Left Behind

[kindaemissary]

the savior came, but we're still here

​

A collection of souls remain on earth after the second coming with no real​

knowledge on why they're still alive. With people they love dead and gone,


these unlucky few have to learn the new ways of the world and better themselves


for God. So many people were abandoned that lived their lives the way they were


told, and others relinquished personal responsibility long ago.












private roleplay between spacecrone + kindaemissary

 

[spacecrone]

Isi's alarm clock blared loudly in the silence of her bedroom. Groaning softly under her breath, the top half of her body emerged from beneath her blanket and smacked down hard on the snooze button, effectively silencing the noise coming from the speakers. She laid there for a few moments, rubbing blearily at her face before the complete absence of noise in the house alerted her to the fact that something might be wrong. In the mornings, her house was always buzzing with energy and sound, her three younger brothers usually chasing each other around or fighting over who got Fruit Loops and who got Cap'n Crunch for breakfast, arguing childishly over who got control of the remote before it was time to get around and ready for school.


But that morning there was nothing. Suspicious, she sat up and clambered out of bed making her way half-blind out of her bedroom. Thinking maybe everyone else had slept in, she poked her head into the room her brothers shared, seeing nothing. Furrowing her eyebrows, she went to her mom's room and peered in. Still, nothing. Down the stairs proved just as fruitless in regards to locating her family and Isi's eyebrows creased even deeper inward.


“Mom?” She called out into the emptiness of the house. Peering through the window, she saw that the car was still in the driveway. A few others were meandering around the reservation, peering into windows and hollering out names.


Out of nowhere, she felt her breathing speed up and booked it back upstairs, plucking her cell phone up from its place on her nightstand. Frantically, she hit the number 2 on her number pad, the speed dial for her mom and held it to her ear.


Down the hall, in her mother's room, she could hear it ringing.


----


Much like Isi, it was the quiet that alerted Ainsley that something was wrong. It hadn't been her alarm that had drawn it to her attention, though, but rather, the sheer quiet of the city outside of her windows. She hadn't been scheduled to wake up for at least another six hours, having come into her apartment at four in the morning the night before. She'd considered just sleeping at the club, but ultimately decided that that probably wasn't the best, or most hygenic decision, and took a cab home, paying the fare in the ones and fives that had been stuff into the waistband of her shorts.


She'd managed to make it into her apartment, her neighbors down the hall bickering loudly through an alcohol fueled bout of rage and, by the time she'd climbed out of the shower and crawled into the sanctuary that was her bed, had fallen silent and allowed her enough quiet through the noise of the city to drift to sleep. Checking the time, Ainsley noted that the town should be, if not booming, at the very least making a quiet rustle from outside. There wasn't much, though.


“Must be a slow day,” she murmured to herself, and tried to go back to sleep.


The quiet, though. It was impossible to ignore enough to just drift off again. Letting out a quiet groan, she got out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and a tank top, then made her way over to the kitchen to put on some coffee to brew. She was completely unaware that outside of her apartment, between her getting into the shower and out, hundreds of people in her town had simply vanished without a trace.


----


Aiden sat down behind the counter at the coffee shop he worked at, bored out of his skull. Aside from the six or seven people milling about, typing on their computers and sipping at their fancy drinks with too much whipped cream. He took a sip from his own cup, just straight up black coffee and turned the music he'd had connected to the speakers up just a little bit to give the place some more atmosphere.


If it was going to be this slow all day, he was half-tempted to just close up and spend the rest of the morning playing dominoes downtown and making up for the tips he'd lost from lousy business. Hell, even his manager had no-call-no-showed, which was unheard up because the dude had never missed a day of work as long as Aiden had been employed there.


He wondered silently to himself if there was some sort of flu going around, but didn't remember seeing anyone sick, or acting like they were coming down with something. On the few occasions he'd managed to tune into the news in the last few days, he hadn't heard of anything spreading that he should worry about. So what the hell was going on? These were usually the busiest hours of the day, and there was practically nobody here. The first pot of coffee he'd brewed was still a little over half-full and he was two hours into his shift.


“This is ridiculous,” He muttered under his breath, and took his hat off to scrub at his hair with his fingers, and tried to convince himself that more people would show up soon enough, refusing to note the complete lack of traffic outside.

 

[kindaemissary]

6 AM rolled around like it did every day, with two alarms going off from different sides of the room and three desperate minutes of squirming before a hand reached out to slam them off. Used to the monotony, Joel wasn't concerned with the muted ambiance that surrounded him. He showered and dressed like it was a normal day, ate a quick bowl of cereal at the edge of the island, legs hovering underneath the countertop, and finished last minute homework that piled up the bottom of his backpack.


He had time to kill before he had to leave for school and, with everything already done, he plopped down in front of the television and switched the screen to his PlayStation.


In the morning, his parents tended to get up and leave before he even rolled out of bed. His mother had to make the trek down to Othello where she worked as a dentist. For the last couple of years she had thought about moving her location up to Moses Lake, but she had a healthy amount of clients already and the forty-three minute drive wasn't as bad as she made it out to see. It was easier for his father since the local middle school was only a ten minute drive from there house. Joel always wondered why he left so early in the morning since he taught seventh grade science, not some elaborate cultured chem. class, but he never asked.


It would have been nice to have a sibling, but after his birth ended with his mother having to get her uterus removed, it didn't bother him that much. He was happy to be alive.


When he turned off the TV and packed up his lunch in the kitchen, he figured that it would just be another day of school, work, and homework before the routine started all over again. The cars in the garage threw him off. A black Taurus and a maroon Sorrento sat untouched in their parking spaces, but that was wrong. Joel dropped his backpack and headed inside, checked their beds to find nothing.


He scratched the back of his head and leaned against the door frame. "Seriously, what the hell," he muttered. Outside the window, there was nothing happening. No cars, no walking children, no bikes riding down the sidewalk. Nothing. Everything was silent.

- - - - - - - - - -

​

Luis was expecting a bouncing child of the tender age of four to wake him up, hands pressed to his eyes like soft pounds of flesh, limbs sprawled across his body like an octopus. He instead woke up in stages: face mashed into the soft fabric of a downy pillow, eyes opening slowly, fingers picking the sand from each corner, and clenched glance from the sun fading through the thin gossamer over the window. No light baby-skin touches. No lightly laughed good morning, Daddy. No Aria ready to pick Camila off of his still-sleeping face.


"Aria?" he called out and moved to sit on the edge of their bed.


Due to the lack of answerer, Luis called out again. “Aria?” The bed is forgotten as he heads down the hall and into the kitchen to find nothing yet again. Not even a giggle hidden behind an open door.


He grabbed the phone from the receiver on the counter, punched in Aria’s phone number. Dial tone.


The two of them had to of left early for Camila’s playdate. He and Aria had scheduled it weeks ago with a neighbor from down the road. They were supposed to head to Seattle for another ultrasound appointment. Being three months pregnant left a lot to be imagined when Luis placed a hand to Aria’s abdomen. Her skin was still taut and hadn’t began to give way for the child. She was barely showing, but Luis already knew what she looked like in full bloom. Waiting for the next six months would be much easier than waiting for Camila to arrive. He was still every bit as anxious, but they knew what they were doing. Late night feedings and changings would be much easier since they already had many under their belt.


Luis headed back to the bedroom and slipped out of his clothes, figuring he’d give Aria time to respond by taking a cool morning shower. So far, he had not stepped near anything that would have given way to what had happened to the rest of the world. He simply lathered up his hair and cleared the patch of stubble along the trim of his chin.

- - - - - - - - - -

​

It was nearly eleven when Amanita finally broiled up a pot of coffee. It was a ridiculous thing to say, but she was useless without a hefty amount of caffeine. She’d linger around like a zombie with clenched eyes and yawn until she pulled herself together and chugged down whatever was the quickest drink.


For a long time, she had laid in bed staring at the ceiling of her apartment. There were careful cracks along the drywall but nothing enough to give way. She had only lived there for three years; had moved out from her parent’s house after completing two years of community college. The degree felt like a waste of money when she decided she didn’t want to become an RN anymore. She didn’t want to be faced with another death after her brother passed away. That was enough to never want to have to break “the news” again.


Amanita rolled her shoulders in a stretch and carried her mug to the dining table at the corner of the studio. Three glass windows showed the unmoving city outside of her walls, and she frowned, stirring as she sat down. Lunch time was normally one of the busiest times for Seattle traffic. The residents normally filed down pavement like animals – overstocked and hurried.


Her lips quirked to the side, and she fetched her phone from her back pocket. Dozens of Amber Alerts filled her notification screen hailing everywhere from Portland to Spokane. “Damn,” she muttered. She stirred the spoon in her cup and took calculated sips. “What the hell happened when I left work?”


When she managed to fumble through the apps on her phone, nothing seemed better. Her feeds were cluttered with people looking for their parents, siblings, partners, children. It was confusing to say in the least. Her eyes headed back to the city below her. Nothing was making sense.

 

[spacecrone]

One Week Post-Rapture.





