FicWad

Stop by This Disaster Town
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The sounds in my ear rang as they seemed to whiz by me. I opened my eyes to see a bloody street. I felt like I couldn't breath as I got to my feet and looked around. There were people everywhere. People crying. I saw a giant machine ahead. Grinding, and making sounds I've never heard before. People were speaking to one another, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I went up to a man and asked him what was happening. His mouth moved, but I couldn't understand him. I ran further into the crowd, and the ground seemed to rumbled under me. There was a stage set up. I pushed and shoved through people that gave me nasty looks as I went by. As I made it to the front of the crowd, William Beckett was standing at a podium. He was laughing and smirking and pointing to the four men sitting on the back of the stage, heads covered in black cloth. I felt my stomach churn as they were brought to the front of the stage. The black covers were ripped off and my heart jumped out of my chest.

I screamed.

"Pete!" I could only hear myself. "Pete!"

He looked at me with shame. He was beaten. His eyes were blackened and he was missing teeth. I sobbed.

"Tegan!" I heard my name being shouted.

I looked around and there was a man pushing me towards the stage. Sounds flooded my ears suddenly. I could now hear the screams of the people in the machine.

"Take her!" He shouted.

I fought wildly against his hands, tears blurring my vision.

"Don't touch her!" Pete struggled against the man holding him.

As I was grabbed by two men, I looked at Pete's best friends, next to him, beaten as well. Patrick broke my heart. For someone always so happy, he seemed like he was already dead. I wouldn't ever imagine him that hurt, but he seemed done with the world already. Andy looked at me and tried to smile. He always tried to make me feel better. If Pete wasn't there, Andy would be. He said I was the sister he never had, and Pete was lucky to have. I couldn't even recognize all the tattoos on his arms because they were so cut up. When I looked at Joe, he was already staring at me with a look that seemed to apologize for the world. His eyes were red, maybe from hunger, but maybe from sadness. I couldn't quite tell. He, along with the other three, were skinny and shaking from exhaustion.

"Where is your hope now humans?!" Beckett yelled into the podium microphone.

The crowd behind me cheered.

"Let's put an end to these traitors!" The man behind me shouted.

I swung myself around and punched him in the face as hard as I could.

"Fucking bitch!" He shouted, covering his nose with one hand and shoving me in front of the stage with the other.

I could feel people's stares past me at the stage as Beckett motioned for the guards holding Pete, Joe, Andy, and Patrick to go ahead. I screamed for my life as I tried to climb onto the stage. They couldn't kill them. I clawed up onto the wood and ran past Beckett, who couldn't stop laughing, and towards the guys. I was caught by a security guard as my four best friends disappeared into the fiery machine. I watched blood form little puddles outside of the machine as I sank to my knees, to the feeling of a warm gun behind my head. It was over. It was all over.


I jumped up, screaming half to death. The clock in the kitchen blared back. I got up, shaking and sweating.

"It's just a dream." I reassured myself. Just a nightmare.

The kitchen was still a wreck, still splintered from the fight a few hours ago. It was 6. I held onto the counter for support as the sick feeling I had in my stomach weakened my knees. I could still hear the yelling in the back of my mind. I ran to the bathroom and washed my face. I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were bloodshot, and I had dark rings under them from the lack of sleep. I looked tired and depressed. I reached for my pockets and whipped out a small prescription bottle. My hands shook as I read the label aloud.

"Take once daily."

That medication was from years ago, after the car accident. It stopped the nightmares then. It stopped the pain. I had to stop taking them after I got addicted, and after Pete overdosed. I needed them now though.

I popped two and swallowed them with tap water. I felt a small bubble of relief rise in my chest, knowing that the drugs would subdue the crazy in half an hour. I walked out into the kitchen and looked outside. The sun was out. It was time to move on. I packed up my stuff and headed out. I walked slowly as I moved towards Chicago. I smiled, softly, for once. Maybe I'd find Pete. Maybe we'd be a family again. That thought cause me to pick up my pace. Maybe we could find Joe and Patrick and Andy, and we could all start over. We could find a safe place. I started running towards Chicago. I could almost taste the words that ran off my tongue become realities. I could almost feel it. I almost started crying. I was so delusional. I could feel my mood swinging. The pills were definitely kicking in, along with the reality of the situation.

I stopped running, almost stumbling over a pile of bricks. I muttered to myself about how I'd never see Pete again. How I was alone. How I would be dead soon. How the world was dead. It felt as if someone used a vacuum to take all the color out of life and replaced it with smog and smoke and death. Tears welled up as I shook myself together. It wasn't working very well though.

"I'm going mad!" I cried.

I sobbed into my hands, kneeling onto the dirty sidewalk. I sniffled and coughed and cried like a baby. It was all for self-pity. For all the things I didn't do. For all the people I missed. There was one word on my lips.

"Mom." I blubbered. "Mom!"

I screamed into the street, as if anyone would hear me.

"Daddy!" I cried. "I want to go home."

I rested my head on the warm pavement, calming down a little. I was so peaceful there, that I almost just wanted to sleep there forever. I could feel the dirt on my cheeks, and the warm tears in a puddle under my nose. I sat up, wiping my face against my arm. As I stood up, trying to talk myself into sanity, which was ironic, I heard a voice cry out.

"Oh god, is that someone out there!?" I heard a voice filled with desperation. "Help me!"

The voice was hoarse.

"Please! Help! I can't feel my legs! I heard you out there! Please help me! I'm not dead yet! I'm not dead!..." The voice drifted off.

My heart jumped. Someone was alive. I wasn't the only one left. I looked around, trying to remember where the voice came from. I ran left, down a once busy street.

"Hello!?" I screamed.

I waited for my voice to echo.

