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Scene Two: Before the Worst
Topic Started: Sep 10 2009, 08:51 PM (2,025 Views)
bebeluv1
Nemesis
Adam—Area 5—Sweet Children—Cat

Mark, the thinker of the group, suggested that they take inventory of all the supplies left on the bus, and maybe send someone to gather more if needed. Adam had been thinking about his daughter, who would be awake soon, and his wife and son who hadn’t shown up yet. C’mon, Willow, he thought. Hurry.

Paul was released from the bathroom, and having finally sobered up some, was pretty pissed off. Cat stepped in between Paul and Adam, and facing Paul, explained the situation in a nutshell. Paul’s face, once twisted in a sneer of anger, now faded into a shocked incomprehension. He glanced around him and saw Billie, Mark, and Mike sorting through cabinets and writing the contents down. Frank left the bus with a notebook in hand to check out the Bookmobile.

Fuck, it was real. He backed down completely and ran his hand over his face. “Jesus,” he gasped. “What can I do to help?”

Cat patted him on the shoulder. “C’mon, man, you come with me. We’ll go to that IHOP across the way and loot what we can from there. Probably won’t have much we can take, but they’ll have enough to completely pack our freezer here and they’ll have cash. Might have some canned goods, too. “

Paul nodded. “Yeah, all right, that’s a good idea. We should check out that motel next to it, too. You never know, there could be a gun or something else useful to us,” Like liquor, he was thinking. Fuck, what was he gonna do without liquor?

Cat and Paul left the bus to loot the IHOP, Frank was still cleaning out the Bookmobile, and the rest of the passengers were sorting through the contents of the bus. Adam went back to Calli, sitting on the edge of the bed and watching her sleep in the crib. His heart was sick for his two children. One thing you never think too much about when you have kids is what kind of world you’re leaving for them. That thought comes later, once it’s too late and they’re already born. He’d always imagined a fantastic future for his kids. Hell, he’d already put away for their education and then some. But now….what was left for them, even if they survived? A wasteland at best. It made Adam want to cry.

Instead, he slowly got up from the bed and quietly started packing supplies for Calli. Diapers, wipes, baby medicines, spare clothes, sunblock--everything he’d brought that he could fit into his backpack. He was also very glad that he had the baby sling with him. He’d need it to keep her close and his hands free if they had to do some walking. He assumed that they would. People would be freaking out and behaving like crazed idiots, he figured that roadways may become blocked with either congested traffic or multiple wrecks. Or worse. He’d seen the movies.

Calli stirred and yawned. She popped her eyes open (Lex was a gradual eye opener, but not Calli, she just popped awake as if she heard an alarm clock that was silent to all but her) and smiled when she saw her daddy in the room. “Dah-dee” she called.

“I’m here baby, I’m here,” Adam cooed, and picked Calli up. “Does someone need a diaper change, huh?”

Calli smiled and nodded. “Pee” she said. And she wasn’t kidding. This girl could piss. Her diaper was so full that it hung off her ass when Adam picked her up. And he’d just changed her before laying her down. Christ, he thought. She must get that from her mother.

Adam changed his daughter, talking her her, trying to feel normal and not let panic take over. He didn’t want to scare Calli by acting afraid or strange. He must have been doing ok, because Calli was babbling happily as usual. None the wiser-good. Adam begged Willow silently again to hurry. He pulled out his own travel schedule and tried to guess where she might be. She couldn’t be far, he thought, but he had no way of knowing if her path here would be clear or…..Adam shook his head. NO. He couldn’t think negatively now. He sat, taking a couple deep breaths to calm himself down, and then picked up his child.

“Shieet!” Callie screeched, laughing.

Adam was torn between laughing and kicking Paul’s ass. “Hey, now,” he warned.

“Fukging shieet!” she squealed.

Paul, you’re an asshole, he thought. You’re just lucky we have bigger fish to fry. He tried to imagine what Willow was going to say to him when she heard Calli’s dirty mouth for the first time. It wasn’t going to be pretty. That much he could count on. Still, hearing those words come from Calli’s little mouth, he couldn’t help but find it funny. He smiled to himself, but kept a stern daddy face on for Calli’s sake.

“We don’t say that, Calli,” he said sternly.

Whether or not Calli agreed with him, he couldn’t be sure, but at least for now, she grew silent. Adam snagged the baby sling and put it around him. He wanted to be ready, should he need it. He knew Willow would be ok, she was a tough cookie. But he still worried. And he worried for his father, alone with strangers, going to a strange place. At least the people he was with had phones. He had stored the phone number of the person’s phone whom his father had used to text him. He might need it. Sure, the reception was shitty and they MIGHT lose all reception at some point, but they might not. Adam plugged his phone in to make sure it was fully charged. You never know, he thought.
Edited by bebeluv1, Sep 13 2009, 08:58 AM.
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mdnjr70
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Shrimp Po'Boy
Ruben/Zeke – Thank you

“So where are we heading?” Ruben asked cracking open his bottle of water trying to get comfortable in the smurfmobile he couldn’t help it, it was just so small, it wasn’t like he was a big guy, but still it was tight quarters at best. Good thing he wasn’t over six feet that would have really sucked. He took a sip of the water, getting the beer taste out of his mouth. Zeke was driving slow missing people and other cars, the streets where a mess in some places but clear in others, still the progress was slow. Ruben would look at Zeke; study him, no one could be this kind and gentle; could they? “We’re going up northwest second street that will turn into State Street and get us basically to my condo, normally it wouldn’t take long…but.” Zeke didn’t need to finish Ruben understood, he understood too well; there was the sound of an explosion or something off in the distance. He looked at Zeke, “Thank you.” Ruben said with a smile. Zeke looked at him, “no problem I had the water in my car, I don’t know why, but something told me it would be a good idea.”

Ruben’s face turned serious, “No I mean about everything. Thank you. You could have left and I wouldn’t have thought any less of you, but you stayed and you offered to put me up, this is very generous of you and you certainly didn’t have to. Thank you, Zeke, from the bottom of my heart Thank you.” Zeke adjusted his hands on the steering wheel and looked at Ruben, “I couldn’t leave you alone, that wouldn’t be right.” Outside the car there was another popping sound, it had only been an hour at most and things were bad, but Ruben was sure they would be getting worse. “I really don’t think too many people are thinking of others right now.” Zeke smiled at him not taking his eyes off the road any longer then a second but still long enough to look at him, “God works in mysterious ways.” Ruben chuckled, “That he does.” He looked at Zeke, “I had no idea where dinner was going to lead tonight, but I’m very glad I’m with you.” Ruben took a drink of the water and recapped it, he knew to drink when he was thirsty, but he also knew water and food would come in short supply if they survived the next 24 hours.

He looked at his luggage, clothes was that really important right now, his stuff, granted he wasn’t thinking clearly, but you never know, he had a laptop with wireless, that might come in handy and somehow looking at Zeke, he didn’t think he would be able to fit in anything Zeke owned, so what was he suppose to do, walk around naked, or in the same clothes, if they did make it, we didn’t fancy the idea of having to dig for clothes in burned out buildings or bombed out stores or worse. But it was a comfort thing as well, a little piece of home. He felt his pocket vibrate and he jumped hitting his head on the ceiling of the car. Zeke looked at him nervous, “what?”

“It’s my phone.” Ruben said rubbing the top of his hair then pulling out his cell phone reading the message, his eyes started to water and he looked out the window not speaking, he didn’t want Zeke to see him like this. Letting the tears drop from his eyes. “Ruben what happened? What is it?” Zeke said his voice so gentle and soft, Ruben said nothing and continued to looked out the window, “please tell me, what’s wrong?” Zeke said slowing the car down. Ruben could barely speak, “my sister; my parents won’t leave their house, but her and my other sisters and their families are going to try for the Rockies and make their way to Salt Lake City, if they can to meet up with me.” Ruben said looking back at Zeke. Ruben took a heavy shaky breath, “they think I’m there.” Ruben added heartbroken. Zeke didn’t know what to say he fell quiet. Nodding his head he looked at his phone, the time stamp was 35 minutes ago and he just now got the message. He needed to type a response and hope that they would get there.

R. not n SLC in Iowa on b-ness trip. Friend & I going 2 Ankeny. LUV U VERY MUCH. Sorry 4 so much. If u can get here try. If not back basement window break n u no my house.

He hit send and watched the phone work and he sighed, “I’m a horrible person. Zeke. I’m not a nice man, not like you.” Ruben said looking out the window, “I haven’t talked to them in 8 years, well my sister at least, I haven’t spoken to my folks sense I went away to college.” Ruben said looking out at the night sky, it was beautiful he did his best to look past everything else that was going on. “And for what? I should have forgiven them and now all I can think about is wanting to be with them.” Ruben brushed away the tears in his eyes.

“Do you have their phone number, call them.” Zeke said looking at him. Ruben looked back at him, “I…I don’t know. They don’t want to hear from me.” Ruben said suddenly very scarred, his parents never changed the phone number, they still lived in the same house, it was so much easier to feel sorry for himself. “If you love them and want to talk to them the worst that can happen is you can’t get through, try them Ruben.” Ruben nodded and looked at the phone and dialed the number. The line cracked and popped and sounded distant, but it was ringing he thought he heard it pick up but then it went dead. “Did it work?” Zeke said looking at Ruben’s face as he tried the number again getting the recording, “all circuits are busy…” Ruben slipped the phone back in his pocket. “No. I think I lost my chance.”

Zeke smiled at him, “We can try again when we get home.” Ruben nodded; home he wished he could be home now, but he knew that wasn’t the case and right now he couldn’t think of anyone else he wanted to be with, “Thank you.” He sighed speaking again he needed to change and his position in the car again, he shifted and this time banged his arm on his door, “you know if there was ever any doubt that you were gay, this car, would remove any doubt.” He said with a smile and Zeke shrugged smirking, “Well I like it.” Ruben smiled shaking his head in agreement, “for what it’s worth I can’t picture you in anything different.” Zeke chucked, “Thanks.” They both feel quiet as they moved on.
May it be said, when the sun sets on your life, you made a difference.
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WeBandOfBuggered
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Shrimp Po'Boy
Alex/Sam/Dominica - When the Shit Hits the Fan

Alex walked out of the bar and stepped out on the street, wondering just what the hell was going on. The Asshole...er, Commander in Chief just told us the world was gonna end, Alex thought. How’s THAT for fear mongering?

