The room was dark. The only thing the person in the chair could see was the outline of the table in front of them, and they felt the cold steel of the chair beneath them. Then, a single bar of light goes on above them. The room is completely mirrored. They look around, and see themselves, every direction. They are strapped to the chair, their legs, arms, hands, and chest strapped down. They call out.
“Hello?”
A voice that echoes in the tiny room replies, though no source gives itself away.
“Hello. Glad to see you are finally awake.”
“Where am I? What do you want?”
“I am not allowed to answer the first question, but the second I can. All we want is for you to tell us what has happened in the past two weeks. Start from the beginning, if you please.”
“I don't want to.”
“Don't want to what?”
“I don't want to remember. I just want it all to be over.”
“As soon as you do, you can see your family again. They are waiting for you. We are legally allowed to hold you for forty-eight hours though. Please, just talk.”
“Well... I...”
A single tear begins to form at their left eye, and they start.
“It wasn't supposed to happen... why now? Life was perfect as far as I saw it. It was never supposed to go wrong. You heard about 2012, global warming... they were all myths... this was just... unfair.”
“Start from that night.”
“Okay...”
October 8th, 2011
Starbucks – Willow and Nees
9:17:27 PM
3 Hours before the incident.
“Nobody likes you Devin.” Ally said, with an entirely straight face. The group laughed. Devin shrugged.
“Hey, last time I checked, there are people that do.”
“Hey guys, got the drinks!” Jared yelled, trying to compensate for all the laughter.
“Pumpkin spice, right?” Luke asked, reaching for the drink eagerly.
“Hey, maybe the cold drink will speed up the healing on your idiot cut there.” Devin laughed. Luke had made the mistake of putting his eye far to close to the scope of a rifle before firing, leaving him with a nasty cut above his left eye. Devin had made fun of him for it since the day it started.
“Hey guys, we have to leave.” Sean said, motioning with a quick turn of his head toward Marissa.
“I've got to take her home, then get back.”
“Alright, see you tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah, definitely!”
“Hey, don't forget me!” Anthony shouted as he bum-rushed Sean and gave him a hug. Erika followed. She then gave Marissa a hug, saying goodbye. Marissa laughed as she poked Erika's sides, and she jumped.
“Got you again!”
“Dangit Marissa!” Yet, she couldn't help laughing.
About half an hour later, everyone had pretty much left, except Jared, Devin, and Luke. They were all sitting around talking and joking.
“Well what about the deer? Did you get him?”
“Yeah, straight through the heart! I think I'm going to mount it!”
“Awesome. Well I'm going to head out.” Jared said, tossing his empty Starbucks cup into the trash.
“Alright. Hey Devin, can I get a ride?”
“No problem. See ya man.”
After Devin and Luke had left, the car was silent. They drove to Luke's house, and Luke got out. Then, Devin saw something.
“Hey Luke, see that?”
“Yeah man... looks like a fire.”
It was far off, but it was extremely bright, and smoke floated up in the cloudless night sky.
“Let's check online.” Devin pulled out his laptop and hopped on to wi-fi. Breaking News was showing up on every major website. A medical research facility owned by the Dawson corporation had caught fire. The building was extremely well-guarded, so they were not expecting outside forces.
“Wow. That's crazy. Night man.”
“Night.”
Devin drove home, got in bed, and fell asleep.
October 9th, 2011
Devin's Home
12:34:03 PM
21 minutes after the incident.
Devin's phone began to ring. Loudly. Routinely, he picked it up. When he looked, though, it wasn't his alarm. Sean was calling him.
“Dude.. why the heck you calling me? It's midnight...”
“Devin, get down to the church!”
“Why?”
“I just got a text from Ally, Marissa, and Anthony. We need to get down there now. Luke was the first to text, but apparently it's bad. Hurry up!”
Devin hung up, and threw on jeans and a white t-shirt. He unset the alarm and ran out the door. Something was not right.
As Devin drove, he could tell something was off. Cars were stopped in the middle of the road and freeway, with no one in them. There were small fires on buildings, and signs were knocked over. Most of the streetlights were flashing, and Devin swore he saw a large pool of blood in the middle of the road. He passed a completely empty police roadblock. Empty casings from guns littered the ground.
As Devin pulled up to the church, he saw Luke, Ally, Erika, Sean, Marissa, and Jared.
He didn't bother parking, but just stopped and jumped out. He ran over. The look on everyone's face was not good.
“What's going on?”
“We'll explain later, I just finished. We need to go find Anthony.”
“Where is he?”
“He couldn't get out of his house. We need to go now. I'll explain on the way. Come with me.”
Everyone followed Luke to a big truck. There's no way this was his.
“Where'd you get the truck?”
“Borrowed it. Not important. What's important is what's in the bed.”
Luke opened the bed, and everyone went silent. Inside was more guns and ammunition than any of them have seen before.
“What's all this for?”
“Just pick one and grab as much ammo as you can. We need to leave now.”
A scream was heard in the distance, as well as plenty of shooting. Everyone except the girls began grabbing guns.
“Girls, get in the cars. We need you to drive. Guys, get in the passenger seat. Keep the windows rolled down. Watch carefully.”
“What are we shooting at?” Devin yelled, finally getting Luke's attention.
“Trust me, you'll know when you see it.”
Chapter 2 in a few days. Reminder: Chapters will be fairly short :D
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