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Now for those who are about to read this then understand that this story will not be about humanity surviving in a post apocalyptic world. Yet this is a story about the toys of a family left behind in a burned house surviving in the environment they are left in, which greatly resembles an apocalyptic atmosphere on the fact that ash covers the house along with ruined house hold objects. I know that many of you are probably thinking âToy Story Crap!â or something else like that but I assure you this doesnât have anything to do with Toy Story. I am interested in writing this story giving you all the picture of toys surviving off house hold objects we overlook, but I rather just let you get to reading so you can pass your own judgment. Just read it and give it a try and then comment on it telling me what you think.

Prologue


The house sat silent and sad on top of a small rounded hill which was once covered in green grass and colorful flowers. But now due to the lack of care it was an over grown hill filled with tall weeds and dirt patches. The house was once known as Vladin Manor, but now it was an empty house, burned and ruined, left to rot in the woods it was hidden in.

The once white walls were now stained in smoke, and the roof was covered in torn open holes. The house itself was a very big house, fit to hold a family of twenty. But now being so ugly and tormented no one dared to go near it. The rooms were covered in ash and broken objects; the light was very dim in this area due to the fact that tall trees were growing over the house. It looked as if the devil himself had made this house for his very own get a way retreat.
Behind the house there was once a gorgeous garden filled with statues and fountains. But now the hard weather and ashes had eroded the statues away. Their ruined figures laid broken across the gardens floor covering the paths giving off the illusion of destruction and chaos. The garden no longer had fruits or vegetables growing, because now it had thick thorn bushes and tall weeds taking over the land. And in some spots there were no plants at all, just an empty black patch of earth covered in ash. In fact mostly everything was covered in ash and dust making the whole house look like a snowy waist land.

How could there be any trace of life surviving in this house you ask? Well if it was up to them Iâm sure that they wouldnât want to be living in this house, but there was nothing they could do about it. They never asked for the destruction of their world, they never wanted this. The muddled world left behind to them was something they didnât deserve, but was now the only thing they had. Oh, so you still donât know what Iâm talking about now do you? Well I shall easily inform of you the life living within this house, for they are simply toys. Toys of all kind from teddy bears to G.I Joes, from big collectable action figures to small playful legomen. Now donât go off wondering how could toys survive in this house, or even be living in that manner. Just let your imagination unravel and see what lies hidden in this world. And if you still canât do that then simply have faith in what seems impossible, because once you do that anything is possible.

Chapter I


Joe laid sleeping on his small bed crafted out of tied together pencils and moss. His bed was within his room, and his room was made out of a shoe box with a hole cut into it. The shoe box was small, Joe couldnât even fully stand up in it, but at least it provided him with some sort of shelter. His shoe box gave him comfort and security, even though it was just a cardboard box Joe had found safety out of it.

Joe never knew what life was like before the Great Fire that had destroyed his world. Yet he always thought that that was a good thing because now he never knew what he was missing. Joes name came to him because he was a G.I Joe, but also because he still had the logo G.I Joe engraved across his plastic chest. Most of the toys who had designs and logos no longer had them, not because they got them removed but because the atmosphere that they were in weathered them away. Joe was a lucky toy, he still had his identity of what kind of toy he was before the Great Fire happened, and not many toys had that.

âHey Joe wake up its almost mid day.â Said a toy while opening up the small paper door that covered up the hole in the shoe box. The white faded light from the sun shinning through all the trees and ash crept into Joeâs room. The light provided no reassurance to Joe or any other toy. The light was a white dismal color; it only provided calamity and uneasiness to the toys. Joeâs eyes opened and he saw Hunter standing at his door holding his cross bow.

Hunter was a type of army figure like Joe, but Hunter was a little smaller and more flexible. Hunter had a rug sack made out of folded together clothe and a bobby pin around his back. There was a needle with a string fastened away at the left side of his rug sack and he had a bottle cap as a helmet covering his head. At the right side he had a small paper clip that held together several straightened staples. Hunter had a wire tied around him as a belt and in the belt there was a piece of class fastened away. Hunter also had on goggles that he made out of clear plastic and construction paper but Hunters most prized possession was the cross bow within his hands.

The cross bow was a simple crafted weapon that proved to have powerful killing ability. A Popsicle stick served as a base for the cross bow and when using a few strong bendable sticks along with rubber bands Hunter was able to the bow. Hot glue helped hold it all together and using a repetitive lock system helped make the cross bow a fast firing weapon. Hunter usually used the straightened staples at his side as ammo, but when he needed too he used what ever was around.

âCome on Joe I donât have all day, hurry the hell up will ya?â Said Hunter in his muzzled tone.

Joe sat up in his bed rubbing his eyes trying to wake himself from his tired state. Joe took his rug sack that was professional made and strapped it around his back. Joe then tied on his sturdy tin helmet to his head and put on his own goggles that Hunter had made for him. Joeâs belt had been crafted out of a telephone cord and after tying it around his waist he put two paper clips along the side of the cord. A razor blade that had a small sturdy stick handle glued to it was strapped around his back. Thumbtacks were at the right side of Joe, there were about seven of them. The last thing Joe grabbed was his makeshift gun, which wasnât really a firearm but the toys just called it that.