He walked down the street feeling his pockets for his phone which was currently missing. “Shit!” he ran down the street to a gas station, pulling the few coins out of his pocket and jamming them into the slot, he dialled Ames’ cell phone. It didn’t even ring, just an automated message:

“We’re sorry, due to excessive volume, your call could not be completed as dialled. If you wish to make a call, please try again later.”

“Well at least the phone companies are business as usual,” Alex muttered.

As though on cue, the message continued: “and may God be with us in this, our time of need.”

“Fucking hell, one space rock comes to Earth and everyone fucking panics. Not exactly as though the Earth hasn’t been hit by rocks before.” He slammed the phone into the cradle with enough force to break it. He shrugged and pulled open the door to the station attendant’s booth, pulling a bottle of water out of the cooler. He pocketed one bottle and found the attendant’s back pack laying on the floor of the booth, he emptied the contents, then dumped most of the bottles in the cold case into the pack, dropping a twenty and a ten on the counter. Stepping out of the gas station, he moved further down the street, entering a convenience store he scanned the shelves and area behind the counter, looking for potentially useful items. He loaded several books of matches and some cigarettes into his pack. He didn’t smoke himself, but cigarettes may soon become a hot commodity, and if he and the others needed to barter, might as well use something the general public would likely want. As he moved behind the counter another object caught his eye: a cricket bat under the registers. The bat had a few small nicks in the wood and a small stained patch that Alex realized was in all likelihood, blood. That was a good sign: if the bat could stand up the abuse of drawing blood, it could make a good weapon against potentially hostile people.

He briefly considered taking one of the prepaid cell phones, but realized they wouldn’t be charged and cell service was pretty much as fucked up as the landlines were. He used a basket and quickly loaded as many packs of cigarettes as he could into it, picked up the cricket bat and stepped out in to the street. It was eerily quiet. Alex looked both ways, cricket bat hanging at his side, then moved further down the street, entering a small hardware store, taking his pack off and dropping several barbeque lighters into it. As he did so, he felt something cold and metallic press against the back of his head.

“You’re going to want to stop that. Now,” a voice said, followed by the unmistakable cocking of a gun’s hammer.

“You’ve gotta be fuckin’ shitting me,” Alex muttered under his breath, stopping loading the lighters.

“Turn around. Leave the bat on the floor.”

Alex turned to see a man roughly his age holding a long-barrelled shotgun; the man’s eyes were wild and terrified. “Look man, I don’t wanna hut you. There are some other people up the road in the sports bar, I’m just getting some lighter and other stuff that could come in handy, you’re more than welcome to come with. Safety in numbers and all that,” Alex remained calm and collected.

“I’m not buying what you’re selling bro.”

“Look, I ain’t asking you to buy it...just asking you to listen and calm the fuck down. World’s gonna end, we need to get everyone together.”

“I’m gonna head for those shelters they talked about,” the clerk said. “I’m gonna give you the choice here: you can stop stealing from me and help me blow town or you can keep stealing from me and I exercise my rights to protect my property.” Alex suddenly burst out laughing, “what? What’s so funny wise guy?”

Alex took a moment to gain composure, “look man. Do you really think you can just waltz on over to Salt Lake or some where, knock on the door to the bunker and they’ll welcome you with open arms and nice cold brewski? ‘cause if you do, you, my friend have got another thing coming. They ain’t gonna let people like you and me in. I mean, a contractor and some fuckin’ hardware store owner in California? We aren’t exactly the cream of the crop, are we? I mean, given the option between a neurosurgeon and a contractor, who would you pick?”

“Well aren’t we a pessimistic little man,” the man lowered the gun to the floor.

“Pessimistic or realistic? I mean fuck dude, it’s not exactly rocket science. The Asshole in Chief won’t want average Joes and plain Janes, will he?”

“How do I know you’re not trying to psyche me out dude? Get me to stay so you and your friends in the bar in can get there first, block me out?”

Alex sighed, “hey man, I plan on making tracks for inland. Maybe hole up in the Rockies or something, but I’m not gonna go for the shelters. Like I said, come to the bar with me, there’s safety in numbers. “

“Fuck that noise. I’m going for the shelter, but like I said man, you’re trespassing I feel you’re a threat to my safety.” He raised the gun, but Alex was quicker, he reached behind him and brought the cricket bat up in a wide arc, catching the man across the jaw. There was a sickening CRACK as his jaw broke, and the man crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

With that, Alex picked up the bags and walked back up the street to the sports bar. He stepped into the bar and spotted Sam and Dominica near the back of the bar. “Sorry I’m late guys.”

“What happened?” Sam asked, taking the tool bag.

“Guy at the hardware store tried to kill me, he felt threatened because I was in there getting some barbeque lighters. I tried to talk him down, he changed his mind and I hit him with the cricket bat I found in the convenience store. Broke his jaw and knocked him out apparently.” Before the others could speak, he continued. “All I could do, it was that or paint the walls with my brain.”

Dominica nodded, “I gues.”

“On the plus side,” Alex said, shrugging off the back pack. “I went on a supply run. Open that bag Sam.”

Sam did so as Alex dumped the contents of the backpack on the pool table, Sam followed suit with the tool bag. He let out a low whistle, “that’s a lot of smokes.”

Alex nodded, “money’s fuckin’ useless now. I figure we can barter.”
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Cale Raizer
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Shrimp Po'Boy
Paul was still reeling about what was going on. His hangover wasn't making anything better. His mind was a stumbling blur, but he felt as long as he could focus on looting the IHOP, then he could avoid being swept into the raging rapids of his thoughts.

He and Cat entered the IHOP, finding the place damn near deserted, not a soul in sight. The smell of burning filled the air, and a thin haze of smoke blurred the veiw.

"You check out the kitchen, I'll take the registers," Cat whispered, and Paul nodded, that would probably be best. Paul figured he might be able to find some booze.

Then again, it was a family establishment, not likely to be any hooch around. While Cat busied himself with the register, Paul went back into the kitchen.

The place was a ghost town, and it was starting to spook Paul out. It hadn't been twenty minutes since the Presidents speech, where the hell was everyone? Unless they all went home, to be with their loved ones or whatever.

The smoke was thicker in the kitchen, and Paul quickly found the reason why. One of the stoves was still on, and there was a fried lump of what might have once been eggs burning on the top. Paul dipped his head into the neck of his shirt, breathing thru the fabric.

He hazily tried to remember what he learned about fires from the third grade. Keep your head low, cuz smoke rises, feel a door to see if its hot, and if you caught fire yourself, stop, drop, and roll.

Paul crouched down, and knee-walked to the stove, and after a quick deliberation, he flipped the switch, turning of the stove.

Fire extinguisher, he needed a fire extinguisher. He looked around franticaly for one. There, on the wall, the small red cylinder he was looking for. He grabbed it, studied the instructions for a second, pulled out the pin, and aimed the nozzle.

With a puff of compressed gases, a white foam erupted from the nozzle, dousing the stove liberally. The fire stopped, and the smoke started to dissapate.

Cat emerged from the front, "I got the register open, figure theres about 600 bucks in it. What'd you find?"

"Nothing yet," Paul said, dropping the extinguisher on the floor, "I put out the fire."

"Hooray for you," Cat said, stuffing the wad of money into his shirt pocket, "Now lets get what food we can and get out of here."

The freezer was near the back, set into a wall. Paul opened the door, and stepped inside, Cat right behind him.

The freezer was huge, dominated by two large shelves full of forzen food, meat patties, pancake batter, ice cream, and the like.

"Man, they got enough food to feed an army here!" Paul said, slightly awestruck.

"Or maybe enough for you, after one of your drug binges," Cat said, walking ahead of Paul.

"Hey, fuck you, man!" Paul said, just because I..." Paul stopped, as he looked at the far end of the freezer.

A pool of blood, partially frozen, covered a good portion of the floor. Seated in that pool of blood, legs splayed, was the body of a big man, in cook's whites.

"Jesus!" Paul said, rushing to his side, Cat right behind. Paul felt for a pulse, but found none.

"Fuck, man, what happened?" Paul said, leaning back on his haunches, trying valiantly not to throw up. It was quite the effort.

Cat knelt down, and grabbed the mans arm, looking at the wrist, "He cut his wrists open. Poor fucker killed himself."

"Why?" Paul asked, "Why kill himself?"

"Think about it, man," Cat said, "The end of the fuckin' world, some people arent gonna wanna wait till the rock hits." Cat crossed the mans arms, and closed his eyes, before standing up, "C'mon, man, we gotta find some food."

Paul stood up, his stomach still threatening to turn on him. He couldn't imagine, could not imagine killing himself. His life had always felt worth living, he had money, fame, booze, drugs, pussy whenever he wanted.

When the rock hit, and if he survived, what would he do then? What would he be, then?

It would e so easy, Paul thought, spotting the big knife lying next to the dead man. Take the knife, and cut your arms wide open. An easy death, now, without the worry about the rock. Wouldn't it be better to die now, then later? It was inevitable after all.

Paul reached for the knife, picked it up, surprised by how heavy it felt. He gripped it tight, staring at it. He saw his reflection in it, his hair was slightly tossled, his skin was pale, his eyes bloodshot. His cheek was quivering, and he looked terrified.

This wasn't his face. This was the face of an imposter. He didn't normally look like this, this wasn't him.

With ana ggravated sigh, he threw the knife down, the muted cling of metal lost to the giant fans in the freezer. "I'm not gonna go out like that," Paul muttered under his breath, "Not like this, not here."

Moral dilemma solved, Paul composed himself, and went to help Cat find some food.
"Alright, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man whose gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!"


