The sky was a deep blood soaked orange and littered with debris.
As my father was pulling off, you could hear the screams of panic throughout the entire neighborhood. There were people scattering everywhere.
Immediately upon driving, you can feel the warmth of all the radiation outside the vehicle. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad due to the protection we have surrounding us.
"Dad," Samantha started "Where are we going?"
"Uh-" my father paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. "We-We're going somewhere far, I think."
Sammy sank back into her seat in confusion. Not knowing exactly what dad meant by that. I was even unsure myself and I am thirteen years older than she is.
I tried doing anything to distract myself. I never have been one good with long car-rides. I twiddled my fingers, tried taking a nap, even attempted to play I-spy with Sammy, but that now had a glum undertone, considering.
All of a sudden there was a loud booming in the distance. It felt as though the car jolted a little, but I wasn't sure. Perhaps my paranoia had begun to creep in. I hadn't the slightest clue what that noise could've been, but whatever it was, I knew it was bad.
Soon enough, after being on the road for what felt like hours, I was able to shut my eyes. Sammy was long asleep, and mom stayed up with dad talking about the current events and what our next ones were going to be. I had already gone through two snacks I had packed. Having reached over Sammy to rummage though my suitcase in the back.
The car was starting to warm up some more. It rang in my mind that we were probably in an area with higher radiation now. I tried to ignore the heat and the stench sifting into the car.
My eyes were getting heavier and heavier by the second and before I knew it, I was fast asleep.
***
"C'mon girls, wake up. Wake up. We're here. Somewhere."
As I groggily wiped my eyes and came-to, I saw my dad pulling Sammy out of the car from the front door, carrying her as she was still half asleep.
"You good?" My dad asked "C'mon." He followed.
I climbed to the front to get out. We seemed to be in the absolute middle of nowhere. Another state even, perhaps several.
We walked over to a hump in the sand which seemed to be a door.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"There was a message on the radio; they advised people to try and seek shelter at a nearby bunker. They listed several locations and we just so happened to be approaching one." My mom answered.
My dad was about to knock on the door when he stopped.
"Look. Up there!" He pointed to a spot in the sky. "What's that?"
There was indeed something in the sky. In fact it seemed as though it was falling. And fast. It was falling so fast, in fact, that it was catching fire in the atmosphere.
As it hit the ground somewhere, I was blew back with the upmost intensity paired with an extremely loud mixture of ringing and buzzing flooding my ears. I didn't fly too high, but definitely far. My vision blurred, going in and out of focus. Dust and debris trickling down in the air as if it were heavy rain and smacking every part of my body like snow in a blizzard. I crashed to the ground, losing consciousness on impact.
***
My head was pounding, eyes were stinging, and I could feel my lungs burning with the urge to cough.
I placed one of hands on the ground and the other on my head in an attempt to ease the headache, which was in vain. Then the coughing began.
Suddenly, I could see someone approaching me, running at full speed.
"Hey, you need to get up and come with me now! Hurry!" A boy stood above me with his hand extended.
"What? Why? Do I know you?" I stayed there on the ground, looking from his hand to his face.
He had dark curly hair and fair skin. His dark brown eyes were inviting. He wore thick black glasses that made his eyes appear bigger than they were, a dark blue hoodie, and black sweatpants. He seemed nice enough.
"What's with all the questions?! There's no time to explain, come with me!"
He used the hand he was offering to me to pull me up from the ground and run with him.
"Where are we going?!" I asked in a panic.
"Gosh, you sure do talk a lot." The unknown boy spat. "I'm saving your life."
We ran and ran until my lungs felt as though they were on the brink of bursting. We made it to the entrance of a once largely dense forest.
"Stop, I can't go on. I can't breathe." I blurted, my voice barely above an cohesive whisper. My hands rested on my knees as I was barreled over, trying to regain oxygen.
"C'mon, just a little further, where they're going." He said as he pointed to a group of kids running into the forest. I had a bad feeling about the woods he was wanting us to enter.
"I'm not going anywhere else with you until you tell me why we were running in the first place."
"The moon!" He said with an attitude, throwing his hands up. "There was a piece of the moon hurdling toward you! Are you happy now?!"
As I was about to reply to him I saw the now distant figures of the kids who had ran in before, drop, one by one.
We both stood in shock. It felt as if time slowed. I began thinking of a possible cause, and then it hit me.
"We have to go now, we can't go in there." I said, trying to take the boys arm and walk away. He stood there, unmoved. "What are you doing? Let's go!"
"W-what happened to them?"
"It's a bunch of dead air!"
His eyes widened. He finally turned to walk with me. I let go of my hold on him.
"I know a place we can go."
He started jogging and so did I in an attempt to keep up with him.
"Where are we? Where are we going?" I asked, following behind him.
"We're in Willow Creek. I'm taking you to this house that was just abandoned. I saw the owners leave right after the broadcast."
Fear and disbelief washed over me. Willow Creak?! That was several states over from where my parents and I just were. I know this because this is where they filmed Sammy's favorite cartoon show.
I kept silent the rest of the way.
As we approached the "house" the boy was talking about, I was stunned. This so-called house was nothing short of a mega-mansion.
"How did you find out about this place?!"
"Don't worry about that. Let's just go in."
I followed the boy to the entrance of the mansion.
"How do we get in?"
The boy tried the door and it opened. Just as he was about to enter, I stopped him.
"Before we go in," I began "May I ask what your name is?"
"Riley. What's yours?"
"Rosalie."
"Nice to meet you, Rosalie. Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
Just as he turned to walk in, I stopped him once more by placing my hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, Riley?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for saving me back there."
"It was no problem. And sorry for earlier by the way."
"It's fine."
As he turned back around, he took a deep breath before slowly setting foot in the mansion.
I looked back the state of the outside world, remembering that my parents and sister were hopefully out there somewhere, alive.
I shut the door, closing out all the loving memories of the world and life before--
the sun and moon collied.