The gun was made out of a small tube and one end was left open but the other end was covered up with sturdy plastic in the shape of a circle. Then there was a handle glued to the bottom of the pipe so that Joe could have a steady grip on it. The gun would be loaded with a thumbtack and Joe would pull back the handle on top on the plastic circle as quickly and forcefully as he could. In a blink of an eye he would let go of the handle and the plastic circle would vigorously thrust the thumbtack out of the pipe and into the target of Joe. Joe had used his gun so much that he could fire and reload and fire in a matter of seconds.

The two toys left the shelter of Joeâs shoebox and walked into the ash covered streets of their small village.
Piled clothes off in the distance covered in ash looked like white hills, and the over turned furniture and items made the room like a shattered city. Tall sky scraping items soared into the room lingering above the toys; these tall items constantly had ash flow off them so ash was constantly falling upon the roomâs floor.

The village Joe lived in was located in the north western corner of the room underneath a desk and next to the torn open spring exposed bed. The desk was probably the safest place in the room, for it was high above the floor and the guards on top of it had a good eye on the village below. But the unorganized piles of clothes everywhere gave many creatures easy places to hide in the room.

Joe crept under a fallen book and then dusted ash off of his shoulder, Hunter who was ahead of Joe avoided a large chunk of ash falling from the towers above. While walking Joe passed a Barbie doll pushing ash off of a calculated, he stopped to help her for a second but then continued his walk. Joe and Hunter were passing by other shoe box houses and make shift homes, some were made out of over turned books, while others were made out of paper and playing cards. The toys looked tired and weary, sad and depressed as they walked on about the village doing their daily jobs. But they had not given up on hope, they still believed in a change.

âAh there you two are, I said be here at ten not twelve.â Said a small toy duck in a Russian accent.

âIâm sorry Boris, but Joe here needed his beauty sleep.â Replied Hunter.

âAhh, beauty sleep. Well are you two ready now we have to get going if we want to get to the Eastern Village and back before night fall.â Boris was a stuffed duck and also the leader of the caravan party that exchanged good with the village on the eastern side of the room. Hunter and Joe were simply hired guards along with some other toys looking to make some quick coins.

âYeah weâre good to go.â

âVery good, very good. I want you two at the back cart we got some new hired toys coming along and they look very inexperienced, watch over them for me.â

Joe and Hunter nodded their heads and then headed to the last cart getting into it. The cart had levers that the toys would pull and push, and this motion would help force the cart along the ground. But to make things faster and smoother Boris usually just attached all the carts together so that as he sat up front steering his cart, all the other carts steered too. There were about 5 carts and a total of ten toys coming along. The first cart had Boris and his two own guards. The second cart had supplies while the third cart had three more toys all of them working the lever helping move the carts along. The fourth cart had supplies and the last cart had Hunter, Joe and two other new toys who were working the lever. With a large quack from Boris the carts began moving.

âOpen the gate!â Called out a guard who was near the front gate that was made out a round diner plate. The plate was rolled to the side and the ashy wasteland was opened before the caravan. Once the last cart passed through the large dinning plate was rolled back, the toys were now out of the protection of the city.

The caravan passed by the tall ashy mountains while going under the ruined dirt covered furniture. The whole scenery appealed unsatisfying to those in the caravan looking at the devastated room. It was a wasteland; nothing besides evil creatures lived out here in the decrepit landscape.

The toy next to Hunter was a bobble head and his head constantly bobbled with ever push of the lever. The other toy next to Joe was some sort of action figure; the toy had on robes and had a makeshift gun around his back as he pushed the lever.

âSo you two have names?â Asked Joe as he leaned back looking out at the landscape passing by.

âMy names Bob.â Said the bobble head.

âMy names Luke.â Said the other toy who was working the lever.

âSo what got you two coming along?â Asked Hunter joining into the conversation.

âWell, I got some friends in the Eastern Village. And this seemed like a safer and faster way of getting over there to visit them. Iâm originally from the nursery room down the hall.â Said Bob.

Luke remained quite as he worked the lever, he seemed scared and worried. Luke had never been out into the ashy wasteland, he had never left the safety of his home.

âThis place sure as hell isnât like it used to be.â Remarked Hunter while looking at a dead rotting corpse of a squirrel. While looking at the dead body the caravan passed under a chair and for a second the white light covering the room was shielded from them.

âDo you remember what life was like before the Great Fire?â Asked Bob.

âNot one freaking bit.â

âMe neither.â Added Joe.

The caravan came out of the chair and before them was a small over turned cart like their own with the dead bodies of toys. Joe and the others had a grim feeling when passing by the over turned cart, the faces of the toys had been mauled and scratched off.

Joes lightly brushed off some ash that had fallen upon his goggles. Then he turned his attention towards a large dresser that laid across the room beyond the tall ashy mountains. The dresser had a bird cage on top of it along with a wooden ship model. The cage had been bent and twisted in many ways and the ship was covered in ash. Clothes were hanging out of the dresser and made the dresser look like a giant tower with pieces about to fall off.

Joe had a shiver go down his spine as he tightened the grip on his gun handle. While looking at the dresser and the cage on top of it large flies hovered around the cage. The flies were most likely picking apart what ever dead toy or creature was on top of the dresser and this gave no steadiness to Joe. The cart rounded a stack of boxes and the view of the dresser disappeared from the sight of Joe.

Joe wiped his goggles again while coughing into his sleeve.
âYou alright Joe?â Asked Hunter while turning to his friend.

âSomething doesnât feel right.â