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Mesonoxian|Girl
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All the ancient classic fairy tales have always been scary and dark.
Adia, David, Stu, Ames

Adia keep staring at Stu. She’s dying ot ask him for a cigarette. After a while it dawns on her that she has cigarettes in her purse. She takes them out of with shaking hands, and lits one.
David keeps glancing at her nervously. When her cigarette is almost done he walks over to her and says: “I’ll dispose of that for you.”
He walks over to the nearest ashtray, relieved.
We need these people’s help and if Adia starts stubbing out cigarettes on her arm…that wouldn’t go down well…
When David gets back to the group he takes Adia’s arm and asks the rest of the group to excuse them for a minute.
“Adia…what has the voices been telling you? Did they tell you the world will end?”
“Yeah…but they wouldn’t tell me how.”
David stands dumbfounded staring at her. Who is Adia? A prohpet? A loonatic?
“Can we go to our room now and rest?” she asks hopefully.
“Adia, no! We’re going to find a way. To be alive in 72 hours…that’s a luxury we’ll have to fight for right now.”
“But I’m not scared anymore…”
“Then be scared! We are not gonna lie down and accept this without a fight! I told you to trust me, and this is me taking control. We’re going with Stu and Ames, subject over.”
Adia nods slowly.

They return to the group.
“I like the breather idea. Let’s go up to one of our rooms, and we can all sit and talk for a minute to decide what to do next. We’ve got a little time, we shouldn’t make hasty decisions,” David says.
“If ever there was a time for fucking hasty decision, this is it!” Stu exclaims.
“Yeah, but…”
“Yeah but I know what you mean. Everyone else in?”
Ames nods, Adia nods. And with that the group leaves for David’s room.

See? We didn’t lie to you, Adia… David was the one who ended up lying to you, her voice says.

You could’ve been preparing, but instead you tried to run away from us, his voices says accusingly.

Who told you to come to America? If you had stayed in Africa you wouldn’t have had any hope… Now who’s looking out for your best interests?

Adia quietly follows the rest of the group, and for the first time the voices aren’t sure if she heard them.
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mdnjr70
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Shrimp Po'Boy
Domenica/Sam/Alex – Paper Trail

Domenica looked at all the stuff on the pool table shaking her head, well they all had similar ideas and were on the same page at least (barter; food, water, cash, jewelry, cigarettes, anything that people might want), “How long we waiting?” Sam said looking at the small group, the Grand California Hotel now all but empty. “It hasn’t been very long, what about the other woman you were with Alex?” Domenica said noticing that his manager or publicist was no where to be seen. Alex shook his head as he started to refill the bags; they all started to help and talk. “I don’t know, one minute she was there the next she was gone and the phone lines aren’t working.” Alex said lost in thought, he had mentioned that he was expecting someone to show up, he must be worried Domenica thought.

“Dear God.” Domenica said starting to click her finger nails, it was a nervous habit, one she never paid much attention too because for the most part she was never really nervous, not even meeting Gareth. “I didn’t know you yanks played cricket?” Gareth said helping sort out and pack-up the different supplies. He was looking at the bat. Domenica looked at the bat thingy and Alex smiled, “Well maybe the clerk did…I’m glad to have it now.”

Domenica shook her head, “I didn’t even think of weapons, I wouldn’t have thought it could have gotten that bad so fast.” She said looking around suddenly feeling vulnerable. Sam’s earlier words hitting her as well as Alex’s story.

Sam offered her a soft sad smile, “24 hours isn’t that much time, I’m surprised we haven’t seen anyone trying to off themselves yet.”

Domenica stopped her eyes wide and her face turning pale she walked to the door of the sports bar, that looked out on the once welcoming and warm main lobby to the hotel, it didn’t really look that much different how many times had she walked around here never thinking much of it, not seeing it in a new light. She got to the door and rested her hand on the doorframe, “You don’t think Roza…” Her voice trailed off. She felt a rough hand on her should, “Nah; Russians don’t do that sort of thing, they’re tougher then that.” Sam said his voice a little more mellow, he had followed her to the door seeing that his words had bothered her. Domenica turned and looked at him shaking her head she took her perfectly manicured hand and placed it on his smiling back at him, her perky tone and voice still somehow managing to come through even very slightly. “Thank you Sam.”

“I think we need to plot out our course.” Alex said pulling out a map of the western US putting it on the now cleaned off pool table, “it will give us something to do well we wait for Roza.” He added and in his mind added ‘Ames’. “I think all we still need to do is load up and fill my SUV with gas and head out.” Domenica said coming back over and standing next to Gareth who slipped a comforting arm around her waist, Sam took notice and found himself frowning at the younger man. “How long will it take to drive there?” Gareth said looking at the group not noticing Sam’s look, which had changed back. “10 hours on a good day, but if we bypass Las Vegas, it will take about 12 or so.” Domenica said then added, “It’s about 700 miles.”

“Fuck me.” Alex said shaking his head, “We can’t afford to wait to long for her then.” Sam thought a moment, “Domenica didn’t she say she was a doctor or paramedic or something like that?” Domenica thought for a moment then nodded, “Yes. I believe she did.”

“Then she might be worth waiting for.” Alex said thinking of his cousin; maybe it would give her more time to get here, but really how long could they wait around they were maybe 5 – 10 miles from the ocean.

“Alright we plan everything we can and wait as long as we can, but if she doesn’t show up soon we need to get out of here, the longer we wait the more time that slips by and we have a 24 hour clock ticking away.” Samuel said looking at everyone.

“Agreed.” Gareth said.

“Fine.” Domenica sighed

Alex nodded his head.

“Good.” Samuel said looking at the map, “now lets figure out where we’re going and how to get there.”

The group stood around talking and going over the best way to get to Park City, Domenica was the most versed with the route and gave them the best information she could, of course her family always took the freeways, so the back roads would a bit more of a challenge. They had all been ignoring the TV as it just repeated the same information that the President had said, but then something caught all their attention, according to the now local news which was giving people evacuation directions and updates as best they could, it would seem they planned to stay on the air as long as they could, which, when you thought about it, was pretty amazing and selfless of them, something Domenica never truly pictured of the media.

“It looks like they are reversing the direction of all the freeways.” Alex said seeing the news footage.

“And using military vehicles to keep the traffic moving out of the bassoon.” Samuel said, finally proud that his country was now actually taking care of it’s people.

“Maybe then using the freeways might not be such a bad idea.” Domenica said watching the TV feeling a little better, like there was hope.

“That gives everyone 10 lanes going east, at least for a while, that will be enough to get us almost to the Vegas area.” Sam said thinking if they could keep traffic moving and the cars going east there was a chance get everyone out of the LA Bassoon in time.

“Anything is better then nothing.” Alex said.

“I don’t suppose Mickey has a helicopter here?” Gareth said with a bit of a smile and Domenica laughed, “No I’m afraid not and even if he did I can’t fly it.”

“Bugger.” He said looking back at the TV.

“Wait what about the TV stations they have choppers.” Alex said and Sam pointed to the TV, “Which I think they are all using considering the footage they are showing, God in Heaven look at the roads already.” He said Domenica’s mouth feel open and they watched the roads; they were clogged, people driving on the sides of the roads using every space they could to go east, what was once a 5 lane highway in both directions was a 14 Lane highway all going east, they watched as military vehicles did their best to push cars off the road that had broken down or where involved in auto accidents, still it looked like slow going. They even saw CHP and other police helping to direct people, it was amazing, for whatever it was doing people where trying there were still people offering to help and to try and save as many lives as they could.

Domenica took her eyes off the screen and walked over behind the bar pulling out a note pad and pen and she started writing, the men looked at her and saw several pieces of paper she was quickly jotting down notes on when she finished she put the pad down and bent down looking through the bar for tape. Finally finding some she folded the sheets of paper closed and in a big letters wrote: ROZA. She took them and started tapping the notes to any and all places that were eye level and in a spot where, if and when Roza returned she would be able to see them. “I don’t want to leave her, but. Anyway, I’ve put directions and where we will be waiting. I think we need to head to my car and get it loaded and plan on getting out of here. We can wait at my car by the maintenance tanks, we can’t risk anymore time. I say once we have it loaded filled with gas, we leave, it’s going to be a long hall and like Sam says we have a 24 hour count down.” She ran a shaky hand through her hair, making the choice wasn’t an easy one, but her directions would get Roza to where they would wait for her on the inside of each note Domenica drew a map and put the current time and what time they would be leaving. She knew it would only take about 10 minutes for Roza to walk there, but they would need more time to load up and fill up; which gave Roza maybe another 30 minutes.

She looked at the guys grabbing the pad of paper and pen they could leave some additional notes for Roza on the way. It was possible that someone other then Roza might find the notes, but with Sam’s gun and Alex and his cricket bat it was chance she was willing to take plus there were other vehicles around and they could leave another note for Roza with directions one where they were heading if she didn’t catch up with them in time, “Well are we going or what?”
May it be said, when the sun sets on your life, you made a difference.
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Rubén/Zeke – Broken Bones

Rubén was quiet as they drove down the road, it was getting darker out and in the distance you could see lights and even a few fires burning, he continued looking out the window lost in thought. He was thinking about his sisters and his parents; would he ever see them again? The bigger question, of course is what would he do when he saw them again or was it the other way around. At this point it didn’t matter, he would run over to them and hug them all never letting go, they were his family and right now more then anything he wanted to be near them. He let out a gentle sigh and started rubbing his arm. It had all been so stupid and now here he was.

************* 23 Years Ago*************

“Yo no plantearon que para ser maricón” his father yelled as he pulled him to the back yard ripping the ribbons from Rubén’s hair as his little sisters cried terrified of what was happening, their father never got this angry every. Rubén knew there would no help coming his mother was at her second job and Rubén was in charge of babysitting till their father got home, normally when they all played dress-up they would clean up before his father arrived, but today it was a combination of Rubén and Ruby putting on a little show for their 3 younger sisters. So, when their father got home early that day and walked in on all of them they were all surprised.

