Destroyed

Chapter 1

My name is Abi Greenwood and last week, my life was normal. I lived in a normal house in Yellowstone with fairly normal, if a little irresponsible, parents and a questionable little brother. Now I don’t have a home and am in a society ravaged by heat and smoke.

Two days ago, the Yellowstone volcano erupted, no one had anticipated this so soon, but it did. Life changed in an instant.

When the mud eruption happened, my brother Russell and I were camping on Frank Island and our parents were, and still are abroad on a 20 years anniversary trip. They must be rather confident in us, seeing as they sent a fifteen-year-old with a thirteen-year-old and a motorboat camping on a remote island.

Now we are teaming up with Kaylee Moore, who once called her friend's mother a rat, to find her younger brother Jesse who disappeared after “glamping” on Stevenson Island.

Chapter 2

After the eruption, we immediately began taking inventory of all food items we had remaining:

-3 packets of Lay’s salt and vinegar potato chips

-2 boxes of sour cream and chives Pringles

-2 jars of iodine tablets

-18 cans of soup

-7 cans of fruit

-10 cans of beans

-1 jar of olives that I have refused to eat up until now

-3 cans of beef

-8 half-litre bottles of water

-1 jar of jam

-1 ½ loaves of bread.

This is not going to be enough for the two of us for long, and definitely not three.

Currently, we have used almost a third of these things.

Chapter 3

We found Kaylee when she swam to Frank Island and collapsed on us, literally.

“I need food…” she said, clearly regretting the swim in the cold but incongruously beautiful turquoise lake.

“We need to conserve,” I replied, annoyed at her showing up and demanding food from our small supply when Russell cut in

“But we can spare half a can,” he demanded, “who are you?”

“She’s Kaylee,” I snapped before she could, my annoyance at them both growing by the second.

I lent her some of my least-favourite clothes and we just dumped her wet outfit in the lake.

Then she explained her situation: her ten-year-old brother had disappeared after the initial eruption from their ‘glamping’ trip on Stevenson Island, along with their much more high tech motorboat. She was looking for him and I secretly think she is torn up with worry as I heard her crying last night. We will start looking for him tomorrow.

Chapter 4

As I slept, I dreamt about my old life; parties with my church friends; Sammi, Julie, Chance and the rest of my youth group, worrying about how much people would judge me at school dances depending on my dress, arguing with Russell about which TV show we would watch. I would watch a hundred episodes of “The Simpsons” to undo this mess around me.

As I’m walking down the path to the beach, I worry about the fuel in the “Jiminy Cricket” as named by six-year-old Russell. And as I suspected, we only have ¾ of a tank left, we can go to the other islands (Stevenson and Dot) and probably get back to the shoreline of the lake, but we’ll have to leave the boat there.

Chapter 5

We’ve arrived at Stevenson Island after convincing Kaylee to sit on the floor of our boat as all the seats were taken by us and our whole campsite, which was not easy whatsoever. But after struggling over the unearthly lake with my questionable boat-driving skills, we are at the island and Kaylee has already wandered off to the place where she and Jesse were camping. Russell and I were not planning to slit up and even though Kaylee did, we definitely won’t.

The island doesn’t have much ground to cover and seeing as it is already obvious that there is no one on the sandy stretch of the island, we venture off into the forest, which would usually be beautiful but now gives off an eerie air.

We enter the forest and almost immediately run into trouble. A wolf leaps out of the woods and I just jump out of the way in time. Russell, however, isn’t so lucky, he’s paralysed by fear like a deer in headlights. The wolf jumps on him and before he knows what’s happening, he’s on the forest floor screaming.

Chapter 6

The wolf, who thankfully is not rabid, bites Russell on the leg and blood starts oozing out of the wound. I pick up a rock and it’s flying through the air in an instant. As it hits the inside of the animal’s knee, I hear the crack and I know I’ve broken its leg as it hobbles back into the forest, now seeing me as a threat. Even so, we take it carefully from there, knowing the wolf could be lurking in the shadows, ready to strike at any moment.

I’ve bandaged his leg and I know my brother needs amoxicillin seeing as that’s what we used to treat our neighbour Christine when we were babysitting her and a dog bit her. I look through my first aid kit frantically pulling out antiseptic wipes, surgical masks and bandages before emptying the whole container. I find painkillers but they aren’t what Russell needs. This adds a huge detour when we even figure out where we’re going.

Suddenly, Kaylee walks out of the forest, her eyes puffy, and we know she hasn’t found her brother. We have to keep going, there’s another island so that’s where we’ll go next.

Chapter 7

I know where we can go. Our Aunt Nicky lives just sixty miles away from here! She won’t have been affected seeing as it seems to be an oddly local eruption, the mud only went about eight miles, according to Kaylee, who must have been checking her phone every second until the heat shut off all power in a hundred-mile radius. We will have to find a map to find her. She lives on 21 Clemantis Lane. I know this because my mom drilled this into my head so that every Christmas, I could put it into Google Maps no worries. I fear that although her area won’t be so badly affected, the air will still be full of ash and Aunt Nicky may have left her house anyway.

We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

It will be a long process and probably hard to get there on our own with no cars or drivers, taking the “scenic route” that dad always insisted on, but now we’ll just be using it to avoid the volcanic eruption.

Chapter 8

I miss my friend Anneke, she had to move to England when her grandmother got sick. Her cousin’s family refused to go and therefore forced her’s to go and look after the elderly woman instead.

We’d been best friends since before Kindergarten, we went to the same church and grew up together. We were practically sisters for years until her grandma got cancer and they had to go back. She recovered, but they didn’t return.

