"We have just learned that the superheroes Iron Man and Spider-Man have stowed away in the spaceship. Their current locations aside from that fact are unknown, but this appears to be the first in an alien invasion, for the Avengers are currently missing in action as a direct result of the Sokovia Accords and have yet to respond to this attack. We'll bring you more information as we acquire it. From Gravity Falls, I'm Shandra Jimenez, KOMO-4 News."
The news was such a punch to the guts that it made difficult for Lincoln to breathe, let alone process it all. Did they lose? Did the Avengers lose this battle? No. No, they couldn't have. They're the Avengers; they never lose. Rummaging through his backpack, he located the communicator given to him two years prior.
"Lincoln...?"
Lincoln looked up from his communicator and turned towards the stairway. What he saw before was a confused and scared Leni stumbling down the stairs whilst rubbing her head in pain. What he saw after...were her ashes crumbling to the ground. His eyes widening in horror at the sight before him, he slowly approached the dust mound before crouching down and running his hand through it. Glancing toward the top of the staircase, he found Lori wearing an equally horrified expression on her face. She carefully sauntered down the stairs and joined her younger brother in examining the pile of ashes.
"Guys? Something's happening..."
Everybody turned to Luan now, who managed to somehow not crack a single joke before she disappeared into thin air. Everybody turned to her but Lynn, who instead glanced down at her fading hand. In a soft and terrified voice, she called out to her parents one more time: "Mom...? Dad...?" Lynn's ashes blew away as her parents reached for her before holding their remaining children close.
"L-Lincoln? I don't feel so good..."
Lincoln turned to Lana now with horror. The second tomboy in the family stumbled away from the group while clutching her stomach.
"No... No, you're alright. You're not going anywhere."
"I-I don't know what's happening... I don't – "
A hug was all Lincoln could give Lana as her turn to suffer the same fate as her two sisters was nearing.
"I-I don't want to go... Lincoln, please... I don't want to go... Don't make me go..."
The two siblings remained in a standstill hug before Lana eventually died in Lincoln's arms; he gazed at her ash-filled hands for a moment's notice before...
"Lincoln..."
…his ears perked up at the sound of Lisa's voice. Despite the fact that she too was fading away from existence, she couldn't help but crack a smile and resign to her fate. But why?
"We're in the endgame now..."
Those were her famous last words before she joined in the wind her sisters...and her father.
Rita turned toward her husband and her jaw fell in horror as he too joined one half of their ten daughters into the afterlife. Glancing around the scene that unfolded before her family and noticing that nobody else from it was fading away, she finally broke down and sobbed into her hands as Lori bent down to comfort her. Meanwhile, the remnants of the family members (Luna, Lola, Lucy, and Lily) took careful steps as to not to accidentally step on the piles of dust that were scattered around the living room. As she continued to hug their mother, Lori noticed Lincoln stare with a blank expression at a small iPhone-like device in his hand.
"Lincoln, what is that?"
. . .
"Something's wrong," was all Lincoln stated before marching over to the front door and pulling it open.
. . .
"What is happening?"
Clyde and his two fathers watched as chaos began to unfold on the streets of Royal Woods. People began running amok, cars came banged up, and house were being broken into. The one thing that served as a chain link to the chaos? The citizens disappearing in droves. He, however, was neither of these citizens who felt the pain of losing a loved one...just yet.
"I don't know, Clyde..." Harold shook his head in uncertainty, "but I have a very bad feeling about this."
"H-Harold?"
Clyde and Harold turned to the latter's husband before they both gasped in horror as he began to fade away. Howard had enough strength to glance down to his crumbling hands and up to his husband and son, calling out the former's name one more time. The both of them remained staring into the distance and at the spot where their loved one used to be.
. . .
"Lincoln..."
Harold turned to Clyde with a look of confusion, "What?"
"Lincoln... Maybe he knows what's going on! Come on, Dad!"
Clyde took off running to his friend's house, praying to himself that he hadn't faded away already while his father trailed behind. Lincoln, please be safe...
BEEP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
Ronnie Anne had her eyes glued to the TV the moment the people started fading away. Her iPhone was placed to her right ear as the dial tone kept blaring in it. She had been trying to call Lincoln for some time now ever since the mayhem begun, but so far so good with little success. This just didn't make any sense to her whatsoever. Why would people just disappear into thin air devoid of any explanation? There had to be one somewhere.
"Mija...?"
She turned to face her Aunt Frida...and almost wished she hadn't. She was one of those people now.
"Aunt Frida...?"
. . .
"Aunt Frida!"
Ronnie Anne rushed out to her, but it was too late; she had already dissipated along with an arriving Rosa, whose horrified expression of her daughter-in-law fading away from existence was the last thing she did before joining her. A tearful Carlota rushed down the hallway and saw her younger cousin threatening to release tears of her own; in response, she carefully made her way over and engulfed her in a hug.
