(Here's where I beg you to let me get to the good stuff, opening chapters are difficult. Establish a world establish a character etc. So the first three chapters might be sparse but will be edited later.)
The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that my life was saved by me being a naughty child. Well to be honest, naughty, had a very wide meaning in the community where I grew up. My parents were members of a strict religious order that had moved out onto an island in Puget Sound decades ago.
All of which would have been news to me on the day it all began. This community had been my whole world. For nine years and change I had lived among the Followers of the New Dawn. Raised by them and taught in their ways.
I'm told by other kids who had what some would call a "normal" upbringing that mine was odd. I mean Went to school and learned the basics. I could read better than Dad, and I was good at what math the teachers gave us. On the other hand we were also taught things a normal school would have blanched at.
Once you were old enough to be considered in the age of reason you were given classes in first aid, and foraging, going out into the Forrest to hunt for mushrooms and herbs. By the time I was 8 I had a small rifle and was sent out to get rabbits or other small game for food.
All this training was to make me and the other children in the community into "warriors for the end times." A phrase Elder Clayton loved to say over and over again. As he reminded us of our great mission in life.
Elder Clayton led the whole of the Islands congregation. To us he was the world, and as far as worlds went I wished I was on a far different one. Elder Clayton loved to tell us all about God's love. Usually as he asked us if we were worthy of it after some minor infraction. After a while I was beginning to think that God was some mean spirited guy who didn't like anyone having any fun.
Mom and Dad were nicer. Dad was a tall long man with a handsome face. He kept his blonde hair cut short. He worked repairing stuff around the community. Engines, pumps, the water system etc. Anytime I wasn't in school, or taking care of some errand the elders wanted done I was following him around learning his craft.
Mom was a pretty woman of what looked like average height. Her long Dark hair framed a face that was often locked into a look of concern or worry. Before she came to join the New Dawn she had been a nurse in a hospital out in the sinful world. Today she handled everything from skinned knees to child births. And when she wasn't doing that she was teaching the kids about first aid, and other medical stuff. She was so proud of me when I moved up from the little ones group to the acolytes. There we learned more than just the basics of putting on bandages.
All the while we we were told of the coming apocalypse and how it was our role to not just fight in the name of the New Dawn but also to make sure the apocalypse happened on time.
It was a month before my birthday when Elder Clayton got excited. That was never good. Every time he got worked up he'd get happier to enforce the silliest of rules. If one of kids stepped out of a line by an inch we'd find ourselves hauled into the elders office for an ass whipping.
He'd been in touch with some of the other New Dawn chapters, and they were now all convinced that the beginning of the end would happen at the end of the month. Right on my birthday. I didn't know who this God was who start the end of the world on the day of my birth, the one time where I was cut loose from the most trivial rules, but I was sure he was looking down on the situation and laughing.
So we all did our best to do more and better before the end began. We studied harder, scoured the island for food to stockpile and above all spent most every hour in prayer or meditation.
Well they did. My best friend and I usually had other plans.
My best friend was a tiny little orange and white kitten I had named "Mew". Because that's what she usually said when she saw me. We had found each other while I was out hunting. She kept following me despite my attempts to shoo it off, and by the time I came home we had developed a mutual fondness.
Mom agreed that Mew could stay with us, especially after the little kitten took to hunting any stray vermin in the area. Leaving proud evidence of her hunting prowess for us all to see. The island was over run with Mice and rats, and periodic rat bites weren't uncommon. So a good hunting cat was a prized member of any family.
So while everyone else went to their rooms to pray, Mew and I would sit in my room and I would play quietly with the little animal. I'd talk in low tones to her about how some day she would become a tiger and hunt bigger creatures on the island. Mew would sit there and soak it all in purring happily as I petted her.
The month couldn't pass quickly enough. Everyone was more serious than usual. Laughing became discouraged among the children and it seemed like any sort of idea of fun was now considered a sin. The attitude infected everyone. Mom and Dad seemed more tired than usual and their tempers were getting shorter even with each other.
Seriously at this rate the end of the world couldn't come fast enough.
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