How It All Ended

Chapter 2

Sleeping in the basement wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Rich and I stayed upstairs until after the sun went down, and that's when we headed downstairs. Richard seemed pretty tired and he pretty much passed out on the floor near the bottom step. Thankfully for me, Rich wasn't a snorer.

Me, well, I sat on my steps for a little bit and thought about going back up to see if anything was going on out in front of my place. But, since the power was off, I figured it would be a waste of time. And I had no way of knowing who could be lurking around out there in the dark.

My house shaking caused me to awake from my slumber. I sat up immediately on the top of my basement steps and looked around. Rich was still fast asleep on my basement floor. For a sec, I thought that I was dreaming.

"Rich? Did you feel that?" I groggily asked my neighbor.

Rich sat up and rubbed his face. "No. What?"

"The house shook. Well, at least I think it did."

"What time is it?"

"Not sure. I think it's the morning, though."

Richard got up from the floor and stretched out. "Could be a vehicle passing by. Maybe we should go outside and check it out."

"Sure. We've got nothing better to do," I replied. I could tell that the power still wasn't restored because it was completely silent all around Rich and me.

Richard and I trudged up the stairs, and everything in my home sat untouched throughout the evening. I was thinking that there'd be looters out and about, but so far, so good.

As soon as I opened my front door, the smell hit me right away, Rich too; the odor of burning buildings.

Rich covered his face and coughed, "Shit, that's bad."

"It is," I replied. "Close, too."

Richard and I stepped out of my home and walked right out into the middle of the street. Everything was so quiet and still around the two of us that it felt like we were the only people left on Earth.

"We cannot be the only ones here," I said to Rich.

Rich was looking in all directions, glancing at the houses on both sides of the road. "Shit, maybe we are."

"Everyone in the neighborhood couldn't have just up and left. Besides, where would they go?"

"Good point, Dom."

It was a bright, warm morning and not a cloud in the sky. It was almost normal. Almost.

To mine and Rich's left, we heard the sound of a vehicle's engine. We looked at the end of the block towards Richard's home on the corner and waited. Then, a dark blue pickup truck sped into our view. From our vantage point, Rich and I could see that the back of the vehicle had a few people in it, and they were wielding various weaponry.

When the truck's driver saw us, they turned down the street and sped in our direction. I knew that Rich and I had to get our asses off the street and back inside as fast as we could.

I started to run, but Rich didn't budge. It was like he was standing there, completely frozen with fear.

"Come on, Rich," I said. But Richard just would not move. He stood there, watching the truck barrel towards him. I grabbed Rich's right arm and ran with him as the pickup truck sped closer to us, "Rich, let's go!" I had to pull Richard onto the porch.

Richard and I made it onto the porch just in time. The truck drove onto my front lawn and sped past my home. The people in the back of the vehicle were shouting something at us, but I couldn't make out what they were screaming. I was too busy trying not to get run over to pay attention.