Downstairs, Bobby and Maria exited the elevator and sprinted their way to their apartment when the latter began to slow down. The former noticed this and went to help her, only to softly gasp at the realization that his mother was disappearing.
"Mamá…"
Bobby reached for her as she did before he completely broke down into tears of despair. A moment later, he slowly stood up and wiped away those tears; he needed to stay strong. For the rest of his family and who remained. For his little sister. Entering the apartment, he found two piles of ashes and a sobbing Ronnie Anne hugging her eldest cousin. Carlota herself was releasing silent tears, only stopping when she noticed Bobby at the door with a crestfallen expression.
"Bobby... Where's Aunt Maria?"
He couldn't answer her question. Of course, given the horror he witnessed, you couldn't blame him.
The Yates Family were ones to prepare ahead of time. Numerous occasions included their daily plans, a road trip, and even a meeting at the UN. However, they never would've expected to add one to their list: an unexpected apocalypse.
They watched as chaos unfolded on their street and noticed a young African-American boy sprint down the sidewalk with his father ftrailing behind. Fear began to overwhelm them all, as the fantasy of the end of the world becoming a reality seemed nearly foreign. Indeed, though, this one-in-a-million possibility was now their worst nightmare.
"Honey...?"
. . .
"Jancey!"
. . .
"Dad, what's happening...?"
. . .
"Beatrix!"
. . .
"Dad, I'm scared..."
. . .
"Bumper!"
The patriarch of the Yates Family could watch in utter despair as his wife, eldest daughter, and eldest son that bore his name crumble into ashes right before his very eyes. He fell into his knees as he held what used to be his dearly beloved in the palm of his hands and released silent tears. His second eldest daughter patted her father's shoulder in sympathy while hugging her little brother and his youngest son, who cried into her chest whilst engulfed in the hug.
A few moments later, Bumper Sr. stood up and set down his wife's ashes ever-so gently. He gestured his two remaining children to follow him outside and witness the destruction occurring. They glanced all around them and found people rushing out of their houses, screaming in panic. Should they do the same?
. . .
No...
. . .
"Come on, children."
Belle and Beau followed their father down the same path the young African-American took before. Maybe the Louds have an idea on what's going on...
Cristina watched as civilians all around began to fade away. She somehow managed to remain calm throughout the ordeal; uncharacteristic of her, this was probably due to her parents being one of the many victims of this phenomena. A casacade of somber tears were released for some time now, and she felt nothing but numbness flow through her as a result of the trauma.
As she watched everybody she knew and anybody she barely knew, Cristina strolled through town as people began wrecking havoc out of fear and despair, but not desperation. They stole and heisted whatever they could get their hands on without a care in the already doomed world. For the most part, nobody was getting hurt except the rare few who were getting mugged at the expense of a minor upgrade.
"Oi! Cristina!"
The little red-haired girl turned to her right and found a girl her age sprinting towards her. She had black hair with purple highlights gelled upward, pink eyeshadow, a gap between her two front teeth, and pierced ears with no earrings in sight; she wore an aubergine jacket, a mini-t-shirt with horizontal stripes, a pink checkered skirt, and white platform boots. The girl in question bore an uncanny resemblance to one of Lincoln's older sisters. But which one?
"Tabby...?"
Yes, I do believe that was her name.
"Oh, thank goodness you remembered me, mate! The crazy thing just happened! I was just in my room practicing my guitar when my parents cried out for me. I rush to the living room and find nothing but two piles of cinder on the floor! Then I hear some screaming coming from outside and go out to people disappearing into thin air! I get to thinking...those two piles of cinder on the living floor...were my parents."
The little black-haired girl noticed that Cristina was barely paying attention to her, and for good reason. Tabby slowly approached her classmate, whose eyes were red from presumably crying. It was only then that the horrific realization hit her.
"Cristina... Did your parents..."
She could only nod softly and wiped away any impending tears with her arm. A wave of remorse hit Tabby like a tidal wave, for her immediate response was to hug Cristina tightly; the recipient was met with shock and surprise, but eventually embraced her consoling friend. They both pulled away a few minutes later, but they both felt a little better than before.
"Come on then. I know someone who can help us."
Cristina could only nod again before she followed Tabby to their destination...wherever that was.
Carol watched from inside her house as pandemonium broke out from outside. Her mother had just vanished into thin air along with a couple of her single friends as they were preparing to leave town. Conner and his younger sister (by a few minutes) Cassandra were packing their own belongings when the madness begun, resulting in them hiding in the closet in fear of any looters arriving at the front door. In her own eyes, anybody who would dare lay their hands on her younger siblings would have to pry them off out of her own dead hands first.
