and they were sent out to specifically find either food, medicine, or weapons. Others were sent out to clear out the streets and douse the many fires burning in the town. Each group had its own protector, who had a gun. It was dawn again, by the time they started, and many were exhausted, yet they were persuaded to work diligantly.
         Jeff and several others didn't like it, but they pitched in by looking out on the roof of the high school. Isaac had many trucks started up and they were used to haul loads of supplies to the new fortress. By late morning, half the town had been scoured.
         "What about the bodies?" asked Alyssa Colbert. "We can't just leave them out there."
         "I know, but right now we have to concentrate on our survival," Isaac said as they strolled down the same street Isaac lived on. His house was untouched by the destruction O'Riley had caused. He didn't want to look at it anymore, and they continued on to the only other house left on the street. It was the boys'. The young boy Isaac had found and who ran off by himself.
         Inside, it was exactly as Isaac had seen, only a horrible stench was in the air. The stench was everywhere in the town, from the rotting and burning corpses lying around. They loaded up all the canned goods they could find into a truck outside and began to leave, when Isaac noticed someone behind him, while he was in the front doorway. He slowly turned around to see the boy, as sad as ever.
         "Come on, I won't hurt you," Isaac said and held out his hand. The boy trusted him somehow and grabbed it. "What's your name?"
         The boy hesitated, then for the first time, he spoke. "Shaun-"
         They made their way to the truck and back to the high school. Upon arrival, Jeff came up to Isaac and began to speak. "Look, if you're not going to listen to me any other time, just at least listen to me now."
         Isaac showed him that he was listening.
         "We need weapons right? Well, the perfect place to get them would be Camp Greendale, the national guard base about thirty miles south of here. We can get assault rifles, handguns, anything we need to defend ourselves."
         "You mean offend? Because I don't exactly trust you with the gun you're carrying now, let alone a fully automatic rifle."
         "Whether you like it or not, we need those weapons. Plus, we could learn about what's happenin' out there."
         Isaac hated to admit it, but Jeff was right. They needed the guns and ammunition badly, since Dawn's Hope was extremely short on both. He concurred and began readying a group of those who were willing to take the risk. He soon got thirteen, all of which were given a gun and placed inside of a small convoy consisting of a school bus, that they had painted black, and two pickup trucks.
         Before they could even leave though, they heard thunderous gun shots on the highway just south. Isaac and a truck full of others drove as swift as they could. Upon arrival, they jumped from the bed of the truck, seeing a pair of supposed O'Riley's cutthroat bandits. They had winchester rifles, and took cover behind a large group of smashed cars.
         Isaac saw Shane, Tommy, and Daniel all firing back with their hunting rifles and shotguns. He opened fire, with his grandpas' old M1 Garand, and flanked the two bandits, by going down in a ditch near the highway. He managed to hit one in the leg, but even he was able to fire at Isaac. Fortunately, Isaac had tripped over a piece of wood, just a second before the bandit fired and dodged the bullet.
         Daniel, still at the highway, jumped over his cover, with a burning rage. His mind was set on one thing only, to kill them and try and take revenge for his sisters' death. He pumped his shotgun and shot the already wounded one in the head as he came to their own cover. He then whacked the second bandit it the face, who had the look of horror in his very eyes just before hand. Daniel took up the butt and stock of his shotgun and pounded into the boy, who was only thirteen years of age.
         It seemed like a lifetime before Isaac came up to him and tried to stop him.
         "Stop it! He's dead!"
         "I don't care!" Daniel replied and threw the broken shotgun aside, its tough wooden stock split in half and much of it bent up. He pulled out a huge buck knife and nearly plunged it into the dead boys' already beaten and bloodied chest. Isaac stopped him, grabbing his arm.
         Daniel stepped back and pointed the knife at Isaac. "Step away! I'll, I'll..."
         "You'll what?! Kill me, too?" Isaac said and stepped forward. "All right, come on. No adults are around, that means we can kill and do whatever we want!"
         He stood where the point of the knife touched his own chest. "Listen, I know you're upset. I don't really know what this is like for you, since I don't have a brother or sister. But I did have a mom and a dad, just like everyone else. I'm still upset over their deaths, so stop thinking about your own pain and start thinking about someone else..."
         Daniel put the knife down on the ground, and walked away, his head hanging to the ground. Isaac went back to Shane and the others and asked what happened.
         "They came out of nowhere, thank God no one was killed," Tommy said. "I kinda feel the way Daniel feels. I feel angry. Why are they doing this?"