“Yo no plantearon que para ser maricón” Rubén’s father yelled again at him yanking the belt from his pants to use as a whip. Ruby called after them, “Papá, no es su culpa!” Their father turned on her and yelled, “entrar en la casa y limpiar el desorden!” Ruby did as instructed and went back to her crying sisters and started to clean up the mess. Rubén didn’t cry and didn’t try to run off he knew it would be so much worse if he did, he was 13 and Ruby was 11, their others sisters were 7, 5 and 3. It all happened so fast, one minute they were all playing and laughing and now this, Rubén felt his father dragging him and then throw him over his knee it was only seconds from the crack of the belt on his butt. His father ripped the dress off him at some point as they moved to the back patio, it was one of Ruby’s, she had made Rubén wear it because, as she said, it made him look pretty. He watched as the material fell from his body he was only in his underwear under the dress, because that is how Ruby told him it was worn, but that too was falling to the ground, clothing only helped to dull the pain this was meant to hurt him, he wasn’t sure which was worse the waiting for the belt or the anticipation once the belt hit the sting won out, it was only one of many more to come.

Rubén had never been hit by his father, he had been talked too and teased by his dad about how to be a real man and not to play so much with his sisters that it would make him weak and his father didn’t want to have a weak son. Rubén didn’t think that playing with his sisters made him weak, it was just play, they played all the time, he paid with the boys at school, playing baseball, soccer and football. He didn’t think this was anything different. There was another crack of the belt; it really was starting to hurt now.

“Llorar! Maricón! Llorar!” His father yelled but Rubén refused to cry, not that he didn’t want to because he did, but he didn’t want to give his father the satisfaction of it, it was his only defense, plus only babies cried and he wanted to prove he wasn’t a baby. After several whippings and hearing his father call him those names, he made the mistake of trying to move, the pain was getting really bad and he just wanted his father to hit him in a different location. His father pulled at his arm hard, very hard, when Rubén heard the break he thought maybe it was the belt hitting him again but soon realized that it was something else and it hurt a lot worse then hit butt did, he knew it was over when he his father tossed him off him and feeling the give of his arm. The pain was so intense that Rubén had no idea it was him screaming at the top of his lungs. Ruby ran to the door as their father was putting the belt back on, “Ruby tenga cuidado de este maricón!” He said walking past her going into the house his fatherly duty finished. Ruby ran over to Rubén who was now crying holding his arm, “Rubén.” She said seeing her naked brother laying there, his arm in an unnatural position. She helped him up grabbing what she could to help cover him up, she saw his blooded back side, this was bad, this was really bad they had really done something wrong.

“I’m sorry Ruby…I didn’t mean to get us in trouble.” Rubén said between the pain in his arm and his butt. He finally started to calm down the pain wasn’t getting better but at least he could breath and move. They heard the sliding door and just then Mrs. Dumesnil peaked her face over the fence, “what’s going on over here, what trouble are you getting into? Rubén you better not be hurting your sisters.” Mrs. Dumesnil was an older woman who lived alone, and would sometimes watch after them, she was nice most of the time, but sometimes she would get on their case if they were making a mess or causing trouble in the front yard. “OH Sweet Baby Jesus!” She said looking at the two youngsters getting a look at Rubén. “Ruby you bring your brother right over here, his arm is broken, are your parents home?” Mrs. Dumesnil was hard of hearing and thought the world of their parents Rubén must have really been making a lot of noise, “No!” Rubén said forcing himself to sound more mature and more in-control, “I was taking a shower and Ruby burst in on me. I chased her and fell.” Rubén said, it was a bold faced lie, Ruby didn’t say anything to contradict him instead she called, out, “Esme get Rubén his pants and shirt.” Esme was the 7 year old sister. They waited at the gate as Esme ran over with pants and shirt holding them out her face dry from the tears she had been crying. Ruby helped Rubén pull his pants up and get the shirt on then they walked out of the backyard where Mrs. Dumesnil was standing waiting for them. “You’re father’s truck is here, you sure he isn’t home.”

Rubén shot a look to his two sisters as he spoke, “No, he was here but left a while ago, but he will be back quick. I promise.” Ruby and Esme both nodded. “Oh sweet baby Jesus you poor dear.” She got Rubén in the car along with Ruby, “Quédate aquí con su papá y ver a tus hermanas.” Ruby said to Esme who ran off to check on her baby sisters and to probably tell their father what was happening, he wouldn’t do anything more, at least that was the hope. “Oh I don’t like leaving your sisters here alone.” Mrs. Dumesnil said, “It’s ok, mommy will be home soon.” Ruby said looking at Rubén who nodded, his face was getting whiter by the minute. Mrs. Dumesnil nodded and got them in the car she got in the driver’s seat and looked at Rubén, “Sweetheart maybe you should do some sports or lift weights it would help toughen up those bones or yours, soft boys like you need to make sure you toughen up so you don’t get beat up.” She said with a smile, she was only trying to help and make light of the situation, she knew he was in a lot of pain, on the good side the skin wasn’t broken so that was something she thought as they headed off to the hospital. Rubén looked out the window holding his arm as they drove thinking. He thought of what his father called him as he beat him, he didn’t even really know what a faggot was really, he knew it was something really bad, he knew that much from how the other boys talked about it, but he really didn’t see what the big deal was, boys were just as pretty as girls if you asked him especially that Joey Nicholson.

************* Current *************

Rubén continued to rub his arm were the break once had been so long ago, time healed all wounds he thought. He sighed and wondered why his wounds from childhood took until now to start to heal, sure he never expected that one to ever heal but it had, in a few short moments all his wounds were slowly mending and he felt foolish that it took him this long and for the world to end for him to get to this point. Rubén smiled looking out the window, he wondered whatever happened to Joey Nicholson it wasn’t too long after he got the broken arm that Joey had moved away, it was an odd thought but it made him smile, he didn’t realize until he was older and expected who he was that he had a crush on Joey, he remembered some of the dreams he had about him, never really understanding them.

Zeke looked over at him, “You’ve been quiet, you alright? Is your arm ok, you’ve been rubbing it?” Rubén looked over at him, he hadn’t thought he had been rubbing his arm, but he guess he had, so he laughed, “Yep, I think finally my arm is getting a little better.” Zeke looked at him a little odd Rubén hadn’t done anything to it. Had he? Maybe he hurt it carrying the suitcase, no, he pushed that thought from his mind, Rubén was in too good a shape to hurt his arm with a suitcase. Zeke looked at him again it was something else the strange look in Rubén’s eyes made that perfectly clear. Rubén pulled out his phone dialing his parent’s home again, there was still nothing. He figured he would text Ruby when they got to Zeke’s house and let her know where he was, maybe with luck they got his parents to go; it would be good to see them all again.
May it be said, when the sun sets on your life, you made a difference.
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Roza looked around the inside of her would be suite, admiring the spaceous atmosphere. She never had owned a room this big. It was too bad she wouldn't be staying to enjoy it. She just came in to change and wash up, maybe turn on the news for some information.

The room really was amazing though. A king sized bed sat in the end of the room, surrounded by red wood night tables. A shandaleir hung from the ceiling which released a classy hue onto the tiled walls. She dragged her hand along the rough texture of the walls, feeling each groove as she made her way into the kitchen. If they were going to leave here, they would need water. Maybe there was some in the fridge.

Rozalina opened the fridge door, revealing nothing. So much for that plan. So she instead opened the bag that was on the king sized bed and pulled out random clothes from her bag. She pulled out a San Diego Chargers football jersey and a pair of acid washed jeans. She bought the jersey at a store called Modells after hearing her co workers talking about the Chargers game the night prior. Wanting to fit in with American society, she bought herself a light blue Chargers jersey that read "Rivers" and "17" on the back. She slid the jeans on as well and walked into the marble decorated bathroom, finsihed off by a jacuzzi tub in the corner. A flat screen television was propped up on the wall as well. This made her really wish she didn't have to leave. She could have enjoyed not even having leaving her room for a week.

She turned on the sink water and ran two cupped hands under the water. She splashed the water on her face and looked up at the mirror, watching the mascara drip from her eyes. Another splash had removed it completely, then she dried her face with a white towel that was sitting on the wall, leaving small black streaks.

Roza still wasn't sure what was going on. She could understand about every three words the president was saying in the speech, but she heard enough to know something was out of the usual. People were far too panicked for this to be nothing important.

She emptied her backpack that held her medical books and stuffed her first aid kit into it. She thought that before heading out she should find a source of water and fill up her backpack. She and the others would need every drop of it. She exited the room and took a left, coming to the elevators. She pressed the button, and it glowed orange under her thumb. She could hear from below the elevator making it's way up to her floor.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a blue glow rounding the hallway. She turned the corner and found an Aquafina vending machine propped against the wall, casting the idle blue glow that caught her eye seconds ago. She noted the thin padlock that kept her from the water.

Since she didn't have the keys to open it or the skills to pick the lock, she looked around for something to break the weak lock with. Almost immediatly, she noticed a long red box mounted to the wall on the opposite side of the machine. She opened it, and revealed a coiled firehose and a fire axe. Spotting the axe, she slid it from the hooks that held it in place and sagged her arms with it's great weight. It was clunky and heavy, which should have been enough to split the lock.

Roza heaved the axe over her shoulder and walked to the vending machine and adjusted the lock so one side would take the full impact of the swing. She threw the axe away from her shoulder, and began winding it back for a swing. With all her strength, she swung it foward, crashing it into the side of the machine, missing the lock completely. It chipped the side of it nicely, but did not open it. She backed up and took a breath, then swung again, this time missing the machine altogether. She lost balance and fell to the ground, dropping the axe to the carpeted floor with her. She climbed to her feet, feeling more determined. She heaved the axe back with more ease this time, and slammed it foward, feeling it connect to metal. She could see a chip in the thin metal of the lock. She drew again, then swung, hitting her target once more. Then again, wound back, and hit the side of the machine. She sighed, wound back, and gave it one more slam, hitting the lock dead on. The jolt freed the lock and it fell to the ground.

Roza dropped the axe and regained her breath. She didn't think it would have been that much work, but at least the lock was off. She slowly opened the machine, revealing a bounty of bottled water. Feeling sucessful, she collected her prizes and stuffed as much water that would fit into her backpack. She zipped it close and thought over the usefulness the fire axe could bring to her later. She had no idea what was going on outside, and for all she knew everything would be fine, and she'd be carrying around a fire axe like the American serial killer movie she watched once.

