Fairy tales of the streets

Fairy tales of the streets (title)

- possible runaway

-left behind/abandoned

-tent city/railroad tracks

-blues turning people into zombies

-stabbings

-burning dead bodies in dumpster/tents

-stragulation

-pinned to the fence

-canals?

-security check points/IDs

-fights

-light rail

-cooling centers

-lady attacks pizza hut

-hand made shack found

-burnt down clock tower hideout

-wickenburg

-different gangs

-no kids allowed

-dog fights

-selling/trading

-dog bite to the ass rips shorts fight

-fights at lake next to edge (Jared and Matt)

-off roading in wickenburg

-cops harassing

-alley dumpster cage hideout

-Pack of dogs

-stray cat/animal following

-heat relief stations

-lady burning side of face (cheek) to intimidate

-curfews

-bus passes (but like a special clearance pass)

-hotel apartments (but abandoned hotels/buildings)

-Trash cute

The world started going to shit. Typically thought by the average person all throughout time. Slowly individuals started to fall sick out of no where. Then it Quickly switched escalating. killing hundreds, then thousands, and so on like a growing hunger that could never be satisfied. Eventually the government stepped in, demanding a lockdown. There was limitations for venturing out into public, sick check points on damn near every corner. Lines of cars wrapping around the block to get tested for the sick. Most kids were immediately homeschooled as schools and businesses began to close down. It seemed like a vacant ghost world. Masks were mandatory out in public, typically no excuses. Hospitals were the worst, extremely crowded both in and outdoors. Workers are constantly exhausted and overworked. Groceries ran low, majority of the population was now unemployed. Great the end of the world. As everyone in their sane mind began to believe. Slowly, then rapidly the sick progressed getting worse. Eventually mutating into something. Something more, something abnormal. Vaccines were rapidly produced with little to no testing, just a complete gamble. A wild card. The worst of all? Being trapped inside this hell hole of a home. I lived with one fucked abusive family one wishes could catch the sick in hopes to off them without getting your hands dirty. The world ending honestly didn't seem too bad.

One night pops got drunk having his typical episode. He targeted my mother first as usual. He seemed to have a pattern of this behavior. Stupid little things could easily trigger it, and God forbid if you ever mention the alcohol. AA was definitely out of the question. So this time it was just verbal, lots of yelling at mother from pops. Suddenly he raised a hand at my mother, just then a loud crash then the shattering of glass echoed and all fell silent. Everyone froze. The stillness was earlier. Something told me to run, hide, something. Seconds felt like minutes. Then soft crunching of broken glass grew louder. I darted into the basement and locked the door. Not knowing if I was heard or not within my inner panic. I began to feel like a sitting duck. Loud whispers floated through the halls. Two loud bangs of gun fire sounded off followed by quick flashes of light outlining the basement door. I waited what felt like decades as I listened to muffled bickering in some foreign language and them clearly scavenging the house for supplies. Luckily from the sounds of it, seems like that's all they were doing. Gathering supplies and quickly leaving. Eventually an Erie silence crept in. I tried my best to focus on listening for any other signs of life. The wait was excruciating but seemed to pay off in the end. The basement door creaked grousomely loud in the deep silence. In the middle of the dinning area laid my father's and mother's lifeless body's. The closer I came to them the more noticable the blue tint was in their lips. Eyes just bare and blank. Still I lay eyes on my father's lifeless body I wished for and left his eyes open, then proceeded to lay shut my mother's eyes. With a turn a pulled the cloth from over the dinning room table and lightly drape it over their ice cold bodies.

Everything else around us in the house a complete wreck. Cabinets and drawers were left open, furniture was shifted oddly around, doors left open. The house seemed bad enough to qualify to be on an episode of hoarders. Might as well have been hit by a tornado. There amount of glass scattered across the floor was shocking. All I could hear was the repeat of the window pane shattering over and over in my head. I threw the table cloth over my parents lifeless body after first kicking my ass hole of a father in the head. Nothing seemed to be left. The house felt even more hopeless and empty. One thing I knew for sure, I wasn't sticking around here any longer. I've been waiting for the day to leave this hell hole. I grabbed my backpack, gathered some clothes, hygiene, and a small solar charger radio. With one last check around the house for any supplies left behind possibly, I scattered quickly out the back door.