"Yes! Yes! Please! I'm over here! I'm over here!"

As the voice called for help I ran towards it. Maybe they could help me find Pete. Maybe they could give me company. I'd have one friend in this twisted world.

I followed the pleads onto a dead end street, and a girl was lying next to an overturned car.

"Oh my god!" She cried as I ran towards her. "You're alive! You really are!"

I grinned. I wasn't alone.

"Are you ok?" I knelt next to her.

She sat up, hugging me.

"I'm ok. My leg is a little hurt. I fell out of this car a few days ago. I was surprised no one found me earlier. I was driving from New Jersey. They said California is a safe haven."

I pulled out some Tylenol, and a bottle of water I filled in the sink before I left.

"Take a few. It'll help your leg. Don't drink all the water though."

I handed her the supplies as she eagerly took them.

"Thank you."

I nodded, smiling.

"I'm Tegan." I held out my dirt-covered hand as she closed the water bottle.

"Sophia." We shook hands, and she tried to stand up. "I'm so glad I'm not alone anymore. I thought I was going to go crazy if I was alone anymore."

I laughed, a little too much.

"I was. This is the first human interaction I've had since two years ago."

She seemed shocked.

"You've been traveling for that long?"

I shook my head no.

"Only about four days. But my brother, Pete, left me alone to go try to take down Beckett."

As I finished my sentence, she looked shocked.

"Your brother is Pete. Pete Wentz?"

I nodded.

"That guy is a hero." She spoke genuinely. "Him and his group saved me a few weeks ago."

I almost threw up from excitement. Pete was alive. He was still living.

"You saw him?! Where? Was he ok?!"

"Yeah," She helped me up. "I was actually just entering Illinois. My car was being attacked by a vampire, and him and four other guys helped me. He seemed a little banged up, but he was fine. No big shocks. He told me to stay away from Chicago. He said he had to go there to kill someone. He also showed me a picture and asked if I seen a girl. She looked a lot like you. I don't remember the name he said, but I'm pretty sure it was Tegan, now that I hear the name in my head."

My face felt like it lit up. My brother was looking for me.

"He asked if I knew anyone who mentioned anything about that girl and I said no and asked him why. He didn't answer, he just ran off with those guys. One of them was cute too."

I stopped. She said four other guys. Who was the new guy?

"You said there were four other guys?"

She nodded, and walked slowly, with a light limp, motioning for me to follow her.

"Yeah, the cute guy was tall, dark and handsome. He spoke spanish once too." She sighed dreamily.

"Maybe that was Gabe?" I thought aloud. "He was in Illinois was Pete left."

Sophia looked at me with an almost lovestruck face.

"His name's Gabe? How beautiful."

We walked along quietly.

"So where are we going?"

"Chicago." I stated, kicking a rock.

Instead of flipping out about how we shouldn't be there, she just kept walking.

"Oh."

The end of the umbrella was a couple of hundred feet away. It loomed over the Chicago skyline with a dark message, and an even darker feeling.

"So did you leave anyone behind?" I looked at her.

She nodded.

"Just my younger siblings. I miss them dearly, but they escaped on those boat-things that were government issued. You know, when we still had a president."

I frowned. That felt like forever ago.

"What about you?" She looked over at me.

"Nah. I only had Pete. And his friends. My parents left us when I turned 18. Couldn't put up with me and Pete. But the guys are like my family now."

"That's good."

I shrugged. We crossed into the shadow from the hat-like structure over Chicago. From now on, it was going to be night, 24/7. My two years of waiting, and practicing, now rose in my bones, ready for action.

"Now listen," I tossed Sophia my small pistol. "This isn't much. But it'll be enough to keep us alive. I have stakes and crosses. You need to keep your eyes wide open now. The vampires are out now, and will be until this thing goes away. Danger is now a 24 hour cycle."

I looked back at the sun shining in the real world, the grass, and the few trees that weren't charred. The world I once lived in was disappearing. I was now in this odd, modern hell. The once tall and shining skyscrapers I used to bend over backwards to see were now grey and black, like ominous shadows watching over us. I kept my rifle loaded, ready for attack at any moment.

"Don't bring any attention to yourself." I told Sophia as we approached populated areas.

"Why don't we just jump into that bar for awhile? We'll just try to blend in as citizens first." She offered.

I looked at a small, dingy, bar with neon lights and a broken-in window.

"Yeah, sure."

We walked, almost holding our breath past two rather built vampires. As we made it to the door, we relaxed a little. Vampires who still depended on alcohol were usually older, less harmless, or vampires who could control themselves. As soon as we stepped in the door, the room hushed. They could probably smell us. We sat at one of the wooden tables off to the side, and I motioned for the waitress to come over.

"What do you guys want?" She wrinkled her nose, almost disgusted by smell of human.

"I'll just have a beer." I looked over at Sophia who just asked for a soda.

"You drink?" She raised her eyebrows.

"I have to try to deal with my emotional wreck somehow." I muttered.

I felt a pair of eyes watching me. I scanned the bar, and no one really stood out. I turned back to Sophia, who was asking me more about Gabe with a grin on her face.

"It's not such a good idea to talk about that here." I grabbed the bottle that the waitress left on the table.

"Little Miss Tegan Wentz! What am I going to say to your brother about you when he asks? Drinking now?" A voice, loud and friendly shouted behind me.

I turned around, almost shocked by the face I saw. I guess Sophia would be meeting the man she thought was gorgeous a little sooner than planned.

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AN: woot. chapter 2! :) thanks to everyone who's reading, and an even bigger thank you to those of you who reviewed!
ohsotay23: oh she definitely has a purpose behind her random wandering. she's trying to find pete!
let_it_go: Thank you verrrry much! I'm flattered! :D