Alan couldn’t stop thinking about his interview tomorrow while walking with his twin younger siblings, Joshua and Luna, to their middle school to make sure they don’t get distracted along the way. He was shocked to find that they still had so much energy at the age of 11 and even more so on their way to school. Summer break was over they should be reluctant to go to school but here they were running about and joking with each other. Only walking a mile and a half from their house, Windal MiddleSchool was finally in sight. The moment the twins see the parking lot to the school they run off excited for their first day and to explore their new school.
Alan couldn’t help but think to himself about how when he was their age when they were just born and that throughout the years and how they never changed how they acted even when talking to strangers or going to new places. Before turning around to go home Alan waits just a little longer to make sure the twins got inside the school building. On his way home, Alan sees his neighbor and now old classmate, Iris, walking to her car leaving to go to her morning classes. The two exchange greetings and go on with their day just like they had been for the past 5 years ever since they graduated High School. Despite both families living in a separate building in the complex, they had nothing to worry about as their parents owned the apartments their homes were next to.
At twelve in the afternoon Alan hears fighter jets fly past the apartment complex and wonders if a flyby was announced that he missed knowing the twins loved those kinds of things. Before being able to get to his computer to check if it really was a flyby or a private event the cities emergency alert drill used for natural and manmade disasters goes off with emergency services blaring their alarms going to an unknown destination with an ominous message being sent through the megaphone as they went by; “Stay in your homes, lock your doors and windows and any access to the outside and barricade it.” Unaware of what was going on Alan’s mother calls him telling him to rush over to the middle school and grab the twins and bring them straight home. She and the father would be home in a little bit but needed to go to the store to get food. Before being able to ask what was going on the phone hung up with an alert saying “no service available until further notice sorry for the inconvenience, your local government, and emergency services.” Alan realized that this wasn’t a drill rushed outside to go and get his little siblings. Taking one step outside he saw nothing but smoke, heard car alarms and people yelling in the far distance. Now seeing the seriousness of what was going on Alan ran as fast as he could to the middle school to make sure the twins were ok. Along the way, he saw nothing but people walking out of their homes wondering what was going on, car lots empty, and the roads filled with cars stuck in traffic from accidents and police barricades.
Alan arrived at the school and noticed that the glass doors had been broken and parents were walking in and out of the building looking for their kids. The sirens of police and the emergency alert drill being drowned out by parents and kids yelling, car horns, and alarms going off both in the parking lot and in the streets. Alan pushes his way through the entrance and rushes through the school yelling for his Little siblings; “Joshua! Luna! Can you hear me?! Answer me if you can!? Just barely hearing someone yell his name from the other side of the building Alan does a complete 180 without stopping to slow down and in the process slips. Without looking to see what he slipped on Alan gets back up and continues in the direction of the twins.
Alan arrives at a room with a barricaded door. He knocks as hard as he can on it asking if Joshua and Luna are in there. He hears the whispering of kids and asks again in a more demanding tone if the two are in there. He doesn’t hear a response but hears a kid start to cry and is soon muffled by something. Alan yells at the kids inside to get away from the door as he is breaking it down. Alan slams into it with his shoulder as hard as he physically could breaking the worn-down door lock in one go. Almost falling into the classroom after the door swung open from losing its lock Alan looks around the room and sees his siblings, as well as other students, huddled in a corner farthest away from the door and windows. Joshua and Luna stand up and run towards Alan and hug him crying that their teacher left them as soon as she heard from the over system about what was happening on the west side of town. Making a mental note that they may know what's happening Alan takes the two out of the room. Before leaving the room Alan stops and looks at the rest of the kids in the room still huddled in the corner. Feeling bad about leaving the rest of the kids he brings them to the entrance where they would either find their families or a teacher.
After bringing the rest of the kids to the entrance Alan makes way for Joshua and Luna to pass through the commotion. Before leaving the parking lot the ground starts to shake with Alan saying “how the hell ..” getting cut off a blood-curdling scream/roar can be heard coming from the north side of town.
Fear struck in his face looking to the origin of the sound as Alan sees something that shouldn’t be biologically possible. A creature in which first thoughts generated could only be described as a monster. It stood at what could only be guessed to be at a height of 300 feet. Quickly snapping out of a trance generated by his fear, denial, and curiosity Alan grabs the twin's hands and turns in the direction of their house, and starts to run back to their home so they can get to the basement. Even though it was a small place, it would still be safer than staying upstairs. With the three rooms and bathroom down in the basement, they should be able to fit a fridge, freezer, cabinets of food, and a bed or two they should be safe and last till everything blows over. After all, they lived in America, one of the world’s leading nations. They would surely find a way to keep their citizens safe. Right?
With the twins' hands in his, Alan runs as fast as he is physically able to back to their house; they see roads are blocked off both by police and by accidents. Almost halfway to the house, they see people running from something slamming into the cars clustered on the street. Off of the main road rammed into a nearby building they see a car with a crater-like dent in it with someone still inside lying on the steering wheel. Looking at it wondering what happened before turning around to take another route back home Alan recognizes the car; It’s Iris’ car. Alan thinks it over for a second before letting the twins down and telling them to help him open the car’s passenger door as the driverside’s door is blocked off by the building it crashed into. The three of them barely manage to get the dented door open before having to leave Iris behind. Alan asks the kids if they can run back to the house without him; knowing full well they should be able to with the amount of energy the two have. Pulling out Iris and slinging her on his back Alan tells the twins to stay in front of him and to take the back route home. Just as they turn onto the next road a loud crash is made and when Alan turns his head to see what caused it he sees a creature ramming into Iris’ car. The size of it was like that of a cow but it had the look of a deer with wolf-like characteristics. Looking back ahead to make sure the twins didn’t slow down Alan sees them slowing down to see what that noise was but before being able to Alan borderline yells at them “Don’t slow down as the first one home gets a reward.” The twins turn back around and start speeding back up. Starting to sweat like crazy Alan starts losing his grip on Iris, he jolts her up in the air just enough to get a better grip and in the process almost falls over. Now just only a few blocks away from their home Alan tells the twins to grab anything and everything they absolutely need and bring it to the basement as they are going to take this city practice test as the real deal and camp down in the basement for the next two weeks that the test is happening. Even their father is taking part. The twins now starting to slow down to catch their breath so does Alan. Now only a block away from their home the three of them start walking the rest of the way. A very faint moan can be heard from Iris as she comes too, “Alan? What… What are you doing? Why does everything hurt except my legs?” Glad that Iris is finally coming too but concerned after what she just said Alan informs her of everything that has happened and two guesses of how she got her car into the situation it was in.
Getting inside their home Alan brings Iris straight down to the basement and puts her down on the couch. Noticing blood on the front of her shirt he fears the worse and quickly runs upstairs and brings down all the medical supplies. Noticing it's not enough, Alan makes the decision that Iris will stay with them until things blow over and goes to her house and opens the door with the key she kept with her car keys.
Entering the Indota’s home, Alan looks for the front closet containing jackets so he can make a makeshift bag to hold more to bring supplies over. Going into the storage closet to get medical supplies and other needed supplies, flashlight, batteries, nails, cans of food, and anything else he could get into the makeshift bag without it breaking open. Taking one step out the front door the sound of a transformer exploding could be heard right around the corner. The power for the entire city has gone out.
Comments (0)
See all