To be honest I dreamt for some sort of situation, honestly anything to happen to help me escape. Fuck them, it was better this way. I had zero plan, no training, after all I was just some teenage girl. Where to go? Hell. I had no idea where to began. Only one word, run. Instinctively I headed towards the tree line for the small boat at the lake edge. The next neighbor was about 3 miles out from us. I guess the only thing I really could do was cross the lake into the woods and search onwards from there. I immediately started rowing, hardly stopping for a break. The faster I moved the better. I don't know how long it took me to reach the other side of the lake. The only thing I could think was the lock nose monster would attack the boat and all was lost from there. Once the boat hit the shore, jerked it out of the water and threw my body onto the ground catching my breath. I was damn near on the verge of passing out right there.

Twigs started snapping close by in the distance. Soft crunching grew louder with slight dragging. Creepily I felt I slight pride and poke. I slowly, still dazed and confused snapped back into reality. For some reason a random little boy pretty young was standing over me with a long sturdy stick. Poking me repeatedly. "Are you alive?" "No, I'm dead. What the hells your problem kid? Quit poking at me like an animal. Damn." "Sorry..." My eyes darted to my bag and I scattered across the dirt to grab it out of the boat before the kid possibly could. I'm not falling for this little kid alone in the woods act. There's nothing out here on this side of the lake but wildlife. "Look, get lost kid" disappointingly the boy hung his head low beginning a faint whine, starting to tremor. "I'm scared..." "Not my issue brat." "I'm alone, I promise..." "Again, don't care". I began to walk off in any other direction then the boy and where he had sounded to have come from. Unfortunately he slowly began to start following. I just ignored him, as if he was just a figment of my imagination. In all honesty I started to believe it, but it was the best way of hopefully just losing the kid. So I picked up the pace casually, taking quick switched up pathways through the bushes and trees. Nothing seemed to make the boy give up. Maybe he was being honest but I'm not caring for the brat. You typically die from trying to save the kid, and for what. They can't even continue to survive on their own. I also hated kids and truly enjoyed being an only child treated like shit. "Just wait up... Please... Stop...." My frustration sky rocketed through the roof. "Look, kid! What do you want?!" "I just left. I'm alone." "Not my problem." "But I need a friend." "I don't have friends kid." "Please..." "Why are you even here?!" I growled and scolded at the boy. "Aren't you barely over being a toddler or something?" "I'm a big kid. I just turned 6" "I ran away..." The boy blurted out. "My daddy took all my toys, everything in my room..." "Oh boo hoo kid you lost your toys because you got in trouble. Big deal kid. Get over it and leave already. "I was almost stuck in my room" "just shut up already" I rolled my eyes at the boy. "My daddy hit my mom so I ran away, but now I'm lost and need help." Finally I began to feel sympathy for the little boy. "I'm sorry..." An awkward silence fell and I froze in my tracks turning towards the kid. "Are you really alone? Promise?" The little boy nodded then flashed a cheesy grin. "I guess you could stick with me, but only for a little bit" keeping my guard up. "What's your name kid?" "Nolan" "I'm Raven." Trying my luck i then questioned the little boy to help plan our next move before it got too dark out. "So are you sure you don't know where you're at around here? Anything?" "Nope." So we proceeded to randomly wonder. Eventually we stumbled upon some railroad tracks and rail carts. Some of the carts were cracked open. It seemed crazy but the little boy and I climbed in and examined the cart. Anything works, I guessed. "Might as well rest for now kid."

Abruptly in the dead middle of night, the train jerked creaking and roaring up. Fuck it, we stayed for the risk. The train traveled at a good pace. Time flew faster than expected. No idea came to mind as to where we would possibly end up. Lastly the trained pulled to a stop. Peaking out the large doorway of the cart I see a brick wall with barb wire lining the top. Against the wall were a decent amount of tents and scraps of tarps hanging up. Trash scattered about in designated areas. I told the kid to get of the train and quickly follow. Get in, get out. Luckily it was still nightfall out. We darted out to the road pass the railroad tracks. Surrounding us looked to be multiple concentration camps, then stray stragglers and tents enclosing the area. They never went unnoticed it's just no one cared to acknowledge their existence, except occasional states towards the kid. Other than that we're invisible, even with the dogs causing mayhem at the sight of new people and other animals. The most awful dreadful smell flooded our noses. I notice individuals hiding under blankets with clouds of smoke flooding through it surrounding them in a haze. Some were openly hitting what looked to be a meth pipe. Others even worse with turnicits ready and needles prepped shooting up. A God awful unique burnt popcorn smell crept through the wind. A man crouched and hunched over with a tinfoil and a straw in hand was appearing to be melting something, sucking in the smoke. I just kept pushing Nolan forward, ignoring the clear out in the open drug use. To top it off some had wrapped blankets around a large palm tree and set it a blaze. Nolan looked a combination of shocked, scared, but yet somehow remained calm. It was quite impressive. I decided to head towards the checkpoint until I was immediately stopped by a stranger. "You kids shouldn't be here. It's pretty dangerous." And you're not Raven thought. Nolan slightly hid behind me, peeking around my back. "Just follow me before the security catches you. Let alone anyone else." The random man started to lead us away. "So whats your plan kids?" "Like it's any of your concern about me and the brat, like you said it's not safe creep." He flashed a cheeky grin "woah woah woah feisty little one. Calm down now girl. Hey bud your sister always like this?" With a slight chuckle, his look turned more father mode. "Come with me, you'll have a safe spot to sleep away from all this." "Look, um. Sir. We'll pass. Appreciate it.. I guess, so yeah. Let's go brat." With that being said the father figure like stranger chose to supervise them from afar. Secretly helping if there was going to be that much stubbornness.

