Chaos Rising

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EquinoxSol

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Drew awoke late that morning, brushing crust from his eyes as they blinked open. He yawned, sitting up. Looking over at the others, people he's come to love in the past two weeks. He had converted the back seats of his van to a sort of bedroom, though everyone sort of cuddled together most of the time. Unzipping his backpack--which had been used as his pillow--he took out a t-shirt and pulled it on before saying "Wake up, guys. I think if we drive all day, we can make it to Vegas by five-ish."

He reached into the front seats, trying to find his phone, which had been charging. Checking for messages from his parents, he opened his GPS app, finding out how far they were from Las Vegas. Not as far as he'd originally thought, but still far.

"But first," Drew said, "let's get breakfast." He retrieved a box of poptarts and several cans of Coke from beneath the front seat. "Here, guys," he said, passing out food. "It's my turn to drive, so if you want, grab some more sleep, but I'll need someone awake to talk to."

He stepped precariously over everyone else's bodies, opening the back doors and letting more light flood in. Hopping out, he shut the doors behind him and got in front, turning the keys in the ignition. Biting into a poptart, he pulled out of the empty parking lot, stretching his shoulders as he did so.

This'll be the perfect night, he thought.

How wrong he was.
 
James had been woken up from his peaceful slumber by the host of their trip, Drew. Groaning, the red head turned onto his side. He had slept in the corner of the van, away from most of everyone else. Sitting up, he stretched out his arms.

Grabbing his bag out from under him, he opened up and searched it, moving things around with his hand, until finally he pulled out a dark, navy blue t-shirt. Quickly stripping off the shirt he wore last night, he put the new one on. He still wore his red, plaid jeans.

Finally, he stood, tossing the bag back into the corner. He graciously took the poptart and Coke from Drew and followed the other out. "Thank you. I wouldn't mind coming up front to talk." But that was somewhat of a lie, whenever he was around people, especially the male population, he tended to be rather quiet. But him going up there, he thought that he would be doing a kindness, Drew had said he wanted someone to talk to.

But, he followed Drew out, still holding onto his poptart and Coke. He went to the passengers side and hopped inside. His red hair still slightly ruffled from sleep. James opened up his poptart and cautiously began to eat it, not trying to make a mess. His coke sat inbetween his legs. "So I take it we're even closer to Vegas?" he asked, tryingto make small talk. His dark blue eyes were focused on the road ahead of them.

Maybe this isn't so bad he thought.
 
Will covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he yawned, sitting up. He pulled off the baggy shirt he'd been sleeping in and swapped it for a white t-shirt and brushed the worst of the creases out of his black skinny jeans. He accepted the coke and pop tart without saying anything, trying to smother another yawn. Almost subconsciously, his foot tapped against the ground as he ate. When he finished, his hands went back to brushing his jeans and fixing his hair. He moved forward so he could see Drew's GPS. They were a lot closer to Vegas than he expected- evidently, they'd driven further then they'd anticipated last night.

Then again, Vegas was going to be the highlight of this trip. They hadn't stayed that long anywhere else, knowing that the sooner they got to Vegas, the longer they'd have. "How're we doing for gas, Drew?" He asked quickly, as he started looking for his red and white checkered Vans. He found them under his backpack and pulled them on, retrieving his iPod out of his bag while he was doing so.

He slipped one of his headphones into his ear. As he hit play, he subconsciously started fixing his black and blue hair, knowing it was probably standing on end. He took a mouthful out of his coke and watched the scenery passing by, still fixing his hair, even if it was only so his hands had something to do.
 
Hyun-Su gradually opened his eyelids as he was interrupted from his short-lived shuteye. Unfortunately for the poor boy, he wasn't been lucky with getting the appropriate amounts of sleep, he was always ended up with 2-4 hours of slumber. He was a bit concerned, it had been a couple of weeks when this happened. Also you can see by the black circles forming under his eyes, the circles was big but big enough to notice them.

He noticed that Drew was handing over pop tarts and coke. Since he was hungry, he gladly accepted the two. Even though the young boy wasn't the one for sugary food and drinks, he didn't really care right how. He eventually got up from where he was sleeping, freeing himself from the unknown arm that was wrapped around him. He took the food and drink from Drew, thanking him with a smile from his hart-shaped lips before carefully eating the pop tart, trying not to make a mess.

Shortly after he ate and finished his drink, Hyun-Su made his way his way back to where was sleeping, hoping he could get a few more hours of sleep.