Isi's stomach gave a violent, hungry lurch from her spot on the couch, where she sprawled listlessly. The TV played quietly in the background, Cartoon Network, because she couldn't stand to watch the neverending montage of missing faces that seemed as though it was being broadcasted 24 hours a day. Two days ago, she'd run out of perishables, seeing as nobody had had the time to go grocery shopping in the several days before 90% of Washington, and, apparently, the planet, had up and vanished. It would have been completely possible for her to go and do the shopping herself, seeing as she'd found where her mom stashed her wallet when she was home (buried in the coffee cat in the cupboard above the stove), the problem was inertia. She had laid down and simply couldn't find it in her to get back up again.


So for two days, she'd stayed rooted to the couch; didn't eat, didn't use the bathroom, or shower. Hell, she barely moved enough to readjust herself in order to get more comfortable on the couch. It was too much effort to even consider it. But enough was enough, apparently. Her stomach twisted up into another hunger pain, and she rolled off of the couch with a grunt. Shuffling into the kitchen, she opened up a can of fruit cocktail and leaned against the refrigerator, eating it straight out of the can.


Chewing on a mouthful of pineapple, marischino cherries, and diced pears, she hauled one of the tables over to the stove and stepped onto it, fishing out the coffee can. She doubted she'd need to use money at this point, but it was better safe than sorry, so she nabbed her mom's wallet and pulled the cash out of it, counting it quickly. She'd have enough for some essentials. Isi supposed she could use her credit card if it went over, so she stuffed the money back in and went into the bathroom to shower, realizing that she carried an odd funk from two days on the couch.


Once she was clean and in laundered clothes, she found her mom's car keys and went out to the car. Turning the key in the ignition, she had to blink back tears when her mom's favorite CD started playing, and had to reach over to hit the power button before the waterworks really got started. Isi shifted the car into reverse to pull out of her driveway, and was off. A few minutes later, she was leaving the reservation and entering the town proper. She was a shakey driver at best, having only had a few hours of Drivers Ed under her belt, but the roads were empty enough that it didn't seem to matter. The problem though, was that once she'd gotten herself acclimated, and into town, she couldn't bring herself to stop at the grocery store. She just kept going.


----


Ainsley paused on the side of the road to light up a cigarette. Her legs ached from walking, but they hurt a lot less than the shiner that had her eye almost swollen shut, even after she'd put a steak from her neighbor's freezer on it. Looters had descended upon her building, and when she greated one of them at the door with a hot mug of coffee in the face, he responded in kind, by pistol-whipping her and leaving her apartment untouched as he blazed down the hallway, cursing loudly in pain. Good.


After that, she didn't see much of a reason to stay. She'd been faring just fine, as she tended to mind her own affairs anyway, and really only left the apartment to go shopping or for her shift down at the club. Occasionally, she'd go up two floors and have a few beers or smoke a joint with one of the tenants there, nothing too major. Honestly, up until some asshole had tried to acquaint her optic nerve with the butt of his gun, it was like nothing had changed.


Including the middle-aged man who stood outside their building and screamed bloody murder about seeking salvation before the rapture. He was still there, too.


That, she'd decided, was hilarious in its own right. Not seeing any point in pausing or scouting around properties, Ainsley kept walking. While she didn't mind the quiet that had fallen over her little corner of Washington, it had gotten incredibly unnerving. She needed to be around people. Not necessarily to socialize, just... to know that they were still there.


----


One good thing about the rapture, Aiden had decided in the last week, was that he didn't have to worry about making rent, because his landlord was long gone. The downside was very quickly becoming the smell. Since there was no one nearby to collect the garbage that had been piling up in the dumpsters before everyone disappeared out of thin air, the whole city stunk to high heaven.


He navigated the streets with Vicks under his nose, the way his mom had told him to do when he'd needed to do the fetal pig dissection in high school biology and he'd complained to her, worrying about the smell. It helped to curb it for the most part, but he was pretty sure that just knowing that it was there made him smell it, because even with a massive wad of menthol and eucalyptus stuffed under his nose, he was still able to smell the garbage.


It was simple. Aiden needed to get out of here. He might go rural, figuring that there would be less garbage, but then he realized that on top of nobody taking care of the garbage, there was probably no one out there taking care of the cattle, either. Assuming that animals weren't taken, judging by the amount of previously domesticated pets he'd seen wandering the streets, he figured that in no time, the livestock would start dropping and further stinking up the place.


Maybe a different city, then.


Seattle was an option. He mulled it over, even checking the distance on google maps, and found that it wasn't all that far. Just a few hours, really. Figured he could probably boost a car and make that easy, since he wasn't about to walk what was supposed to be a two and a half hour drive. Maybe later on he could hoof it, but for now, he just couldn't dream of it. He'd just gotten used to not having to worry about the ache in his legs he got from working at the coffee shop, it was about time he caught a break and found himself some wheels.

 

[kindaemissary]

Mourning had been difficult.


Never in his life did he think that he would have lay down thoughts of his family to rest. Especially without either of their bodies, Luis was having a very hard time learning to grieve without making it an ordeal. His daughter was the light of his life and the bane of his existence. She had the lightest spirit in the entire world, and it didn't make sense why anyone would take them away. The three of them had a wonderful left if Redmond. Aria stayed home with Camila most of the time when he was traveling, but sometimes they made it family trip and head down the coast. Sometimes they went all the way south to SoCal. It mostly hurt to think that they were about to become a family of four before both of them were stripped away from Luis.


He tried to keep the television off. It was hard enough to think about his own family vanishing in the middle of the night than having to think about the entire world falling apart around them.


Deep down inside, he knew that it was the rapture. The beginning of the end of days. Knew that this was some kind of perpetual damnation that he would never be able to understand. He was pained albeit relieved that both Camila and Aria were gone. If they had disappeared with the rest of the world, then they had to of done something right. He wasn't too concerned for himself. There was no way that he could come to terms with the fact that he was not good enough in the eyes of God. It had him praying at the end of his and Aria's bed every night before he fell asleep, crying their names deep into the night.


Luis was not a religious man in the sense that he went to church every Sunday, got confirmed under the eyes of God, and received baptism with holy water to show devotion to Christ. But Luis prayed. He had prayed every day of his life. Both him and Aria hushed whispers of grace before every single meal they ate. He just didn't get it why he was abandoned.


In the past few days, Luis had spent his time looking through old picture albums and taking photographs of their home. He didn't want to, but he knew that he had to get out of this damned house. Anywhere was going to be better than waiting for some kind of sign. Right now, he couldn't keep his mind of Camila, and he wanted it to stop. He had too many regrets. Getting out of his house wasn't going to change any of that, but it was a step in the right direction.


"Dios mío, por favor ayúdame en este momento de dolor." He spoke softly, knees against the bathroom tile. He knew that each of the small rivets were going to leave calloused imprinting in his skin, but the price was well worth it. “I know that I might not have been the best person throughout my life. And this isn’t some plea for you to save me. But, my family – they are the most important thing in the world to me. I’m glad that they are with you now even though I’m not.” He paused to take a deep breath, shoulders lowering in exhale. “It’s saddening, yes. It should be. But as long as they are happy and are glorified in the eyes of God, I am happy. It means more to me that you took them home than taking me alone.” He silently performed the sign of the cross and bowed his head. “La paz este contigo, amén.”


Rising from the ground, Luis collected himself. It took a few moments, but he managed to wipe his face and wash it off in the sink. In the mirror he saw a shadow of himself: red eyes, unruly stubble, and wrinkled forehead.


He didn’t want to look at himself any longer.


In his room, he pulled out a black duffel bag from the back of his closet and started pilling clothing inside. A few photo albums made it in as well, along with two of Luis’s cameras and plenty of tape. If he was going to stay here and work to prove himself to God, he needed to do it in his own terms. And if he couldn’t manage to do that, he was going to make sure he enjoyed the rest of his life. For Camila and Aria, he told himself. For Camila and Aria.

dios mío, por favor ayúdame en este momento de dolor – my god, please help me in this time of need


la paz este contigo, amén – peace be with you, amen
​

- - - - - - - - - -

​

Joel opened another bag of Doritos and headed back to his couch, crashing down onto the pillows as he started back up the game on the television screen. Throughout the last week, he had ate more junk food than he had in his entire life. It helped that his parents were planning to have a barbeque the weekend before they disappeared, so his house was prepared for an onslaught of guests.


For the first two days, he ate hot dogs from a slow cooker and boxed macaroni and cheese. It was actually kind of nice not having to worry about counting calories for once. His parents were food Nazis, he liked to think. It was bad that he hadn’t touched the produce in their fridge since they disappeared. A couple apples had been eaten, but that didn’t really make a dent on the amount of “health nut” food they had. He was pretty sure that they had close to four different kind of squash making nest in their vegetable drawer.


He should have been eating the better food, and he knew that, he wasn’t stupid. It just felt so freeing not having to worry about anything since they left. He loved his parents and everything, but the lack of nagging had him wishing they went on vacations more often.


