Last Chapter: “Don’t come over here!” Sara yelled, in shock.

“Why not?” Luis asked, confused.

“No, Luis! Back up! Don’t come over here!”

Luis ignored her, being curious as he was. His eyes instantly began to tear up. The last thing he thought he would see was his friend lying dead on the ground with his family.

“Luis, I’m so sorry.”

Atlanta, Georgia (Ruins)

Friday, January 18, 2019

Midnight - Apocalypse Month 4

Luis wrapped himself in Jake’s covers, holding them tightly to his body as he ran out of tears to cry. His puffed red eyes and dried tears covered his face after hours of crying. He didn’t know what to do with himself, sure he’d seen death before but nothing to this extent. The lifelessness and rot of the bodies he’d never experienced. These weren’t just strangers who had bad luck on the road but his best friend of ten years. Luis’s mind raced one more time, reminiscing about the sight of his friend on the ground. ‘I just want the pain to end,’ Luis thought. Right then, the book that Luis had set aside shined from the moon’s light. The etched golden letters of The Edda ready to be opened.

“Maybe you’re the answer,” Luis mumbled, slowly getting out of bed.

Atlanta, Georgia

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Noon - Apocalypse Month 4

“Luis, come down! We have to get ready to leave!” Sara yelled from downstairs.

“I’m coming!” Luis yelled back, making his way down the steps, and grabbing the Asatro book.

“Hey, you alright?” Sara asked, looking at her disheveled brother.

“Yea, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I said I’m fine, Sara.” Luis hissed. “Are you gonna sit there or are we gonna leave?”

Sara sucked her teeth and stood up, “Atlanta seems abandoned as far as we know. I don’t think those bandits were actually established here. He probably lied to save his skin.”

“I just don’t believe that. They have to be somewhere.”

“Well, we have no leads and nobody in Atlanta. So, where the hell could they be, Luis?”

“How about we stay here for a little bit longer… ‘til the sun starts to set then we can make our way out of the city.”

“Fine,” Sara grumbled, “But what’s with the book in your hand?”

“It was Jake’s,” Luis winced before holding the book up and showing it to his sister,  “He used to be really into Asatro.”

“Into Asa-what now?” Sara asked, bewildered, like he was suddenly speaking a different language.

“Norse paganism, he was religious.”

“That’s a different religion I don’t think I’ve ever heard of,” Sara scoffed, “So, why do you have it? It’s not like you’re a practitioner of any faith.”

“There might be some answers that I’m looking for in here,” Luis said, staring at the book with passion behind his eyes. Unknowing of what future could be held from this book.

“Hm, well I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

The two siblings then packed up and left the shop that they stayed the night in. Luis looked back at the building one last time. They had been walking for almost two hours now with no sign of people until they reached Turner Field. Men with weapons patrolled the area around the field—some in chains being led into the field or out through the gates. Snow still lay in Atlanta, but the clothes they wore were almost nothing. One ‘chain gang’ had paused only for the person leading it to pull them to keep moving.

“So, this is where they are,” Luis mumbled. He started to move up, but Sara stopped him and pointed to the roof. There were men on top of the roof, and they had crossbows.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, they might shoot on sight… or worse,” Sara stated.

“So what do we do? We have to figure out more about them. I mean that’s the entire point of this mission.”

“Well, we can’t just go up there and risk death.”

Luis groaned in frustration, “What if we….”

The unsheathing of a sword broke the eerie silence from behind them, “Get up.”

The two siblings looked at each other and put their hands up instinctively, slowly standing up and turning around to see four other men with swords and similar attire.

“Hiya fellas,” Sara smiled nervously, “How are you doing on this fine day?”

“Cut the shit. Who are you and why are you stalking us?” The man asked, keeping his sword steady at her throat.

“We are… just travelers,” Luis interrupted. “We came to see what you guys were doing with the baseball field.”

“Y’all not from ‘round here, huh?” He lowered his sword and put it back into his sheath, realizing they weren’t an immediate threat.

The siblings both shook their heads in unison, looking like scared children who’d been caught redhanded.

“Come with us."

