ROTWOTA: Book 1 - The Beginning of Extinction

The Power Plant's Blast

That night, something seemed to keep Emma awake. She wasn't sure what it was, but it felt mysterious and frightening. It was like there was a strange entity in the room, and its goal was to scare her.

Suddenly, she could hear a noise coming from downstairs and immediately woke up her brother. "What's going on?" He asked. "There's somebody downstairs." She said nervously. With that response, Cody sneaked up to the railing of the stairs to see what it was. He felt nothing but fear once he figured out what was down there.

It was the same exact polar bear officer that had taken the young girl away. It seemed he was having a please conversation with Mrs. Wyatt. "Listen ma'am, we got a report from a man named Joshua Treyfuss. I'd like to ask you if a boy and his sister are near this area." He asked with a stern voice. Cody's teacher responded with a nervous "I am one of his teachers at school but I haven't seen him since the beginning of spring break."

Thankfully, the polar bear seemed to buy it, but he turned to Mrs. Wyatt with a response that sent chills down Cody's spine. "Well, we'll keep searching in the area just in case, but I'm afraid for the time being you'll have to come with us." Said the polar bear officer. "What for?" Asked Mrs. Wyatt nervously. "It is our required policy to clear all hu-mans from this area." He answered as he pulled out a taser. The way this polar bear man said humans was nothing but questionable and Cody was somewhat sure of what the taser was necessary for. "Well, let me get some proper clothes on first!," She said sternly. "You don't just let a woman go on an errand in her pajamas!"

"Fine ma'am, but right afterwards, your coming with us." He said. After that brief discussion, his teacher was forced upstairs and the officer followed her. Without proper knowledge on what to do to save her, Cody charged at the polar bear using the style of a football tackle. The direct hit and impact sent both of them flying down the stairs which resulted in both of them ending up unconscious on the floor.

Emma then proceeded to kick and punch the absolute life out of the anthropomorphic officer and didn't stop until blood was visibly dripping from his head. Mrs. Wyatt was in complete shock and horror in what her student had just done.

After ensuring that the officer had been dealt with, Emma tried everything to see if her brother was still alive. Thankfully, he was only out for a few minutes. Right after waking up, a radio on the polar bear officer started picking up another voice that seemed to belong to the wolf woman that was his partner. "Arnold. Arnold! Are you there!-" The voice was cut off as Mrs. Wyatt stomped the radio to pieces.

"We can't stay any longer, Cody you need to get you and your sister out of here. Don't worry about me, I'll be ok." She said.

"Be safe." That was all Cody could say at the moment. "I will." Said Mrs. Wyatt. With that response, Cody dragged into his sister into the garage where they hid their truck and covered it with a tarp. Dragging the tarp off, Cody grabbed the truck keys in his pocket and immediately drove off into the cold night air, not once daring to look back even for a second.

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Once the two woke up, the sun wasn't very bright despite it being early in the morning as they had parked the truck in the forest. "Ugh, what time is it?" Grumbled Cody. Turning the truck on, the time was 8:50 AM.

"Where are we gonna go now?" Asked Emma. "I....I don't know...I'm not sure what we're even gonna do, we don't have any food and barely any water." Said Cody.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the radio turned on with an alarming message from the speaker. "Phase Two will begin in 10 minutes. I repeat, Phase Two will begin in 10 minutes. If you have not received instructions, it is recommended that you get within your tornado shelter or bunker within your home. However, if you do not have either at your disposal, immediately run for one of 3 public shelters within town. If you find any humans that have not gone through the process that is Phase One outside of the shelter, immediately contact the authorities and wait for back up but it is allowed to attempt to neutralize the threat if it is safe to do so. With that, everyone in the area will have time to get to safety and then Phase Two shall begin." Said the voice.

After the message had been fully transferred over to then, Emma couldn't fully comprehend what Phase Two even was. For the matter of fact what was Phase One all about!? Unlike his sister, Cody had a feeling about what Phase One actually was.

He had the suspicion that Phase One was for the anthropomorphic animals were to capture all humans for an unknown purpose, but like his sister, he hadn't confirmed on what Phase Two was.

Suddenly, dozens of cars rushed past their hiding spot, thankfully not noticing them. It seemed as if those people were making their way towards the shelters that were mentioned in the warning on the radio.

Cody kept pondering on what to do when their radio had another warning. "Attention everyone! This is your final warning! Get within the public shelter or your own bunker of any kind! Phase Two will be taken into effect in 5 minutes! I repeat, Phase Two will be taken into effect in 5 minutes!" Said the voice on the radio.

The next several minutes were spent on a fight between Cody and Emma on whether they should go to the shelters or not. "We need to get to safety! Something serious must be happening!" Said Emma frantically. "No way! Did you hear that person on the radio? They're trying to get humans! It is a trap!" Screamed Cody in response. "Well we have to somewhat consider the warning!" Said Emma.

Cody couldn't argue with that, he would likely need to move just in case of an anthro spotting them. So the most logical thing was to just leave the city to not get caught.

As the two drove out of the forest and onto the road, it happened. A loud explosion rocked the car up and down. The sky turned dark with lots of red strewn across what was once a bright blue sunny sky with many clouds.

Cody looked back behind them and saw a giant fiery inferno in the direction of what had only been an official industry for a few days. Cody now knew what happened and knew that they had to get out of there fast. "What's happening?" Asked Emma in fright. "THE POWER PLANT'S EXPLODED!" Screamed Cody.

Knowing that the shockwave was coming soon, he immediately started the vehicle and raced away to try and escape the blast. He was forcing the truck to rush down the street as speeds it had never gone before. Cody was obviously breaking the speed limit but he didn't care in the slightest. The two had passed by several unfortunate people who were rushing for cover, Emma felt sick to her stomach knowing that many of them wouldn't make it out alive.

Cody and Emma eventually rushed past the city's mall and that was when the shockwave hit them, and it was stronger than he expected. It caused the window's glass to shatter and several pieces cut his arm, but that didn't stop them. The two could feel the heat rising, but they didn't stop until they had reached the airport on the border of their city.

The two felt a sense of relief wash over them knowing that they were finally safe.

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Hello everybody! BenGamer2496 here!

I really appreciate the support that you guys are giving this story and I really hope you all have a happy new year!

I know several of you have questions on where this story will go from here such as:

Where did the anthropomorphic animals come from in the first place and what started it all?

What friends and foes will Cody and Emma meet on their journey? (if you could call it that)

What on earth happened to Elliot?

All your questions will be answered in the coming months of this story being published.

As for everyone else, have a happy new year!

See you all in 2022!

Have a good one!
~BenGamer2496
P.S.: Me in 2023: 🤦‍♂️