It was hard to believe that this wasn’t a vacation, though. He was still expecting his parents to walk in from the garage with more broccoli and kale and make him start the oven for dinner. None of it felt real yet. It was almost like he was living in a shitty sitcom that was never going to make him laugh.


On the screen, he shot a sniper dead from the back of the head and traveled down to another level before he was blown up from a grenade.


“Fuck," he grunted, and he tossed the game controller to the side and leaned back into the couch.


Even with the entire world practically dead and gone with whatever religious shenanigans people wanted to pretend this was, the only gaming world was still alive and strong. He wasn’t sure what he should have gathered from that. There was definitely a loss in numbers, but most of the people that he went on raids with were still around. The only people he had known that had vanished were from Moses Lake. All his online friends were alive. It was a little weird.


“Aren’t you getting tired of being alone, paleclaw?” dickcheneysucks asked from Connecticut. Sometimes he wondered where people came up with their gamer tags.


Joel picked up his controller and rolled his shoulders back with a sigh. “I mean, yeah, it kinda sucks,” he told the other guy. “I’m pretty sure my whole town is gone, too. It’s more weird than anything. But hey, I have a lot of time to myself. Right now I’m just letting it all sink in. I might be playing way more video games than I ever did before, but that’s to be expected. Right?”


“Right,” dickcheneysucks replied. “I’m the only person I’ve seen that’s still around. I’m gamer friends with a chick from New Hampshire and she’s thinking about driving to DC. Said there’s a huge group of people gathering there for support and stuff.”


“In DC?” Joel asked.


“Yeah, man,” dickcheneysucks said. “It sounds kind of stupid, but if I can pack up everything I really need in my car, why not go to where the people are?”


They made it through another raid before Joel decided to get off.


He wondered if they had anything like dickcheneysucks was saying down in Portland or Seattle. Seattle was closer, but it still had a three hour drive. Joel walked down to his bedroom and stood in the doorway, giving it a look over. It wouldn’t be too hard to pack everything he wanted in the back the Sorrento. The trunk was definitely big enough to fit anything he would ever need.


He took a deep breath and looked around. It was better to get out of here now than later.

- - - - - - - - - -

​

Over the last week Seattle slowly became more populated. Amanita was sure it was because people were scared of being alone in such a big space and figured they’re be more people still left in the big cities.


It sucked that they were wrong.


Her entire building was clear from inhabitants aside from her. Once in a while she caught someone walking down the street in dark clothing, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to approach anyone. So she stayed inside and read old books and watched reruns of old television shows. It was better than telling herself the cold hard truth: she was alone.


In truth, she had been drinking way more than necessary since the world seemed to end. She made her way through two bottles of Grey Goose in two days, along with three six-packs of cheap beer, 5 bottles of hard lemonade, and another bottle of apple shots that she was planning to drink at Christmas.


Well, kids, looks like Christmas came early this year.


Amanita poured another two shots of Absolut and swallowed them down, nixing a chaser. She ran out of orange juice two days ago. There was, for a moment, a thought that she should go to find more food before everything in the city went to waste, but her new life as a self-proclaimed alcoholic was going pretty well considering the circumstances.


She didn’t let herself think about her entire family being dead. Whether people wanted to think it or not, she knew that there was no other explanation. There were no bodies. Clothes and cars and everything in between – nothing else was missing aside from people’s loved ones. She had even seen a couple dogs meandering down the street like they knew where they were going, but Amanita knew the truth: they were just as lost and confused as she was.


“All of this is shit,” she mumbled to herself. It was only three in the afternoon and she was well beyond drunk. She had already pulled herself out of the toilet twice since the world had suddenly stopped. It was gross to think that the toilet bowl smelled better than her liquor-ridden breath. “I worked so hard my entire life to make my family proud of me, and now they abandon me for some fucking spirit in the sky.” She laughed loudly and slumped down to the living room couch, head back against the pillows with her eyes shut. “It’s crazy!” she cried. “They make me try so hard to prove that I’m good enough for them and then leave me alone. And for what?! For some stupid angry deity that wants to show the world all the power it has?”


She pushed her hands against her eye sockets and sobbed into her hands. No tears came out, but it was just the same. Not having any time to grieve was making the process all the more harder. She wanted to forget everything, figured drinking would do that for her. It sucked that the more she drank, the more she realized that she was perfectly alone and had nothing to truly live for anymore.


She really needed to sleep.


“I wish I had a dog,” she muttered, rolling over to see an animal shelter commercial rolling across her television screen. “Maybe if I had a dog I would have been saved. I would have made a great dog owner.”


Amanita pushed herself up front the couch and wobbled to the bathroom and touched every piece of furniture to get there. She switched the shower on and sat at the bottom, naked, as the water fell down on and around her. The silence was nice. It would take her hours to blow dry her hair out, but it was worth it. Cleaning her unworthy skin made her feel like she was doing something right.


Even before Armageddon, as she liked to call it, Amanita wasn’t friends with many people in Seattle. She had neighbor friends and work friends but there was no one that was someone that she could trust. Now that she was stuck away in her apartment, she realized how it was to be truly alone in every sense of the word.


It hurt to realize that she missed having company.

 

[spacecrone]

At some point during her eighth hour of just walking, Ainsley nabbed one of the cars that sat stranded in the road. Apparently, someone had been on their way for an early day's work and had been called home to rapture en route. It wasn't like she was really stealing it, since the owner was dead or what-the-hell-ever, so she didn't have to worry about the police or anything like that. Still, though, for the first few minutes of driving the thing, it felt... wrong. She kept glancing in her mirrors, half-expecting the red and blue bubble lights to be flashing after her in hot pursuit, instead of just... nothing.


She'd heard of people congregating in Seattle and DC, mostly, and briefly wondered if maybe it was wrong to aim for Seattle, especially now that there would be more people, but Ainsley decided that there probably really was safety in numbers. If anything, the steady throb in her face from her bruise was enough to tell her that she was no better off by herself than she would be in a city full of people, so. It's off to Seattle. Besides, it was only about an hour and a half away at this point, she'd figured, a hell of a lot closer than DC at the very least.


The radio was useless. It seemed like most of the stations had been abandoned, and so they played the same playlist and commercial loops over and over. Granted, it wasn't that much different from the way they normally operated, but still. An annoyance was an annoyance.


Rolling down her window, she fished a cigarette out of her pack and lit up, allowing the nicotine to calm some of her nerves and ease her boredom from the repetitiveness that came with driving. It gave her time to think, at the very least. About a lot of things, but mostly, her current housing situation. Were there going to be shelters put in place for people to stay? Or were people just holing up in the houses that were left when the world ended without telling the rest of them?


Both seemed relatively viable options, thought she wasn't entirely sure which one she was more comfortable with. Ainsley figured that she could at least crash in her car until she felt comfortable enough to cross whatever threshhold she had at her disposable, and deal with it when it came to that point.


In the meantime, she wasn't going to allow herself a chance to stress about it. For now, she just needed to think. And drive.


----


Just as Isi was approaching Seattle, her truck gave out. To be fair, the thing was older than she was and her family hadn't really been afford to pay for all the repairs it needed when it needed them after her dad died. Isi couldn't even begin to guess what had gone wrong, since she really only knew how to put gas in it so the temperature gauge suddenly shooting into the red and the hood belching out thick gray smoke was way over her head.


Pulling off to the side of the road, she didn't even bother to get out and look at what might be wrong. There were small traces of traffic, but the thought of accepting help from anyone she didn't know made her want to throw up, so she just sat there, slumped down in the seat and silently prayed that no one would see her. She would just... wait here, until there weren't as many people.


It wasn't long, maybe five minutes, before a man knocked on her window. Isi looked up at a bearded man in a tank top. His eyebrows crawled toward his hairline where he got a good look at her and she cracked the window. “You need any help?”


She shook her head, “No. Nah, I'm good.”


“Are you sure? We can give you a ride?”


Nodding, “Yeah, I swear. Thanks though.”


He hesitated, but thankfully took no for an answer. When he stepped away from the truck and was what Isi had estimated was a fair distance, she rolled the window the rest of the way up. Nervous, she tapped the steering wheel with one hand while her fingernails picked at the skin of her lip with the other. Eventually, she got bored just sitting there and fished her tablet out of her bag, plugging in the external hard drive and pulling up her comics folder. For a moment, she debated which one to read before opening up her Daredevil folder and selecting the issue she'd left off on. As she read, she hoped that things would slow down before her battery drained.


----


While Seattle wasn't necessarily packed with people, it was obvious that there had been somewhat of an exodus to the city. Aiden's shoes crunched on loose gravel and debris that had gone uncollected in the last week. It smelled better than home, though, so he decided that he was better off here than there.


He'd ditched the car a littl eless than an hour ago, and decided to just navigate things on foot. There were still cars just chilling in the road that no one had bothered to clear. Someone would probably get to it eventually. Back home, almost overnight most of the cars had been abandoned in the road had been either stolen or pulled off to the side of the road to make room for traffic.


