If asked, she would neatly divide her life into two compartments, Before and After. Of the event itself she would speak little, it was the same for everyone. A nightmare that passed in a blur of screaming and panic and desolation, to be followed by a waking up that offered little relief, only a scant hope that somewhere, somehow, she'll find her city in the desert and suvive.

Before the End of Days, as she calls it, the Apocalypse, she was just the only child of a small but loving family. Good grades, athletic prowess, a face that would let her get her way, she had it all. She learned how to talk her way out of trouble, smile to get what she wanted. It was so easy then. The details are hardly relevant, but if you are curious they are as follow: She grew up in Texas. Big skies, even bigger hair, her life revolved around the Friday Night Lights. No surprise, she was a cheerleader, it was what you did if you were a girl and wanted to get noticed. College followed high school in natural progression, and even here she took the obvious path, studying hard to earn that degree in Chemical Engineering. If everything had gone according to plan she would have emerged from a state university with her degree and her financial future secure.

Then came the destruction, and like so many others, Ariel lost everything. After was a very unpleasant place for her at first, with the sand shifting beneath her feet and her rosy little future disappearing as fast as that. Family, home, friends, future, all gone or disappeared. She had to rely upon her good looks and charisma at first, latching onto small groups for safety and, true to form, she absorbed everything like a sponge. Nothing is easy any more, but it turns out somewhere beneath her charm was a steelhard resolve to stay alive, no matter what the cost. Some things carried over from the old reality to the new. The learning curve was sharp for Ariel, and she quickly acquired some useful skills in her new reality: Survival now means scavenging what she can from the battered landscape, bartering to obtain other needful things, manipulating and backstabbing when those first two options fall short. She survived that initial shock by lurking on the fringes of whatever population centers remain. Texas and her sweet little life there are distant memories as she wanders across this harsh new landscape, searching for others to ally with or mow down.