World's End Explorers

Chapter 1

Alice was having trouble to sleep. Her neighbor's dog was barking nonstop while siren sounds could be heard coming from a park nearby. Something was happening outside.

In bed, looking at the ceiling, Alice was recalling her day at work. Arriving early, interviewing people, writing reports, being the last person to leave the building. She was exhausted, but even at home she couldn't stop thinking about work. Alice was the perfect definition of a workaholic. She never had time for family or friends and her social life was nonexistent. 

Unlike her desk in the office, her one bedroom apartment was a mess. Alice didn't really think of her apartment as a home. In her mind the place felt more like a dormitory or a hotel room. It was just a room she would use to get some sleep before heading back to work.

While thinking about mundane topics of her seemingly uneventful life, she noticed all the noise coming from outside suddenly stopping. No barking. No sirens. Nothing. "That's weird." Alice considered getting up to take a look, but ultimately she decided to go to sleep, after all, she had to wake up early and go to work the next day.

 -----

The young woman slowly opened her eyes. She couldn't see or hear anything. She decided to get up and look out the window. Nothing to see. She then looked up and noticed the sky was completely dark, no signs of stars or the moon. It was a strange sight.

Alice looked at her cellphone. "Midnight? But that's when I went to bed." She tried to go online to check on the news. "Maybe this is some kind of rare astronomical phenomenon," she thought. But there was no Internet signal. She proceeded to the living room hoping to find something on the television, but she had no luck, all the channels were off the air.

Looking at her apartment, dark and quiet, Alice finally said: "Something is not right." She grabbed a flashlight, put on some clothes as quickly as she could and went out. Maybe a neighbor would know what was happening. She knocked on the door of every resident in her building, but no one answered. She went back to her apartment and sat on the bed. The young woman tried to think about a reasonable explanation to what was happening, but after a few minutes of contemplation, she realized it was time to leave.

She wasn't sure about where to go since she didn't have any friends in the city, but she knew she had to find someone who could explain what was going on. After putting some of her stuff in a backpack, she got her car keys and drove to the nearest police station. "Maybe the cops could explain what was going on."

She arrived at her destination fifteen minutes later. Alice expected to find people on the streets during her short trip, but the city was empty. At the police station, no signs of life either. No cops, no guards, no help. The battery-powered radio at the station was still working, but her attempts to communication were in vain, she couldn't reach anyone; the radio, just like the Internet and the telephones, was useless.

The gravity of the situation was finally starting to reach Alice. "What had happened to everyone? Were did they go? What's happening? What should I do?" Those were her thoughts as she sat on the cold floor of the police station. 

----

One hour had passed since Alice's last attempt to communicating via radio. She didn't know what to do or where to go. That entire situation seemed too surreal. Her only hope was that everything that had happened until that point had been only a dream.

Her state of inertia came to an end when she heard footsteps coming from the entrance of the police station. She immediately got up and went to see what was that sound. As she approached the main door, she saw the figure of a man with dark skin wearing military clothing.

Before she could say anything, the man pointed a gun at her and shouted: "Who are you? Identify yourself!" With an unemotional look, alice answered:"Dude, what do you think you are doing?"

The man looked at her with a troubling expression. He didn't predict that kind of comeback. He decided to pull off his gun. "I'm Lieutenant Richard Armstrong. I'm with the 13th Royal Regiment of Fusiliers from the British Army. I was staying at a military base a few miles North of here for Joint Training Exercises."

"A british army guy doing training in the US, huh. That's interesting" said the young woman. "Well, my name is Alice. I came here hoping I could find some help," she completed.

"Any luck?" Richard asked.

"No. There's no one in the station, and although their radio is still working, I couldn't reach anyone."

"Fuck!" The man shouted.

"By the look on your face, I can see the situation in the base is no different," guessed Alice.

"Yeah. I was in my room when I noticed things had become too quiet. I've  searched the entire base, but everyone has just disappeared. Electricity and the radio were still working, but I couldn't contact anyone. That's why I came here."

The two of them looked at each other. They were both clueless about what was happening and didn't know what to say. Alice decided to break the silence: "At least we now know we're not alone in this. Maybe we can find other survivors."

"Survivors?"

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine. It's true that we look like survivors."

The two agreed to stick together and cooperate, at least for the time being. After a short discussion, Alice and Richard agreed to head to the military base. They thought they needed to rest for a while before making any important decision. They could also get some provisions from the base and prepare themselves for the journey they would soon have to go. It was clear that staying in that empty city wasn't a viable option.