May 15, 2020 – The Day of the Apocalypse

"-And remember students, your papers on the human effect in marine life is due this Sunday at 11:59 sharp. No, I will not accept papers at midnight or anytime you deem fit; I've given you all an ample amount of time to complete this paper, so I'm expecting all A's! Have a good weekend students and email me with any questions or concerns!"

The class of 39 environmental biology students all praised every deity for allowing Mr. Abernathy to shut his mouth and let them leave early, though he usually let them off with ten minutes to spare every Friday, so there was no true harm done.

"You got anything planned? Dylan's parents are out of town and I'm gonna hit that up." Julie March smiled at her friend Chloe's lustrous look at Dylan Parker's back; it was no shock that Chloe wanted to climb that boy like a tree and probably would this weekend.

"I mean, just look at him, you know I'm a sucker for a good back." Julie chuckled as her friends eyes followed Dylan out of sight, sighing when he turned out of the class. "But yeah, free house, me and him, bone town."

"Really, bone town? What're you, Jack Skellington?" Chloe fake laughed at Julie's stupid joke and both girls left the room, walking through the mostly empty hall.

"I don't really think you have the authority to make any joke whatsoever at me, seeing as you've probably never seen a cock in the first place and I've seen like four."

Of the two girls, Chloe was the one who had spent high school with skirts shorter than her buttcheeks and bubblegum popping between her teeth, while Julie had spent it in baggy hand me downs with her nose in a book. It was strange that they were even friends to begin with.

"How come every conversation with you ends with you calling me a dickless virgin? I have seen one before."

Chloe simultaneously scoffed and rolled her big brown eyes caked in eyeliner, "I hope you don't mean the mystery guy from high school that no one ever actually met and also disappeared after like a year because I'd hate to call you a liar this late in the day."

Julie shot daggers as Chloe smirked, "He was real. And maybe Dylan would go down on you if you weren't such a dick."

"Oh, he'll go down on me alright. I'll make sure of it." They were nearing the exit of the large community campus building. "But really, any plans this weekend? And no, going to that creepy Hotel does not count."

Julie adjusted her backpack strap and bit her lip, "My mom already asked me and I mean, It's not that creepy."

Chloe's arm shot out and stopped Julie in her tracks, "I'm sorry, are we talking about the same Hotel? The one where bunches of people always die and the last time I went with you I almost did? That one right?"

Julie pushed open the front door, ready to not exactly deny her friend that that was in fact true but merely defend her pride, but the chaos that both girls were met with put an end to that.

"What the fuck-?" Chloe was thrown to the ground with a grunt, Mr. Abernathy having thrown open the doors and running for his life. Julie helped her up and both girls flinched when a loud horn blared throughout the campus.

Was there a shooter? Had someone brought a bomb on campus? What the hell had happened?

A group of students came into view and were running past them when Chloe yelled at them, asking what was happening.

One of the guys in a Mario beanie turned to them with scared eyes and pointed his finger to the sky, "They're coming! It's the end of the fucking world man- there's no where to go!"

He fled off after his group, leaving them there with confusion on their faces. The end of the world?

They had so many questions; How? Why? Now?

It took a second for the absolute horrifying dread to set in, for the fear of death to fill her veins and leave her frozen. She didn't even know what was coming and if she'd make it home in time to kiss her mom goodbye and say all the things she'd never said.

"Julie, Julie- look at me please. We need to go. Now." She'd barely realized that tears had started streaming down her face, her friend digging those pretty pink manicured nails in the flesh of her arm and dragging her across the campus to the pretty purple convertible that picked up Julie for school every morning, but there would be no tomorrow morning would there.

Julie's trembling hand was reaching for the glossy silver handle of the pretty purple convertible when the door opened, slamming into her gut with a strength that shocked her.

Chloe was already inside and giving her a look that could kill a man twice, "Get in the car. Now."

The streets were like if Crazy Taxi had jumped out of her Dreamcast and had plagued the streets; it was utter chaos.

Abandoned cars littered the road and Chloe maneuvered them with excellent skill, and managed to not hit a single person, though there had been many running through the streets screaming for help from god, but no god was coming.

Julie's shaky hand reached for her phone and read the alert;

Urgent Alert

Ballistic Missile Threat Inbound To Los Angeles

Seek Immediate Shelter. This Is Not A Drill.

A hand ripped the phone from hers and threw it in the backseat, "Don't look at your phone. No doubt its people you fucking hate saying sorry for being douche filled assholes to you now that they're gonna fucking be blown to pieces."

Chloe spoke with such rage spittle flew from her teeth. "We're gonna get you home and…. and…"

Sobs wracked the pretty 20's year olds chest and tears streamed down her make up caked face, teeth biting the red matte lipstick and tears smearing the pitch black mascara. Julie had never seen her cry, not even when James from 10th grade broke up with her and said her nose was too big.

