Chapter Two: Preparations (part one)

"Hey, kid!!" The inaudible voice of a man resounded at the back of Ash's mind as he fell to his knees gazing into the burning vehicles in front of him.

The sound of fire burning both plastic and iron-like materials was heard from the cars that looked like one collided with the other.

Civilians quickly gathered around, in the streets of Wisdom lane as they stared at the tragic accident.

Some watched it happen while others didn't, and so the ambulance was called.

The blazing flames that engulfed the cars seemed to be growing bigger with each minute and Ash was down on his knees close to it, not minding the heat that emanated from it.

He had his full attention on one of the cars as he continued gazing.

"Kid!!!" The man who was a few meters away from him ran in his direction and was screaming at him to back away from the cars.

However, his voice didn't seem to reach Ash.

"R- run," 

Those words jolted him back to reality as the hissing sound of air was heard from the car's engine and soon enough, before he could move two steps away, the car exploded. 

[Boomm]

The shockwave from the explosion knocked down Ash and everyone around unexpectedly.

Ignoring the ringing sensation in his ears, Ash struggled to get up on his feet only for his eyes to behold the destruction of his parents' car that they were in before the accident.

"Hey!!!"

"Kid!!" The man called out to him several times but Ash remained in his spot.

"Hey!!"

"Hey!!!!"

~Ring~ ~Ring~

The cell phone on the left-hand side of Ash rang out, dragging him out of the painful memory of losing both parents in the same accident.

"Hello?" he spoke in a low tone.

"Yes, hello. Am I speaking with Ash Heartfield?" The person on the other end of the phone asked.

"Yeah, that's me," the boy responded after taking a little sip from his glass of water.

"Oh, okay then... Your cargo has arrived," the man added.

Ash took a deep breath before responding.

"Alright, I'll be there in five minutes,"

As soon as he ended the call, he stood up from where he sat down at the public restaurant.

After adjusting his white shirt with the sleeves folded neatly, he brought out his wallet and dropped some money beside his half-eaten sandwich.

Seconds later, he was out of the restaurant and started walking down the road.

The sun shone brightly upon the city and the people that went about their daily lives.

Ash used his hand to comb through his hair as he let out a sigh.

‘It's been three days since my supposed parents left on their business trip, and since then, I have thought of several ways of preparing for the apocalypse,' he began to think within himself.

'I remember how clueless we all were about the apocalypse happening, and if I were to tell anyone about it now, it will sound absurd.’

‘I will just keep it to myself and prepare as hard as possible this time. If the plans become successful, I can live a completely different life from before.’

Soon, he walked through the city and got to a large building that looked like a warehouse. 

Immediately he got there, he met several trucks parked close to each other, each one containing several goods. 

Some men could be seen moving about doing different things, some walked about the place transporting the goods into the warehouse, while the others were giving commands or making reports.

Ash walked freely until he got close to one of the men there.

"Excuse me," 

"Huh... Who are you?" One of the men asked.

"I'm the one who made the orders," he replied.

"You can't be serious, kid, look around, this is no place for a child," 

The man turned around and was about to start giving orders again when he got interrupted.

"Boss... Don't you know who that young boy is?" One of the youths beside him whispered in his ear.

"That's Ash Heartfield, sir,"

"Wait, are you serious right now?!" The man exclaimed with surprise written all over his face.

"Yes sir. I heard he was the one who ordered all these goods,"

After hearing that, the older man paused for a while and immediately bowed with his face facing the ground.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Heartfield, I almost didn't recognize you at all," he let out a lie to cover for his misbehavior.

"It's okay. Is this everything I ordered?" Ash asked as he cast a glance at the trucks one more time.

"Y- Yes, sir. These trucks contain both the vegetables and meat you ordered," the man answered.

"Alright then," Ask concluded with an unsatisfactory look on his face as he continued to observe the men.

‘I shouldn't forget to recruit able men for the heavy task too, that is, shortly after I've finished stocking up on food stuff' he thought to himself.’

‘A month from now is where it all begins but after two years, that's when the world will feel it.’

‘Food scarcity, starvation, drought, and famine will envelop the world and people will begin to die one after the other because of it.’

‘If I can't stock up on enough resources, I won't make it this time around.’

"We have loaded all the goods, boss," one of the workers said to the man standing beside Ash.

"Oh, in that case..." He answered and then turned to Ash.

"We are done sir, will there be any more?" The man looked up at him.

"No, thank you for your service," Ash answered.

"Alright boys, let's move out," the man shouted out to the rest of the workers and soon they started moving out.

"If I may ask, Mr. Heartfield., What do you plan to do with all these goods?" 

The man had to ask as he could not understand what a young boy would be doing with a foodstuff of this quantity.

"You've received your payment in full right?" Ash asked back.

"Ehh... Y- Yeah. Why did you ask?" The man stuttered with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Then what I do with it is none of your business," Ash gave a cold response as he walked off leaving the man frozen where he stood.

"Well, I guess what they say is true. The rich will always behave rudely," the man shrugged his shoulder before walking away.

****

Several minutes passed after Ash went inside the building. 

He walked around the goods that were piled up and inspected every one of them while looking out for anybody that could still be there.

After he was sure that no one was around, he stood in front of the goods and shut his eyes for several seconds.

The whole place became calm and quiet for a while before dust started to blow off from the floor and into the air.

Strange sounds that resemble electrical cracking could be heard slowly becoming audible with every passing second.

Soon, Ash's eyes flew open, revealing his black pupil and teal-colored iris that soon turned light blue. 

Immediately, he snapped his fingers hard and every good present in that warehouse as well as himself vanished from the place.

Soon Ash and the goods appeared in a white open space that had almost no end. It was so vast, it could contain thirty football fields put together and it had a height of ninety meters high. 

"I wasn't certain I would still have you even though I lost all the skills I had in my previous life," Ash let out as he walked about the open space.

"The warehouse is a dimensional space that is completely unaffected by time. Anything stored in it will maintain its current form, taste, shape, and size,"

"In my previous life, I activated this dimensional warehouse two years after the apocalypse started, and as such most goods were already destroyed or used up, so I had to starve most of the time," Ash narrated to himself.

"I better get prepared as best as possible because exactly one month from now, is when it all begins,"

"A month from now, the apocalypse will happen,"