"What is a world without order? 
A society without law? 
A government without control? 
Doomed." 
-Unnamed Philosopher

Greenwood, VA 
April 20, 2006

He took a ragged breath, allowing oxygen to enter his lungs for what felt like the first time. It brought instant relief to his stiff and aching body. With a groan he rolled into his back, oblivious to his foreign environment. The trees were massive, and seemed to buzz with a natural energy. Erik was much too distracted to care, "What the fuck." He moaned, and raised his head to glance at his torn and dirtied clothes. 

His mind quickly worked for an explanantion to last nights events. I could have been drugged. Maybe I had a stroke? But each scenario sounded more ridiculous than the last. There was no reasonable way for him to explain what happened, so he pushed it aside for later. Right now all he could do was make his way back to the Stone residence and get some help. As he climbed to his feet and looked around, his mouth fell open. It was like he had woken up in a completely different place. The trees were larger than anything he had ever seen, and he could just feel the ambient energy circulating through the forest. It was like he had woken up in that movie he had watched on leave at Paris Island, Lord of the Rings. 

It wasn't just the trees that were different, but the whole forest. Flowers were more vibrant and larger than he remembered. A squirrel the size of a small dog scurried up an Oak tree. "Just what in the hell happened?" He sub-conciously went to scratch his beard, when he realised for the first time that it hung to the middle of his chest. With wide eyes he reached back to touch his hair. It too was hanging past his shoulders. Erik had no idea what was going on, but he was determined to find out. He immediately set off in the direction of Susan's house. Even though the forest had completely changed, he still remembered this path like the back of his hand.

A small frown began to curl on his lips after walking twenty minutes without breaking through the woodline. He shook his head, convinced that he was just letting his imagination run wild. It was only after walking another few yards did he see the house. But nothing was as he remembered it. 

It seemed like the forest had completely swallowed the home. Trees sprouted from the sides of the house, and wildlife could be seen all over. There was a bird's nest in the busted out top window. "Just how long was I unconscious?" he mumbled as he walked about the steps leading to the back door. The concrete patio was cracked in several places, allowing grass to grow through. Even the back door was no longer there. It was lying broken on the leaf covered floor. "Susan! Ox! Nancy?" He called aloud, hoping that by some chance one of the family members would still be here.

Erik stepped into the hallway and looked around. Broken picture frames hung on the wall and floor, shattered glass spread about. He reached down and picked up a faded picture. It was Susan and his senior prom. Even if now he could clearly remember her beautiful dress. It was crimson and strapless, with a slit along the thigh. He smiled at the memory and gently placed the picture on the vanity as he entered the living room. 

The whole interior was in disarray. It was almost like a tornado had raged through the inside, doing its best to wipe away any trace of the Stone family. Erik stepped over a toppled cubboard and entered the dining room. His breath caught in his throat as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Three decayed corpses were sprawn about the room. Their flesh was dried and withered, as if they had been accidentally and messily preserved. 

From the last visible features, Erik sadly surmised it was Nancy, Greg, and Jamie. He felt some relief that neither Ox or Susan had been there. But it was strange to see just how old the bodies were. Erik was no stranger to corpses, and had seen his fair share in Afghanistan, but these were much older than a few days. They had to be at least several years old, and that dating depended one whether the corpses were actually preserved.

After saying a few words to honor the passing of people he considered family, he began to search the rest of the house. Thankfully he didn't find Susan or Ox, but he did find Ox's discarded wheelchair. It was strange for Ox to abandon his wheelchair, but no other details were left behind for Erik. He wasn't comfortable staying the night in a house full of corpses, but if something had happened to the world, he would need supplies. 

First he searched Ox's room for anything he might need. He smiled as he found a backpack and quickly filled it with the essentials: a pot, some knives, matches, a sleeping bag, several cans of beans, and two discarded bottles of water. Next he searched Greg and Nancy's room for some clothes. He picked out a flannel shirt, jeans, a UVA hat, and a pair of hiking boots. After that was all said and done, he decided to clean himself up as much as possible. He found some scissors and a razor in the bathroom, and spent the next half hour shaving off what was essentially years worth of hair. 

Satisfied that he had done all that was possible, he took one last look in the dirty mirror and nodded. His face was now clean-shaven, and his hair had been washed with a bottle of water and cut to his ears. It was the best he could do, considering that he could hardly see his reflection in the mirror. He walked out the front door and began making his way down the overgrown driveway. It was riddled with cracks caused by rapid root growth. Up ahead of him he could see the road to town, and it too was in desperate need of repair. "How widespread is this thing?" He wondered aloud as dried leaves crunched under his feet.

Erik was surprised at how well he was taking everything. He had arrived from Afghanistan two weeks before heading to Susan's, and then he randomly gets struck by blue lightning? Only to wake up what seems like several years later only to find his ex-girlfriend's parent's dried out husks. The only brightside was that his body no longer hurt. In fact, he felt healthier than he ever had. 

