YIS APOCALYPSE

The First Choice

***Harper and Aliya***

Harper tried to cough out whatever seemingly choked her from the inside.  She watched as Aliya rushed to the small bathroom in the nurses room to wash out her eyes. The smoke wasn't that bad in the office, but still she needed more air but it seemed like the capacity of her lungs restricted her from taking all the oxygen she wanted. She coughed more, barely being able to stand up. She looked up, and through her vision, she saw the oxygen tank in the nurses office. She scampered towards the two large oxygen cylinders. 

Harper skimmed through the instruction leaflet attached to the cylinder blinking away the stinging water from her eyes. Aliya emerged from the bathroom, her eyes red from the increasing amounts of gas in the room.

"What-" She coughed through her words, "what are you doing-" She asked

"This thing as has air in it." Harper declared. She turned the valve and counterclockwise as said in the instruction. She watched as the slow needle ticked right and left on the pressure gauge as she hurried for the mask that was attached. She put the mask over her mouth and  watched as the metal ball rose  to the green mark on the meter. Harper didn't care what the measure indicated. She simply breathed into the mask as relief filled into her. She had never been this grateful about breathing.

"Here give me some!" Aliya uttered heading for the mask in Harper's hand. Harper's moment with the oxygen tank had ended as Aliya took the mask for her. She breathed into it closing her red eyes. Aliya savoured the moment. This was so much better than sheesha. She thought to herself. The burning in her lungs had slowed as she slowly noticed the lessening amount of oxygen she was receiving. She opened her eyes. Harper was turning the gas valve clockwise slowly shutting off of Aliya's oxygen supply. Harper had a winning grin on her face. 

"Bruh, what are you doing?" Aliya asked.

"Cutting off your oxygen supply... why?" Harper asked back.

"Dude I can't breath, I need that."

"No we need to save it. For the others."

"For the others? They're probably gonna die either way..."

***The Others***

They had "slept" on the gym mats that night. Of course, who could sleep? While hearing silent groaning from the outside and knowing that maybe their families were safe? Maybe they have everything thought through? Maybe their little siblings weren't playing outside in the backyard? Maybe their moms were being able to deal with being worried sick about their dads and them? If only They could send a message. Text them.

 "Mom, dad, I'm fine." 

"Mom, Don't worry."

 "Dad, keep everyone safe."

 "Mom, dad, I miss you more than ever <3."

But, as all odds were against them, the communications were down. Dead, leaving them with nothing. No form of contact with the outside world. 

Hudaifa woke with a startle. She half-expected her teddy to be there, but she was sleeping on the hard gym mat without her pillow and without a blanket. She sat up and noticed the slightly drooling faces of her classmates. She looked around to the digital clock mounted on the wall. 7:34.