RUN - Mars Express

Chapter 6

"Guys," Serafina said nervously. "Um...I just got another message". "Gaten marched towards her and took the phone in his hand. As he was opening his mouth to speak, the ground began rumbling violently. Items from the shelves tipped over and fell on the floor. It felt like an earthquake and it reminded Serafina of the many times that she had visited her family in Uruguay, where earthquakes would happen every so often. As the windows began shattering, London took Serafina's hand and ran to the front of the store once again. Anabelle was carrying Fey, who was crying once more and with good reason. 

As they ran through the city, Serafina felt like she was going to throw up. Why did they have to run, and what was causing all of the commotions around them? She snapped back to reality as London called out to her. "Hurry!" They said, with an anxious expression. The floor was beginning to crack under their feet, creating crevices all over the road. Sweat was starting to form on all of the kids' foreheads as they attempted to run from the invisible force that was destroying the streets behind them, with some holes large enough for a person to fall into.

Serafina looked forward and saw Anabelle was starting to slow down. Fey was small, yes, but carrying a 6-year-old while attempting to escape an imminent threat was no easy feat. London, who by now had let go of Seri's hand, offered to carry Fey themselves while trying their best to get Anabelle moving again. The cracks were starting to catch up to them, and they didn't have much time to get to Thomas's house.  Anabelle nodded, putting the small girl down and allowing London to take her before continuing their race against the cracks. 

Serafina had caught up to the boys, who were yelling words of encouragement as well as the occasional "Hurry up!". Finally, after what seemed like an infinite marathon, they arrived at Thomas's home. He swiftly opened the door, which he somehow unlocked, and rushed them all inside. "Basement. Now!" He hollered. 

After settling down, they began theorizing about what could have just happened. "That was definitely not an earthquake," said Serafina. "You're right. Maybe it was 'The Everything' people that keep sending those creepy-ass messages to that phone," Gaten chimed in. "Hey, watch your language," Anabelle said, pointing at Fey, who didn't seem to notice their profanity. 

"Do you have any toys? I'm bored," said Fey, redirecting her gaze towards Thomas. The shaking of the ground had finally stopped, so Fey didn't seem as scared as she did before. "I have some jaxes?" Answered Thomas, not quite sure as to whether Fey would seem interested in the game. "Oh, I love those! Are they in here?" Fey asked, pointing at a small boy labeled with the words 'Board Games' messily written on it. "Yep," Thomas responded. Fey took the jaxes out of the box and began playing on her own. Meanwhile, the teens got back to their theories. 

"Ok, this is what we know so far," Gaten started. "That phone has a red eye on it, and we have red eyes. That's most likely connected somehow. Also, some people, or things for all we know, are sending us messages giving us warnings and very little information. So, to sum up, we don't know shit, and they aren't telling us shit". "Well, so far, we're fucked," muttered Anabelle. They all looked at her with scolding looks. "Oh, come on! Fey isn't even paying attention," she said, defending herself. 

"Anyway, we can't stay here forever," Gaten stated. "I mean, we're gonna have to stay here for a while but soon enough we'll run out of food, and what will we do then?". "Well, it's clear that the ground stopped shaking, so that's a start," Thomas said. "Yeah, you're right, but the huge-ass holes on the floor could keep on expanding, or the 'not earthquakes' could start up again," said London, chiming in. 

"How about we just focus on what we need to do right now, and worry about everything else when the time comes?" Serafina said rhetorically. "Thomas, bring all the food that you can from the kitchen, and also containers. We're going to need to do some rationing," she said commandingly. "Anabelle, can you go help him with that?". Anabelle nodded and started going up the stairs with Thomas. "What do I do?" Asked London. "You can go and look for extra clothes and any type of sanitary item. We're definitely going to need some deodorant," Serafina chuckled. 

London took off and Serafina started looking for blankets in the basement. She saw a cabinet overflowing with pillows and opened it. After digging up all the decorative cushions, stored for what Serafina assumed must have been special occasions, she found three blankets stored at the bottom of the cabinet. She set them up so that 2 people would share one blanket, making the reduced bedding amount a lot more space-convenient. 

As she looked around, she noticed the state of the basement. The unkept paint and chipped pieces of drywall on the floor showed a few things to Serafina. For one, it seemed as if Thomas's family did not spend much time down here. Their house was beautiful and in a marvelous state, yet their basement, in comparison, seemed quite ignored. 

After everyone was back in the basement, Serafina made a proposition. "How about, when it's safe to go out of the house, we go out and get supplies to renovate this place. I mean, we can't spend every day just talking. It'll be fun to do something different, just for us!" She beamed. "Are you calling my basement ugly?" said Thomas with fake indignation. The teens chuckled at his joke. "I'm kidding, it would be really fun". 

The rest of the afternoon was spent telling jokes and giving ideas for ways they could decorate Thomas's basement. Anabelle suggested painting landscapes, while Gaten thought it would be a better idea to paint red eyes all over the walls. Nevertheless, this was the first time they felt truly happy together, and they knew things were going to be okay. 

~~~~~

Thanks for reading. I switched up the way I normally organize my paragraphs to make it easier for mobile readers. 

Thanks to @PlutachRogers for that idea!

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