         "O'Riley's persuading them, he has a strange effect on people. I was almost swept away, by his voice alone. That bastard," Isaac said.
         Everyone that was supposed to leave for the trip to Greendale, got ready as quickly as possible afterwards. Adam approached Isaac before they were supposed to leave with much rage. "Why didn't you tell me about this?! You'll need me!"
         "I probably will, but I'll have to make do. I want you and Shane to make sure everything that needs to be done, gets done," Isaac replied.
         Soon enough, by noon, the convoy started down the highway to the south. All the while, they saw a few people loading up the last of the supplies. The journey down the highway was gloomy indeed. All around them, they saw fires and destroyed houses. Bodies cluttered the highway and around it in the vehicles. O'Riley surely had been down there.


                                    Chapter 3

         When they reached Jefferson, the nearest town two miles from Dawn's Hope, Isaac, Jeff and the others were truly frightened. Their were people, but they weren't like them. They were crazy, insane. They threw torches and burning bottles of alchohol at buildings. The Kroger directly to the right was demolished along with every other structure around it.
         Even children no older than five participated in the violent acts, slaughtering and butchering each other in the streets and parking lots. As they passed a McDonalds, they glimpsed a child jump off the roof, supposedly killing himself. On either side of the highway, teenagers shot teenagers and children shot children, either that or they beat them to death. The convoy was not once attacked though, which just showed how blind and insane they all were.
         They left Jefferson, and came upon a long stretch of corn fields, with a few houses on either side. One of the cornfields became a towering inferno, burning the fresh corn stalks. Isaac let out tears when he saw a group of children running through the field away from the flames. There was nowhere to run, though, and they were engulfed in fire and smoke.
         The convoy rode on, passing dozens of other cornfields and small farm houses. They passed a bar and grill restraunt being burnt to the ground, and a fishing and tackle shop being looted. They also saw dozens of people, fleeing from the havoc of Jefferson and its surrounding area. Eventually, though, Isaac and his convoy found themselves alone.
         No one was burning any buildings down. No one was killing other people, no gunshots were heard, and not even a bird was heard chirping. It was silent. This didn't exactly matter, the silence was golden to the convoy's eyes.
         For ten to fifteen miles from Jefferson, they came upon a road that went straight across the highway. Where the road went on to the left of them, they could see billowing smoke and a few, to no screams. On the right road, they saw it clear for as far as the eye could see. Trees were on either side, and fencing, showing the borders of Camp Greendale, were placed around them. The convoy turned right, naturally, and sped on down. They stopped at least a mile down the road, when they came upon the main gates, which were left open because of a military truck that didn't get through all the way. The convoy moved in, and stopped when they reached the main building.
         Isaac stepped out of the bus that he was on, and looked around. He saw only two bodies outside, but he knew that everybody was dead because of the virus or whatever that killed the adults. He, Eric and Tommy went to the main barracks, while Daniel, Jeff and the rest were to seek out any weapons and bring them back to the bus.
         Isaac didn't know what he was looking for, but he wanted to look around for some reason. Ever since they had pulled up to the gates, he felt like he was being watched. Tommy took the entrance and guarded it, while Eric and Isaac went inside, their shotguns at the ready. Inside they went down the left hall, and then the right. Eric knocked open a door and looked inside, dead soldiers and military personnel were in their beds. They had been asleep when they were killed, at least a more peaceful way to die.
         Finding nothing, Isaac and Eric went back outside, Tommy still guarding the entrance.
         "Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked.
         Isaac shook his head no. Tommy turned to go to the bus, when he fell instantly. He had been shot in the chest by a sniper rifle. Eric and Isaac both ran back inside the barracks. Eric took out a handgun, and opened fire, wasting ghosts. Those still at the convoy, tried to find the sniper, but they found it hard.
         Isaac spotted him, on a far off roof of a large arched building. Suddenly, the sniper stopped firing.
         He's reloading! Isaac thought and pushed Eric out of the door. They ran as fast as they could to the bus, but before they could, Eric was shot in the arm. Isaac pulled him onto the bus, while its windows were blown out and multiple bullets penetrated its side.
         "John's down! God damnit! John's dead!" screamed a fourteen year old named Jake, before his head was struck by one of the sniper's bullets.
         All of a sudden, after minutes of being fired upon, other gunshots were heard and the sniping stopped. Isaac looked up, through a broken glassed window of the bus and saw Jeff, on the same building as the sniper was. He had shot him in the back and the sniper had tumbled off.
