Ryan Daley was home alone. Again. It had been weeks since Judd and Lionel were in the house with him, and it never seemed like they had time for him. The all seemed preoccupied, Judd with his finals, and Lionel with some project with Mark and John. Ryan had wanted to join in but "You're not old enough," Mark had told him. That hurt, he was only a year younger than Lionel, and was just as capable. He didn't resent Lionel for it though, in truth he was relieved to not have to constantly bicker so long as Lionel was on this project. He did miss him though, now only Ryan went to the middle school, life had changed a lot since the start of the rapture, and school was the one thing Ryan dreaded the most, but at least he used to have Lionel. Now he had to deal with it alone. He got lonely a lot, and whilst he did have Phoenix, it was times like these that he would go to the special place Bruce had organised for him within New Hope's grounds. He would sit next to dusty stacks of bibles, and read his own, play a game, talk to Phoenix, in fact anything just so long as it would pass the time. But he was bored of not talking to people, and he didn't want to bother Vicki too much, so he would often spend time on his own. Soon, the rudimentary entertainment he was providing for himself wasn't enough, and he brought the laptop next time. It wasn't strictly his laptop, but Judd never used it and had all but given it to him. It had been Judd's brother's laptop, and was filled with documents and pictures containing bible references or prayers. Ryan had moved them all into a folder labelled 'Marc' so as not to intrude into this stranger's life. During these lonely days, he decided that he would try and reach out to some of the people contacting the underground poking for bibles and attempt to witness to them. He opened up the email app and checked for new messages. Just then one caught his eye.

"IN TROUBLE-PLEASE PRAY"

Intrigued, he opened it and read the contents.

"Dear underground team!

I'm a believer in the Chicago area, and I have run into some trouble. I don't want to go into too much detail, but my husband does not believe like me. He is currently considering a job offer away from the PD, which will make him work for NC..."

They must mean Nicolae, Ryan thought. He continued reading

"I am worried that I will lose him to the wrong side for good, or worse that he'll end up betraying me one day. I know he wouldn't for a long time, but I am in constant fear that I will not see it coming. I know he loves me, but working for the GC as a non-believer is a big worry for me. Please can you pray for him to accept The Lord? I would appreciate some support too, as I have no circle of friends who also believe. Please pray that he will be delivered in to the arms of The Lord, and will see the light before heading into the darkness.

Thank you

J"

Ryan decided to send a reply

"Hey J!

We will all be praying for both you and your husband! We know this must be a difficult position for you to be in, and if we can help you in anyway please let us know!

R,

The Underground Online"

He hit send and carried on through the inbox, message after message of thanks and prayer requests, but the message he had just replied to stuck in his head. Something seemed familiar about it, about the person who had sent it. Almost like he had known them before. Then he found himself doing something he didn't expect.

"Hey J, it's me again! I know you may not be comfortable with this, but would you like to meet up with us one day? Maybe after our church service at New Hope Village Church on Sunday? We can pray with you and discuss your situation.

Look forward to hearing from you!"

He hit send again and moments later a reply popped up.

"I'd love that! You've made my day. See you on Sunday!"

Ryan smiled, finally he was making a difference to someone.

Friday morning, Judd Thompson Jr woke to a banging on his door.

"Judd, dude we're gonna be late!" Lionel hollered

"What?! I'm up!" He responded sitting upright and grabbing his cell. 8:14, he had just 5 minutes to get out of the door and drive to school. "Sorry man about being late." he added

"Just hurry up, we still gotta drop Ryan off and the roads are gonna be busy."

Judd got out of bed and dressed quickly, before heading to the kitchen, and grabbing a bowl of cereal. As he sat down to eat Ryan entered the room.

"Hey Judd."

"Hey," Judd mumbled through mouthfuls.

"You know what they were saying at Bruce's last night?"

"No?"

"Well Mark and John are seniors this year again, and they're going prom," Ryan began

"Okay..."

"They're going to 'witness' but they need dates, and so Vicki and Chaya agreed to double date them to senior prom."

By now Judd had set his bowl in the sink.

"Wait, Vick' agreed to this?"

"Yeah, after a lot of persuading from Chaya. She's going with John, I think something's going on between them. I think Vicki is only going for Chaya's sake. Are you going prom?"

"Me? I doubt it." Judd responded. There didn't seem much point these days, and besides who would he go with? The only person he would have considered asking was Vicki and even then he was doubtful whether or not he would've had the courage.

"Oh by the way, someone who emailed us is coming church on Sunday!"

"Okay, thats great Ryan," Judd said not really listening anymore. "Grab your bag, we're going now."

It was five minutes into first period by the time they reached Nicolae high. Judd and Lionel jogged from the parking lot and Judd arrived to his class out of breath. He silently sat in the back, as some shot judging glances at him. Just then the anthem erupted from the walls.

"Good morning Nicolae Doves," crackled the voice of Mrs Jenness over the speaker system. "As you all know senior prom is soon, and I am pleased to announce that tickets will be on sale from Friday at the main office."

A murmur of excitement spread through the room. Judd rolled his eyes.