Stomach grumbling, Aiden let himself into a cafe that was empty, but the power was still on. Making his way into the back, he let himself into the cooler and started making up a sandwich with the materials that hadn't been collected or gone bad, as well as a bottle of water. Aiden debated leaving money, but figured that nobody was going to really hassle him for paying for goods that nobody really cared were stolen or not. He sat down at one of the outside tables and, screwing his earbuds into his ear, he pushed play on his phone and let music fill his ears.


He ate, only vaguely tasting the sandwich as his eyes followed the people making their way down the street, some just entering Seattle for the first time, others apparently just milling about trying to keep themselves busy. Occasionally, someone walking by would glance over at him, at his sandwich, but none really bothered to interfere with him. Which was fine, really. He wasn't really expecting any sort of confrontation, everyone still seemed fairly shell shocked from the disappearances, and he couldn't really blame him. He supposed that if he had any contact with his family before they'd vanished, he would have been ambling about as aimlessly too.


As it was, he wasn't really all that hard up for company. Sure, it gutted him at first, when he'd realized that he'd been the only one out of his family left behind. But after a few days, after coming to terms with the fact that he'd barely spoken to any of them in a almost a year, he'd figured that there wasn't really any point in getting down about it anymore. He was still here, that's the only thing that mattered in that moment, and as much as he'd like to have some sort of companionship, someone to fill the silence that had suddenly taken over his life with, he was fine by himself, too.

 

[kindaemissary]

Getting out of his home went quicker than Luis thought it would. Faster than he wanted it, too. It was hard to leave everything he had built for the last few years in the shell of his old life. The only items that he allowed himself to take were his own clothing and electronics, three of Aria's oversized sweater, Camila's bed blanket, and the quilt that laid over the bottom half of his and Aria's bed. Taking anything more would be stupid and too emotional, so he left everything else behind.


Two suitcases, one pillow, and a folded cardboard box sat in the backseat of his car next to Camila's car seat. He wanted to take it out and leave the memories here at the house, but he knew there was always a chance that someone would need it once he got to the city. Luis had packed canned and boxed foods into the cardboard box. He had to leave the perishables behind even though he so badly wanted to finish off the chicken and steak that Aria had bought right before the ending of days. Keeping his packing to a minimum would help when he was in Seattle. He didn't want to have to start giving Camila's and Aria's clothing and belongings away, and if he kept them back in Redmond he would never have to know if they were used again.


Luis's fingers coiled hard against the steering wheel as he drove down the interstate. A few abandoned cars cluttered each and every side of the highway, but the limited traffic made it easy to maneuver around them. Less cars on the road meant less traffic - Luis wished he would have thought of it before he left. He wouldn't have had to leave so soon.


His speedometer read ninety-three miles-per-hour as he traveled the road, and he should have been alarmed considering the Speed Limit 65 signs that decorated the right side, but he couldn't start to care. There was literally no one out there, and the music in the background was only doing so much for his increased loneliness.


Looking to the town to show us what they got, we'll take it to the cabin and we'll show ya what we got. We got space to do what you please.


He switched the song before it really got started and straightened his back out. A Seattle 15 Miles sign hung low in the distance, and Luis let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding. Hopefully soon he wasn't so alone.

- - - - - - - - - -

​

Joel kept repeating what dickcheneysucks said earlier that day about D.C. As he drove the car towards Seattle, he wanted it more than anything to be true. Back at home, he shoved some clothes into one duffle bag and his gaming systems into another. If he got to the city and there was nothing there, he needed something to hold him off from going insane. Aside from that, he packed his bedding into a laundry basket and tossed extra blankets along with it into the back seat.


In the seat next to him, there was a black-and-chrome cooler with water bottles and gatorade inside. He grabbed some chips too, and they sat with other junk food on the floor in front of the passenger seat.


It might have not been smart, but Joel didn't have to give a shit anymore.


He saw a vehicle pulled to the side of the highway, an old truck with a smoking engine, and he drove his car onto the gravel as he slowed down. He wondered if anyone was inside of it, and normally he would have ignored it and kept driving, but now, with the rapture, he wanted to make good on things.


A girl sat in the driver's seat, dark hair down covering her face partially as she continued to be engrossed in her reading. Joel saw his reflection in the glass and rolled his shoulders before knocking on the glass.


"Hey, are you okay in there?"

- - - - - - - - - -

​

Amanita ran out of alcohol after three last consecutive shots of UV Cake. The liquor didn't taste like anything more which made slurping down one glass after another much easier.


"I need to eat," she said, and she stammered to her coat rack by the door before pulling a maroon crewneck over her head. Her feet movements were sloppy as she stumbled her way out the door and out of the building.


She didn't want to eat because she felt that she needed to sober up but because she was starving. Or at least that's what her brain was telling her. It had been a while since she felt her stomach grumble. The cafe two blocks from her apartment seemed good enough and she walked into the door as she entered. It took her a moment to process another person eating near the window, but once she did she leaned against the wall and gave him a pointed glare. It probably looked like a constipated dog, but it felt angry.


"What're you doin' here?" she slurred, and she flung herself down to a table two down from his. The sandwich in his hands looked tasty, and she really wanted to eat. "Never seen you here before," she added after a moment, arm crossed. "You come here 'cause everyone's gone?"

 

[spacecrone]

Having successfully made her way into Seattle, Ainsley pulled her car off to the side of the road and clambered out, peering at the city she'd just adopted as her new residence. It wasn't the cesspool she would have expected to come from the rapture, but then again, she'd had all of maybe a month of bible schooling to go off of from childhood. She figured she was right where she belonged, given the kind of vitriol her town's Baptist minister had spread about fornicators and loose women and whatever else she'd managed to magically become in her teenage years.


Whereas a lot of the people she saw seemed to amble around the city lost and unsure of what to do, Ainsley approached her new setting as a place to start over. She didn't really have anyone, except her mother, who was far from on decent speaking terms with her at that point. When everything began, she'd managed one, five-minute, incredibly stilted phone conversation with the other woman, ending when both of them muttered awkward sentiments of relief that they still had each other, and silently vowed to never attempt that kind of contact again. As a whole, her outlook wasn't necessarily positive. The world had ended, that was just plain, simple fact. She recalled some of the stories of the rapture, trying to imagine what God's wrath would actually look like, but ultimately came up short. How could it be much worse than the boredom and loneliness she already felt?


“You've watched too many horror movies to really think that,” she muttered to herself as her converse crunched on the sidewalk.


Her shoulder ached from where the straps of her bag were digging into it, and Ainsley debated stopping for a moment, if only to shrug it off of her shoulders. She'd packed a little more than was really necessary for this, a few mementos and pictures here and there, but also tons of canned fruit and soups. Not to mention the carton of cigarettes and weed she'd raided out of her building, as well as a vape, and a medium sized travel piece that she could use when she she felt like wrecking her lungs. Finding clothes wouldn't be a problem, she figured. If the stores had already been looted, it wasn't like she was above just going into an empty house and taking what was there. Of course, the trick would be finding a house that wasn't occupied and walking in to a chest full of buck shot or something.


Eventually, the pain got to be too much, and she paused where she was standing, letting the straps slide from her arms. The relief was instantaneous. Rubbing at her shoulder, she looked down the street for any oncoming traffic. Her legs were sticky from the heat. She should have worn shorts, or at least had the common sense to stay in the car where she had air conditioning. No matter. Ainsley put her hands to the small of her back and stretched, feeling several of her vertebrae pop, the stiffness waning slightly.


The sounds of someone basically joyriding their way into town had her eyebrows creeping up her forehead. She straightened up and grabbed her bag, backtracking toward the Welcome to Seattle sign she'd walked past a few minutes prior. Whatever was going on, it should be good.


----


It was as if Isi had tunnel vision. Aside from the screen-sized window with which she could see, the outside world didn't really exist. This was the kind of hyperfocus that had her up between the hours of midnight and five in the morning when she had unlimited internet access, so many tabs open, each individual one on her browser was maybe half an inch long.


A few years ago, there had been a joke running among her family that Isi couldn't talk and peel potatoes at the same time. Which was true. Her attention span could rival a goldfish at times, and so when her mom and teachers had gotten sick of watching her grades tank and convinced her to get tested for ADHD (about eight years too late, but who's counting?), everything sort of made sense when the results came back. After that, she'd been given a script for Adderall and was introduced to the concept of hyperfocus, something she would abuse a little once in a blue moon. Like say, she's broken down on the side of the road after the rapture, and doesn't have the guts to get out of the car and walk the rest of the way. Just then, the target of said hyperfocus was Matt Murdock's struggles with the fact that he may be in possession of the antichrist. It seemed a little too close to real life at first, but after a while it had become a good way of coping with what was going on.


The sudden rapping on her window triggered a flinch that nearly sent her tablet flying through the windshield. It was all she could do to keep from uttering a yelp of surprise, but was able to tamp down on it at the last second. Her head snapped up and over to get a look at who was standing at her window, asking if she was okay.