Despite of not getting enough shuteye, Hyun-Su was enjoying the road trip.
 
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"Mmmppphhhhhh." As always, Zahi was showing off how extremely eloquent he could be in the mornings. Meaning, not at all. Feeling someone move his arm - had he accidentally gone full octopus again during the night? - Zahi sat up, rubbing at his eyes. He squinted, trying to make out who the blob sitting in front of him was. There was some black floating near what seemed to be the top of them, so that narrowed it down to... well basically everyone. Yeesh, why couldn't people have more creative hair colours? Drew was sitting up front; that he knew at least, so it narrowed it down a little bit. Zahi decided to risk a guess. "Hyun-su? Is that you?" he asked, trying and failing from keeping his voice cracking with sleep.

He felt around next to him, trying to find his messenger bag. Zahi made a point of always packing his stuff in unusual bags that were shaped different from everyone else's for this reason alone. It wasn't fun trying to figure out which backpack was yours when you couldn't see anything further than an arm's length away. Finally finding it, he dug around in the bag, feeling for his contacts. The minute he found the slightly round container, Zahi put them in, blinking madly to keep his eyes from watering too much. Putting in contacts was a skill he still had not quite mastered.

"Oh yay I can see now," he cheered. "Finally not blinded. Anyways, good morning Hyun-su. Sorry for going full octopus on you last night, probably should have warned you that I'm clingy. Is there food?" As was normal for the mornings, Zahi's mind was racing at a mile a minute. He grabbed a pop tart, and pulled a bottle of water as well as a jar of pills out of his bag. Taking his meds, he chugged part of the bottle before nibbling on the poptart. "So, where are we? Almost at Vegas yet?"
 
Noah opened his eyes and yawned. His sister was still sleeping, curled up close to him. He smiled a little when she stirred and blinked her eyes at him. "Morning," he murmured to her. She grumbled something in reply that he didn't quite catch, and he laughed softly. Drew, up front, was handing out poptarts and coke. He went up and grabbed some for himself and Celia. "Good morning," he greeted the group in general, his accent lacing his words lightly. Noah skipped over an outstretched leg and sat himself next to Celia, handing her half of his bounty, and unscrewed the cap of his soda.

Celia watched him with eyes still slanted with sleep as he made his way back down the isle. Her neck and back yelled at her for the inadequate sleeping arrangements, and she stretched to soothe her morning aches before accepting the offered breakfast. If you could call it that. She wasn't picky with her food, but she couldn't help but wish for a plate of eggs and orange juice instead of soda and poptarts. Nevertheless, she thanked her brother. "Grazie," she said softly. "Prego," he replied, just as quiet as she was. Celia peeked over the seats while she ate, making a small "eep" noise when she locked eyes with Will. She ducked back behind the seats, feeling Noah laughing silently beside her. She wacked him and resumed eating her food.
 
Akumi found herself ontop of a very high and big scyscaper, looking down on a big city. People look like ants, cars like bugs. "That is the place all of them belong to..."
She positioned her hands on her hips and pulled her shoulders backwards, making a superior and commanding pose.
"And this is what you get for disobeying me" And spaceships broke through the clouds, bombs started to fall onto the city...
Akumi laughed.... Akumi slowly opened her eyelids... "It was just a dream...", she thought.

"Good morning...", came tiredly from her lips and went on to stretch a little. She didnt feel like talking to any of them, they didnt seem worth her time right now, and so she ignored everybody around her.
She opened her handbag, where she is keeping all of her possessions and grabbed for a small mirror to check if her look is still perfectly. "My hair..." she thought and a disgusted expression formed on her face.
She grabbed a hair tie and bound it to a ponytail. "Better than nothing...."

Barely satisfied she put the mirror away and took a look around. Her companions were having breakfast... poptarts and coke...
She felt disgusted by the idea of eating such nasty fat bombs.... "especially coke, do they even know how much sugar is in there?"

"It is probably going to be a while until we reach Vegas" And in her mind it was clear that she wont eat until then.

She went back to her handbag and grabbed her phone and started to checked for any new text messages, emails. She wondered, why did she have to come onto this trip in the first place? Especially with lesser people...
Akumi looked at her friendlist and started to tap the buttons on her phone, writing lots and lots of messages to her closer friends that were left behind.
 
