[Noah's perspective]

  “it's so dark.”

  “Shhh, no sound... we are playing the quiet game.”

  “The quiet game is boring.”

  “Just because you’re losing doesn’t mean it’s boring.”

  “where's mom?”

  “Yeah, when's old man getting here? Do you think he is okay?”

  A loud explosion happens, pink, red and yellow light up our faces faintly through the crack in the hole, the cave we had dug underground as a safe haven being put to good use.

  “I wanna go home...”

  “We will be out soon.”

  “Yeah! When the sun is out.”

  “But it's so cramped in here.”

  “We’re kinda like sardines.”

  “Ew!”

  “Hey hey... we are safer together... lean on the walls.”

  “But they are so sticky... and the ground is so wet, and these planks are gross… and- “

  Someone bumps into a plank that we are using the support the small cave, I hold my breath hoping nothing caves in.

  “Just... stay still, okay?”

  “Why couldn't we stay in a hut? Old man Gerald gets to.”

  “Because it's not safe dummy.”

  “Yeah... everyone up there is fighting to keep you all alive... okay?”

  “I want my BROTHER.”

  “Your brother is too big to be in here, stay quiet please...”

  “I'm cold...”

  “Me too...”

  I try to make myself smaller, “how about we play a game?”

  “A game? It's too dark to play a game.”

  “Let's play tag!”

  Lily who was sitting by the entrance speaks quietly, she was the best at calming the kids down, “let's talk about our future... what do you want to be when you grow up?”

  “I wanna use magic to grow a treehouse!”

  “Quiet words...”

  “Okay... treehouse...”

  “I wanna open a bakery.”

  “Thats wonderful... maybe a treehouse bakery?”

  “Ohhh that sounds amazing.”

  “Mhm... you could both team up.”

  “Who said treehouse?”

  “I did!”

  “I can't see you, dipshit.”

  “Language!”

  “Lily! he cursed!”

  “No more swearing everyone...”

  “I wanna become big and strong like Noah.”

  “You need to do one push up first.”

  “I can do a push up!”

  “A girly push up maybe.”

  “Nuh uh. I can do a million man push ups, stupid.”

  “Just sleep... close your eyes and think about your dreams.” Lily’s soothing voice hypnotises everyone

  I close my eyes, I hope Anne is okay... Jackson should be fine since he is by the edge of the water preparing an attack on Fay... but those explosions don't fill me with confidence...

  Did Fay really just kill everyone? We barely had time to prepare this safe space, it was made up of implosion spells and shoddy planks as supports so it doesn't cave in, we were supposed to create a sort of hut above this hole behind the food clinic, but we didn't have the resources.

  The opening is covered by a crate, its heavy enough so that Fay won't try to move it.

  I didn't think his threat was serious. But now...

  Breathing begins to die down a bit, softer and softer, we had managed to fit 12 of the youngest here, the oldest being 13.

  I stay leaning on the wall, falling asleep standing up.

  My mind wanders, forgetting the tragedy that may be taking place above.

  Goodnight...

  ...

  I wake up to crying from one of the youngest, a 4-year-old who was born here, the woman who birthed him died 2 years ago, and nobody since has been able to get pregnant, he knows nothing but the world he was placed in, the light from the small crack in the box fills the room with grey, we are safe.

  Lily wakes up and picks up the crying kid, who was sandwiched between 2 more, this whole place was a tangled mess of children sleeping atop each other.

  “Everyone wake up!” I yell, “I think we are good to leave.”

  I don't know anything, but I do know that we can't stay here much longer, or we will die of hypothermia, this cave is unbelievably cold.

  Everyone begins waking up, the small space erupting in chatter, “why isn't Jacob breathing?” One girl asks while shaking him.

  Jacob Kecher, who was above two other children looked almost blue. “He is just... sleeping, it's okay everyone.” I pick him up, he was fairly skinny and small for someone that is 9.