Despite that, she picked up the heavy axe with both hands, trying to balance it's great weight in her arms. She walked back over to the elevator and pressed the button, watching it once again glow orange. This time, the doors opened immediatly. Elevators normally don't get a chance to stay on one floor, so the building must have been empty, or everyone in it was sleeping.

She entered the elevator and pressed the 2 button, which would bring her to the lobby. She watched the numbers count down "10, 9, 8..."

Roza leaned the fire axe against the elevator's wall as she stared at the numbers idly. "7, 6, 5, 4..."

What if things were totally different when she arrived? What if something happened? What if everyone was gone and she was left alone, with no idea of anything that was happening around her.

3, 2, 1...

The doors opened, and much like she thought, she was alone. There was not a soul in the hotel but her. She quickly grabbed the fire axe and stepped foward out of the elevator. She listened as the doors slowly closed behind her, sealing her from the shelter of the top floor. She was alone now, and with no idea what was going on.

Rozalina clenched the axe tightly in her fingers as she took step after step foward towards the glass doors, when a paper with her name written with "Roza" in bold caught her attension.

She quickly picked it up and tried to read it, not understanding what she was instructed to do. Since "Maintenance" was capitolized, it should mean that it was a place in Disney. So maybe she could find a sign somewhere that would lead her to the others.

Roza slowly pushed the glass doors open, revealing again, that she was completely alone. When she arrived to the hotel the surroundings were buzzing with life, but were now completely empty. They must have really been in a hurry.

She picked up a map that layed on the ground and looked it over, finding the word "maintenance" not too far away from the hotel. She could be there in a few minutes time. She just hoped they haven't left yet.

Rozalina trekked through Disneyland toting the heavy axe, still feeling like a serial killer. She glanced down at the map every few seconds to make sure she didn't wander off track. She never had much luck with maps, but hopefully she learned a thing or two on how not to read one. But it wasn't too hard to read. The paths were marked by large white gaps and the different attractions were colorfully planted in various spots, unlike the road map.

After a few more minutes, she found the rides getting more distant and things starting to look more like a...parking lot. After looking up, sure enough, she found a sign that read "Maintenance". When she looked down from the sign, she saw a Ford car with a long hose attached to it's gas tank. Several figures were crowded around the back of the car talking. She could faintly hear the voices from where she was standing. She decided to walk over to see if it was her group.

Once the crunching of her footsteps became audible, the group turned around, and it was Domenica's cheerful voice that she heard first.

"You made it!" She cried out and embraced Roza in a hug.

"Um...Yes?" She muttered, feeling rather akward in the emrace.

"I was afraid something happened to you!" She replied, releasing her and folding her hands over her chest in joy.

"Um...Are we leaving?" Roza asked looking over at the rest of the group.

Alex and Sam stepped foward, and Sam gestured to the car.

"Yeah. We were just talking about leaving. Looks like you lucked out." Sam said with a slight smile. "Good to see you're coming with us."

Roza smiled. "Yes. It is good."

Sam turned around and walked toward to the car. Roza's eyes were fixated to the side of his belt, where a gun layed fastened in it's holster.

"A gun?" Roza asked, trailing not too far behind him.

"Yeah. A gun." He replied.

"Why?"

"If we need it, it's there."

Roza shook her head. "That is illegal here, no?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. But I have a feeling nobody's ready to give a shit anymore. Let's get going. We have a long trip ahead of us."
"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." Matthew 7:15
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Ames/Stu/Adia/David - High Stakes

Monte Carlo Casino & Hotel; Las Vegas, NV

David led the group to his room on the fourth floor; as they moved through the hotel, Ames as sorely tempted to detour into the casino as she did, but she knew now wasn’t the time to be gambling. She shook the urge off and, in the back of mind she heard a small voice say: why bother gambling? Not like the bookie’s debts will follow you into the great beyond.

“Stairs are the best bet, I’d guess. Elevators are probably out of commission,” David said, opening the stairwell door at the end of the hallway. The foursome climbed the stairs, sidestepping assorted pieces of discarded luggage and clothing. On the fourth floor, David led them to a room with a view of the Strip, Ames looked out and saw there were still several cars, most of the ones on the Strip were either stalled or totalled from the various accidents that occured in the middle of the mass exodus.

“So, what do you guys figure is the best plan of action?” Stu asked, he was sitting with his feet propped up on the desk as though he was just sitting in an office waiting on a new task. David and Adia were sitting on the bed, so Ames leaned against the window, sitting on the sill.

“I say we head for the shelters,” David said. “I mean, the President said that the shelters would be open to all citizens.”

Ames and Stu both choked back laughs at that.

“What?”

“Well,” Ames said. “For starters three of the four of us are non-Americans. You folks said you’re from Namibia, I’m from Canada, so we aren’t exactly American citizens. Plus, the fact of the matter is, we’re none of us gonna be let in. I mean, I’m a travel agent. Not exactly cream of the crop am I?”

David shrugged, “same. I’m an IT guy.”

“Unemployed,” Adia provided.

“I’m a bounty hunter,” Stu noted, waving his hand in almost dismissive manner.

David laughed, “well you are gonna be locked out for sure dude.”

“Look,” Ames said. “I say we make tracks out of Vegas, head for the Rockies and take cover somewhere in Colorado. I mean hell, it worked in the Stephen King book.”
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Zeke/Ruben - Homecoming

Zeke pulled around the last turn and reached up, hitting the button for the garage door. He went around the turn faster than he normally would, there were children that lived in the area, but with as crazy as things were getting he didn’t want to have his house mobbed. The drive into town had been, nightmare would have been an understatement. If he hadn’t known a back way once they’d reached Orolabor they would have been screwed. Cars were backed up for miles, people honking and screaming at each other to move and get out of the way…. It hurt for him to see people acting like that.

He swung his little car into the garage, hitting the garage door before they were even finished pulling it, the door rumbling and lowering behind them as he turned off the car. The garage was a 2 car garage and a single guy, he only had this one tiny car. The garage wasn’t empty though, stacks of cans and peanut butter lined the garage walls a foot deep on ever side.

“You knew this was coming?” Ruben asked, opening the door and climbing out, stretching, glad to be out of the smurf-mobile.

“I don’t,” Zeke sighed getting out of the car and slipping his pocket. “It’s hard to explain.” He said as he ran his hand through his hair.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ruben said stepping to the back of the car as Zeke undid the bungee cords and pulled out the first suitcase. Ruben reached down inside the car and grabbed the second one, pulling it out.

“Do you like dogs?” Zeke asked, pulling the suitcase across the concrete towards the door into the house.

“Um… yes?” Ruben asked.

“Good,” Zeke said opening the door. Immediately the sound of barking hit their ears. “Hey guys,” he said turning on the light inside the kitchen. Almost immediately Zeke sneezed as he entered the home, Ruben coming in after him. Across the tile, on the other side of the kitchen where the table should be there were several baby gates tied together stretching across that area blocking in four very adorable, and very fuzzy puppies. “I found them a few weeks ago behind the store when I took out the trash. I tried to save the mother but,” he shook his head and stepped over the gate. Immediately the puppies swarmed around his legs, tails wagging excitedly as he bent over, cleaning up the newspaper with the mess on it. Folding it up, he cracked open the porch door and dropped it into the can that he’d put out there for the mess.

“Do they have names?” Ruben asked reaching down inside the barrier and petting the lightest colored one.

“They do,” Zeke replied “That’s Barker, DeLonge, Hoppus and Shanna” he said pointing to each in turn. “The CD that was in my car was Blink 182 when I found them so…”

“What’d you name the mom?”

“Blink,” Zeke replied with a laugh, sneezing again. “Sorry, I’m allergic to dogs. It’s not too bad, over the counter stuff helps but… Amanda said that I should build up immunity at some point. She’s allergic to cats and she’s got 4 of them.” He grabbed the bag of puppy cow and refilled their bowls, reaching over the counter and filling another with fresh water. “I mean… I couldn’t just leave them there to starve and the shelters are overrun as it is.”

Is this guy just too good to be true, Ruben found himself wondering not for the first time in the last few hours. Ruben looked around the townhouse, it wasn’t anything overly flashy. Nothing that screamed ‘queer’. Everything was very simple, understated, down to earth. The only thing that there was a lot of, was non perishable food items. Looking around they seemed to be stacked everywhere, that and bags of puppy chow of various brands.

“I’ll take them out in a bit,” Zeke said opening the baby gate and letting the puppies run all over the house.

“But you’re allergic, their hair,”

“After Blink passed I started to let them sleep with me,” he said blowing his nose and grabbing an antihystime. “I mean you know, they’re babies. They need something to snuggle up to.” He shrugged and grabbed the suitcase again. “You can have the bed, I can sleep with the puppies in the spare room on some blankets. This way,” he said leading him around and down the hallway to the stairs that went up to the second level.

“Don’t you have a spare bed?” Ruben asked, frowning. “I don’t want to take the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Nonsense,” Zeke replied. “You’re the guest, and guests get the bed.” He moved down the hall and put Ruben’s suitcase into his bedroom.

“I’m not making you sleep on the floor.” Ruben said turning right and heading past the second bathroom towards the two spare rooms, both of which seemed filled with food again. How long had he been preparing for this?

Zeke rolled his eyes and took Ruben’s second suitcase as he stopped, looking at the supplies. He pulled it back down the hall to the master bedroom and put it beside the other one. “You’re not making me do anything.” He reached down as Hoppus jumped on the bed, tail wagging madly, little eyes alight with excitement at his being home. “Who’s my little guy?” Zeke cooed, leaning down and kissing the puppy despite his allergies. DeLong jumped on the bed next and Zeke kissed him too. “You guys are so cute, but I can’t wait until your housebroken, no I can’t, no I can’t…” he let out a sigh suddenly and straightened back up. “That’s not going to happen, is it?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Ruben replied touching Zeke’s arm. “But we can make the best of the time we have.”





