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First chapter!! Yay!!! So this is a bit of a introduction to the main character. The next few chapters will be more exciting, I promise!

By the way, I added a picture of what Maddie would look like, thanks to Annasophia Robb for the inspiration.

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I studied the wild turkey as it drank from the shallow pool of water left over from the rain this morning. The smell of wet leaves and grass filled my lungs and I readied my bow in preparation to strike. I had one shot and if I missed...well, there goes dinner. I had to kill it. It's been two days since my sister and I had any meat and the thought of fresh meat made my mouth water. I can already taste the juicy goodness of grilled meat. Its aroma tantalizing my sense of smell  with its deliciousness. "Turkey...you are mine," I silently muttered to no one in particular. With one final deep breath I let go of the bow. I watched it pierce the air zeroing in on its intended target before it pierced the skin and I heard a soft thud. 

I jumped down to the forest floor from my station up in the tree top where I had stayed for a good 2 hours waiting for any prey to come. I walked towards my prize and crouched down next to it. The turkey was gasping it's last breath, as its eyes darted left and right, looking for any kind of salvation. Sorry turkey. It's either you or me. In smooth motion I took out the bow that had pierced it in a vital spot. It took its last breath and died. I placed my hand over it's face and mumbled my respect. It was the pacifist in me rearing its head. I hated to kill but I had to in order to survive.

Satisfied with the turkey I picked it up and placed it over my shoulder. It was a good 10 pound turkey and I figured this could last us a couple of days if we dried the meat and made some jerky. I was about 20 minutes away from where the camp was set up for the moment. I grabbed my sack and bow and began my journey back. I looked up and brought my hand up to block out the sun. Judging from the position, I'd say it was about mid day. The weather was cool and bearable. As I made my journey back I couldn't help but appreciate the nature that surrounded me. 

It's been 10 years since the Great War and Earth is a lot different than it was before. It's barely recognizable. Social order was out the window. Humans are no longer the dominant species. Now, the supernaturals  are. I can't even begin to tell you how many different type of supernaturals there were, but I can tell you of the two greatest, the vampires and the werewolves. The Great War was a massive battle between the two. Unknown to humans, vampires and werewolves had been waging battles in the shadows that dated back centuries. A catalysts caused the fight to be too big to be kept in the shadows. No one knows what that was but whatever it was, it caused humanity's downfall. First Europe and Asia fell. A few months later, the rest of the world fell. Humans were thrown in the middle and because of that we paid a great price. There were about 1,000,000 humans left in the world. There's no government, no civilizations, no rules. There are some small camps and tribes but none grew to big in fear that it was considered an act of rebellion by the vampires and werewolves. Some became nomads instead of joining the groups. The nomads had different reasons; didn't trust them, didn't get along with them, they were regarded as deviants, more trouble than the worth, etc. Regardless of what you did, humanity had one goal that kept some kind of unity, and that was to survive in this cruel world. 

I tried not to think about the war anymore. It was in the past. I only had the present and future to look for. A future with me and my sister, Maddie. After a few more minutes of walking, I finally made it back to the campsite. I saw my sister cutting some root veggies and had a pot ready with boiling water. She gleamed when she saw the turkey over my shoulder. I dropped it to the ground and began preparations. I skinned it, cleaned it and portioned out the meat. I got as much as I could and I handed her some to make some stew. We were both excited since this will be the night where we'll have a good meal. Plus the weather was getting chillier so some stew to warm us up sounds so good!

You wouldn't know my sister was only 16 by looking at her, but that's the effect the new world had on us. It aged you faster than usual. But nevertheless she was a beautiful woman, but to me she's still my baby girl who would cry when I took her ice cream on one of our family outings before the Great War. I always gave it back to her though, I'm not a mean brother!