"Yeah. We should be in Vegas by three or so," Drew answered James, grinning. He was soon maneuvering onto the highway, yelling curses out the window at drivers who cut him off or were swerving. Sipping at his coke, he finally began to wake up, and said to James, "What do you think we should do in Vegas? Since not everyone has a fake ID... I was thinking that we could just walk along the strip...Or go to the top of the Eiffel Tower? It's kinda expensive, but it'd be cool..."

-----

Eventually, they were within sight of the Las Vegas skyline, after hours of driving and sporadic bathroom and snack breaks. Letting out a cheer, Drew stopped the van, getting out and taking out his phone. He opened the camera and, just as he was taking a picture of the skyline, an enormous explosion rocked the ground beneath his feet, throwing him on his ass.

Looking back at the city, he saw a mushroom cloud erupting from the city. Eyes widening, he jumped back in the car, slamming the door shut. Making sure that everyone was in the car, he heard the tires squeal on the pavement as he made a u-turn breaking the speed limit as he sped away fromthe explosion.

Shit, shit, shit! Drew thought, his eyes wide. His heart was pounding in his chest, threatening to beat its way out of his chest, and he had to resist the urge to scream, not wanting to go into a full panic. "Oh...okay, guys," he said shakily. "We're gonna go back to New Kenston, and...we'll decide from there..." Beginning to push ninety, he tried to keep from looking back at Vegas, needing to stay calm.
 
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Noah straightened when he saw the skyline, his heart beating in excitement. Vegas. It was mostly cheap imitations of other places and casinos, but it was a place you could get lost in, taking in the neon signs that try to pull you in and the people, who ranged from tourists to security guards to drag queens to street performers... He wanted to see it all- Then it exploded. He felt the ground beneath the car rock in the aftershock, and Celia awoke once again, startled and afraid. He soothed her as the sped off in the other direction, mumbling assurances into her hair.

She was running through broken streets, fire behind her and devastion in front of her. There was a figure, in front of her and she reached out- Celia startled into consiousness as the explosion went off. She felt the ground shudder and whimpered. Her brother was there, telling her softly it was okay, there was an explosion, we're heading back. But she was afraid, and could not be consoled. So she reached for her notebook and drew the broken streets from her dream, the memory of a skyline unfamiliar to her, the orange heat of flames and grey taste of ash she couldn't seem to get out of her mouth. Celia was tired of her dream, the same one, over and over again, that she would faithfully draw and re-draw in her notebook. It was an old dream, and she felt her brother's arms tighten around her when he saw what she had drawn.
 
Akumi looked at her phone...
The good thing on the facebook App is that it tells weither or not the message was read.

The last message was read 20 minutes ago....
"What is taking you so long... Geez"

Akumi was bored and she started to browse through the internet on her phone, looking at the latest fashion trend, pretty handbags she would need to acquire...
She looked out the window, gazing upon Vegas... "Finally, soon I can get something healthy to eat"

Then the earth shook and the sky burned. Akumi stared into a mushroom. Her eyes wide open. She can't believe what she is seeing. Everything felt like a dream.
She is shaking, terrified, paralyzed and couldnt move, even when the van started to move, she could not.

She snapped, tears rolled down her cheecks... and she panicked, terrified for her life.

"Let me go!!", she screamed and started to hammer at the vans door, tears continued to roll down her cheecks, her face looked as if she had seen a horrible and absolutely terrfying ghost.
 
Will climbed out of the van the moment they came to a stop. He'd never seen anything like the skyline of Vegas before, and wanted to take it in. He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture- moments before an explosion ripped through the air, a mushroom cloud billowing up from the ground. Forgetting for once about everyone else, he hurled himself into the van, his heart pounding. The others weren't far behind, a variety of expressions on their faces. Fear prevailed. Fear always prevailed.

He didn't realise his hands were shaking until he tried to rest them on his knees. They were trembling. His whole body felt tense, and he couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom. Drew tried to tell them that they'd head back, but Will shook his head. "Drew, that's a fucking nuclear bomb! There's no way in sweet hell we're going to get away! We'll be lucky if the rest of the country is still intact! We're going to fucking die!" He almost yelled, his voice shaking. Akumi started to freak, yelling and pounding on the door.

Instinctively, he grabbed her and pulled her away from the door, his arms tight around her to stop her from hurting herself. "We can't! We can't, Akumi! If we get out of this van, we're all going to die and there's no questioning that!" He could feel his own body shaking with the fear and didn't know what he was supposed to do to comfort anyone. He couldn't comfort himself.
 
