The End.

2

"Urgh!" I grunted, lugging my suitcase down our stairs. While our steps were beautiful, it was extremely difficult to drag a suitcase down the curved, marble-like surface. My parents weren't wealthy, but they had made good money with my mother being a pediatrician and my dad being in the government. He worked specifically for the president and his family, and was the director of security for The White House. This being said, he made a decent amount of 'dough' as some call it. Although the funny thing is, my parents don't show that they have a lot of money. I guess they've been saving it in a fund for my siblings and I's college funds. Suddenly, I remembered what my mom had said to me in my room just a little while ago.
"We're going to be okay, I promise. This was long coming.. Your dad found out about a year ago and has been making arrangements to keep us safe since then... I know this is difficult Honey, I know. But you have to stay strong for him right now. Everything is going to be okay."
Long-coming? Was that where my parents had been funneling their wealth? Was that supposed to mean that they knew something bad was happening so they started putting back money to support and protect us when it happened? I stopped walking, and leaned my suitcase up against the railing and my bag fell on top of it. A feeling of déjà-vu passed over me in a wave of chills that seemed to seep through my skin and freeze my bones.

"Good job Carter!" My parents said in unison.
"You had great form Carter! Want to try again?" The instructor asked, holding out the pistol to me. His smile went from ear to ear and it felt weird to me that he was so excited that I had hit the target. "Bullseye" he had said. I didn't understand why anyone could think this was exciting, but if it made my parents happy, and made a competition for my siblings and I, I guess it could make me happy too.
"Sure." I beamed, trying to sound as if I had done this many times before.
I unfolded my safety glasses again and put them around my head, smoothed my hair our of my face, and picked up the weapon. Shortly after getting set up in my station, I propped the gun up and aimed at the person-shaped target.
"Don't forget, try to aim for either the heart, or the head. Don't shoot until you have a clear shot. You're doing great." The instructor boomed.
I heard a small but obvious click as I turned the safety off and I looked through the line to aim for where the heart would have been.

Oh my God, my parents had taken me to shoot guns, practice hunting, taught me to find edible plants, ands dragged me to various survival conventions and expo's. They hadn't done it because they wanted to goof off and spend time with us, they did it because they were preparing us for the freaking end of the world!
"Always be prepared." He'd say, whenever I forgot something that I needed. If I had to explain my family in one word, the word would be precise. They always only bought what we needed, and they were always prepared and on time. I used to wonder why they were like that, because my whole life I've been taught to he exact and to be prepared, but nothing could have prepared me for what was coming.
I was abruptly, and quite literally shaken out of my thoughts by my father. I had so many questions to ask him, but he had said he would explain in the car on the way, so I decided I would save my questions for after he filled us in.

"What are you doing Carter? Go put your bags in the truck and go help your mom load up everything else."

I murmured something close to an 'okay' and got up to continue dragging my things down the steps.
Once I opened the hatch to the truck bed and neatly put my things in, I sighed once more and began trudging back into my house. The television was on in the living room and this time it was a video of the capital. There were people running around and scrambling to find their families so that they could leave. Kids were crying, dads were yelling, the usual obnoxious pre-teens were a deadly kind of silent. "This just in." The news lady reported.
"The stock market has crashed. And as of yesterday morning, we have been cut off from the shipment of cargo from every other country in the world. The entire government is in a frenzy trying to figure out what has gone wrong. Russia has declared war. Please be safe until further instruction."
A loud booming noise was heard in the background. "LIAR!" Someone screamed. This was followed by another boom that I immediately recognized as gunfire. The news lady stumbled backward in a jerky manner, and blood began to pool around her head. The television cut suddenly to a bright blue screen, and my dad reached up and literally unplugged the television.
"Go help your mom.." He gruffed.
I nodded my head, and my dad patted me on my back. However, this only made my clumsy self trip over the couch and stumble into the kitchen from the living room.
My mom and Alison were carrying cans of food to a large, heavy duffel bag sitting on the table, and Kyle was still sitting at the table in shock of what he had just seen on the television.
"Kids, are you sure you got everything you need? We can't forget anything because once we're on the road, we can't turn back."
"Yes! We have everything mom!" We practically yelled. I know she's trying to help, but I think we can handle getting our things together.
After we finished packing nearly everything in our pantry, my father brought his and my mothers things to the kitchen and set them down. He also brought a large, black scrapbook that was overflowing with photos and memories. Ever since my parents first born, Kyle, was born they had kept photos and memories of different things, and they even kept the tradition when my younger sister, Alison, was born.
He handed the giant book to my mother, and with tears in her eyes she accepted it and placed it in my hands. My father and Kyle grabbed the bags of food and the last suitcases, Alison and my mother brought the cases of water, and that left me to turn off the lights and televisions and lock up. I sulked out of the kitchen, dragged myself up the stairs, and became so caught up in my thoughts that I nearly missed three steps. It could have been worse, but I only stubbed my right pinkie toe and mumbled some profanities.
After turning off everything in all of the rooms, I was careful to close all of the doors and I closed the cabinets and pantry in the kitchen. When I was finished with that, I took a few more long looks around the house I grew up in, and walked out. Closing and locking the door behind me.

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{an}

Teaser; Carter & fam get a simplified explanation of what's going on. (Like I said, it's very simplified)