As he approached the road he frowned when he spotted his truck where he had left it. It was rusted and the windows were busted out. Erik knew that the chances of it starting were slim, and anything valuable inside was most definately gone. "What will Dad think," he said shaking his head in disappointment. But then it occurred to him that this was the first time he was actually thinking about his family. After seeing the corpses of Susan's family, he suspected his parents might be dead. Maybe even his younger brother Riley, but he desperately hoped he was wrong. And even if they weren't dead, it was likely that they had left town long ago. 

Erik grimaced and forced himself to stop thinking about his family's well being. Here he was in what seemed like an end of the world situation, and he had no fucking clue what was going on. It was entirely possible everyone he knew was dead, and the world had completely gone to shit, but he wasn't willing to go that far until he had seen more. He did know that he needed to at least see the state of Greenwood, and find some sort of weapon. If his family had left, the chances of him finding them in a post-apocalyptic world were very slim. So for now he would need to focus on figuring out all he could, and to do that, he would need to find people.

The walk to town was about two miles, but it took him about thrity minutes. He did his best to stay off the road and out of sight. Erik was fully aware of how these things went. First the looting would start, then killing and rape, then some asshole would create a gang hat did all of those. Any people traveling along the road were subject to robbery and murder, possibly rape as well. Now he didn't personally know anyone in Greenwood who would do something like that, but it was a relatively large town. Who knew what kind of scumbags were just biding their time to come out of the shadows. 

Erik finally reached the oustkirts of Greenwood, and it was not what he expected at all. A wall had been built around town out of scrap metal and debris. He could see a large gate about two hundred yards to his left, where the main road led into town. A guard post had been erected there, and a scrawny young man stood behind the barrier. He lazily watched the road coming into town, and clearly wasn't expecting trouble. Interesting. He thought to himself, maybe my family did stick around afterall? But he didn't allow himself to get his hopes up. For all he knew some evil bastard had taken over Greenwood and subjugated everyone. Erik didn't have much faith in the goodness of humanity, not after all the shit he saw in Afghanistan. 

He decided on a straighforward approach. Circling around, he emerged from the woodline onto the main road. Erik cautiously began walking forward, knowing he would soon come into view of the guard. He really hoped that they weren't 'shoot first, ask questions later' kind of people. Maybe he would even get lucky and recognize somebody. Just as he knew he would, the man almost immediately spotted him and quickly called for his superior. 

Moments later a large man, in what appeared to be police armor, walked out of the gate. But as Erik looked closer he realised that he didn't hold a gun or anything else, but had a sword strapped to his hip. Strange. I know most people who lived in Greenwood owned more than one firearm. He pushed it away for later and came to a halt several feet away from the man. 

Now that Erik was closer he could see that the man was built like a linebacker, and had a thick set of black hair. His rugged face was adjorned by several scars and a long beard. "State your business," he said in a deep voice.

"Just passing through, hoping to find some family who lived here." Erik said calmly, keeping his eyes on the guard and the large man with the sword. 

The man raised his eyebrow, "Oh, and what might their name be?" 

Erik scanned the man's face for a few moments, looking for signs of hostility. After a few moments of not seeing anything, he responded. "Green. Specifically Colonel Daniel Green." 

His eyebrow furrowed, "And what relation do you have to the Colonel?" 

For a moment he considered lying, but the man acted like he knew his father, so he would be upfront. "Well, he's my father."

A frown appeared on the man's face, and waved for the guard to come forward. He whispered something in the man's ear. With a nod the smaller man sprinted past the gate, clearly going to find someone. The large man turned back to him with a scrutinizing look. "If you're lying, it's likely you will be killed."

Erik shrugged and removed his backpack from his shoulders, placing it on the ground. "Well I hope I'm not lying."

The man smiled slightly and nodded. They waited for several minutes until the guard returned, followed by an even larger man and a convoy of what Erik assumed were swordsmen, as strange as that may sound. Erik smiled as he realized who the man was. It was his father, but he had changed a lot since Erik had saw him last. Which for him was yesterday. Daniel Green's face was weathered and his hair had turned a steel color. He also wore a black eyepatch over his right eye, the surrounding area scarred terribly.

Erik's smile quickly faltered when the man walked up to him with anger in his eye. "Who the hell do you think you are? Claiming to be my son." 

Confused he looked at his Dad, "What the hell do you mean, I just saw you yesterday." He took another look around, "But apparently a lot has happened since then."

Daniel tightened his grip on his sword and spat, "My son died over six years ago, and besides, you looking nothing like him!" 

Now Erik was thuroughly confused. Was his father suffering from dementia? "What the fuck do you mean! I left to have dinner at Susan's last night."

Clearly everything he said was making it worse, because Daniel was shaking with anger. It was a miracle his father hadn't struck him down yet. "How the hell do you know that name?"

Erik bit his lip as an idea began to surface. "Okay, if you don't believe me, ask me something."

Daniel paused to think, but his anger didn't diminish. After several moments he looked at Erik, "If you are my son, you would know where I took you for your sixteenth birthday." 

A smile formed on his lips as he remembered that cherished memory. "You took me to New York, and we watched the Mets play the Yankees. After the game you got us tickets to walk the field. Mets won 9-8." 

Daniel's anger instantly diminished, replaced by tear filled eyes. His voice was full of conflicting emotions: sorrow and joy. "It is you."