  Although most of the kids here grew abnormally, too skinny, too short, bad skin, it's just another curse placed on us by those demons for not giving us real food. Jacob always waited by the food clinic for scraps in the early morning and would give them extra blood to feed his little family.

  Even if we eventually get out I'm not sure if any of these kids will grow up normally, some are too distant, some are too emotional, some scream in terror at night, some watched the people they loved get taken, some do get taken and then returned so their friends can see what the demons had done to them, everyone here has suffered trauma that would make most adults shut down.

  I place him near the entrance as I push the box to the side, it tips over and light shines through, the clouds just as grey as they always are. “Everyone stay down here until I give a signal, okay?”

  A couple kids salute and nod, trying to copy the older kids soldier mentality. Alot of them have roughly shaven heads, trying to follow the revolution and copy me.

  I take Jacobs body and lay it beside the open hole, not taking in the surroundings, I place my head to his chest and to my surprise he is breathing faintly.

  I cradle his neck, and much like most children here, his head is too big for his body, I'm sure anyone in the modern world would notice it instantly, but to us this is just how children look now, if we ever escaped they’d be rewarded with being called freaks in the modern world.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Lily comes out, “Lily I need blankets, grab some from the food clinic.”

  …

  “Noah.”

  “GO. Now.”

  “Noah... I-”

  “We need to be quick.” I stare at the boy's sunken eyes as I hug him, hoping to use my body heat, “Lily what are you doing? Go!”

  I turn my head to Lily, “What are you doing???”

  She stares into empty space, empty space.

  Empty space where the food clinic used to be, the huge wall right near the entrance of our safe space was gone completely.

  “Fay...” I say under my breath, he wouldn't do this right? Was he aware of how many people were in that food clinic? Was he aware?

  “Okay its fine... just find where everyone is...”

  I look around and see nobody, some huts completely missing, “They’ll be by the water... go find them Lily... they’ll have blankets...”

  I look in the 4 directions, the edges of each part of our small island, no one is there. “Check... they might be in some of the huts...”

  I count each hut remaining, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... 7 huts... that's enough to fit the remaining... 66... minus 14 who were living in the safe space... 52... 52 people could fit in 7 huts.

  “Bet they’re so cramped... tell them they can come out okay Lily?”

  Lily nods and runs off to the closest hut, “Everyone can come out now!” I say, “that's the signal.”

  Kids begin to crawl out and see the lack of anything, the faint patches of grass, the tree we had, a few huts. Thats all we have left. But I can make this work...

  Staying near Jacob, I take off my shirt and wrap it around him.

  “Is Jacob going to be, okay?” A little girl asks, she was a friend of Jacob, named Amelia. She had a similar complexion to the rest of the children, blonde hair she refused to cut off, matching her sickly pale skin and sunken eyes. We were close to finally getting enough healthy food for everyone with the fruit and vegetables, so this is a good day's complexion.

  “Jacob will be fine, don't you worry about it...”

  All the spare clothes we had are gone... what are we going to do when these kids grow older and out of their clothes? Will they even grow up to need new clothes?

  This is just a bigger version of the door situation, Fay didn't realise how much the food clinic meant to us maybe?

  Why though? Why?

  Lily comes back and bows, “There is nobody in any of the huts.”

  “Okay? Get them over here... we need heat for Jacob.”

  I waft her away, Jacob is still breathing faintly, “It's going to be okay... get them over here... we will discuss plans.”

  “They’re not here.”

  “I know. Tell them to come over.”

  I stroke Jacob's hair, Amelia had sat down near me, trying to copy my movements, more kids wander out and sit in the mud, some sit by the tree trying to climb to collect apples.

  “They’re not in the huts.”

  Not in the huts.

  “Then where are they?”

  “They aren't here.”

  “Check the... check the...”

  I look in the 4 directions again, there's nobody by the water, nobody. “Maybe they made an underground space as well... smart bastards... go find it.”

  “I don't think...”

  “Find it. Tell them we need all the help we can get.”

  The kids begin to start complaining, about where everyone is, that they are cold, that they are hungry, “please just... go to the apple tree if you are hungry, okay?”