The first thing she did was rummage through her closet and locate two suitcases. One was filled with emergency money, passports, and the first aid kits among other survival equipment; the other was filled with two 9mm handguns and a 12-gauge shotgun. Opening the second one first, she loaded and chambered her 3rd Generation Glock 17 and her SIG-Sauer P226R before tucking them into her Blackhawk Serpa holsters. She then took up her customized Mossberg 500 Cruiser and loaded five shells before pumping it and slinging it over her shoulder. Kicking the now closed suitcase under her bed and taking up the first one, she called out for her siblings before picking her backpack.
"Conner! Cassie! Come on!"
Both siblings came out of the closet with their backpacks already slung. Conner approached his older sister first, Cassie trailing behind.
"Carol..."
"I already know what you're going to say, Conner."
"You do?"
"'It's an alien invasion, Carol. I told you so, Carol.' My question for you, Conner, is this: are you really that adamant to place blame on them for not properly doing their job?"
. . .
"I probably shouldn't be."
"That's right. You can't blame them for a fault that isn't theirs. If they win, they win. If they lose, they lose."
. . .
"Your point?"
"They do it together...just as we have to stick together."
. . .
"You're right. Where are we going?"
"I'll tell you on the way."
Carol ushered her siblings into the car and drove off to their destination...wherever that was.
Nikki watched from all over the city as people began robbing empty convenience stores and supermarkets. Like Cristina, she maintained a sense of calmness and kept flowing through her, but how long it would continue to do so was anyone's guess. Upon seeing her two best friends fade to dust before her very eyes, her paranoia increased tenfold, wondering if she herself were to suffer the same fate. She didn't, and remained in perfect and pristine condition for the remainder of the apocalypse's beginning.
HONK!
The tomboy jumped at the blare of a car horn and off her skateboard, which she kicked up and held up baseball-style. When she got a better look at the driver of the vehicle she unintentionally walked in front of, she lowered her (so far) only mode of transportation.
"Ronnie Anne!"
"Nikki!"
Ronnie Anne leapt out of the car and into her friend's arms. Nikki accepted the hug before pulling away to examine her from head to toe.
"You're okay."
"Yeah. My family...well, what's left of them...are in the car."
. . .
"Who's gone?"
"My mom, aunt, and grandmother. You?"
. . .
"My parents, Casey, and Sameer. Where are you all headed?"
"To Lincoln's house. I figured out he may have an idea on what's going on."
. . .
"Well, can I come with?"
"I was just gonna ask you the same thing."
. . .
"Sure. Why not? Where else do I have to go?"
Silence had befallen the city of Royal Woods as the remaining citizens had wandered aimlessly around their respective neighborhoods. The time was approaching dusk now, and nobody so far thus had a credible hypothesis as to what was happening not just in Michigan, but the entire world. Nobody except Lisa and possibly Lincoln, whose receiving of the final words spoke by his sister sent into an investigation of the true meaning behind them. It was going to be rather tricky, considering that Lisa was nothing but a pile of ashes settling in the house.
His family watched with concern and intrigue from a distance in the family van. Lincoln had previously made an odd request in which he asked to be taken to the park; his excuse was simple – he needed a quiet place to think. Lori was unsure, but she complied with it on the condition that the rest of them join him. She watched as her brother's gaze was strictly fixated on the same iPhone-style gadget from before. What is it, and why is it important to him? She never got the chance to dwell further as her (and presumably everyone else's) thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a vehicle. Exiting the van, she allowed herself a little bit of joy when Bobby and his family revealed themselves to be the present parties. Hugging her former dearly beloved, Ronnie Anne appeared from behind him and noticed Lincoln now in a standstill. As she marched off to approach him, more and more people began to show up. From the McBride and Yates Families to Cristina and Nikki, the people who materialized were those familiar and unfamiliar, but they all had one goal in common.
"Lincoln, what is this? What the hell is happening?"
Lincoln himself didn't seem to hear Ronnie Anne, let alone acknowledge her presence. He was too focused on the communication appliance to notice the group of people building up from behind him. Suddenly, a realization hit him hard faster than a speeding bullet train:
"Lincoln... We're in the endgame now..."
Turning to Ronnie Anne and only Ronnie Anne, Lincoln could only mutter two words:
"Oh, God..."
A/N: So, I just read MasterCaster's "The Snap" a few days ago and I loved it. Therefore, I decided to take this story and SonicN's review on the survivors and victims of Thanos' Snap to deliver my take on the aftermath of Infinity War. I apologize if it seems rushed or worthy of plagiarism, but that last bit was avoided all the way. I also have a full list of the survivors and victims of this Snap for the next chapter if this one does relatively well.