I drug the little twerp away by the hand. "Next I'm gonna put a leash on you I swear. Ugh we need you some supplies." The two kids stumbled up on a building giving out food, snacks, hydration, clothes, shoes, other supplies and bedding. They weren't checking for ID's. The building was open to all ages. "Let's go. Don't talk to anyone brat." "You know I have a name right? It's not brat." "Whatever twerp. Kid. Any who." Keeping their heads low avoiding drawing in attention they headed through the gates passed the security guards and volunteers, up the ramp to the front doors. Lines of benches were under an oning, outdoor tables and bike racks filled the parking lot with some fairly working cars. Cars were even scarce now, let alone trying to search for gas. The fatherly stranger saw they went into the soup kitchen and was glad. They're smart ones he thought. If only I could get my youngster more resourceful and independent like those two he thought.

Their first stop was for hygiene, first aid and bedding. Even found the kid a book and stuffed dragon he named nacho. Nacho even came with a pocket knife and pepper spray for protection which I immediately confiscated both until I taught him how to use it. Might as well face the fact I was stuck with the little kid for now at least. It won't be permanent. I thought. Next we lined up for clothing and showers. God knows the last time this kid bathed. In the corner a blind man sat playing a small tune on the piano. He was quite talented. It was a nice change from the end of the world occuring outside of the soup kitchens doors. Eventually our names were called and we entered the clothing closet together to get some three outfits then head off to shower. I helped Nolan pick out a good pair of tennis shoes and change of clothes with some different Pokemon characters on it. At least it gave the kid a huge smile to match his dragon and brightened this awfully dreadful day. When we were done we sat down at the tables and waited for our names to be called and just chose to take turns in the family room shower in orders of sticking together and avoiding trouble. I made sure to take some extra time to double check the kid got clean. Made him wash up twice and scrubbed his feet. Once we were done some random stranger approached began to yell invading our bubbles claiming we had stolen her belongings. It went on for about two minutes then she tried swinging a punch towards me. Quickly I pushed Nolan off to the side and avoided the swing. I then raised my leg fully extending it into her chest with a hard thrust. Sending the lady flying down to her bottom smacking her head on the ground. It rebounded thudding down again and altercation was immediately over. The guards came and escorted us both out with a 24 hour time out basically for fighting. I was let off easier and Nolan had no warning placed under him and was free to come and go while open. We stopped at the corner to shove the rest of our supplies to into our backpacks. Up ahead a car pulled off to the side of the road and the passengers stepped out and a line began to form as they opened their backseat and trunk to hand out supplies. They were handing out some sort of bigger bag. So we went off to investigate. Some how by the grace of the giving fairy they were handing out camping supplies. Tarps, tents and a sleeping bag. They even had a kid dragon sleeping bag to match Nolan's stuffed dragon he had gotten earlier from the soup kitchen. I grabbed us one and we were off on a hunt for a camping spot. Secretly still being watched and followed at a distance from the fatherly stranger. They headed off to the railroad tracks conveniently near his camping site, little did they realize at least.

First thing the fatherly stranger did was drag out a decent size memory foam mattress topper in their path line. Immediately the kids took it like bait and get another cheeky grin grew big up on his face with a sense of dad pride. Scarlett set up the mattress topper underneath their small four person tent. The coushining was a nice touch of much missed home comfort. They found some old tires and flat board of wood and used it underneath both the tent and mattress to prop it off the rocky dirt ground away from critters. Before the sunset any further I gave Nolan a task of finding some sort of string like material and cans, well anything noisy to clank together. As scarlet planned to set up cans to clank together as a trap strung around the perimeter of the tent site. Then the next search was for some giant rocks to make a fire pit ring and dug in a bit of a decent size hole.