Snippet #1642478

New York City: Hopeless

“Fuck…” That was all Michael could get out as sat against the wall of an empty subway station that was stained with death. His clothes were sickly covered with blood as well as the left side of his face. As much as he wanted to stop his heavy breathing he couldn’t as he stared at the stairway leading up to the second level of the station. There were lifeless bodies piled up upon each other on the steps. The young man was struck with both fear and anxiety. Was someone coming for him? Or was he waiting on something to happen? He wasn’t clearly sure. It was mostly due to the fact that he kept thinking back to the horror that had just happened a few hours ago.

“Crush a bit! Little bit! Roll it up! Take a hit! Feelin’ lit, feelin’ light, 2 a.m. summer nights! I don’t care, hands on the wheel, I’m drivin’ drunk I’m doin’ my… Shit!” Michael exclaimed as a car whizzed past him in the middle of his sing along to one of his favorite KiD CuDi songs. He had his black Skullcandy low rider headphones on his head, enjoying his music publicly as he walked home from school. Trying to follow in his mother’s footsteps in business was difficult, but he found his own small shortcuts to get through the challenges quickly. He’d really have to keep himself from being too careless though if he wanted to make a big impact in the corporate world.

Reorienting himself from the close encounter with the vehicle, Michael actually took the time to look both ways before crossing the street. While catching sight of a few vehicles speeding down the road, Michael back up onto the sidewalk. He figured he’d just wait for these cars to go by or for the light to change for him to properly cross the street. He hated waiting and decided to go back singing along with his music.

“I’m on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shines ain’t always gonna be gold. Yeah, I’ll fine once I get it, I’ll be goooood….” Michael sang softly to himself before the several cars whizzed by. It seemed like everyone was just speeding today. When the light changed, Michael smirked at his opportunity to finally walk across. There were cars coming, but he knew they’d have to wait for him like he had for the previous cars that stalled him crossing. Strangely though, as Michael made his way across, the cars made no effort to slow down. Michael quickly wacked his headphones off his head so they could fall down to rest on his neck as his eyes shot wide open. Other people hadn’t been as eager to cross, so all they had to do was back away. The several cars honked at Michael before slimly swerving around and past his body that was basically in the middle of the street. The young man’s heart raced in that moment, afraid to be taken out so suddenly. The wind coming off the cars blew across his royal blue shirt and jeans. Once cars were past him, Michael’s shock soon turned to anger. “What the fuck!? The light’s still red!” Michael shouted before hearing a crashing sound from the same direction from which the cars came from. He stood in the middle of the street for a second trying to figure what he was hearing. His music buzzed through his headphones, only hinting at what was playing.

With a simple sigh, Michael across the street and was about ready to put his headphones back on to enjoy his music and the rest of his walk home, until he heard not just one scream, but many. People in the vicinity looked in the direction of where the large crash came from before hearing a loud alarm across the city. Michael hadn’t heard this sound before, only in movies. The sound never meant anything good. He didn’t move though. Not even when a military aerial vehicle flew directly over him. Then Michael saw it.

Coming into view, were what Michael could only identify as robots coming down the street. They were shooting at the aerial vehicle relentlessly. The vehicle fired back, but had to strafe from their fire. Unfortunately, that gave these robots the opportunity to turn their guns on the street. In that very moment, Michael turned around, and did what he did best. Michael ran as fast as he could, moving past people with ease. There was no way he’d stop for anything. He was grateful that being on the track team was saving his life right now. Michael slowed down when he saw an explosion take place ahead of him.

“Shit…” Michael turned right, trying to get away before spotting a subway station where many others were trying to get into. It was too flooded though. “Next stop.” Michael said to himself before sprinting past the entrance and running completely astray of the masses of people trying to save themselves. As panicked as Michael was, he tried his best to keep his breathing controlled. He cursed internally with every several strides as he noticed the decrease of people around him. Soon there was no one around him, not a soul. He could hear the screams of people blocks away from where he was. He questioned if the lack of people meant the place was safe, but shook the thought away. With a grunt he continued to run until he found another entrance to a subway. To his horror, there were bodies upon bodies along the steps leading down. The place had been compromised. With look of sheer disgust, Michael found himself hesitant to go down. Hearing a few shots blocks away pushed him to step over the bodies and down the steps. He couldn’t even count the dead bodies he had stepped on or take notice to the amount of blood on the ground. He was literally stepping in countless puddles of blood, staining his white and blue sneakers. He shut his eyes and tried to ignore what he was stepping in, but that only caused him to stumble before slipping and falling right onto the death covered ground. Michael groaned in disgust before looking straight into the eyes of a dead woman. Getting up ferociously, Michael ran on top of the bodies, no longer caring. He went through the gated emergency door to get to the lower level of the station. Michael had done this a few times with his cousins in order to get on the train without paying the fare. He didn’t know where he was going or where he’d end up.

That was what happened before he ended up now; on the floor of the lower level of the station. He was contemplating running through the train tunnels, to get home, but what would he do afterwards? His iPod had stopped playing, due to him being tired of it and stopping the music. His phone had no signal in the confines of the underground station, so there was no way to call his mother or anyone. He felt nearly hopeless, and thought he’d just end up dead sooner or later. Then he heard the quick sound of beating wings echo through the station.