The Taking

Two months ago the world ended. Not with fire. Not with war. Just… silence. One morning every adult—anyone eighteen or older—was simply gone. No warning. No bodies. No message. They called it The Taking. At first everyone thought it was temporary. Kids waited at kitchen tables, sat on porches, stared at phones that never rang. Some cried. Some wandered the streets calling for parents who would never answer. Then the food started running out. The youngest children didn’t make it. The older ones had to grow up fast. Now the High Desert has become something new. The cities of Apple Valley, Victorville, Hesperia, and the surrounding towns are no longer neighborhoods—they are territories. Thousands of kids have banded together into factions, each fighting, surviving, or hoping in their own way. The Church Boys rule the civic center of Apple Valley with iron discipline. The Amazons train like warriors in the schools and parks to the east. The Shoppers control the great stores and warehouses, trading food for loyalty. The Good Doctors hold the hospital and try to keep people alive. The Costco Members run their warehouse like a government. And the Spring Valley Lake Tribe controls the only real water for miles. Beyond them are dozens of smaller gangs, nomads, and scavengers roaming the desert roads and dry riverbeds. Nobody knows what caused the Taking. Nobody knows if it will happen again. But one thing is certain: This is a world run by kids now. And survival is the only rule that matters.