"And now the nominations for prom queen are Jenny Dale, Kelly Dial, Marjorie Ahmherst and Candace Stein. And prom king nominations are Finn Stevens, John Grey, Marcus Jones and uhh Judd Thompson Jr. Voting will commence in Friday and concluded one week later, you have until then to campaign, good luck."

Judd had barely heard his name before the glances and snide whispers began in the classroom. He himself was in disbelief. Why was he nominated for prom king? He hadn't asked anyone let alone desired it. He agreed with the general consensus in the room. He was the joke nomination. The pathetic guy that always seems to get nominated and somehow amass votes as people picked him for 'a laugh'. Judd chuckled. He had to go to prom now, for the public humiliation spectacle that occurs every year. He dreaded it, that's for sure. He resented celebration and party of meaningless traditions now, in the tribulation. They all seemed so futile considering the world was ending in less than seven years. Still, he supposed it would be a bit of fun; Vicki would be there after all. He wondered what she made of the nomination. There's no way she'll let me live this one down, he thought.

"...prom king nominations are Finn Stevens, John Grey, Marcus Jones and uhh Judd Thompson Jr." Vicki's head bolted upright. Judd?! Prom king? She found herself smirking. She could barely imagine him going to prom let alone prom king. Sure she could see the old Judd going, the player, the rebel, the liar and the cheat, but that was in the before. Judd had matured a lot in the past 18 months, not only physically but also in his character. He was no longer poking fun at things or at people, he had taken on a lot more responsibility and taken the entire Young Trib Force under his wing, and that was only in the first few weeks. Since then he had become more sensitive, self-aware and caring, but also had less time for things that used to seem important. NFL, TV, and parties used to be his priorities but now it was God, the people around him and spreading the truth about what was going on and Vicki loved that about him. She doubted he would go to prom but she sure was still going to tease him when she saw him at lunch. The rest of the period passed quickly as Vicki found her mind wandering about, from prom to her home life. Something was nagging her in the back of her mind about Janie McCanyon, the girl she had befriended in Northside. Vicki figured she must have to pray for her so she did, but could not rid herself of the notion that doe thing bad was happening to her. The last time she had felt like this was about Shelly on the day she attempted suicide. She could only pray nothing like that would happen today. Lunch came and Vicki looked for Judd everywhere, but could not see him. Instead she sat with Mark and John in the far right of the cafeteria.

"Pretty swell about Judd huh?" Mark said.

"What?" Vicki shot back before remembering, "oh yeah! Why would he want that?"

"Oh he didn't nominate himself Vick'" came the reply. Vicki winced. She hated people calling her Vick' unless they were close to her, or they meant a lot to her.

"Wait... You nominated him?" Vicki ventured cautiously as the pieces began to slot in place.

"Yeah, we figured it would be fun, and also a good place to witness at!" John retorted.

"Are you sure he'll be ok with that? I mean he isn't really into stuff like that and being popular now. And besides aren't you going to be there to witness anyway?" said Vicki.

"Yeah we are but why not have some entertainment too?!" Mark winked.

Vicki was irritated. She was sure Judd would take it in good spirits but she couldn't help feel defensive of him as they essentially ensured his public humiliation. It was so petty and childish of them.

"Well you'd better be careful Mark, nominating people. Or I won't be going to the prom with you!" She responded, half joking. She certainly didn't want to go to prom with him, and was only doing it as a favour for Chaya. This wasn't what she had wanted for her first prom at all, even though it seemed pointless now. She sighed. "Still, it'll be fun to watch you two dance." she laughed.

"Oh I'm elegant Vicki, like a swan," Mark said. "It's John who's hopeless! He just can't move his feet properly. Like when Bambi is born, only much worse! He almost knocked a girl out once with his dance moves!"

"I'm not THAT bad," John shot back.

"Whatever," Vicki said.

Judd looked at his watch. Missing lunch for this?! He thought. Marjorie Ahmherst had cornered him after second period to try and get him to run alongside her for the prom, to be her date and hopefully win as a couple.

"All the others are really popular Judd, and have dates. You're my last hope."

Charming. He thought.

"I know it's probably not gonna work out for you, but if we go together, we can campaign together. Couples tend to amass more votes you know. Plus people like me so they're going to vote for us."

No they don't thought Judd.

"It's win win. Well, you probably won't win, but second's better than last right?" Marjorie finished her sell and looked straight at Judd. He examined her; she was well presented and had hardly been affected by the disappearances. Her family were big into the GC, Nicolae Carpathia and Leon Fortunato, but all the same he felt sorry for her. No one had asked her to prom, and he was fairly sure she was the joke prom queen nomination. He went against his better judgment.

"Okay, Marjorie, I'll run with you, but promise I don't have to coordinate with you on prom night? I'm wearing a straight tux ok?"

"Fine, but you better put your all into the campaign!" She glanced at her watch. "Oh I gotta go see Jenness, see ya!" And with that she took off around the corner in a manner so brisk, it was as though she floated.

Judd leaned back against the wall. In two hours he had gone from not going to the prom, to going as prom king nominee and Marjorie Ahmherst's date. He sighed. Today was not going too well.