It was a boy, blonde, her age – give or take a year. Not quite as unsettling as it had been when it was an older guy. Isi cracked the window, marginally more than she had previously and, biting down on semi-hysterical laughter as her adrenaline crashed from the scare, she nodded. “Yeah... yeah, I'm okay. Something blew out in the car, so I figured I'd just sit here until I can actually, you know, finish the trip.”


----


At the sound of another voice, Aiden looked up from his sandwich and pulled his earbuds out by the wire. He raised his head to see who the voice belonged to, and wasn't as surprised as he should have been that the person behind it was drunk. There wasn't a single scenario that he played through in his mind that ended with him being able to just sit there and ignore her, so he sat back and finished chewing his mouthful, nodding in response to her question.


“I'll be honest with you, I didn't expect to be interrogated trying to eat a sandwich.” He wasn't entirely sure that she was sober enough to catch the humor behind it. He glanced her over briefly, wondering if she was going to keel over from alcohol poisoning. While he could probably figure out how to hook a banana bag up to her if the hospital was abandoned, he was pretty sure they weren't just going to be labelled banana bags in the actual hospital. So that was useless.


Given that she was coherent, though, he figured she was alright. “I'm Aiden,” he added. “I'm from Olympia... I take it you're from Seattle, yeah?”

 

[kindaemissary]

Luis's drive into Seattle was short-lived and bittersweet. The last time he had come to the city aside from on a job was a couple weeks prior when Aria had wanted to take Camila to the zoo. Being a photographer and seeing the freedom of the wild made Luis partial to caged museums, but he couldn't deny his daughter a thing. She was one of his few loves in the world and he wanted to give her everything he could, even if that thing was behind bars and viewed as some kind of prized possession.


He was a biblical man, and he didn't want to think about what him still being here meant, so he listened to loud music and let his thoughts flow down his ears and out the window. Good riddance, he thought to himself. If He doesn't want me, I have to reason to please Him further. He wanted to think that, he did, but his heart and soul were too rooted in the hope that he'd someday be forgiven as well. That someday he'd be as important as his family.


There weren't a lot of cars heading into the city, but enough that he had to brake a few more times than he would of wanted. Since when was Seattle a safe zone for non-believers and not-good-enoughs?


Parking his car aside a main road, Luis unpacked his belongings into a grocery cart sitting outside a small grocery store on the corner. He shouldn't have packed so much, but he was stupid. He was stupid, he was angry, and he was alone. Luis was used to Aria giving him guidance on how to live his life and better himself, and now he had no one. Just empty hopes and dreams, old picture frames of happier days, and the want to forget about everything he was forced to leave behind.

- - - - - - - - - -

​

The shocked and confused reaction scared him a bit, and he jumped back away from the door. The girl was alone in the car, dark hair brushed back away from her face now, and she was younger head-on that she was from the side. She didn't look familiar, and why Joel expected her to was beyond him. Maybe he just wanted to see a face that he recognized throughout all of the madness that seemed to be surrounding his life lately. With no parents or friends back home, just the creepy old guy from the Q-Mart in the alley between his favorite movie store and one of the many Starbucks his home town seemed to have.


Joel glanced behind him at his car, hazards still flashing alone on the highway, and then back to the girl. "Sorry to say this, but your engine looks like it's not going to work again," he said. "I mean, ever. The battery probably died too, and I don't have jumper cables."


It would be smart of him to have ignored her and kept driving along the road. She hadn't been signalling anyone down from her car, so she probably didn't have anything ominous planned for anyone that helped her. Besides, she looked pretty engrossed in her book when Joel walked up. That had to have meant something. (Hopefully it meant that she was normal.)


"I'd, uh, I'd shake your hand, but well." Joel gestured upward at the slim gap from the window. "I'm Joel, though. I was heading to Seattle. A friend of mine said the bigger cities were gathering crowds." He scratched at the back of his head, not really sure how to interact. It had been a while since he talked to someone aside from himself. "I'm traveling alone, so, I mean, if you wanted to join me, I could at least give you a ride to where you're going."

- - - - - - - - - -



​

"I asked you two questions," Amanita argued back pointedly. "Why'd you come here from Olympia? Is the end of days getting to you already? It's been a week."


The truth of the matter was that it was getting to her, and maybe that was why she was pushing her worries onto his. There were too many unknowns to decipher when thinking about everything that had happened since the Great Vanishing Act of the 21st Century. She wished this was all just an act, a terrible dream that she could wake herself from. No matter how much she drank, she knew that she was doomed to this fate and that nothing would save her anymore. She had no salvation. She wondered if she ever did.


This whole apocalypse-rapture-shit was getting to her head, so she shook the thoughts away and focused her attention back on the guy across the room from her. His hair was bunched close to his skull and he had deep-set piercing eyes that would give her's a run for their money.


She cleared her throat. "A lotta people have been here that weren't here before, so I don't blame ya for leaving your old life behind. If I had less resources, I'd definitely leave, but, well, Seattle kinda has everything?"She placed her chin in her palm, arm folded on the table. "My apartment has all I could need, too, and, well, anything I don't have now I could steal." She tried to stifle a laugh, but it slipped out, and she shook her head. "We're all fucked, anyway. What's takin' a couple extra shirts or cans of food gonna do? God gonna start a second rapture?" She laughed again, thoroughly impressed by her thought. "We're basically already dead."

 

[spacecrone]

Ainsley watched from across the street as the car that had been flooring it down the street came to a stop. Truthfully, she'd been a little disappointed when only one dark haired man got out. Part of her had expected some sort of party wagon, so just one guy getting out of a car that she'd heard revving into Seattle was a bit of a let down. She watched him, trying to somehow get a feel for his temperament from across the way, but all she was able to glean from the sad set of his shoulders was that he was probably just as lost as everyone else, simply following a rumor to a city only marginally more populated than the rest of Washington.


Hesitating on the curb, she wondered if it was really that good of an idea to just walk over and introduce herself. This man had no connections with her whatsoever, aside from the fact that they were one of the few people that God or whoever didn't care enough about to take... home, or wherever the fuck. They were two of the ones left behind to pick up the pieces, and it sucked. Especially when you were stuck doing it by yourself. All she could see as he started loading things out of the car and putting them into a shopping cart was someone who'd been completely beaten down in the last week, completely unaware of her existence.


Finally, when she'd gotten tired of just standing there watching this guy like a creep, Ainsley stepped off the curb and started to cross the street. Feet crunching on gravel, she ran a hand through her hair, hoping the guy didn't pull a gun on her or something. When she was a few yards away from him, still standing in the middl eof the road, she stopped.


Clearing her throat and keeping her hands out in the open to ensure that he knew she didn't have a weapon on her, she spoke: “Are you... uhm, do you need help with anything?”


----


Isi felt her cheeks heat up when the boy pointed out the condition the truck was in. She didn't hold it against him, but it was pretty obvious, even to her who knew jack shit about cars, that it was a lost cause. Nodding and reaching back to rub at the back of her neck, she nodded, “Yeah, no, I know. I mean, I was just planning on waiting until traffic died down... I guess I was gonna just go the rest of the way on foot.”


It sounded so stupid now that she'd finally said it out loud. Isi had never really been a timid person. She hadn't exactly been the life of the party, either, but she could at least string a sentence or two together without sounding like a total moron. “There, uh, there was just a lot of people on the road, and I guess I felt weird just getting out and walking with all of them driving by, you know? I figured I'd just wait here and read until it died down, which...” she glanced over his shoulder, not seeing a single car in her line of vision, “It has, apparently. Got caught up, I guess.”


When he introduced himself and mentioned the window, Isi rolled it down the rest of the way and tried to smile at him, not quite sure how successful she was. “I'm Isi,” she stared, messing with the drawstring on her hoodie. “I don't even know where I was planning on going, I guess? I just couldn't sit around my house by myself anymore, and sort of... wound up here.”


His offer of giving her a ride triggered both a sense of relief and anxiety. She didn't know him. But then again, she didn't know anyone else in the world now, and she'd have to start trusting people eventually, so Isi flashed him a small smile and nodded, “Yeah, sure.”


Quickly, she gathered her things back up in her bag and climbed out of the truck, following him back to his own car. “Thanks so much for stopping,” she said quietly. “I had one group stop earlier, after I first broke down, but...” she shrugged, “Seemed shady. Where are you from?”


----


“Not so much the end of days as the smell,” Aiden answered simply. The fact that she was able to give him this much shit was actually a comfort to him, as it meant she wasn't about to keel over at any second. People on the verge of alcohol poisoning couldn't string together that many sentences in a row without extreme difficulty. “No one's around to pick up the garbage anymore, so it just sits around and goes rancid, had to walk around with like, an entire tub of Vicks shoved up my nose, so I heard that people were going to Seattle and figured may as well.”


He raised his eyebrows at her once she started speaking again. Damn, this chick was grim. And yeah, Aiden couldn't deny the fact that she was right, they were fucked, but to say it outright like that in front of a total stranger took some balls. Taking another bite of his sandwich, he chewed and watched her, thinking about how she had a point.


