If you count my cousins and their parents, my family has 15 people, including me.

My father is the youngest in his family, and his eldest sister, Aunt Mollie, has 3 kids while his older brother, uncle Max, has 4 kids .

Auntie Mollie's eldest son, Bellsac, is the eldest as he tops it off as 20. Alex, the second child is 15 though I still think he looks about my age. Last is the golden child, Jane, my best friend and thankfully the same age as me, 12, though she's older by a month.

Uncle Max and auntie Juliet's oldest child is Adena and she turns 17 this year with Straton being 1 year behind her. Sam's younger than me by a year, but sometimes we're the same age since he's in January and I'm in May.

Charlie is the last, and she is one of the most spoiled kid that I've encountered, but I still love her regardless. She's 6, but one of the smartest kids I know, while my brother, who is only 1 year behind her, lags in comparison.

Aunt Mollie and her family lived in America, but she and her husband managed to send Bellsac and Jane to us before the entire continent was wiped out.

A few days later, we lost contact with my uncle's family from my mother's side. Meanwhile, my father, who replaced his older brother's spot and my mother was sentenced to jail for child abuse, though they never once cared about it before. 10 days later, they were killed by the white soldiers.

My uncle became the head of the family, though he quickly left everything in my aunt's care when he, Bellsac, Adena, and Straton all left to join the army to fight in the war, though they were told they had to remain in the training camps for 2 years before they were ready. It was mostly fine in the first 6 months, as we had rations and shelter.

Yet at the end of the year, we learnt that Bellsac had died. A huge bomb had surprisingly bombed the battlefield, killing the enemy and our troops. Uncle Max was lucky enough to not be deployed there, but no one knew where the bomb came from, which led to unease in the people.

6 months later, people started turning crazy, robbing houses and taking food when they were obviously healthy and well fed, sometimes even killing others in the fights. Me and my cousins boarded up the house with my aunt's orders, and we only went out once every 2 weeks to get food, always in groups of 2 or 3.

A couple months later, we were alerted that a missile was headed toward our area. We only had 30 minutes to pack and leave, and because of aunt Juliet's planning, we got a head start.

Unfortunately everyone was in a panic. The flood of people was too great that we lost each other, though luckily I had Charlotte and my brother with me, and I quickly lead them out of the area.

What I didn't know was that my watch had the wrong information, and with less than 5 minutes my aunt rushed us out of the area. I still remember her smile when I held onto her while the ground stained red. I remember her telling me it wasn't my fault.

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After that, I guess I started to become quiet. Jane and Samuel often asked how I was doing, and sometimes even asked the kids to ask me. Everytime, I just put on a bright smile and told them we needed to find a place to stay and contact uncle Max.

I would like to say it wasn't hard. But it was. All of us were city children, and although Sam had survival experience, it was in a controlled place. Every time one of us spotted a dead body or a barely alive person, we'd move on from the area.

Sometimes, we weren't quick enough and either Charlotte or Claude saw the corpses. Charlotte knew what they were, and eventually she just kept her eyes on the road, while my brother never caught on. We never told him either.

After a month, we found the perfect location. No dead bodies or emaciated living beings in the area. It was in shambles, but still livable, and good too. We were running out of rations, and soon would need to loot the place.

We stayed in a house, with the second floor still there and the roof surprisingly still on. It was dusty and black from the impacts of missiles, but it was good enough. We decided to leave Jane with the kids on the second floor, since Sam was athletic and I was stronger than Jane.

Most stores were usually looted, looking like the people took everything in a panic. We still bagged anything and everything that we could use, even useless things like hygiene products.

When we came back to our new home, it was about dusk. We all settled down in a still intact bedroom, and we opened up the communicator. We only got 2 messages, and both from half a month ago.

It only told us that they were losing the war, like I predicted, and that uncle Max got hurt. The news was quite grim, but it indicated that they were still alive, at least. Hope was starting to show in our movements and expressions, the way we smiled a bit more and laughed and talked.

Until the end of the 2nd year that is. By that time, we had arranged a shift schedule, sometimes I would go out with Sam, sometimes with Jane, or I'd stay home. It was in the afternoon when me and Sam were out, and he was in the bathroom while I was in the store waiting for him.

I heard a rustle behind me and quickly stabbed my knife in the area I guessed the person was, and I felt the cold round barrel of a gun settle on the side of my head. "Stay your hand down, fiend." An equally cold voice sounded, and I calmly put the knife away while secretly grabbing my needles.

I turned to face the person, and it was a soldier dressed in a blue uniform. "The war is over now, it's won by our new commanders, Aila and Mikhail, the saviors of the century." He announced, and I stared at him.

"Here," he tossed me something, which I quickly caught. It was a high end quality phone, something not available during the war. I looked at him warily as I examined it, trying to see if there was something fishy.

"Tonight at 6pm they will give you rats an announcement, so be sure to tune in. They'll probably help you or something." Was what he spoke last before leaving. I was tempted to stop him, but decided to not risk losing my life.

Soon after he left the store, Sam came out. "I heard sounds. Who was it? Another group?" He eyed me for confirmation, and I shook my head. I explained to him what happened, and he snorted.

"They must think that we love the army or something, for them to be that disrespectful." We went to a few more stores and tried to find some viable locations for tomorrow, before heading home.

"Welcome back guys!" Jane shouted from upstairs, and soon I heard thuds on the creaky staircase as Jane, Charlotte, and Claude came down. I placed down the bag of goods that we got today, while Sam went over possible places with Em.

With the help of Charlie and Claude, everything was organized nicely. After that, I quickly headed to the garage and took a shower, dumping the lake water out after I was done. I changed and gathered everyone on the 2nd floor.

I opened the phone screen, and it soon projected the screen onto air, and we quickly crowded in front of it. It was a woman, who looked like a reporter. Soon, she began telling us all the information that we missed, and who Aila and Mikhail were.

It turned out that they were responsible for the bombings of the battlefield which caused commotions and fear, and the bombings of several areas. They said it was a mistake or that the Tor soldiers were hiding in the area, and they needed to flush them out.

Me and Sam looked at each other; we both knew those were obvious lies, and most people would recognize it too. Jane whispered how suspicious it was to us, and I nodded in agreement.

Reaching the end, the reporter leaves the screen and I see 2 young teens, about my age, step into the frame. They were both extremely healthy, a shining glow over them as the girl grabs a microphone and thanks the reporter.