         Jeff, when he and the rest of his group came back with numerous weapons, pushed Isaac out of the way when he saw Eric shot. He was screaming in agony, holding his bloodied arm tightly.
         "It hurts, oh God! Do something!" he screamed. It resounded in the air for a while. They helped him in the bus and Andrew, a boy who knew a bit about medicine, began to treat his wound.
         "What the hell happened?!," Jeff said to Isaac angrily. "We found a whole armory of M16s, 9 mills, and even explosives. Daniel's still back there getting them ready."
         "We should hurry, there's no telling if there are more snipers out there," Isaac said and started up the bus.
         It took an hour to load up all of the guns and explosives they could find in the camps' armory. John and Tommys' bodies were left lying on the ground, Jeff saying that if they buried them there, they might as well have buried themselves. Isaac didn't like it though.
         After that, they began to head out. As they were leaving through the main gates, Isaac was paying too much attention on other things, than to realize that a teenage girl was standing in the middle of the road. He slammed on the brakes, just feet from where she was standing. As his heart was racing, he looked out the windshield to look at the girl.
         She was the same height as he and had long dark brown hair. She carried a brown leather satchel across her shoulder and wore an ebony leather jacket. Isaac opened the bus door and stepped out, watching the girls' every move. She kept staring at him though, half joyous, and half startled.
         "We thought we were the only ones left," she said, gazing at Isaac with her emerald eyes.
         Isaac hesitated, then spoke. "Who's we? How many of you are there?"
         "My little brother, and a couple others are the only ones left alive," the girl said. "At least, the only ones left sane."
         She spoke with an accent reflecting both american and british, making her stand out among those who Isaac had seen in his life.
         "Can you take us to them?" Isaac asked impatiently.
         "No, if they knew you were alive, then they would kill you. But I can take you to my house, we can talk there. The name's Kayla by the way."
         "Isaac."
         Kayla showed Isaac where to go, but insisted that only he go. Caleb and Will went with them though, just as a precaution. They took one of the trucks while everyone else stayed behind to wait. Up a steep road west and the opposite direction of where the convoy had come from, they went. Beyond the road, they passed an aged liquor store.
         "Hey, why don't you stop and pick me up a six pack," Caleb said and laughed. "It's not illegal anymore, is it?"
         "It is while I'm here," Isaac said. Kayla looked at him with a touch of admiration. She had never seen anyone like him before.
         On they went, westward, the road curving only once. For a mile, since the liquor store, they saw a sign that said, "Welcome to Warsaw." All around it, bodies of adults were scattered. They made a very unwelcoming invitation. Kayla had them turn left at the sign and down a gravel road, on the otherside of a line of trees, a gigantic two story house stood.
         "This was where my brother and I would come and play when we were kids," Kayla said. "You might we still are..."
         Isaac stopped the truck on the gravel road and in the middle of a vast green lawn, and Kayla rushed out. On the porch of the mansion, a very young boy sat on a porch swing. A few other people looked out the windows of the house, which made Isaac suspicious. The young boy saw his sister and ran into her arms. It was one of the happier sights Isaac had seen in the past two days.
         "I missed you, Fig," Kayla said to her little brother.
         "I missed you too, Kay," the boy said back.
         Isaac stepped forward and Fig became frightened. Kayla assured him it was all right.
         "This is Fig, he's seven," she told Isaac. Fig ran off to the house. "Come on."
         Kayla strolled on down to the mansion and Isaac and Caleb followed. Will guarded the truck. Inside the mansion, dozens of people resided. They were mostly children, but a few, such as Bowser and Nick, took shifts guarding on the roof.
         "Bowser, that's a funny name, is it from Mario or something?" Caleb asked, but the near seven foot tall boy didn't answer. Instead he walked on by and outside, not liking the new comer.
         The children were malnourished and had fear in their tiny eyes. They were also hot from the ever increasing summer temperature, but Kayla told them that it was not safe for them to leave the house. It pained Isaac and Caleb greatly to see them like that.
         "I need you to take us to your town, their are only thirty of us," Kayla begged. "Please, if the Others find us, they will kill these children as punishment."
         "Others? Who are they?" Isaac asked.
         "The others of Warsaw, they have been influenced by some person that came from the north last night. He says his name is Deus, and he speaks... he speaks like no one else... his voice."