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James nodded, he was excited. He had been anticipating going to Las Vegas, for that was their major stop. They were going to be there longer than before. "Yeah, plus I wouldn't look a day over the age of 21, I don't even look like an 18 year old. The eiffel tower sounds pretty cool." he said, brushing his red hair from his eyes. He took a sip of his sugary drink as the drove on.

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Hours later, they had made it. The skyline was visible. Following Drew out, he walked over to where the other male stood and took out his phone. He was about to take a photo of Las Vegas.. when it blew up. The explosion rang in his ears. He didn't move until Drew started running back to the van. Instead of getting up front, he went to the back of the van.

James sat down in a corner, his eyes were wide and fear showed in them. This couldn't be happening. This was America! How could they let this come through? Innocent people were dying.... The red head pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his head in his pale arms. He was trembling. Fuck America, they never knew what they were doing anyways.

They were going to die, Will had said it. They were going to die. Why don't they just give up now? It would be much easier than trying to run away. They couldn't outrun this.

Great, their plans of going to the mini Eiffel tower were ruined. Isn't that great?
 
"Shut up! Everyone needs to shut up!" He needed everyone to keep quiet so he could drive. "Akumi, Will, I swear to God--!" he yelled as he narrowly avoided hitting a truck. "If you hurt my van, you're paying for it!" He grabbed his cellphone, unlocking it with shaking fingers. However, when he tried calling his mother, his phone emitted a high-pitched whine. Throwing it down to the floor of his car, he made a frustrated noise, frightened and angry and worried. Were his parents okay? They'd been talking about going to New York over the summer, which must surely be one of the cities bombed.

Taking a shaky breath in, he fumbled with the radio, though so far in the middle of nowhere it was hard to get a signal.

It was nearing midnight as they reached Elko, Nevada. It wasn't destroyed, though there was a military checkpoint on the road in, that stopped Drew's van. Rolling down the window, he fixed fearful dark eyes at the soldier that walked towards him, the gun at his side sending chills through him.

"Identification. From all of you," the soldier said sternly, pointing a flashlight in at them. Quickly, Drew took out his wallet, taking out his driver's license.

"Please, you gotta let us through," Drew pleaded. "We didn't do anything, I swear..." The soldier ignored him, looking at all their IDs in turn. As another soldier scanned their licenses, running them through the government database, Drew tried to keep from shaking, exhaustion and fear wearing down on him.
 
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Akumi felt Wills arms around her, he was holding her. She burried her face in her hands and cried her eyes out. Mascara ran down her cheeks...

....


She calmed down. She was looking at her mirror, fixing her make up a little. She just decided to remove most of it. She still couldnt believe what is happening. "Please let this dream end..."
The soldiers asked for their identifications. She grabbed her handbag, took her purse, opened it and passed her ID card to the soldier.
Her mobile phone started to vibrate, she looked at it. 48 Missed calls. All from her father. She tapped his name on her phones addressbook....
"The requested phone number is currently not available" came back from her phone.

She sat into the corner inside of the van, drew her legs close to her chest and hugged them.... She was scared and confused.... "I just want to go home..." Akumi rested her head on her arms. All of this was too much for her, tears started to roll down her cheeks again, she looked at the door so the others wouldnt see. She didnt want them to see her like this. "Father....", she quietly said under silent tears.
 
Will fell asleep as they kept driving. For some reason, instead of making it hard for him to sleep, the fear drove him into deeper depths of unconsciousness. Somebody had to shake him awake at one point, although he wasn't sure who. He squinted as a flashlight shone into the car. He heard someone say something about ID, and rooted in his backpack. Still blinking and trying to wake himself up, he held out his driver's ID.

The soldier squinted at his ID. It was relatively recent, and the only real difference was the colour of his hair. It was a bright electric blue, in contrast to the black and blue streaks. However, the soldier took his time, looking at the ID, and then back at Will. Eventually, he handed it over, and Will lay back down, slipping one headphone back in. He left the other out so people can talk to him. He didn't particularly want to think too much, because the fear was still running down his spine.

He wasn't falling asleep, but he still didn't feel like sitting up and seeing the damage . He pulled out his phone and stared at it. He had a text from his mother. He opened it up and saw a text. "i love you honey no matter what happens"

His stomach dropped and he allowed the phone to fall to the side. He stared at the wall, feeling his eyes starting to tear up. He blinked and blinked but they didn't go away.
 
