Paradise

5. The Year of Realizing

They decided to get an early start the next day. Andi looked up local military bases and fairgrounds - they figured the camps would be somewhere secure and guarded. Once they had about three places picked out, they stood by the door. "Let's try to stay close together. I found some walkie-talkie's in the garage." Andi handed one to the twins.

They were nervous as they stepped out of Andi's house. The neighborhood looked pretty clear of the dead, but who knows what they'll come across today. The group piled in the police car, Andi was driving and Casey sat shot gun with the twins in the back.

"Do you hear that?" The one behind Casey asked suddenly. Casey lifted her head off the window and tried to listen but didn't hear anything. The other twin said they could hear it too. They looked out of the car windows as Andi had slowed the car down, trying to hear what the twins were hearing. All of the sudden both of the twins started screaming about a plane. Casey finally noticed the sound after the plane was already less than twenty seconds from impact. They all watched in horror as a plane crashed into some houses just a few blocks from them.

They didn't realize they were screaming until a pounding on the rear window caught their attention. "Andi, go! It's one of those things!" Grayson shouted, him and Ethan had both clung onto the back of the front seats when they caught a glimpse of it.

Andi's mind took a second to process they were all telling her to drive, still too stunned from what she'd just seen. She peeled down the road, grabbing her phone from her jacket pocket. "Here, call the police!"

Casey did as she was told and called to report the plane crash, but the line went dead. "The police aren't answering." Casey deadpanned.

"The police aren't answering? Lemme see that," Grayson grabbed Andi's phone, redialing nine-one-one. After the signal dropped, he ended the call and gave Casey back the phone. "We're fucked."

"Maybe they're getting too many calls right now that ours couldn't go through," Ethan whined. "Can you try to not be negative for once?"

"You think I should be positive about the world ending?" Grayson shot back.

Andi continued to drive and tune out their argument. Casey on the other hand, was fed up of having to listen to their constant arguments. "Can you two shut up so I can try to understand what the fuck just happened?"

"Oh, relax. That wasn't even the climax of this fucking shit show." Grayson retorted from the backseat.

"If you don't fucking shut up I will get the duct tape out of the trunk, Andi knows everything that cops keep in these." Casey said one final warning. Grayson looked unsure, trying to process what had just been said to him.

"You can't duct tape my mouth! What if I need to defend myself?" Grayson quickly shot back.

"That's what your hands are for." Casey laughed, but she wasn't amused.

"Gray, just shut up." Ethan quietly whispered but the whole car heard it.

The rest of the ride was quite but the occasional sighting of one of those things sparked up a few "holy shits" or "what the fucks" but never went fat beyond that. Casey thought she'd seen a fair amount of blood and gore while watching all twelve seasons of Grey's Anatomy with her Mother would have prepared her for this. Seeing it up close and person? In a living reality? Casey went to barf but nothing came out of her stomach.

Finally, they were at the fairgrounds. Casey vaguely remembered hearing some adults in the line at the grocery store saying how the city council had wanted to use the large area to host any epidemic or other large trauma if needed. It's an okay distance between both the major hospitals in the city. Things often came in one ear and out the other with Casey, but she always remembers it when something triggers the memory.