Tallahassee, Florida - a city once infested by the virus in the early months; now home to a small colony of humans. They survive off the disease by hunting the infected humans, whom they call 'Shades'. They say that before the virus, the area was once a place of beauty. The people in the town of Tallahassee lived peacefully, until the virus. Still, it was not nearly as apocalyptic as the rest of the country.
The town had been walled in, block by block, to keep the infected out. The walls were tall, with watchtowers, gun emplacements, and razor wire set along the top. The infected zombies were kept at bay by the outpost's small army of soldiers. Many of those infected fell in battle, including dozens of those who'd tried to break the blockade by climbing over the tombstones just outside city limits.
My father, Don, was one of the older men in the small colony. Don stood at 185 cm and weighed 98 kg. He was bald, with a full beard, and lenses for his eyes. He was a man who had an air of confidence about him; Don's easygoing and helpful attitude made him a welcome member of the town.
Don was my father, and he had long taken a liking to me. The reason was not very clear, but I suspected it might have been because when I was a girl, I was often home alone; and that suited Don.
One day, he pulled me aside. "I want to ask you something, Tally," he said. "Your parents shouldn't be here, but they're out of the country right now, and I just need to ask you a quick question."
"Alright," I replied, puzzled at his request.
"Have you ever heard of an airship type craft that pops up out of nowhere? And it's really big?" Don asked.
"Yeah, I suppose I have heard of one. It's called, 'the flying fortress.' I heard it's stealing nuclear missile technology, and also it's headed to Washington right now." I smiled.
"Well, why don't we go visit it? You'll be impressed. It is too tall for the earth, and it's way too low for the moon. It should be in the area soon, so we better be ready." Don explained.
I was filled with a feeling of urgency, hoping that my male friend would answer his own question instead of thinking of a way to let me tag along. I knew he had a good point and that I ought to keep my promise of not telling others about my own recent sighting. Now, he wanted to investigate it. I agreed, naturally, and we headed to the meeting point, ready to fight for the survival of the human race and save the world from the Russians—again.
"I'm going. You should come with me, if you want to. My truck is going to be a pile of ash and shrapnel, though, so how about you leave your bike?" he asked.
I was more than happy to leave it behind, though. I didn't want to die with it.
That was how the day of our adventure began.
Later that evening, we organized an army. We would need to break the blockade and rescue a hostage, if possible.
We left without weapons; we planned to disarm a nuclear missile, just to be safe. Our final goal was to get in with the flying citadel. I had a feeling this was going to be a good day.
After a few hours, we reached our subsequent destination: the airborne nuclear missile. Dozens of alien craft surrounded the structure, hovering around the missile and its little landing dock.
Don pulled out his night vision binoculars to scope it out. "Surely this is moving to pose a major threat to the present world," he muttered.
"Don't worry! If we can get inside, we can disarm the warhead before their little brainiacs can fire the thing off," I reassured him.
"They've got to be cosplaying as super geniuses," he joked. "This thing's too big for its pants."
I nodded in agreement.
"Well, let's make sure we're ready first. We've got too much to lose if it blows up on us."
"You're right," I conceded.
We hid in a bush and took turns looking over the edge of Don's scope. It was hard to find a man among the rest of the creatures, but we managed to find the hostage.
Think back. Did you hear another comment from Don's lips as he looked through the scope?
"Look at that," he said. "The one down there is about fifty to sixty years old. This one over there is roughly a twenty year-old man. It makes you wonder, don't it? How did he end up here, and why haven't we made contact with any authority?"
I was confused. "I'm sorry. What do you mean by that?"
"Well, look at it, Tally. These creatures are gravestone people now. They're not the same at all."
"You're right Don. I'm seeing the whole thing differently." I said.
"Good, let's get going."
He turned up his night vision glasses and they proved too heavy for him. My eyesight was just fine without them, so I took them and I turned them on. There was a lot o f activity in town, but it was mostly military activity. All the activity seemed to be centered on the flying fortress, or the flying citadel, as it was also called.
Don and I picked up a trail and followed it towards the citadel. As we got closer we noticed another figure. Meanwhile, across the town, another character walked in the opposite direction, towards the citadel. It was a young girl, wearing a pink princess dress and brown knee-high boots. She was alone. She stumbled upon the citadel, and suddenly she disappeared. She didn't fall through the sky. She just vanished into thin air.
"Tally, what's wrong?" Don asked.
"A young girl. She didn't fall. She vanished," I answered.
"That girl was walking in the opposite direction from us," Don attempted to explain.
"No, no. That girl was walking in the opposite direction from the citadel. She is walking towards the citadel," I argued.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Don said, taking my side. "We should find that little girl and make sure she's out of trouble. You check out the citadel and I'll keep an eye on things outside."
He gave me the binoculars. I took them, and when I gazed at the citadel, it appeared to be rotating. It seemed like it was trying to make a landing, very slowly. The horizon behind it was completely black.
It looked like a dragon coming down to Earth, a new face in town, a little nuke dragon. It also had a halo over its head.
I used a pair of binoculars and saw Don being approached by the girl. Gradually, she approached him and ran up to him. Don smiled at the little girl.
"Hello. Are you alright?" Don asked.
"I'm fine," she said, brushing her hair back.
"Say, you look awfully familiar."
"Thank you," she said with a shy laugh.
"Listen, I think you've been up to something," he smirked.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"You seem oddly familiar to me. I think you're up to something big."
"I don't...," she started to say.
Suddenly she was pulled away from Don. Don didn't know what was happening. He was puzzled, and in disbelief at his actions.