  The 6 kids who were complaining around leave, leaving only Amelia and me.

  “Amelia, you need to use your body heat... I'm going to search for the others, okay?”

  She nods, her dark eyes staring at Jacob with as much emotion as she can muster, as much emotion as this place allows, “okay...”

  I get up, smiling softly at Amelia trying her best, Jacobs body had turned back to its usual hue, the blue almost completely gone. I walk towards Lily who to my surprise found someone.

  Anne is speaking in broken gasps, her face wet with tears. The sight of Anne alive reignites my hope that everyone is hidden away.

  “Anne what's going on?” I step closer.

  “Oh. Oh, okay so... do I explain again?” She looks over at Lily and she nods.

  “They’re all gone. I was going to talk to fay and have Jackson restrain him... but... before we could get close enough after preparing the spells... the entire food clinic disappeared, shot into the sky as a glowing yellow dot.”

  She takes a shaky breath, “I hid myself in the mud and Jackson ran out to save people I think, I'm not sure where he is.”

  “Okay... where did everyone escape to?”

  “They were in the food clinic.”

  “But the food clinic turned into the yellow dot, so where did they go?”

  Anne stares at me, “they’re dead.”

  Dead? “No, they’re not.”

  “They are.”

  “Where did the yellow dot go? Maybe we can find them?”

  “It exploded. In the sky. Noah they are all dead.”

  “Did the explosion... did anyone survive?”

  “No. They are dead Noah.”

  “Where are the bodies? Did you check for them?”

  “There are none. They are gone.”

  “Then… where’s the yellow dot…? Maybe…”

  “It exploded. Noah, they are dead.”

  My eyesight becomes unfocused, the water behind her and grey sky becoming solid colours, her face merges into itself and loses all features... “where... where...”

  Fay killed all of them.

  “Okay... we need food... we need to grow stuff now... all we have is that apple tree.”

  I walk back towards the kids who are now eating apples on top of some branches, everything comes back into focus, they seem happy but confused with the circumstances.

  A kid from the top branch asks, “Where did everyone go.”

  “Don't worry... collect as many apples as you can, plant the seeds.” I begin to climb up, I seem abnormally strong as I reach the top as I pull out apples, taking the ripe ones and dropping them to the ground.

  “You look funny without your shirt on.” A girl called out, her name was faith. At least she wanted to be renamed to faith, so we all went with it. I had as much muscle mass as my diet would allow, but my ribs still show as defined bumps.

  “You look funny looking too.”

  Everyone giggles, I successfully take every apple from the tree that has nutrient value. From the top branch I can see that there is no one left, no supplies left, and no hope left.

  “Meanie.”

  “You were mean first.” I jump down and ruffle her short black hair that had gone slightly grey in the sides. At the age of 10.

  “Is everyone else dead?” The eldest child asks while looking abnormally calm.

  “Yeah. We think so.”

  “Okay.” He begins to collect all the apples, putting them into one space, his resilience reminds me of Fay.

  Before Fay killed everyone.

  “Hey.” I hear a familiar voice, Jackson who is covered in water approaches from the shore, touching the tree carefully.

  I don't even care about who is living or who has died, I need to focus on survival, that's what everyone needs from me.

  “Hey.”

  “I swam out once I saw what was happening... they’re all gone?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay...”

  We need paper... or at least something to write spells on.

  “Jackson, go search every hut for paper.”

  He nods, walking away with a faint look of dread, Lily runs up to him and gives him a big squeeze, “I'm glad you are safe.”

  “I'm glad you are too...”

  Did he swim out because he was scared? I thought he had tried to help people?

  That doesn't matter, the eldest kid begins to slice at the apples with a sharp piece of wood, taking out the seeds and planting them in the soil.

  “Further out, we need space for them to grow. Don’t waste the apple too, place it in the crate.”

  He nods and does just that, planting the seeds apart from each other.

  A little boy runs up to me, “I made a mud snowman!”