The Puppies

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Mod Note:

Since people are JUST getting on the road now I'm going to give you all until next Friday before I post scene 3. I want to see some more bonding with the groups. I'm loving what I'm seeing so keep it up. If you need help with stuff, feel free to PM me and I'll do what I can to help you.
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Stu/Ames/Adia/David - Think Tank

Stu sat in a chair with his legs up on a desk in a rather laid back manner,

“California? I don’t know, as for the rescue centers don’t even bother with those. Chances are 9 out of 10 of those centers won’t make it; they are there for hope that’s all. It’s easier to control people while they still have that little slither in them”

“Well then, what is wrong with California?” Ames asked

“Well California is right next to one of those tectonic plates, earthquakes there are gonna be terrible, for all we know it will end up as the next Atlantis!”

Sure they were still aiming to be high up but there was a nagging feeling about being in California that Stu couldn’t get rid of,

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t go there or that we shouldn’t consider it, I just think we should consider all our actions and not go out half cocked and get caught in a shit storm or Armageddon.”

“We don’t have the luxury of time to look over all our actions” David chipped in

“I agree, I’m inclined to think we should take this a day at a time, get somewhere quickly and spend time making it habitable for a day or two after that we assess the damage and make a new plan for the next day. First things first how do we get there?”

“You said we could take your car, why are you leaving us here?” Adia asked in a worried manner

“I thought we could take my car too but I don’t know how far we will be able to make it a car.”

“It’s true” Ames started to point out “Look outside there are cars totaled and left behind all over the place, it would only get worse as we went”

“Stupid question can anyone fly a plane?....Didn’t think so. One more stupid question, can anyone fly or have a space shuttle? Another one of W. Bush’s failures!”

“Huh” was said simultaneously throughout the room

“Back in like 2007 or something then President Bush kept throwing things about the space program around and getting more people into it and loved to talk about the moon. Seriously it was like “Tax cut, Iraq, Going to the moon. No child left behind, going to the moon!” At first I personally thought that he forgot that we went to the moon but now I know, he seen this coming, they told him all about it and while looking out at the stars seen the moon and was just like “I wanna go there, I no like it her no more, it’s too hard here””

“Yes ‘They’ knew all along. They told me”

“Adia, now is not the time”

Stu was officially confused,

“They?” Stu asked

“It’s a long story” David replied on behalf of Adia

“There is probably a lot of issues here for us all, they will more then likely get exposed in the next few days or so for us, so whatever happens let’s just give people a chance to explain. Chaos has a way of bring the worst out in people so let’s just keep our heads screwed on tightly and rely on each for now.”

Stu knew how desperate and pathetic people could get when at the bottom of the barrel, one of the quirks of his jobs.

“So that whole transport thing anyone come up with anything?”

“What about motorbikes” David began “They are small enough to get through the gaps and fast enough to get us somewhere!”

“If we got dirt bike they may take us up a trail or something”

“How will we carry things though?” Ames asked

Adia seemed to lose interest in the conversation and began looking out the window,

“I guess we could throw some things into several back packs and spread them between us” Stu suggested

“Could we really carry two days of supplies between the four us?” Ames asked

“What about putting everything in that?” Adia asked while pointing out the window

Stu got off his chair and moved over to the window to see what Adia was pointing at,

Stu let out a slight laugh “A big rig, we could even put the bikes in there and I’m sure it would be able to push some cars out of the way!”

“How do we even know it works or that one of us can drive it?” David enquired

“I’ll go find out!” Stu declared

Stu left the room walked down a hallway and began running down the stairs skipping every second step until he reached the bottom. Stu burst through the doors which lead him into the lobby which was where he began his talk with the other 3 whom he was now with. Only this time the lobby was complete empty, not a soul in sight, Stu didn’t bother with looking around too intently instead he focused on checking out the big rig and using his peripherals to check the hotel out and from what he could tell the bar was still mostly stocked up. Stu made his way out of the front doors and began running towards the big rig, the streets were as dead as the hotel, cars crashed into each other with other cars being completely ditched in general. Stu got to the big rig and climbed up,

“No keys, damn it!”

Stu looked in the glove compartment; nothing, next Stu flipped open sun visor and some keys fell into his lap. Throwing a key into the ignition the big rig started like a charm,

“Well there’s a clutch, a break pedal and an accelerator as well as a gear stick, I got this!” Stu said to himself.

Stu began moving forward in the big rig, not the best driving, but driving nonetheless. As Stu predicted the big rig managed to push a small car out of the way as he drove it back to the hotel which he then parked the big rig in front of. He grabbed the keys and exited the big rig, fiddling around I his pocket Stu grabbed his keys for his car out of his pocket and ran over to it as it was parked just down from the hotel. Stu opened the boot and pulled out a small bag, it had some spare clothes in it, some medical supplies mainly bandages with some other small bits and pieces, Stu also took out his Shotgun and threw several bean bags into the bag as he lacked other types of ammo. Stu then went opened the passenger’s side door and opened the glove box, in it was another smaller med kit and a small bag which contained various pills and fake ids that Stu had managed to find a use for at one point in time or another. Stu threw those things in the bag and went back into the hotel and ran up stairs Shotgun in hand. Bursting through the door into the room again Stu announced,

“I think I can drive it!”

“Um…why do you have a gun?” Ames asked in a concerned tone

“Oh this, mainly for intimidation purposes, don’t worry it’s not loaded!” Stu said while chucking the bag he got on the bed “There is some medical supplies in there that I had in my car, from what I could tell the hotel seems to be mostly stocked up still so we could always grab what we can from hear. Did you guys come up with any ideas?”
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Cale Raizer
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Shrimp Po'Boy
Mistys apartment hadn't been vandalized yet, something which Misty was eternally grateful for. The way the city was losing its mind, she wouldn't have been surprised if there had been fifty guys hiding in her apartment, ready to rape and kill the three women.

It had taken them awhile to get back to her place, traffic being much crazier then usual as people drove in flocks to wherever there may be safety. And once, Misty had pulled over to take down a thug, holding an elderly woman at knifepoint.

She had taken the knife, and slipped it in her back pocket, grateful to have some form of weapon.

It was disheartening, beyond the horror of knowing there was a giant rock coming to destroy their way of life, and instead of people going home, to spend what remained of their lives in peace, or helping others, they instead turned to looting and rioting.

Misty closed and locked her door behind her, as Bridgette and Marie looked around. It was a small apartment, two bedroom, though they had renovated one bedroom into a den of sorts, kitchen, one bathroom, and a small living area.

"Our room is just down the hall," Misty told Marie, "You cvan hop in the shower, and take a change of clothes."

"Merci." Marie said, walking into Misty's room, closing the door behind her. She was a quiet one, but had good strength of character, which they would all need in the upcoming days.

"When she goes in the shower, I'll see about packing up some clothes," Bridgette said, "You might wanna wash up, too, you got blood all over you."

"Ok." Misty agreed, looking down at herself. She did indeed have blood on her, spattered on her arms, her pants legs, and across her midsection. "I'll see about gathering food when I'm done."

"Irish shower?" Bridgette said, a smile coming to her face. It was a strained smile, one that didn't reach her eyes, which were themselves, filled with sadness and worry, but it was a smaile all the same.

"Irish shower." Misty agreed, hearing the sounds of their actual shower being run, "Go ahead and start packing up some clothes, I'll get myself washed up."

Bridgette nodded, going into their bedroom to pack. Misty sighed, looking under their kitchen sink for the small metal washtub they kept under there.

It was a hassle sometimes, two young women sharing an apartment with only one shower, and often times they worked the same shift at the bar. Instead of wasting time with the both of them taking an actual shower on those occasions, Misty would take what she dubbed an 'Irish shower', which basically meant she showered in the kitchen, using the wastub and a small pitcher.

She laid down a lareg towel, also kept under the sink, and filled the tub with water, before setting it on the floor. She quickly shed her bloodstained clothes, dropping them on the floor, before stepping ito the tub. The water was warm, and she hummed softly, grabbing the small bottle of body wash and shampoo from under the sink.

She filled the pitcher with water, and ran it over her head, soaking her hair. She rubbed at her head, trying to quell the sudden migrane that was coming.

It was just like a movie, Misty thought, an asteroid threatens to destroy the world, and people panic, but the governemnt pulls a solution from outta its ass, and the asteroid is destroyed, or misses our planet completely.

Except the government had alreay tried to destroy the thing, and ha dfailed. There would be no near-miss, no destroying the asteroid, no Bruce Willis coming to save the day.

Misty lathered shampoo in her hair, still humming softly. She re-filled the piticher, and washe her hair out. It occured to her that this ight very well be the last shower of her life.

She lathered up a washcloth, and vigorusley scrubbed herself clean, turning the water in the tub into a pink tinted pool.

She stepped out, wrapping a towel around herself, dumping the water down the drain. She washed the tub out, and left it on the counter to dry.

Bridgette came into the kitchen, hauling a box full of clothes, "I packed just about everything, with the three of us, we're probably gonna need a lot of clothes," She handed Misty a bundle of clothes, neatly folded, "For you."

"Thanks." Misty said, dropping the towel and pulling on the jeans and T-shirt with a Fear Effect logo emblazoned on the front, "Howse Marie doing?"

"Shes out of the shower, I gave her some new clothes to wear," Bridgette said, putting the box of clothes bt the door, "She seems to be doing ok, all things considered."

"Just as good as the rest of us, then." Misty said, searching thru the pantry. She scooped up all of their canned goods, putting them into the washtub. Boxes of rice, cereal, beans, went n on top. Misty thought about the packages of hotbogs and burgers in the freezer. They had a cooler, but even so, the food would go rotten quick.

She shrugged, putting them into the cooler anyways, along with all of their ice. They would just eat those first. She gathered the canned drinks and bottled water, threw them into the cooler as well.

Marie came in from the bedroom, wearing some of Misty's clothes. They were of a similar build, though Marie was slightly taller, so Mistys clothes fit her well.

"We got food, we got clothes, we got water," Misty filled Marie in, "I think we're all set."

"I had your TV turned on," Marie said, "They have safe havens set up, all over America. Maybe we can find shelter there."