It was weirdly comforting just sitting here talking to someone who knew the area. At least then it would be easier to get a decent handle on the environment and where it would be easiest for him to hole up, what places people would be less likely to raid for goods, and on and on and on. He took a drink of his water, the parched feeling in his throat instantly relieved with it even though the water was sort of lukewarm. It was better than nothing, though, and he didn't want to chance trying for one of the sodas which would not only be warm, but would inevitably be flat, too. Glancing around, he did see some lights on in a few shops on the street and figured that there would be enough coolers still working for him to get some cold drinks once he found a place to hole up. Speaking of...


“Since you're from around here, you know any places I could maybe lay up? Like, I can sleep in my car, I guess, but honestly, I'd rather have a bed. Any apartment buildings that have been emptied out or somethin' that people haven't already laid claim to?”

 

[kindaemissary]

A voice rang out from behind him, and Luis turned around. It had been a while since he had heard a voice aside from the radio, and he was relieved. He had seen people slowly migrating into the city from the outskirts - by foot, by bike, by car (like him) - but hadn't done a thing of interacting yet, and the truth of it almost scared him.


Did he want to start over like this? Did he really have a choice?


The woman looked none-threatening, young, and only had a bookbag stuffed full of belongings resting on her back. Luis glanced down toward his slowly filling cart and then back at her. "I don't think so?" he replied honestly, and he wanted to walk away.


This was the time to make friends and create allies, to build a new home, but Luis was scared. Starting over forced him to admit that this was really happening to him and that everything he loved was gone. It felt like a new hole was being ripped out of his heart with the thought. If he didn't start building relationships now, he never would, and then he'd be alone for the rest of his life (and everything after).


"I'm Luis," he said, and that was unplanned. He had wanted to say I have people waiting for me or I don't need your company or something that rang so weird and creepy that she wouldn't continue to stare at him like she knew what he was going through. And fuck, she might have. She might have known exactly what he was going through, possibly worse, but it was much easier to play the victim than it was to recognize that others had problems too.


But instead he introduced himself. Which required more words. "Uh, we could walk around together. I'm obviously not from here." An awkward chuckled escaped from his throat, and it felt dry, hoarse. Luis swallowed. "You could put your bag in here, with mine, and we could look around. See what's left." See who's left sounded more right, but Luis was still having a hard time admitting he was alone.

- - - - - - - - - -

​

"It makes sense,"Joel assured. "Sometimes people just give you the wrong vibes even if they shouldn't." If some older guy had gotten out of his car and offered to help him, he'd be weary too. It was hard to trust anyone you didn't know at their age. Growing up, kids were told not to talk to strangers because they could be murderers or kidnappers or rapists, and while that was true, it made it hard to look to anyone for advice or guidance now the world had pretty much gone to shit, and parents were disappearing left and right.


The scene would look awkward if any cars were to pass by them, but traffic was at a standstill from both directions. Joel hovered outside the driver's side door and Isi nestled inside the metal confines as she pulled her stuff together.


He was glad that the weather permitted him stopping. If the rain had been so bad that he couldn't have got out of the car, he would have passed Isi on the highway without a second thought. Washington was a wet state, always raining or snowing no matter the forecast. Now, without the news or meteorologists, there was no real way to figure out anything weather-wise, and Joel just hoped it didn't snow until November like it did before. The more time they had without blizzards and freezing rain, the better.


Joel took a step back as Isi got out of the car and they walked back to his own. "Moses Lake," he said. "Not too far from here, not too far from Seattle." He shrugged a bit and pulled open the driver's side door before climbing inside and starting the engine. "What about you?"


The car pulled back into the lane of traffic slowly and made its way back up to a reasonable speed of 78 mph when Joel spoke again. "One of my online friends said bigger cities are, like, hot spots for people now, so if you wanna keep going to Seattle with me you can. Better together than alone, you know? And we're probably the same age, ish, so less creepy that way too. No weird fifty-year-olds bothering us if we're together, and, hey, if they did, better together than alone still."

- - - - - - - - - -

​

Amanita nodded as the guy talked, ate his sandwich, and thought to himself in silence. It was probably because she was drunk that she kept trying to keep a beat in her head. It was easier to ignore when she had something to focus on in her head.


One two three four, one two three four, one two three four, one two thr-


"What?" she said, looking up from her lap. "Oh yeah, there's a lot of places, since everyone's gone now. I think I'm the only person still in my building if you wanna check it out. I should probably get back there anyway." She pointed to her head and sat up straight in her chair, looking cramped and stiff. "Gotta sleep this off before I puke everywhere."


She rolled her shoulders and stood up from the table, pressing a hand to her forehead. Her fingers were cold and clammy. Gross. "I can show you around if you want. There's a couple supermarkets a few blocks from here. More restaurants like this. Lot of closed bars, but that was probably obvious already." She laughed out loud and choked before she started coughing in her inner arm. "You don't wanna sleep in your car, you'll lose everything you brought here before you even wake up."


It had taken over a week, but she was finally talking to a person that wasn't herself. Was that considered progress? She hoped so. Maybe knowing someone in the city would slow down her drinking habits again. She wasn't an alcoholic, but it wouldn't be hard to become one if things kept going on the way they had been. She might as well drink herself to death if she was going to Hell anyway.

 

[spacecrone]

The answer had been almost as alarming to Ainsley as it appeared to have been for the man - Luis, she reminded herself - had been. Her plan had really only gone so far as to ask the guy if he needed help, but now that he was actually responding to her and prompting her to participate in the conversation she had started. After a week of virtual radio silence up until she'd been pistol whipped that morning (which she didn't really count), it was confounding to hear another real, live person reacting to something that she had said. Okay, enough. Only a week and the isolation was getting to her, what the hell?


"I'm Ainsley." Awkwardly, she extended her hand for him to shake, entirely unsure as to how to continue with this interaction. Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to bring the weed; she hadn't even smoked any of it yet and she was weird enough as is. Did she really need to add THC on top of it? Eventually, probably. If anything, she could definitely use it to barter with people. "I'm not from around here, either, it just sort of seemed like the place to be, so... I came."


Her lips quirked upward briefly into a small smile as she shifted from one foot to another. Did she want company? Of course she did, the whole reason she'd set out for Seattle was because it was too lonely by herself at home, and she couldn't hack it. After a few more moments of deliberation, she placed her back pack into the cart carefully, noting the clinking sound of the travel pieces knocking together from the movement. It didn't sound like anything had broken, though, so she dusted her hands off on her jeans.


"I was thinking about just holing up in an empty apartment or something. Figured there'd be plenty of free real estate by now, so." Shrug. She lifted a hand to rub at the back of her neck absently. If this were any other time, she'd be mortified to hear herself talking about squatting in some abandoned house a week after the world ended. But, as Bob Dylan had said all those years ago, the times they are a-changin'. Everyone had gone and gotten raptured without her, so she figured that it was only fair that the few remaining should be able to take what was needed in their absence.


"That's about as far into anything resembling a plan as I've gotten. Did you have any plans, or...?"


----


The movement of the car starting up beneath her jostled Isi lightly, and she sat back in her seat. Even after just a few minutes, she could tell that Joel was a far better driver than she was, and more than anything, it was just nice to hear a voice that didn't belong to an animated cartoon character or Frank Sinatra, which had been the only CD her mom had had in the truck. In the passenger side mirror, she caught herself smiling and lifted a hand to rub it casually off of her face.


"I'm from Wellpinit," Isi answered after what was probably a lifetime, remembering that he'd actually asked her things. "On the Spokane res... it's maybe a few hours, I guess? I wasn't really paying attention." She wasn't really paying attention just then, either. At least not entirely, the double dose of Adderall had her in a weird hyperfocus spiral, where she had to stop and buffer any time there was a new stimulus. Like, say, a voice when you've just been focusing on how soothing the slight rocking motion from the car gave your body was.


Joel's offer of companionship was an attractive one. It was too lonely to just go by herself, and in time, it would be too dangerous as well. What sweetened the deal was that he was in her age range - she didn't want to be somebody's substitute kid, and she wasn't trying to replace her mom. She just wanted company, someone who was maybe missing the same kind of people, and would have a better shot at getting it if things went sideways, or like some of the same things she did.


"I'd like to go with you, I think." She decided aloud, and then, because it hurt too much to talk about what it had caused, it was much easier for her to just talk about the thing itself, Isi asked the question she'd been dying another person. "So... okay, what are the people you're hearing or talking to saying about all of this? I mean, I'm mostly hearing stuff about how it's the rapture, and that's probably what everyone else is hearing and reading too, but I guess I'm just curious if you've heard anything else?"


----


Aiden actually caught himself smiling as he listened to the woman talk. Even stumbling drunk, the girl was semi-entertaining and was offering to take him somewhere to crash for the time being. There really wasn't any negative that he could see drawing from this situation. While he thought he would have done okay sleeping in his car, given that there had been a few times he'd been too drunk to drive himself and couldn't afford a cab home, and even shitfaced he'd managed to at least stir awake when something brushed against his car. But even knowing that, he'd much rather crash in a bed.


