Hi! First, I just want to say thank you for checking out my story; I hope you all enjoy!
Second: *All characters in this story are human*
No superpowers, no crime-fighting, nothing like that. I won't spoil anything but I'm pretty sure you guys can guess that Bubbles' world has become dangerous and she's in for a rude awakening, no pun intended.
Please review and let me know what you think!
.: 1 :.
It was exactly 9:51 in the morning when the entire world changed forever.
Some say it was a virus or some sort of biohazard that escaped an underground lab; others say it was nature striking back against humanity.
Whatever the cause, it all happened at the exact time the large hand struck fifty-one, and that's when utter chaos erupted. People began screaming and running, some scrambling to get out of their cars and join the herd of panicking people. Confusion and fear ran rampant; what exactly was going on? Why were people trying to escape from the city of Townsville? Was there some sort of terrorist attack happening? Was there a gunman on the loose?
No one knew what was going on, only that screams, car alarms, and the sounds of extreme panic were echoing from Citysville, those same noises beginning to emerge within Townsville shortly after people began to leave their cars and flood the streets to get away from whatever was happening at City Hall. The usual news stations were not broadcasting any information regarding Citysville or Townsville for that matter, since everything was happening so quickly, but something was clearly wrong because both cities were officially put under quarantine. Families were swiftly reassigned to houses outside of the quarantine zone.
You'd think they'd keep these families inside on the off-chance they were infected, but not this time. The army was confident it was just a small problem, nothing to worry about; a few days of blocking both places off to take care of whatever needed to be taken care of would result in order being restored and families would be able to return to their normal lives in no time. How wrong they were when the United States and the other continents quickly became overrun and humanity found itself in a battle to survive.
It was exactly 9:51 in the morning when the entire world changed forever.
And it was exactly two days after the world changed when Bubbles Utonium woke up.
The first thing Bubbles Utonium noticed when she woke up from her heavy slumber was the unusual silence that filled her home.
Usually by now, she would hear oldies music blaring in the kitchen and the hum of the living room television. The walls were thin in her home so you could easily hear these things even from upstairs. Her father enjoyed listening to music while he cooked and her sisters enjoyed watching early morning reruns of old, nostalgic '90s sitcoms. The Utonium family was always busy, but early mornings were set aside for relaxation and catching up with each other. Sometimes Buttercup would bring home new video games for them to try out over the weekend, Blossom would bring home fliers about different festivals and fun events the college in Citysville was hosting, and Bubbles would always let everyone know when a visit to the beach was necessary. The Professor, though quite busy himself, always tried to put aside time to spend with his daughters and did his best to keep up with their individual interests, but recently no one had time for trips or relaxation.
Blossom was up to her knees in last-minute assignments from college since finals' week was just around the corner and Buttercup was in the process of transferring to another school. Bubbles had her own mountain of assignments to tackle but any thoughts of working through the last-minute papers and online classes were brought to a screeching halt last week when she woke up feeling like death. She figured her family had already gotten up and left to get started on whatever agendas they had for the day, so although the silence was somewhat peculiar, she knew better than to freak out.
The blonde had been in and out of consciousness for the past few days, her high fever causing a delirious fog to settle over her mind. She'd caught a nasty strain of the flu from being around sick students at the local community college and the antibiotics prescribed to her seemed to do little to help her fight off the illness. Her father had taken a few days off from work to help her recover, bless him, and the last thing Bubbles remembered before passing out was him telling her he was heading to the supermarket and would return shortly. After that, she couldn't remember hearing or seeing him return... And she couldn't remember seeing or hearing her sisters, either.
She groaned as she forced herself to sit up, grateful that the Professor had not only left a bottle of water close to her bed but had also closed her curtains so that the sunshine wouldn't worsen the throbbing, fever-induced headache.
Taking a long sip of her water, she eased out of bed and stretched. It felt like the flu was finally leaving her and it felt good to get out of bed. She ran her fingers through her hair and made a face at how greasy it felt; now that she could move around without debilitating dizziness, it was time for a shower.
