"I can't believe all of this is happening. I was just doing schoolwork when this all started, and now I'm here- with," the boy paused. "What's your name, sir?"

Maddox chuckled. "Don't call me sir, I'm only 19. The name's Maddox. Yours?"

"Cole," he smiled slightly. "Cole Guith."

Maddox held out a hand. "Nice to meet you, Cole."

Filled with the gratitude of meeting someone that could potentially be trusted in a world full of violence, Cole held back a smile as he shook Maddox's hand. "Where are you from, kid?"

"Pennsylvania."

"Rough place there, eh? Why'd you leave? They have a shelter set up there."

"No, the National shelters are in Washington."

"Oh," Maddox placed a hand to his forehead. "Right."

"What about you, Maddox?"

"Huh?"

"Where are you from?" Cole placed his cigarette on the ground, allowing for the small element of fire to diminish onto the sand of the Earth.

"I've been alone for a while, Cole. So I guess I'm from here, in Sedona. The place I was born isn't important. What's important is where I am now, and that's not too important considering we'll all probably be dead soon. Nothing really matters anymore."

Cole stood still, staring blankly into the distant sky and black clouds that had accumulated above the surface of the Earth. Pollution ravaged through the skies, the Earth itself dying alongside its people.

Cole said nothing as he pondered upon what Maddox had said, and decided to leave the conversation at a stand-still. He couldn't argue with a simple man's philosophy, and fighting with Maddox would leave him where he started- alone and depressed.

BOOM! BAM!

Cole and Maddox ducked by pure instinct as bombs- perhaps small grenades- detonated in the near distance. A blazing fire sent out a wave of heat as if the heat from the sun wasn't hot enough already. Muffled screams sounded, perhaps a couple of soldiers or civilians who had been struck by the fatal bombing on a thrown-together hut. Another grenade had landed nearby, but neither Maddox nor Cole could see where the other had landed.

The hut that burst into flames nearby seemed to be deteriorating already, just as everything else had, but the grenade was its final downfall, along with three other stray soldiers who had taken up a temporary residence there.

"Residence," Maddox thought. "Because 'home' doesn't exist anymore." Everyone had been trying to move into cooler places, but Maddox doubted any existed. Even the polar ice caps were beginning to melt.

Besides moving toward a cooler spot, homes had been ransacked for food and water. Many were thrown out of their own homes by others- particularly Chaos- simply for the fact that they had resources that the rest of the world desperately needed.

Even if those resources were as small as a can of beans.

"We gotta move." Maddox quickly fetched his pack of cigarettes which he had dropped onto the ground as the Earth trembled in fear of another bomb. As he began to run, Cole struggled behind. "What are you doing? Come on!"

Cole shook his head as if to snap himself back to reality and trailed quickly behind Maddox as they strive to find quick shelter.

As Maddox ran toward the run-down home he had been staying in for quite some time, a thick smog filled the air in front of him. As he got closer to the smoke, he slowed down, eventually stopping in his tracks.

The other grenade had struck the old home.

"No," Maddox whispered under his breath. His eyes filled with tears and rage, but he didn't dare let those tears fall. Not in front of another guy, of all people. He clenched his fists tight together, digging his fingernails so far into his palms that he began to bleed.

"All my weapons." He started with a whisper, raising his voice as he spoke to the air in front of him. Cole kept his distance as a smart man should do, allowing Maddox the time he needed alone.

Cole watched as the broken man fell down in front of him, staring into the empty sky with cold, brown eyes that showed a void about them. His dark brown hair fell down in front of his eyes, impeding his view of the flames that had consumed everything that he had left.

All he had to do was start over and move again. If only there were other places to move to... There were hardly any buildings left. Call it stupidity or rage that civilians would become angry enough to destroy places where they could stand in the shade. Rage was the most likely answer, drenched in stupidity.

Of all of the emotions Maddox had felt in his life- rage, depression, and even joy- emptiness wasn't one of them; not until today. Standing up slowly, Maddox moved his hair away from his eyes and rubbed his face, turning toward Cole.

His clenched teeth blurred his words as they came out in a murmur, his hand still on his cheek. "I know a place. Let's get out of here."

"But don't you want to-"

"I'll find another place like I always do. Let's go." Maddox stared directly into Cole's dark green eyes, full of sympathy that he didn't want any part of.

He wanted to be strong like his father had been, a Sergeant for the U.S. Army, but he could hardly manage his feelings. His father would know what to do in a situation like this. Maddox hid his emptiness away in the depths of his mind, trying to forget about everything. He acted cold and heartless as if nothing bothered him, but he hadn't yet mastered the depths of the skill.

Cole shrugged, following as Maddox walked opposite the burned down shed. Cole had never been the 'let go and move on' type but preferred to analyze things until all was well again. Maddox, though, had lived through too much pain to "analyze" anything. He found life to be a bit more bearable if he could simply forget all of the times fate had been less than fair to him.

The problem was, he could never truly forget. All of the pain that he had endured- his father's death, his mother's countless addictions, getting kicked out of his home, and now watching as all he had left burned to the ground and left for dust- lingered in his mind nearly every night. The thoughts kept him awake, holding his mind captive and depriving him of desperately needed sleep.

"What did I do to deserve any of that? Why me?"

In the end, though, he always convinced himself that he was stronger than all of it. "Anything that life throws at me," he'd say, "I can throw back twice as much. Besides, self-pity won't help anything."

Maddox hardly ever cried in front of anyone; he'd always hated it. The last time he did, he stood by his father's casket, whimpering his last goodbye. To this day, he had taken one piece of all of the unruly, cruel advice his mother gave him:

"Man up and get over it. Men don't cry."

"Uh, Maddox?"

Cole looked back over his shoulder, Maddox far behind him now. He had passed in front of Maddox a while back but has since lost track of the muffled sounds of feet trailing behind him. Maddox had slowed down significantly in comparison to Cole, though being more fit than the boy. The sun beat down upon the two of them, wearing them both down. Filled with fatigue, Maddox waved his arm forward. "Just keep going. I'll catch up in a bit."

"You sure?"

"Wouldn't have said it if I wasn't!"

Rolling his eyes, Cole continued forward while Maddox straggled far behind. Soon enough, looking back, Cole was unable to see the struggling man he had just met moments before.

Maddox took a few more forced steps before dropping to his knees, unable to continue on. He hadn't drunk anything since early morning, and the heat of the sun was becoming too much to bear. His eyes fluttered, struggling to stay open as everything turned black.

Maddox stretched there under the boiling sun, completely unconscious. It seemed as if he had lived in another world after he had drifted out of his conscious mind. He could hear a lady talking in the near distance, but he couldn't see her. Her voice was enchanting, almost like that of a goddess. He could only see a vibrant light, the outline of a dress and long hair a shadow standing behind it.

"Maddox," she called out. "Protect her."

Without question- as questioning her seemed almost useless- Maddox squinted and lifted his voice, though he was barely audible.

"Who?"

"When the time comes, you'll know. When you do, protect her."