         Isaac knew exactly who the person was, but what he didn't know was why he was in Warsaw and why he didn't do it in Dawn's Hope. The more he thought about it, the more it bothered him.
         "Where is this Deus guy?" he asked.
         "He lives in the town hall, where Levi Redfield and everyone else in the town worship him as some kind of god."
         "I need you to take us there."
         "No, it's not safe. I can't go back there, not after last time."
         "What happened last time?-"
         With absolutely no warning at all, an explosion resounded outside. Isaac and Kayla ducked to the floor and they helped the children get back from the windows. Another explosion and then another. It was near endless. Through a window feet from him, looking out to where his truck was, he saw huge Abrams tank rolling across the lawn. It fired a shot directly in front of the porch, splitting the wood in two. Isaac's ears rang out, disabling his hearing for a while.
         Kayla had everyone move out the back door in the mansion, while gunshots from the roof tried their best to stop the monstrous machine, but nothing worked. It blew right through the mansion itself. Isaac, seeing it ready to fire a second time straight at Kayla, ran to her and threw her to the ground covering her with his own body. Debris and bodies of children and teens flung at them with the second blast in the house. Isaac go up and helped Kayla up. Caleb, seeing Will in the trees a ways off, ran to him, only to have himself blown to bits.
         Will caught up with Isaac and Kayla, who were following Bowser, Fig and a dozen or so other children into the forest. Kayla turned around to see the tank demolish the mansion and saw Nick on the roof. When the roof collapsed he was seen no more.
         "Run! Goddamnit, run!" Isaac yelled over several more tank shots.
         Kayla ran off with Bowser and Fig before Isaac and Will knew it. They soon found themselves alone, and saw the tank no more behind them. As they kept on running, Isaac went passed a huge maple tree and had his face slammed against someones arm being extended. Will was knocked unconscious too, and they didn't wake up for a long while.

                                    Chapter 4

         Isaac woke, his head throbbing and his ears ringing. This ringing was not from the tanks' blasts, but from the crowd of hundreds of people screaming towards him. Not towards him, towards the boy behind him.
         "The two outsiders have been caught!" the crowds' leader yelled. "In the name of Deus, son of God, we shall execute them as a sacrifice!"
         The crowd of children and young adults, were thrilled at the boys' words. They screamed louder this time and Isaac went to cover his ears. Yet he couldn't, for his hands were tied behind a post placed in the ground. Blood already stained the grass around him, giving him a little insight. Just feet from where he was sitting, Will was tied up at another bloodied post.
         A messenger boy came running up to the lead boy, and whispered.
         "Levi, we think there might be more of them," the messenger said.
         Levi looked around at the audience from the top of a hill, then to a boy in black with a huge axe. He gave thumbs down to Will and the boy had him untied and kneel over.
         "Please, please... don't kill me!" Will screamed. "I don't want to die!... please!"
         Levi nodded his head and the young boy raised his huge axe and swiftly lowered it. Will's head disconnected from his body and rolled over towards the crowd. They cheered, being pleased that their so called Deus was pleased, as Levi said.
         He gave a thumbs down to Isaac and the executioner stepped forward. Everything seemed in slow motion in Isaac's mind. Every step the young executioner took, was as long as an age of the Earth. By the time he stood in front of him, it had been five hundred ages. Isaac was untied with little struggle, since he didn't have the strength to even if he tried.
         O'Riley stepped out of the shadows and everyone bowed before him. He went to Isaac's ear.
         "Well if it isn't the Rock. You can't escape this time," he malignantly said. "Since you don't worship me, you're going straight into the fires eternal damnation. You know what that means, right? Hell."
         O'Riley laughed sinisterly, and stepped away from the fountain and back into the shadows behind it. Levi nodded to the young boy and the axe was raised.
         Isaac felt no pain anymore, his headache gone. He was calm, considering the fact that a second from then, he would be dead. The executioner lowered his axe fiercely, and just upon centimeters away from Isaac's neck, he felt a sharp pain enter his back. The young boy reached to feel his back and found blood. He fell to the ground and  every last person down the hill yelled in terror.
         Gun fire burst out and many were killed. Levi and O'Riley snuck away, while Isaac was left lying there. He felt pain again, and he couldn't stop it. He felt tired and he could stop it either. He rapidly fell into a dizzied state and then into slumber.
         "Isaac! Wake up! Isaac...! Don't die yet! Wake up, please!...!"
         
                  So concludes Part 1 of Dawn...