"Chloe." Her hand found the shaking shoulder and squeezed lightly, "It's okay. Even if we don't make it, I'm glad I was with you."

"No, No, No." Chloe took her hands off the wheel and turned to her best friend Julie. "We're going to get you home, and you're gonna say bye to your mom."

"Chloe- the car!" But she didn't listen and instead hugged her friend close and the car seemed to steer itself closer and closer to her home.

"Chloe what's happening? Please Chloe, tell what you're doing?!" The hysterics were starting to set in as they skidded across her front lawn, car seemingly shutting down on its own.

Both girls had tears streaming down their faces and both of their chests felt like their hearts were going to implode. Chloe turned and held her friends chubby cheeks in her shaking hands, leaning forward and pressing a solemn kiss to each blob.

"Never forget me Julie." Chloe released the chubby cheeks and watched as shadows circled the car.

"And never forget him."

And questions Julie had were ripped to shreds as black covered hands ripped open the car doors and dragged both girls out of their cars, Chloe seemingly giving in to the inevitable and Julie refusing to give up. She wasn't going to die without a fight.

She was placed in front of two people, both something out of a distant future sci-fi movie.

"Are you Julie March?" Her attention wasn't on the man who asked the question but instead on Chloe, who had been placed on her knees, a large gun pointed at her temple.

The pale man spoke up once more, "You, Julie March, have been selected by the Cooperative as one of the lucky few who will be taken to a safe location away from the blast."

That caught her attention enough to stop her struggles, "Not without my mom and Chloe."

He gave her a hard look. "Your genetic makeup makes you a prime candidate, and theirs do not."

"I don't understand, candidate for what? What the hell do you people think I'm gonna do?"

"Survive."

This was all some hellish nightmare; she must have fallen asleep in class and no one had woken her up yet. This couldn't be real, it just couldn't.

Julie sobbed out the same response, "Not without them. Please." But they didn't listen, dragging her away to a grey heavy-duty van and locking her inside, away from the rest of the world, away from her mother, away from Chloe.

She screamed with every chord in her throat as a gunshot rang through the air and the van started moving. There was no doubt that they were leaving behind her friend's corpse on her mother's lawn, a mother she would never see again and a friend who died too soon.

This still felt like a horrible nightmare that she couldn't escape from, a demonic presence that had latched onto her soul and brought death and destruction in its wake, dragging her through pain and agony that seemed to have no end.

She wanted to die in that moment, wanted the blast to consume her whole and leave her with the people she loved. What was the point of survival if you had to do it alone?

2 Weeks Later

And as it turned out, this Survival wasn't something she'd be doing alone. She'd met Emily and Timothy at the initial bomb shelter, the three of them crying as the tremors had ran through the concrete slabs they'd laid upon.

They'd mourned for their families and loved ones, and even the ones they hated. It was a dark time for them, and there was no light at the end of the tunnel for 13 days.

But on the 14th day, they were thrown clothes and masks, told that anything out of place would lead to their death. Any resistance would lead to death, and that it was in their best interest to cooperate.

And so they did, piling on the large suits and making sure every tube for the gas mask was in place and stepped outside of the bomb shelter, following the men in black.

The world had turned grey and cold, had become a wasteland of death and grim tidings for the ones lucky to survive. All of the green had turned to black, and the sun had turned grey and dim. This was not a world that Julie wanted to be apart of, but she had no choice.

A carriage was waiting for them- horse drawn to be exact- and Julie, Emily, Timothy and a masked stranger sat in the carriage, rocking back and forth for hours on end, their destination unknown.

It was a miracle that the carriage came to a stop after so long, that the doors opened up to reveal more grey fog as a hand helped them out, and lead them forward.

It was a building like no other, if you could even call it a building. A spiraling black beacon of death was a better way to describe it. The four of them walked forward, past two people dressed in grey on their knees- no masks on either of them- with guns pointed to their heads.

The ring of the gunshot made her trip and fall to her knees- Chloe's tear stained face ran through her head like a hurricane- "C'mon, get up."

Timothy held out a hand to her and she shakily took it, balancing on two legs and moving forward, not looking back at the bodies, even though she wanted to, to make sure they weren't Chloe.

The decontamination process was threatening to say the least; the short stout woman who commanded their attention was someone who she would make sure to avoid. A few people dressed in outfits like the ones outside entered and were helping them get their suits off when a sound as steady as dropping water but heavy as iron entered the air.

The metal door opened to reveal a tall woman holding a candle.

"My name is Wilhemina Venable, and I'd like to welcome you to Outpost 3."