“And if we don’t?” Sara asked, testing her limits.

“You wanna find out?” He put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“No sir, I do not.” Sara said, walking with them into the giant stadium.

It wasn’t anything they expected. There were a lot more people that they had seen for a long time. A crowd of about a thousand to two thousand people, not even counting the guards up top watching them like hawks. Inside the stadium, there was a clear social status. Most of them being in torn clothes with chains on their feet or even hands. It looked like they were building things inside of the stadium.

“What’s going on here?” Luis asked.

“They’re working. Keep walking,”

“No, but what are they working on… and why are they dressed like that?”

“They’re building a barracks for us guards, and they’re dressed like that because they’re our workers and don’t have any other choice but to do so.”

“You won’t even give them good clothes? It’s freezing out here!” Sara whined.

“Where’d you guys say you were from again?”

“We didn’t,” Luis huffed, attempting to get a rise out of the guard.

“But, we’re from up north, trying to figure out what happened. Not trying to cause any trouble,” Sara answered quickly, not trying to get them killed.

“Good answer.”

“Who even are you people?” 

“Some call us evil, others call us salvations, but we just go by A’lannans.” He said in a thick accent.

“A’lannans, that’s an interesting name… Atlanta but with a huge accent, huh.”

“That’s what the Overlord prefers.”

“Overlord?”

“The man you’re about to meet,” The man said, opening the doors to a stairway that looked like hell to walk up. Eventually, they made it to the press box where the door opened to see a man standing there with his bodyguard in front of him. He was 6’0 with pale skin, black hair, and even darker eyes. He was a bit on the lean side. His eyes showed his age with crow’s feet lining at the side and smile lines on his face, but he wasn’t smiling now. His face was as stern as a veteran’s. They then made both Sara and Luis kneel in front of him as if he were the lord of a city. “We found these kids outside the stadium, watching us from afar.”

“Where do they hail from?” He asked in a weird accent, definitely a mix between southern and city.

“Up north, they said. Don’t know specifically,”

“And did you find out why they were stalking us?”

“Just to visit,”

“You know we can talk right?” Luis asked. Immediately the man that brought them up here smacked him across the face, hard—causing Luis to bleed from his cheek.

“Don’t talk unless spoken directly to. Especially, when the Overlord is speaking.”

The Overlord smirked, “What are your names?”

“My name’s Sara.”

“And I’m Luis.”

“Nice to meet both of you. Call me Overlord Otto.”

“Of course,” Sara bowed, kicking Luis to follow suit.

“Now that we’ve exchanged names, I want you to tell me what you know.”

“Okay, only if you tell us what you know.”

The Overlord laughed, and then the rest started laughing. Only Sara and Luis weren’t. “You think you have an option? Usually, I’d just make you a slave and work for us until you break, but I’m giving you the chance for your freedom.”

Both Sara and Luis looked at each other in worry.

“Just to entertain the thought, if it’s good enough. I’ll let you go and I’ll tell you some things I know.”

“Okay,” Sara sighed.

“Sara, don’t.” Luis barked.

“We don’t have a choice!” Sara snapped, then looked at the man, “We come from a kingdom up north called Holmstead. We make it well up there and get bigger and bigger everyday. Your turn,”

“Interesting,” The Overlord pondered, “Well a deal is a deal. This is A’lanna, as I like to call it. The people down there? Work for me and only me. There are some people down south who’ve also made it like you and I. Small little towns and such that barely make it with the eaters and bandits around.”

“Like you?” Luis mumbled.

“Ignore him,” Sara pleaded, “So, you mean we aren’t alone?”

“Not even close. Humans are fighters and survivors. I just got the weak links,” The Overlord spat.

“Is there anything else that we could know?” Sara asked.

“Not unless you have anything juicier than that,” The Overlord smiled devilishly.

Sara shook her head no quickly, “No, sir.”

“Then we’re done here. Guard, escort them out.”

“Come on, let’s get y’all out of here,” The same man from earlier stated, getting them up and having them leave the room.

“If I ever catch you in my lands again, you will be my personal workers,” He warned just as the doors closed