  I smile, “let me see.”

  He takes me to see it, its near Jacob who seems alive and well, chatting away to Amelia.

  The small snowman looks miserable given the circumstances, already falling apart, “He needs a nose, go find a stick.”

  He nods and happily runs over to the tree, I get to the crates we had put behind the once existent food clinic, they are full of nothing, but I was hoping they somehow replenished themselves. All the useful things were inside of the food clinic.

  “Noah! Theres a carriage coming in!” Anne shouts, already gathering the kids.

  A carriage? Are they back to kill the rest of us?

  “EVERYONE HIDE IN THE SAFE SPACE NOW!”

  The kids scatter like ants, slipping on mud as they reach the small hole, getting inside and away from view.

  I see the carriage roll up to the patch of grass, it has very fancy wooden sculptures dug into the side of the wood, red curtains blowing as it moves. I see another version of Lily sitting on the carriage front, looking disinterested.

  The same woman who taught us the growth magic steps out, looking around, “this place is rather drab, I expected more from you.”

  She walks towards me, I was the only one who didn't hide so I was the target of whatever was going to happen, everyone else is now inside of the safe space, I walk towards her with equal confidence, “we have no paper.”

  “Oh.” She looks irritated, “well I suppose nothing can be done. I'm going now, I expected this whole place to be full of greenery but all I see is a tree and a patch of grass. Disappointing.”

  I step forward, “please, we have children, they are starving, we need food.”

  “And why would I care about such nonsense? You failed my interest, yet you ask for more?” She moves onto the mud which quickly sprouts green as she reaches me. “If rumour isn’t to be believed... have you seen Fay for the past 3 days?”

  It's always about Fay, everything is about Fay. “Yes.”

  “Good to hear. I wish you well on your food shortage, farewell.” She turns on her heel and begins to walk away.

  “WAIT.” Jackson runs up from a hut and grabs her wrist forcefully, “I know somewhere in your heart you don't believe kids deserve to starve.”

  “I don't believe fish deserve to be eaten alive by bears. Yet it happens and will happen, as is the circle of life.” She grabs his wrist in turn and inspects it, “Is this an inactivated Eris ring?”

  She digs her fingers in, causing Jackson to grunt in pain, “let me activate it for you, I am not as unjust as the others. I do not believe you are deserving of an unfinished narrative at this time.” She taps the ring, a blinding white light shoots out into the sky as it glows gold.

  “What an unkempt ring, its amateur work at best.”

  Jackson falls to the floor, seizing up, convulsing while vomiting blood into the mud, quickly soaking into his shirt.

  I run up to him and lay him on his side, “did you kill him? Is he dying?”

  “I'm unsure. He should be dead soon.” She touches the floor and grass grows around Jackson, making a nice bed for him, a coffin of green.

  She stares for a moment, then with a deep sigh she decides this is no longer interesting, “you'll survive if he does... now if you excuse me, I have a date.”

  She steps away with the form of a runway model, her intricately designed dress floating just above the grass, once she steps into the carriage the fog comes back as it always does, and just like that she's gone.

  Fay has singlehandedly made everything worse, what was once a lively town is a wasteland, he should've just killed himself as soon as that demon took interest. I should have killed him. What could've been years of continued living has been cut short to what might be weeks.

  And for what? What was the reason for killing everyone? Was it to save us? Is he even human anymore? Was it a mistake? Did someone force him?

  None of this matters.

  I'm going to find a way out of this, I'm going to give these children real lives, I'm going to undo everything. I'm going to wipe out every demon on the planet.

  Jackson coughs up more blood, his eyes becoming lifeless. I grab his wrist and try to forcefully take it off, it doesn't budge, like its threaded to him just like Fay’s clothes.

  “Shit...” I pull again, all it does it dislocate his ring finger, I drop his arm which joins his convulsing body, “don't die. We need you.”

  I sit by his body, holding him steady. Jackson is stronger than anyone else here, even if his mind isn't in the right place right now.