Rebel Rising: A Dystopian Romance

“It must have been normal. Look at this - 'food waste.'" I'd found a cupboard with big, empty plastic trash cans inside.

“They wasted food?" The look of incredulity on his face made me laugh.

"It was a different time. I guess it wasn't in such short supply back then." We studied the stash a while longer, pouring some things onto the counter and trying to guess what they might have tasted like before we got bored of the game.

"Let's check out the rest of this place," Taylor said eventually, moving back out into the hallway.

The next room was full of big, squashy chairs all pointed towards a screen in one corner. Taylor jumped on one of them and dust billowed up in a cloud that filled the room while I laughed.

There was a shelving unit to one side of the room but most of its contents had been knocked to the floor. The walls were full of framed pictures of what appeared to be a family: a mother, father, a boy and an older girl. The children had been captured at various ages coming to an end with what looked like teenage years.

I picked up a photograph of them posing in front of the building that we were standing in. The girl was strikingly attractive, long brunette hair, a stubborn set to her jaw with full lips and eyes that were deep and dark, surrounded by long lashes.

The boy was younger but not by much. He was fair haired and had tougher, stronger features but all similar enough to the girl's to mark them clearly as siblings. He was taller and much broader too but with some lasting boyishness about him.

They looked happy. Like they had actually been caught laughing rather than just fake smiling for the camera.

The house was only recognisable by its shape. It looked warm and inviting with lights twinkling from the upper windows rather than abandoned and in disrepair. The brown dirt-filled space in front of it had been a green carpet of small plants peppered with little white flowers. The huge tree stood with a crown of green leaves and a rich, deep brown trunk which had faded to a much dimmer colour with the passage of time.

"She looks like you," Taylor said, peering at the picture over my shoulder.

"Don't be absurd, she's gorgeous," I laughed.

"Yeah and she looks like you. Same mouth, something about the eyes, though not the colour."

"Maybe I have a long lost sister who got all the genetic makeup for looks while I was blessed with a natural ability for tripping over my own feet. Lucky me," I said, scathingly.

“You don't see yourself very accurately," Taylor said, quietly.

“Maybe you don't either. Your years of enduring my face have made you immune to the plainness of it."

“You don't look like you did when we were children anymore. You're different." He looked deep into my eyes for a moment longer than was comfortable and I scoffed to break the weird atmosphere.

“I still feel the same," I said, punching him playfully in the arm and placing the photo back on the shelf amid a solid inch of dust. "Besides, she must be practically a hundred now if she even survived."

I pushed past Taylor who seemed to have something further to add and darted up the stairs.

"You check that other room down there and I'll see what's up here," I called back, glad to put some distance between us.

The second storey of the house was filled by four rooms. One was the most extravagant restroom I’d ever seen. It had a huge shower, massive tub, a toil

et and two sinks with space all around them which seemed to serve no purpose at all. The effect was only ruined slightly by the green tinged puddle that occupied the base of the tub.

I turned to leave and noticed a strange mark on the doorframe. It was a hand print. I leaned closer to get a better look and gasped as I realised it was made with blood, nearly falling on my ass as I stumbled back a step. I looked around at the wooden floor and I could see that more splashes lead in a trail down the stairs. It had dried to a dark brown and was hidden amid the grain of the wooden floor but I could tell that there had been a lot of it.

What the hell happened here?

I repressed a shudder and moved towards another door on the landing.

As I entered the next room, I was relieved to find something that resembled an apartment from the city. The bed was still in place, though the covers were in a heap on the floor. It was designed to sleep two people and there was a little shower room in a recess to the right of the door. A few of the drawers were open with their contents spilling out.

I moved across to lift the bed and see how the room looked once it was out of the way.

I fumbled for the release catch for a while then dropped down to lay on the floor and look for it when I couldn't locate anything. Under the bed was darkness. The light filtering through the filthy windows couldn't illuminate the shadows beneath it.

I still couldn't find a release so I braced my shoulder against the floor and shoved upwards. A cloud of dust dislodged and fell over my visor and I turned my head to the side automatically even though the helmet kept it away from my eyes. I heaved again and saw something move in the space beneath the bed.

There was no way that anything was still alive out here but I stopped, my heart pounding, as the shadows shifted and I made out a shape in the darkness. After a few seconds, nothing more happened so I wriggled forwards, reaching towards the place where I had spotted the movement.