When Bubbles had cleaned herself up and made it downstairs, the entire house was just as empty as it sounded. Blossom, Buttercup, and the Professor weren't around, so she guessed her earlier hunch of them having already left for the day was right, but she noticed a repetitive, fuzzy noise echoing from the living room. Bubbles checked it to find that no one was there, it was just the television blaring static, and she turned the appliance off, silence covering the room much like it did the entire house. She was slightly baffled to find the front door slightly ajar, though the locks didn't look like they were broken and she was able to close the door all the way. She quickly checked the remainder of the house to make sure no one had broken in before closing the front door and re-locking it.
Bubbles entered the kitchen and noticed it was in slightly more disarray than the living room, a chair laying sideways on the floor as if someone had jumped out of their seat. A pot of soup sat on the stove and she lifted the lid only to pull back, gagging. Whatever the Professor had been cooking, it was definitely spoiled now.
Perhaps the Professor had been called into work and had to leave quickly? That would explain the pot of soup and the fallen chair, but it still didn't make sense; he was kind of a neat-freak and would never just up and leave without cleaning up after himself or leaving the door wide open like it was, especially not when Bubbles was upstairs by herself. Something funny was going on here and she didn't like it one bit.
After getting rid of the spoiled soup and depositing the pot into the sink, Bubbles set the overturned chair upright and sank onto it, her headache from earlier threatening to return. She couldn't stop wondering about the peculiar state of her house; had someone tried to force their way inside or rob them? She suddenly began to wonder if something had happened to her family.
No way, she thought, after mulling it over for a few moments. We live in a decent neighborhood and we're on friendly terms with all our neighbors, plus no one would mess with Buttercup, and Blossom would've been smart enough to call the cops if she thought someone was going to try something like that. And if there was a struggle, I would have heard it.
It was possible that Buttercup stopped by to pick something up and forgot to close the door all the way. Sometimes she was in such a hurry that she didn't always think about what she was doing; her hefty track record of in-school suspensions and visits to the principal's office were proof of that.
Satisfied with her reasoning, Bubbles did what she could to clean up the house: vacuuming the living room, sweeping up in the kitchen, washing the dishes. By the time she was finished, it was evening; the roads that twisted and turned throughout the small neighborhood in which she lived were usually quiet and devoid of traffic, so nothing seemed out of the ordinary in that aspect. The Professor didn't usually get home until late so she didn't expect him until eleven, but the girls were almost always back by four; it was currently six.
Bubbles wondered if they got caught up somewhere; maybe Blossom and Buttercup met up to grab dinner at one of the city's many diners, or maybe there was a lot of traffic in the city. It nagged at her that no one had returned home yet, but she knew she was just being ridiculous. The rest of the Utonium family would be back soon and the house would be full of their usual chaos once more; she just had to wait a little longer today. Buttercup would probably tease her for being such a worry-wart and Blossom, in turn, would scold Buttercup for leaving the front door open (if she was the one who left it open, that is).
It suddenly dawned on her that she'd missed a few days of school. She cursed under her breath and immediately went upstairs to get started on her reading; knowing her professors, she'd probably missed a sizeable amount of work and getting caught up was going to be a long, tiring road. It would be even more anxiety-inducing since she only had a few weeks left of the semester to tie up any loose ends as far as assignments went. Checking the calendar told her that tomorrow was Wednesday, so she'd be heading back to school in the middle of the week. She wasn't one-hundred percent back to good health, but she was feeling well enough to go back so she might as well bite the bullet and face all that makeup work head-on.
After trying to read as much as she could from the books her professors had assigned, Bubbles made herself a sandwich before ensuring the house was locked down. Once she was sure everything was ship-shape and secure, she returned upstairs and went to bed to try to get some more well-needed rest. She'd need it for the hectic, busy day to come.