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Noah held his sister close to him, feeling her fear towards the soldiers, the situation in itself. He obligingly passed up their identification when prompted. He was slightly relieved that their family was safe in Italy, unless... Unless Italy had been attacked, too. He knew from watching the others that using his cell phone would be useless. "Finirà tutto bene," He murmured in her hair to comfort her. "Andrà meglio, vedrai." He felt her nod weakly, clutching her sketchbook, and knew that this time, he could not comfort her.

Celia held tight to her sketchbook, drawing almost feverishly her surroundings; the soldiers, the military checkpoint itself, Drew's frustration and Akumi's panic. She'd even managed to catch Will in her pages, sleeping with a line between his eyebrows. The kind of sleep that was an escape from what was happening.
 
The male handed his identification card to the soldier, his hand shaking as the armed man took it. The picture had him with a brighter red, but you would be able to tell that it was James. The soldier looked at the card, James, the card, and then back at James. He then handed it back.

It was near midnight, the sky was dark from what James could tell. Had they been driving along this long? James wasn't sure. He had been too wrapped up in his thoughts to know. He shut his eyes and leaned back against the wall of the van. He was tired, but he had to be awake. What if another explosion went off? He needed to get away.
 
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After a couple seconds, the soldier waved Drew threw, saying, "The emergency center is in the high school. There's beds and food for refugees."

Drew nodded before driving forward, eventually finding the high school. Parking, he said, "Everything will be okay, guys..." He took his keys and helped the others out of the van, grabbing his backpack. "Hopefully we'll be able to learn more about what happened...and get some rest..."

He yawned, locking up his van as he walked towards the doors of the school. At the doors, more soldiers demanded their IDs and added their names, genders, and ages to a list, for later use.

Afterwards, they were pointed to the gym, where makeshift cots were arranged in rows. Over half were filled, and towards the back were several TVs playing every news station. Soldiers were everywhere, sometimes talking to a person or two. One approached the group, saying, "Choose an empty space. Rations will be given tomorrow morning."

Drew nodded, stumbling as he moved to a group of empty cots and sitting at the edge of one. He looked up at the others, saying," We should try to get some sleep...we can try calling parents tomorrow..." He ran a nervous hand through his hair. Biting his bottom lip, he whispered, "I don't want to sleep alone..." He knew that there were people on all sides, but, in case they decided to destroy Elko, too, Drew didn't want to die without being able to hold someone else.
 
The soldier had told them about a highschool, a highschool where refugee's were staying. And so, they left. Drew managed to find the high school and they all got out, James didn't leave without his bag. He had a pocket knife in there just in case if something were to happen. Maybe someone would be able to use it. James wasn't.

When they reached the doors, the red headed boy told the soldiers what they asked and followed the others in. They had been directed towards the gym, where rows upon rows of cots layed. Over half of them were filled, the only ones left were near the back. Luckily it was a large group of them too.

Following Drew over there, he sat on the cot next to Drew's. James really didn't want to sleep alone, but, he did. He was more than likely going to cry sometime during the night, being the person he was. James didn't handle things well, perhaps he was just too sensitive, or something like that. The red head looked over to Drew, he looked like he was tired, in which he was. Doing something he'd most never do, but in this situation he decided that he should, James got up and sat next to Drew on his cot. Then, he wrapped his arms around the other. It wasn't a romantic gesture, nothing in that sort, but a it was a friendly one. They were scared shitless and needed eachother for support. Friends hugged eachother, right?

''It'll be fine, I'm sure these soldiers will get us out before something happened." he said in a quiet voice, pulling back.
 
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They ended up in the high school, which appeared to be the emergency centre. Will ran a hand through his hair nervously, his backpack on his back and his phone and iPod in his pocket. He was directed to a bed and sat down heavily. His head sank onto his hands, overwhelmed for a moment. He knew he was supposed to be looking after everyone else, but the presence of the soldiers reminded him that they were going to be looked after already.

He raised his head and looked at the others. He met Celia's eyes and smiled a little. His knee was jiggling. He knew he was rocking back and forth, and his hand was tapping on the knee that was still. James and Drew sat on the bed together, and Will just stared at the floor. He didn't blame them. He didn't want to die alone, but he was pretty sure that he was going to be the one that they'd find either curled up under a pile of rubble, dead in about four ways, or the only one alive but broken. He wasn't close enough to any of the others and didn't think he had the nerve to bridge that gap.

He couldn't stop moving, his hand tapping on his knee and his knee jiggling and his torso rocking back and forth. The noise was starting to get too much for him, and he just wanted to go back to the van and drive until it all went away. He would even just settle for sleeping in the van.
 
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