We still often text, even though she’s been gone for 3 years now. We also FaceTime monthly and tonight would be the time we would call. I’m sure she won’t be expecting me tonight as the eruption must be all over the news, she probably thinks my whole family is dead. At the very least, she must know that the internet’s down. I’ve also been worrying about my parents but they must hope that the lake protected us.

Anneke

I miss my friend Abi. I’ve been holding onto hope that she’s alive, but that seems less and less likely. The land is scorched and coated in ash. The news gives a dire message. Unless she had escaped earlier and not been found, but there were no Abigails out of the roughly one thousand people found and listed.

We moved to England when my grandma got sick because my spoiled cousin in “the country” didn’t want to give up her little pony club, therefore forcing her family to stay behind, when they had actually wanted to move, to stay behind. This meant my family, that had no intention of moving, had to go.

When Gran got better, I wanted to go back, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen. Harvey and Tabby were settled and happy, they barely remembered America.

Abi was like a sister to me, which is why I worry so much about her. I will keep thinking she’s alive until she’s proven to be dead. My whole family prays for hers daily. Abs needs to live!

Chapter 10

We’ve arrived at Dot Island and Kaylee and I are definitely going to stick together, now that Russell is immobilised and pale, he has to sit in the boat and hope it stays grounded.

We search the east side of the forest first. There is no one and no animals there but we are careful, learning from Russell’s injury.

When we reach the west side of the forest, we hear a soft wail that sounds very animal-like, but we go to check anyway.

Chapter 11

As we get closer, we realise that the sound is more human than we had initially thought. It sounds like it comes from a very young child. As Kaylee realises this, she rushes off in the general direction of the sound, it must be her brother.

I follow her into the thick of the vaguely creepy forest, dark and full of rustling higher in the trees, I’m hoping that it’s just squirrels. Kaylee screams and I rush into the clearing behind her. I sigh with relief.

A child is sitting in a puddle in front of her and she screams, “Jesse!”

confirming that it’s her little brother. He stands up and, seemingly consequently, vomits.

Chapter 12

Kaylee just brushes this slightly concerning event off, thinking it must be nothing but I don’t think so. I start questioning him,

“Jesse, what have you been drinking?” I ask

Kaylee immediately cuts in, “Can you stop interrogating him, can’t you see he’s scared? How is it your business anyway?”

“Remember Mr Raj, the weird health teacher?” I ask.

“Yes…” she answers questioningly.

“ He taught us all about water-borne viruses, and if your brother has been drinking unfiltered water, he might be ill,” I explain quietly in her ear so that the small child near us doesn’t hear.

“ I’ve been drinking out of this pond, I had no choice,” he mumbles.

I tell Kaylee that her brother shows signs of E.coli which is treated with a strange medicine with a long name called asciprofloxacin and lots of rest, we will have to get the medicine at a pharmacy when we find one, along with the medicine for Russell’s wolf bite.

Chapter 13

On the way back to the shore, Jesse throws up twice. When we get there, the sheer weight of this event hits me; the world around me is a wasteland, and it’s hard to imagine that this would ever end. It seems as if this disaster would cover the whole world.

The ground is covered in ash and mud. Roofs have collapsed inward and every house for miles is coated in mud.

Then I see something that makes me gag. There is a small figure lying under layers of mud. They are dead. We need to get out of here.

Chapter 14

We trudge through the warm mud and hot ash and we find a surprisingly undamaged car in a covered ravine coated in ash but we quickly, and manually, wipe it off the windscreen, windows and mirrors.

“How are we gonna get it out?” Kaylee voices my thoughts.

“ I have an idea…” Russell says and Jesse’s face lights up as he sees what's coming.

“No no no no no!” I quell the idea before it escalates.

“ It might be the only option…” says Kaylee, actually sounding slightly reasonable.

Chapter 15

We have to do it but I really don’t want to. I can almost drive since I learned a little at Grandpa's farm, so I know I’m going to have to be the one to drive it. That might be why I hate this idea so much.

I suddenly see three figures walking towards us. Instinct kicks in and I panic. They are large boys. They could be high school senior bullies if life was normal anymore. They want the car. I can see it in their eyes.

Sure enough, they come and demand the car. We say no, but they won’t take it. One of the thugs grabs Jesse and has him in a headlock and demands the car with the key still in it.

A fourth guy is coming in on us, I assume he wants the car too. Then it escalates.

Chapter 16

He pulls out a gun.

But he’s not pointing it at us. He’s pointing it at one of the guys who doesn’t have Jesse in a headlock. He notices and before they even realise what they're doing, the thugs are off running into the distance and Jesse is on the ground.

“ My name’s Ezra, and here’s the deal; I just saved your skinny little butts, you let me come with you wherever you’re going, assuming you know,” the Guy-With-The-Gun says in a no-nonsense way.

I know there’s no arguing with him, “sure,” I say and I hate my big mouth.

He looks about seventeen, with dark, spiky hair, startling eyes and a necklace with a ring around his neck. He seems quite thuggish and not the kind of guy you want to mess with.

“ You got enough food?” he says bringing up an issue none of us had even thought about.

“ No…” I say.

“ Well, we’re gonna have to get some then, won’t we?” he says and I wonder how this suddenly became a we.

Chapter 17

We pile into the annoyingly wide car. Luckily, Ezra can drive better than me, so we sit in the front seats, Ezra driving and the other three sit in the back, with much dispute from Kaylee.

Well here goes. If we die, then this is the end of the book.

The End.