Anyway, she had shoulder length blond hair and blue eyes. Her cheekbones are sharp but not so much that her face looks contorted. She had soft pink lips and soft features. She stood at a good 5'2" and wore the same kind of jacket I did and cargo shorts with boots. We were able to scrounge them out when we came across an abandoned shack during our travels. A little bit about me. My name is Matther Katz. I'm 21 and stood at 6' with dark brown hair. I had the same blue eyes as my sister, though. Some people would say she got her features from dad while I got mine from my mom. Speaking of mom and dad...they're dead now. They died during the Great War. I remember it like it was yesterday because It was the day my sister and I's new life started. Dinner was filled with trips down memory lane. She doesn't remember much about our parents or before the Great War so I did my best to describe it to her. I know it was bad to cling to old memories, but this one moment...it made us feel like we were still, I don't know, normal. Plus she enjoys it when I talk about mom and dad. After dinner we cleaned up and saved as much as we could. I hung the meat to air dry so it could turn into jerky. My sister slipped into her sleeping bag and fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes. I guess a full stomach can do that to you. Her light snoring and the soft crackling of the burnt wood filled the silent forest air. I slept what I required because I needed to be alert 24/7. I had to protect my sister. She was all I had left and I couldn't lose her. 

My sister deserved more than this, but there wasn't anything that I could do. It wasn't fair that she grew up in a chaotic world, but I was thankful that she is alive. When my parents died, I promised to myself that I would protect my sister with my life. That's why we travel. I couldn't risk staying in one place. You see, the Great War has thought me one thing. Humans can be just as cruel as the supernaturals, maybe even worse. I've heard stories of men turning on each other for food or other basic necessities, but I guess you'll do anything to survive. I know I would if it meant our survival.

The night grew colder and I slid into the sleeping bag next to my sister. I closed my eyes and before I knew it sleep had won me over.

A twig snapping to my right woke me up. I readied my bow and aimed into the direction of the noise. I always slept with my bow near me, can't be too careful. I eyed the direction sharply and relaxed when a squirrel climbed the tree. Damn squirrel. The sun was starting to rise spreading its light across the forest floor. I must have only slept four or five hours. I couldn't tell, but it was enough. I nudged my sister to wake up and instantly she grabbed her knife and got into attack mode. I put my arms up in surrender and watched her relax instantly. I laughed at her and she began to laugh too. I taught her some skills in case something happened to me. We did knife work and hand to hand combat. Mind you I didn't know much either, so we learned together. We sparred a few times and she managed to win some bouts. I was confident in her skill to take down a fully grown human male. 

"Come on kid, we gotta keep moving. Pack up only the essentials and leave behind what we don't need," I instructed my sister as she rolled up her sleeping bag.

"I'm not a kid anymore you know. I can take you down in a heart beat," she stuck out her tongue after saying this.

"Haha, anytime anywhere squirt." I ruffled her hair and she pushed my hand but grabbed my wrist and before I knew it I was pinned down with her on my back. "Ow, ow, Maddie! Ok, ok, I give. Jeez! Have mercy on poor old me why don't you." 

"See in a heart beat." I began to laugh and she got off of me. I stood up caressing my wrist from the pains she inflicted. I stuck out my tongue at her and she just rolled her eyes and went back to packing up. Hey just because we live in an apocalyptic world, doesn't mean we still can't be childish to each other.  

After we finished packing my sister waited for me to finish. I'm usually the slow one to clean up, she's the neat freak in our family. "So winter is coming soon. I propose we head south to escape the cold. What do you think?" I asked as I rolled my sleeping bag and packed everything that I could into my sack.

"Sounds good to me. I don't think there are any covens or packs down there so we should be safe." I nodded in agreement. Even though she was younger than me, she was still just as skilled at surviving as I was. Without realizing it, she had grown up too the day our parents died. She didn't want to burden me anymore than she already did. She learned basic survival skills, making fire, collecting non poisonous berries, skinning animals, fishing, hunting and setting up traps. Everything I knew, she could do too. She was my partner. My equal. With her I don't think we would have survived as long as we have. 

After we finished packing, we began our journey south. We kept a steady pace, stopping a few times to rest and refill our water supply whenever we came across it. We also managed to come across some birds and small game. We tied it to our sack and brought it with us to eat later. We didn't know how long we would be traveling or where to for that matter. I had stopped deciding on a destination a long time ago. I didn't trust other humans so I avoided the tribes and camps we would come across. It was just us against the world now. 

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So what do you think?! Comment and vote please! Chapter 2 will be up soon.

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