"I don't remember if you told me your name, but if you're cool with taking me, then yeah, I'd be down. I know you said you live close, but I can drive. I've got enough shit in my car that I don't really feel like carrying it." He nodded toward her, "If your stomach can handle it, at least. If not, you can just walk me there and then I'll come back for my car."


Taking the last bite of his sandwich, he wiped his mouth and unscrewed his water bottle while he chewed and swallowed. He debated getting up and grabbing some more sandwich stuff from the cooler, and maybe a few loaves of bread if any of them were still good. Ultimately, it felt a little too much like he was spending too much time there. Going back wouldn't be a problem, especially now that he knew where the place was. Aiden was bored with it, and even giving himself a task like getting food wasn't going to make it any more exciting. There was electricity, so that meant that at least some of the food in the fridge would be fit for consumption if it hadn't already been taken, he'd figure something out.


Rising to his feet, he raised his eyebrows, "You good to go?"

 

[kindaemissary]

Luis shook the woman's, Ainsley's, hand as he pulled his arm back to his side before tightening his fingers to the carts handle bars. In the big city, he wanted to protect what was innately his, and if that caused for showing dominance over a piece of metal, he would do it.


Ainsley seemed nice enough, and Luis couldn't see himself distrusting her so soon after their initial meeting. Sure, she was left to fend for herself and her soul after the rapture, but so was he. There had to be a reason for everything, and Luis couldn't help but believe that God was still protecting him and His people after all this devastation. He needed to believe that there was still a riveting hope that he could be saved.


"I agree," he said, and he pushed the cart off the curb and onto the pave asphalt of the road. "The best thing is to find housing and food. Hopefully somewhere with clean water, good water pressure. It's hot outside now, or at least it has been." He stared toward the sky, all scraps of clouds casting over the sky. "It'll get worse as the month passes, and then it'll get cold. Too cold to stay without a heater. Electricity will work for a while. We'll need batteries at some point."


Surprising himself, Luis seemed to have a game plan more planned out than he imagined. He had been on expeditions before where he had to stay outside for a job due to getting lost or missing a bus or train, so he knew a bit about surviving through harsh conditions. They were in Washington, which wasn't as bad as being stuck in the Congo or Kazakhstan, but it still had its own trials and tribulations. Maneuvering through them was the best they could do.


They walked down the street, Luis scanning the alleys they passed. There were plenty of people already in Seattle, but there was no doubt that there were be more as time passed. It was going to become a beacon in contrast to the rest of the city.


"What did you all bring with you," Luis asked. "It doesn't seem like much. You'll have to find more clothes. We all will."


- - - - - - - - - -


Having never been to a reservation before, Joel was intrigued, but he didn't press it. Asking about Isi's family, her home, would only make him think about the fact that his parents were gone again. He pretended that he was fine with it, and he was a little bit. It was kind of like going to college except he had no time to prepare and he was never going home. But hell, if this really was the rapture they were in a better place and all that shit.


Joel didn't grow up religious, so even through all the words of apocalypse and some god "taking the good from His earth", he remained wary. He didn't know what else it could be, but being thrust into a new found religious world was hard for him. He had always wanted to believe but lacked the heart to do so. It was easier to think that he didn't have to prove himself to anyone. If this wasn't the rapture, he was fine.


But with all the words of scripture being written on walls and all signs pointing it that direction, Joel would have to start considering it at some point.


"I game online," he said, one hand on the steering wheel as he adjusted the thermostat. "One of my friends said that people are moving in towards cities. He's going to DC since he lives over there, but he told me I should find somewhere with more people. That being around others might bring me more hope." He shrugged with one shoulder. "It was kinda funny. In the middle of killing people on screen, he told me I should leave to save myself. Ironic, don'tcha think.


"So yeah, he told me that everyone by him is saying the same stuff: rapture this, rapture that. Repent. I don't really know what I think? I mean, I think it all just kind of sucks. This is a lot to deal with in two weeks. Before I left, I spent most of my time playing my games and eating junk food. Should have eaten what would have actually gone bad, but what do you expect. No rules, no parents." He laughed awkwardly, stifled. "Of course I was gonna eat more chips than lean turkey."


- - - - - - - - - -


"Amanita," she replied easily, and once Aiden stood up from the table, she walked to the door and held it open for him.


Seattle was still a beautiful city despite the lack of people and the growing trash along the sides of the road. She had only ever left the northwest a couple times in her life, and she was glad that she didn't have to leave her home like so many other people were doing. It rained a lot during the year, so Amanita was additionally excited that the rapture had happened during a particularly dry summer. She knew that could change at any moment, but she still didn't have to worry about flooding for the time being.


"I haven't really checked out any stores or anything, but now that we can pretty much take anything we need, I'm gonna need to stock up on food once I show you my apartment." The and alcohol went unsaid. She wasn't sure if she would need anymore now that she had real non-liquid company.


It took about another two minutes of delicate staggering before they were entering Amanita's apartment. The floor needing a good sweeping, but everything was surprisingly tidy. Her living room had two average sized couches, both she bought from estate sales and one with a fold out queen sized bed. Two of the living area rooms were exposed brick. It was an older building but still in good shape.


The kitchen was marginally small but had everything she would need. Fridge, oven, stove, sink. Even a microwave and a Keurig if K-cups still existed. She could probably find a Target and stock up herself. She had two bathrooms - one connected to her bedroom and the other for guests. The guest room was down the hall from hers. Each had a shower-bath combination. Not exactly in pristine condition, since they both went used, but better than some crack house she could have got stuck living in if she was new to the city.


"It's not much," she said, gesturing towards the living room and kitchen. A small dining table and three chairs rested against the far in front of a window. There was a TV in the corner. The room was bigger than the things she didn't have. "But better than your car, right? You can sleep wherever you want, but you should help me bring some food back here. I'll make sure it's secure before we head out."

 

[spacecrone]

Ainsley was able to meet Luis's pace easily. Even with the steady ache in her legs from sitting for a long time and then immediately doing a good amount of walking, he kept a steady and calm enough pace that it wasn't too awfully taxing on her person. It was comforting to know that she'd found someone who'd managed to assemble a better plan than she had.


While she wasn't really one to slough off and crumble in times of crisis, this was also something completely out of her realm of experience. Roughing it had never really been in her skill set. Making money fast by selling anything and everything that isn't over serious sentimental value, maybe do a bump or a couple shots before going out onto the stage to lower her inhibition and get more tips from the men in the club watching her, or, when she'd just paid rent and needed some food to last her until her next shift: blatant and well-played theft. Surviving after the end of the world, though? Survival at all outside of the monetary aspect was completely lost to her.


“I didn't bring much, you're right.” She said when prompted to speak, “Most of what's in there is canned stuff: peaches, soups… a couple bottles of antibiotics and painkillers, mostly looted from my apartment.” For a moment, she hesitated. Weed was legal in Seattle, so it wasn't like she had to worry about being arrested just throwing it out there, he might think twice about pairing up with her if he thought she was just some stoner who wouldn't pull their weight.


Or, he might steal all her shit and bail, leaving her – yet again – alone in all of this.


Or, he might not give a shit.


“I also managed to grab some weed if you feel like getting a little recreational. If not, that's cool too, but I figured it might come in handy at some point or another, you know?”


As the pair made their way through the city, Ainsley kept a close eye on the people ambling about. Some of them seemed to be fairing just fine, most just looked scared. She could relate. A few more blocks down the street, she spotted what looked like an apartment building that would most likely have at least a few vacancies in it. It would be best to find a place to settle before it got dark, she figured, and it was already starting to get late. They were running out of time.


Gesturing toward the building, she glanced over at Luis and cocked her eyebrows, “What do you think? Think they have any open rooms?”


----


The discussion of food, however brief, only served as a reminder to Isi that she really hadn't eaten much other than the can of fruit cocktail she'd downed before leaving the reservation in her dust. Her stomach let out a lurch of hunger, as if voicing its displeasure with how empty it was, and Isi was digging into her bag and pulling out a pouch of beef jerky in seconds. Ripping it open, she plucked a piece out and took a bite from it before holding the bag out in Joel's direction to offer him some.


“I spent most of my time just… moping, I guess.” She admitted to him, feeling stupid for saying it like that. “It was weird, like, I have… had three brothers, so it was just weirdly quiet the whole time. Like, I know my house was empty and all? But it was just depressing. I was just going to hang out there until someone turned up, but,” she shrugged. “It just got lonely, wasn't good for me.”


Taking another piece of jerky from the bag, Isi set the pouch into her lap and occupied her hands by pulling the jerky up into smaller, more bite sized pieces. It was easy enough to keep herself busy while she worked it over in her head. She managed to keep her mouth shut about some of the darker thoughts that had crossed her mind since the rapture. Like the especially dark moments of her solitude when all she could think about was trying to join them. Those were probably better off locked up tight inside her head, where the boy she met maybe ten minutes ago wouldn't know she'd actually considered offing herself because she missed her mom and brothers.