Misty nodded, "Thats a good idea. Were's the nearest one?"

"Ankeny, Iowa, by my reckoning," Marie said, maybe a days drive, straight thruogh."

Misty considered this. She didn't see herself as the leader of the trio, she didn't really want to be the leader, but Marie and Bridgette both seemed content to let her decide. As far a splans went, it wasn't bad, they had more then enough food and supplies to get them to Iowa, and after taking martial arts since she was a young girl, Misty was fairly confident she could fend off any potential attackers, looking to take advantage of three women all alone.

"Allright, lets get my truck loaded up, and we're outta here." Misty said, "Before we go, I wanna check in on my parents, ok?"

"Of course, hun," Bridgette said, hefting the cooler, leaving Marie to take the tub full of canned goods. "They're on the way, anyways."

"Good, Misty said, hefting the box of clothes, "Lets get moving."

They got the truck loaded quickly, and were on their way. Misty's folks didn't live to far away, but the journey took them a lot longer, due to the increasing riots and looting. They were almost side-swiped by an ambulance, of all things, and just barely managed to avoid running over a group of drunken frat boys.

"Wait here," Misty said, leaving the keys in the ignition, "I'll be right back. Watch the stuff."

Misty ran up the steps to her parents small home, not bothering to knock on the door. "Mom, Dad!"

"In here." her mothers voice called from the kitchen. Misty ran in, and saw her parents, sitting at the table, calmly looking at her.

"Mom, Dad, thank God!" Misty said, throwing her arms around her mother as she stood up. "C'mon, we gotta get you outta here, we got the truck ready..."

"sweetie," her mother said, "We're not going."

"What?" Misty said, confused, "What do you mean? Just pack some clothes, they got shelters up at Iowa, we're heading there."

"Misty, we're not going." Her father said, standing up. He was a big block of a man, former army, and it showed, despite his age of 45.

"Why not?" Misty said, not understanding, she was trying to save them....

"Dear," Her mother said, "We can't go. The government doesn't want us, they need younger people, to help make sure the human race survives."

"Fuck the government!" Misty said, raising her voice, "They're not going to refuse you, Dad, you were in the Army, they have to let you in..."

"I called them, and told them I didn't want to." Her father said, "They would have, you're right, but, youre mother and I both decided, we're not leaving."

"We've lived our lives, dear, we've had our time. By giving up our spot, we can help gaurantee that someone else can get it."

Misty stared at her parents, not entirely sure if she was hearing them correctly. She half expected her parents to burst into laughter, and shout surprise! But her parents eyes were full of unshed tears, they were barely holding it in, for her sake.

Misty had no such hang ups, "You cant be serious!" She yelled, tears running down her face, "You cant be! I'm not letting you stay here, now lets go!"

"It's not your decision to make." Her father said, "Your mother and I want to die in our home, the place we've lived all our lives, we don't want to spend our time together in a bunker underground."

"But we want you to go," Her mother said, "You have a chance to be safe, to survive, and we want you to take it." Her moters composure was failing her, tears glistening down her cheeks. She hugged her daughter, "We tried to give you the best life we could, and we love you, even if we didn't show it at times."

Misty sobbed into her mothers shoulder, not even trying to hold back the tears, "Them I'm staying with you, we'll be together, and..."

"No." her mother said, breaking off the hug, "You go, you're young, and your a survivor, and thats what we want you to do."

"But I don't want to leave you, I love you!" Misty said, aware her voice was in shouting tone, and not caring, she didn't care if she had to bash her parents over the head and tie them up, she was going to get them to Iowa...

And suddenly her dad was hugging her tight, holding her in his strong arms, and was carrying her to the door...

Misty yelled, lashing out, trying to stop him, to make him understand, she couldn't leave them, and Bridgette came running in, looking confused, and her father yelled for Bridgette to get her out....

And her parents were whispering their last words of love and goodbyes, and both Bridgette and her dad were putting her in the truck. Marie was in the drivers seat, and Bridgette pulled her in the back with her. Her father and mother, her paretns, stood outside, as Marie pulled the truck away.

Misty wanted to break the glass, jump out of the truck, get to hher parents, but Bridgette was holding on to her tight, not letting go...

And Mistys trength gave out, and her tears flowed freely, and she collapsed into Bridgettes arms, and Bridgette held her gently, stroking her hair, cradling her like a child, as the truck left behind the two people who mattered most to Misty.
"Alright, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man whose gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!"


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Mesonoxian|Girl
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All the ancient classic fairy tales have always been scary and dark.
Adia, David, Stu, Ames - The end of the line

Stu returns, and Adia is sitting in the corner humming to herself.
“Please stop that, for god’s sakes!” Ames yells at her.
“Sorry…”
“Do you even know what you’re humming?”
“No…but I can’t get it out of my head.”
It’s the end of the world by REM.”
“Ah… Sorry, I’ll stop.”
Adia gets up and walks into the bathroom. She closes the door behind her, and she sees the face in the mirror again.
“You’re back”, he says as if he knew this would happen.
“Am I…are we going to die?”
“Only fate knows the answer to that. It’s up to you whether you fight or not.”
Adia turns around and walks out without another word.

David jumps up when he sees Adia heading for the door.
“Where are you going?” he asks.
“Nowhere… I’ll be right back.”
He gives her a minute or two headstart, faces Ames and Stu and says: “I’ll be right back.”

David quietly follows Adia down the hallway, up the stairway, until they reach the top floor. He reaches the floor and sees Adia staring out of a window.

Just jump… her voice says.

It’s the coward’s way out…we all know you’re a coward, just do it.

No more end of the world stuff… Just…peace.

“No more end of the world stuff… Just…peace,” Adia repeats with a whisper.
She starts to push open the window…

Adia’s name catches in David’s throat. Why stop her? We’re all going to die anyway… No, he musn’t think like that.
Maybe she’ll find her peace somehow…
David is in a blind panic. He needs to decide what to do within the next two seconds or it will be too late.
Save her, of course. He needs to save her.
He starts running towards her, calling out her name, but she doesn’t even look his way. When he gets there she’s already started falling. He tries to grab her but she slips through his fingers.
“No, no, no, no…”
He’s too scared to look down but he knows he has to. Finally he takes a deep breath and peeks over the edge. Adia is lying on the ground, and by the puddle of blood surrounding her head there is no doubt as to her fate.
He sinks to the floor, sitting with his back against the wall.
He stares at his own hands. Could he have saved her if he hadn’t hestitated?
Did she want to be saved?
Did she die a quicker, less painful death than they were all facing?
Did he love her?
He shakes his head at the last thought, and the tears start.
“Fuck.”

He decides he can’t face the others, and he gets up and leaves, down the stairwell, through the lobby, outside to the chaos. He stops for a second, and starts running in a random direction. He doesn’t know where he’s running, but he’s hoping if he runs far enough he’ll disappear.

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mdnjr70
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Shrimp Po'Boy
Rubén/Zeke – Puppy Love

“Why don’t we share the bed?” Rubén said looking at Zeke and his puppies, they were all very adorable. Zeke looked up at him and blushed not having a voice at first, “I’m not…I mean I don’t think that.” Rubén held up his hand, “Listen the puppies are used to you and the bed right, we are going to need a good nights sleep, assuming we can sleep, you keep your hands to yourself I’ll keep mine to mine.” Rubén blushed a little himself as he added, “Plus if this is our last night, I really don’t want to sleep alone, it would be nice to for once wake up next to someone.” Rubén said smiling as one of the other puppies playfully nipped at his feet. Rubén bent down and picked him up holding him nice and tight to give the puppy comfort and security.

“But, really I think…it will be easier for me to just sleep on the floor.” Zeke said looking around the room, Rubén last words playing in his mind. Rubén looked at him forcing a little laugh as if to play things off, “Please, It’ll be fine, just like in school when you stayed at a buddy’s house for a sleep over.” Rubén said with is warm smile his dimples in full mode, Zeke wasn’t sure which was cuter his smile or the puppies. Zeke nodded giving in, “alright.” Rubén grinned happily now that the sleeping arrangements were settled they could move on to other things; like why this place looked like it was a 1950s bomb-shelter complete with a lifetimes worth of canned goods and dried foods. The puppy Rubén was holding squirmed and let out a little bark and Rubén put him down and he ran off with the other two to sighs unknown. They were both alone in the bedroom now, “Zeke how did you know?” Zeke looked around there was no hiding it. He sat down on the edge of the bed sniffling from his allergies. “It. I don’t know. It was something that was nagging at me. I didn’t really think about it. I just bought. It was like.” He stopped and added defeated, “I just can’t explain it, but I’m not the only one, my friend Amanda’s been doing the same thing.” Zeke said looking up at Rubén.

Rubén sat next to him and continued to look at all the food, there was thousands of dollars worth of food all over this house it must have taken months and yet, according to the President, they only found out about this a couple of weeks ago. How could he know how could anyone know? “Was it like a dream or a vision or something?” Rubén asked and Zeke just shook his head, “It was just a feeling. I felt stupid at the time, I even thought about going to a doctor and telling them thinking maybe something was wrong but it didn’t feel wrong and it didn’t affect anything else.” He stopped and looked at Rubén then added quickly, “I’m not crazy. Do you think I’m crazy?”

At that Rubén laughed, “No, no I don’t when I was growing up, my family lives in California, anyway after the 1989 Earthquake and the 1991 quake my mother made my dad build a secure storage space and she filled it with everything that our family needed; water, food, toys, first aid kit, radio, you name it my mother had it, even a chemical toilet.” Rubén laughed at the thought and continued, “She rotated everything out but there was enough stuff there to keep us comfortable probably for 3 or 4 months if we needed.” He looked over at Zeke who was smiling listening to the story, it didn’t make him feel so crazy, “Like that guy from Tremors used to say, ‘be prepared’.” Rubén said with a laugh nudging Zeke getting him to smile even brighter, he had a beautiful smile.