“What kind of supplies do you have?” She asked, desperately needing to change the subject. Her own suicidal ideation wasn't even remotely the topic of conversation she was interested in. Best to figure out a plan that better accommodated two people instead of just herself. “I've got some canned stuff, peanut butter, jelly, things that'll last a while with some sort of nutrition. I figured we'd probably have water wherever we managed to stay, enough to stuck up, anyway.


“I was thinking it might be safer in a house than an apartment. I think it'd be easier to figure out some sort of security, like turning the basement into a panic room or something. I kind of get the feeling that not everyone is going to be as eager to do people favors as others, you know? It's probably smarter to not take too many chances. What do you think?”


–--


Aiden followed this new woman, Amanita, toward her building. As they made their way up the stairs, he kept a close eye on her, worried she might tip over and go falling ass over tea kettle down the stairs. As they made their way in, he looked around the place, really digging the exposed brick on her walls. It gave the whole place a cool, deconstructed sort of feel that he could definitely get used to in no time flat.


“It's nice,” he told her, still taking the place in. It wasn't like he was expecting a full tour from someone who was barely managing to stay upright, and since it wasn't a particularly pressing matter, it could wait. “A lot better than my own place, that's for sure.”


He didn't miss it. His shitty one-bedroom with enough furniture to hold a couple people and a few other creature comforts wasn't a terrible place. Sure, it was maybe a few steps above a slum, but it met his needs and water wasn't dripping onto him or his floor when it rained, so he figured it was best to just nut up and deal with it.


At Amanita's confirmation that he could crash there on the condition he helped bring things in, Aiden nodded and shrugged his shoulders. “That suits me just fine. If you want, we can just load up my car and make a few trips bringing stuff in. We don't know how long what's left will last before it's all looted, so it's probably best to get what we can right now, yeah?”


Given that this was the second time she'd mentioned needing to pick up supplies, he figured she was ready to get out and get groceries. That was fine with him. It was easier to make small talk with someone knew when you were actually doing things, rather than just sitting around in the other person's place trying. “If you want, we can even head out right now. I don't exactly have any plans, so whatever you're up for is good for me.”

 

[kindaemissary]

Weed? Luis asked to himself, and he glanced over Ainsley like he was searching for sacrament. There wasn't going to be much out there garnered toward happiness now that the world was practically coming to its end, and there was only a tiny part of him that wanted nothing to do with getting high. Before now, before any of this, he had thought marijuana was for burn-outs and college freshmen that had no friends and needed an escape from reality, but now he was the one who needed the little bit of paradise it offered.


Maybe they could find some alcohol too. Luis hadn't had a good drink since before Camila was born.


"I might take you up on that," he said, and he dropped his eyes back down to the cart piled with mishaps and memories. If all they had them was a little bit of food and medicine, and while they'd both be more helpful than imaginable, they weren't going to last forever. They were going to have to search and search again until they had enough to survive for now, and maybe even then it wouldn't be enough.


The building that Ainsley pointed out was cracked and wilted and absolutely perfect. Making their lives there was going to be easy. It seemed old enough that it wouldn't have a working elevator, and if they were able to get into a room high enough, no one was going to climb all the way to see what was worth stealing. It wasn't late yet, and it was good. Structurally sound enough to live in, and even though Luis was used to living in an apartment, but found himself much more malleable than normal. "There should be," he answered. "If anything, there are few others inside, but nothing we can't get around." He lined his lips thinly and pushed the cart in the direction of the building.


"If anything goes wrong, we can handle it, but I don't think we'll run into problems with squatting. All the good people are dead."


Luis didn't hope for much with the end of days upon them and the destruction of civilization as they knew it forgotten in the midst, but having a place to sleep and call home for the time being was something he was definitely looking toward. His home back in Redmond -- which was now no more than a house -- was unbearingly lonely without his family, and the more he stayed there the more he questioned God and his place in the world. If his religion was the fallout of his shortcoming and the reason he was not welcomed Home, what was he living for anymore? He had no family. No God that loved him (at least in his eyes). There was no purpose.


But maybe there was. There could have been some deep rooted reason he was forgotten, forsaken, and he needed to work toward meeting that goal. Whatever it was. He couldn't stop believing in that everything happens for a reason, and he couldn't give up on God or himself. He'd have to make the best with the world around.


He darted his eyes back toward Ainsley as they walked toward the building. "We have enough food and whatnot for now. I say we carry all this upstairs and make ourselves at home before nightfall."


- - - - - - - - - -


Joel was listening intently, wanting to ask questions about her family and her hobbies, and he knew that he was being pushy and annoying, but he missed human contact. Gaming hadn't done much for him up until now, and it definitely didn't help the loneliness that had been settling in his chest since his parents left. Even if he didn't want to admit that.


"Uh, well," he said, trying to figure out what he did bring. He had been so focused on what Isi was saying that it was hard to come up with something from the top of his head. "I brought a bunch of clothes, and well, my xBox. Playstation. I figured as long as electricity lasted I might as well get my fill of video games. I have blankets and pillows in the back, my dad's extra gasoline tin in the trunk if I got low." He looked in the rearview mirror and searched around. "There's a bunch of snacks back there. Pretzel packs, chips, pop tarts. I got some water bottles, too."


He looked at her. "I didn't do that well of a job packing," he admitted. "Junk food and blankets isn't going to help anyone stay alive. "


They kept driving, and Joel kept turning his wrists around the wheels like twisting the leather was going to give some sign of God of what he was supposed to do next. He wasn't a religious man. He didn't care about a god that tortured people for their well-being or some other sick perverted reason for violence, but if this was it? If this was it, he was going to start having to look for something to believe in otherwise he was never going to get saved or whatever the fuck people thought was going on.


In the silence, he was able to think for the first time in a while. Most of the time, he was shoving video games down his own throat so that he wouldn't think about the calamity laying itself out there before him. He had no idea how many people from his hometown were still alive and he hadn't bothered to check before he left, and now he was never going to know. He hadn't checked on any of his friends, kids from school, his neighbors. Maybe there was a kid in one of the houses on his cul de sac and he didn't help them, now alone without parents.


Joel shook his head to himself. If a child was left alone in the world by an uncaring God, then he didn't want to be saved.


"A panic room?" he asked, only half listening. "Yeah, that makes sense, I guess. I think a house is good. I bet all the apartments are gonna be downtown or whatever, and if we have a house we'll be away from all the crazies." He grinned and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "I bet we can find something nice and small, that way we don't have to worry about people hitching a free ride in our house. Maybe there's leftover food there, too. And medicine, clothes, shit like that. A nice bathroom."


The road ahead of them wasn't bright nor dim from the clouds overhead. It just seemed washed out. Dull gray laid out over the sky. Driving wasn't terrible, and Joel knew what he was doing. He hadn't drove for a long time before, though, and that was the only thing that was making him overthink his ability.


He watched cars as they sat in the ditch as they drove along the highway. Some were crashed into others, into ditches, into the center fence. He'd passed a few tipped semis, an ambulance, three police cars all sitting together with a red Mercedes lingering between them.


"How many people do you think are left? In Seattle?" He was worried, of course. If they were still around, but the Holy and Loved were saved, how many trustworthy people were still alive? "I mean, really," he continued. "I bet it's all drug lords and rapists, murderers and shit. How do we know who we can believe? Or do we not believe anybody and just try to survive on our own?"


- - - - - - - - - -


"It won't take long, I don't think," Amanita started. "Especially if we have your car, but you havta drive, because, well, y'know." She gestured toward herself wildly and laughed a couple times before coughing. "I'm a little tipsy."


Alcoholism had always been something Amanita had seen and never experienced when she worked late shifts during the week tending bar. She'd wait on old men who asked for a little too much whiskey when their wives left them or when their son "decided" to be gay. Once in awhile she got a bunch of old men together ranting about how her generation was fucking up the country beyond compare and that the democrats were all a bunch of communists fighting to destroy America from the inside.


But in all of her short time working at Albert's downtown, she never looked herself twice in the mirror and considered herself to carry the same problematic weight on her shoulders as was plaguing the people she served. The rapture had changed her more than she wished to admit, more than she'd like Aiden to see in all honestly. She knew she was sloppy drunk and annoyingly so, but the only way she was going to sober up right now was by not drinking anymore and filling her time with whatever she she could to get her mind off the fact the she was basically dead.


"There's a grocery store a few blocks from here and other little places on the way," she said, and she stared into her kitchen absently. She needed pretty much anything she could get her hands on whether it was cans of soup or bags of flour. She knew how to cook -- kind of. And what they didn't know, they could figure out. They'd have too. "I bet everything's pretty much raided at this point, but we can grab whatever we can."


It would probably be a good idea if they didn't buy any alcohol, but if Amanita found some wine she'd snag it before she'd let herself think too much. She had a reason to drink now, finally. It was better than killing herself and gave the same kind of relief.


She turned toward him and nodded toward the door. "Let's head out now, yeah. Grab what we can and then chill out." And hopefully sober up before morning. "We have all the time in the world."