Rubén looked around the room then at Zeke, “Zeke who else knows you have all this stuff?” Zeke shrugged not picking up on the worry in Rubén’s voice, “Just Amanda, I didn’t tell anyone it’s embarrassing.” Rubén gave him a worried look, “why?” Zeke asked becoming aware of the change. “Because when we get through tomorrow, and we will I know we will, there are going to be others not just us and when they find out, people, not very nice people, might try to get what you have here.” Rubén said in a very matter of fact tone and asked, “Do you have a gun?” Zeke eyes grew wide and his smile faded, “No of course not, guns kill people; well people kill people with guns I don’t like them and I won’t have one in my house.” Rubén ran his hands through his hair, “alright that’s fine, we just need to make sure to be safe, do you have a basement can we move all this stuff down there?” Zeke looked at him a little embarrassed and blushing again, “where do you think I started first.” Rubén’s eyes grew big. “Wow.” Zeke just shrugged.

“I need to check on the puppies.” Zeke said standing up heading out the door, and looking over his shoulder, “I only use half the closet, if you want to unpack your stuff.” Rubén smiled nodding, “Thanks.” He watched Zeke walk off, he was so different from anyone he had ever met, he was so kind and so good, was it even possible, if he walked down to his basement would he find rows of dead bodies or were those all buried in the back yard, Rubén chuckled, somehow he didn’t think so, he didn’t get that creepy vibe from him, just the vibe of a man who picked up stay puppies knowing full well that he was allergic, or took photos of old women who called the cops on him for being in a park several times with children and still went to her house the next day and took her pictures and spent time with her. Rubén looked at his luggage, “picking up strays like me.” He said pulling his suitcase on top of the bed and opening it to unpack.

As Rubén finished his unpacking it almost felt normal until he heard what he was hoping was a car backfiring, but he was pretty sure it was gun fire off in the distance. He headed downstairs quickly to check on Zeke and make sure he was ok, he was feeling very protective of Zeke, someone that pure needed protecting and looking after, it was the least Rubén could do, of course he wouldn’t say anything to Zeke, he was sure he could take care of himself and he didn’t need him, but still it was how he felt. Rubén found him in the backyard with the puppies all around him, “you alright?” Rubén said stepping through the patio door, “I heard the car backfire.” Zeke looked at him with a frown, “that wasn’t a car.” Rubén nodded, “I know, I just thought.” The puppies were blissfully unaware of what was happening and they were content to pay on the grass chasing each other.

“Why do you think they picked the places they did; Salt Lake City, Denver, here?” Zeke said looking up at the night sky.

“I suppose because they are far enough away from the Oceans, and no major pate movements in those areas. They would be the safest I would guess.” Rubén said sitting next to him on the step, he watched the puppies play.

Zeke looked at him, “I don’t understand why they only took certain people, why not try and help everyone?”

“I think they are, I think they’re going to do all they can to help people, but the government needs to go on I guess so there are people more important.” Rubén said and Zeke looked at him, “We’re all important.” Rubén nodded, “we are. I agree.” Rubén said agreeing with him then added, “I wonder where they have him and the rest of the government housed?” Zeke shrugged, “maybe they have them all near the locations that where mentioned, if people survive you could have a base population to govern and help.”

Rubén added in a flat tone, “Or control.” Zeke looked at him, “you don’t trust them do you?” Rubén sighed shaking his head, “no not really, I mean we have the best form of government in the world and I think we do a lot of good and help a lot of people who don’t deserve our help, but no I don’t trust any of them, I think to be a politician you have to check your values and morals at the door that’s the only way you can make the very hard choices, like what is happening now. I don’t think they were being mean or cruel I think they were making choices as to what would be in the best interest of people who survive, do you save a Marketing Director and a Photographer or a Doctor and Scientist?”

Zeke sighed, “I couldn’t do it, I’d want to save them all.” Rubén smiled, “I’d like to think I would too, but I’m not as good a person as you are Zeke, in fact I don’t think anyone is as good a person as you are.” Rubén was looking at him intently as Zeke looked over at him their eyes meeting, neither said anything as they looked at each other, finally Rubén broke off he could stand looking in those eyes for too long, it made his heart hurt, “I think we should take an inventory of what you have, plus I have a feeling you will want to start giving it out to your neighbors as soon as things settle down.” Zeke nodded, Rubén was right he bought all he could, not just for him but to help as many people as he could, “alright, maybe you should try to reach your parents and sister again too.” Rubén nodded not wanting to move from that spot, but knowing it would be best if he did as if on cue one of the puppies jumped up on his lap kissing his face and Rubén couldn’t help but smile and let out a little laugh. He missed out on having pets, his parents would get them a dog or cat, when growing up, it was too much responsibility they said.
May it be said, when the sun sets on your life, you made a difference.
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mdnjr70
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Shrimp Po'Boy
Domenica/Alex/Sam/Roza – The Long Road

This was not an easy drive, they had left the park and started out, most of the area was a mess with cars and wrecks they had to double around several times and a few times they had to literally drive on the sidewalks. It looked like people had already started to clear out, hotels were empty and so where store fronts, of course there were fires in some of the buildings that people had looted. They continued down the road heading northeast, Domenica drove sense she knew the area the best. Gareth was sitting in the passenger seat and Roza, Alex and Sam were in the back. They had loaded everything they had including two 5-gallon drums filled with extra gas, Sam knew enough to have them kept the sun roof open to ensure that there was enough fresh air in the vehicle. With the doors and windows locked they had been lucky so far. Domenica had the radio on listening to constant evacuation updates, which, luckily were being very helpful. “It’s going to take forever to get out of here.” She said, the fastest she had hit was 25 miles an hour. “Just keep heading out of here, even if we don’t make it all the way, the farther from the ocean the better.” Sam said adjusting himself in his seat, it wasn’t the most comfortable, but at least they were moving.

“I sorry, but where we going?” Roza said looking at the others, she still wasn’t clear on the plan, they all talked so fast she wasn’t sure of everything. Alex looked at her and smiled trying to speak clear and slow, “We are heading into the mountains, when the asteroid hits there will be tidal waves. We want to get to Utah, if we can.” He said trying to be calm, the worlds very difficult for him to say. It was real and he knew it, but he still had trouble believing it.

“And we be safe there?” Roza said her face hopeful.

“That’s the hope.” Gareth said with a smile, “Roza don’t fret too much about understanding these blokes I only catch half what they say.” He said and she smiled, “Thank you Gareth.” She recognized him from TV, he always seemed nice and she did like him.

“Just because you all can’t speak English.” Samuel said looking at the two. Gareth smiled, “That’s the Yank Spirit Sam you keep it up. We’re going to need that, if we want to survive this bloody mess.” Domenica laughed, then got quiet and pressed hard on the breaks causing the car to screech to a stop. She turned the radio off and looked out the window.

“What is it?” Sam said trying to see.

“Oh hell no.” Alex said looking ahead of them.

“What?” Roza said trying to see.

“We’re going to have to go back and find another way, there’s a tanker truck, we cant’ get around the roads blocked and so are the sides, brilliant, bloody brilliant.” Gareth said. Domenica thought for a moment clicking her nails, what way now? She thought a few minutes more as everyone was talking then there were lights hitting the car. “Now what?” Roza said as bright lights filled the car it was a National Guard Humvee, it stopped a little in front of them and the soldiers got out, “what do we do?” Domenica said, worried were they going to hurt them or help them, she saw the weapons at once, they were trained on the vehicle. Alex had his bat ready not that it would do any good, “be ready.” Samuel nodded resting his hand next to his gun, he didn’t want to shoot at the National Guard, but God only knew if he had to.

There was a knock at the driver’s window and Domenica rolled it down not sure what to do glass wouldn’t stop him if he wanted in. The young Guard’s man looked at her trying to smile but he was scarred, “This way is blocked and so is the other way we just came down, Miss, we’re heading to Vegas or we’re going to try, if you want to follow us we’re gonna double back and try to get out of here, we’re trying to pick up folks as we go. You all were smart to stay off the freeway they are a mess.” The young guy said the fear in his look was clear. Domenica looked at him, “Thanks. We’re trying to get to Salt Lake City.” The Guards man nodded his head, “well you can follow us if you want, our GPS is working and we have maps and shit, radio contact is spotty but we’re doing our best. Plus there are some really fucked up people, Miss.”

Domenica smiled and looked at the others, no one was sure if this was a good idea, “Alright, we’ll follow you for a while, thank you.”

He smiled at her, “No thanks needed miss, we’re all in this together now. We have to help each other if we’re to stand a chance.” She nodded, “Back up let us pass there are about six others in the convoy with us. We’re doing our best to stick together, but people get scarred.” He reached in his pocket, “here’s a card with my cell number if you’re going to split off, just text me. I don’t blame anyone for being scarred right now or wanting to go it alone.” He turned around, “Lets’ roll.” He said and the guards got back in the humvee and she rolled up the window slipping the card in the sun visor and started backing up. “Well that went better then I thought it would.” Gareth said he wasn’t sure what to expect but he was a believer in safety in numbers.

“He seem nice.” Roza said feeling a little better now that they were with some military people they would help keep them all safe.

“We were lucky.” Alex said watching the humvee pass them and the other cars.

“Well we can use all the luck we can get.” Samuel said as Domenica turned the vehicle and then fell in line with the others in the convoy.

“If worse comes to worse I know a few other routes, we can get the hell away from them if needed, but if they were going to do anything they would have done it did you see their guns?” Domenica said, feeling a little better that they at least had others to follow, she didn’t feel so alone. She saw Sam nodding, “plus he wouldn’t give us a card.” Alex shrugged, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to trust people but he had seen the dark side of human nature and that left it’s toll on him.

“It’s going to be a long road, I suggest we try and rest a bit, so we can take turns driving.” Samuel said looking at each of them, “you ok to drive?” Domenica smiled, “Oh you betcha.”

“I’ll keep her company Sam if you want to get some rest.” Gareth said his tone friendly and genuine. Domenica caught Sam’s frown in the rearview mirror. It was kind of cute how protective he was being, it was like having her father around. Domenica tightened her grip on the steering wheel and pressed on as the car fell silent and they made their way down the road.
May it be said, when the sun sets on your life, you made a difference.
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Skin by Spades aka Volture.