Two sides pushed against one another, each struggling to gain control of the strategic points on Mt. Ebott. Assigned to the Western Forest, Jake's division was being deployed to reinforce the exhausted forces fighting to maintain control of the northern side of the mountain. It was an emergency deployment, one that should not have occurred for at least two more days, as the recruits were not yet finished with their training and were under-leveled compared to their comrades and even their opponents.

He held his plasma gun nervously as he stepped out of the portal station and stepped into the grassy shadows of the coniferous trees that seemed to go on for miles away from the mountain. He adjusted his uncomfortable plated armor before being pushed out of the way to make room for the next soldier.

He followed his fellow division members through the camp, passing portable housing units and various defensive structures, such as sniper towers and forcefield barricades. Combatants were talking to each other around lunch, their armor scratched and blackened and their helmets by their side. Nothing seemed wrong, but at this point they had seen true combat, one where recruits didn't respawn after death and you had no second chances. It was the last life.

Jake sat down across from his roommates, who had followed him through the entire recruitment process and continued to stick around with him. His helmet squeezed his head a bit, but he had gotten used to it the past few days. The tough part was having to remember what had happened the past few days...

[Jake]

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

A digital alarm clock rings off. It's 6:30, and the sun is just beginning to light up the sky. A new day is ahead.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

For most people in the area, 6:30 is too late to set the alarm. They have to get ready, eat breakfast, finish the homework they "forgot" to do the night before, etcetera. It is important to look your best and get a good nutrition, especially at the beginning of the day.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

A boy, around seventeen years of age, is sleeping in the bed. Or at least, he's trying to sleep through the alarm. The patterned sheets covered his body haphazardly as he rolled around waiting for the beeping to stop. Unfortunately for him, the alarm is quite persistent, and it keeps going.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Maybe it will-

*SLAP*

Oh, it looks like the alarm won.

Jake Lee slowly sat up, ruffling his hands through his scraggy black hair. He groaned as he stepped out of bed, having only gotten four hours of sleep the night before; the English assignment he thought would be "easy" ended up taking him about three times longer than expected.

He unplugged his phone from the charger on the nightstand and checked to see if there are any text notifications, and lo behold, it seemed that the entire senior class had the exact same idea as Jake. The group text was on fire last night, filled with people complaining about the assignment or expressing their regrets. Maybe he should have listened to Ms. Ravenford's warnings.

Suddenly, his eyes widened as he read the time. 6:35? He must have set the alarm too late while in his extremely drowsy state. Jake threw the phone onto his bed and opened the drawers of his dresser, hurriedly choosing what to wear for the day. He threw on a red t-shirt and black shorts with a white stripe down the side, his normal go-to kind of style. He made sure to grab his phone before exiting his room to head downstairs for breakfast.

As he walked down the stairs, a notification came in. It's from his best friend Reina, who lives only a few streets down from him. They've known each other for the longest time, and it was weird for Jake knowing that they may go to different colleges and never see each other again.

She was wondering what was taking him so long to get ready, as he normally picks her up at her house and takes her to school. Jake hurriedly said hello to his mom, ate his pancakes (for the third day in a row, not that he minded though, they were delicious), then ran upstairs to brush his teeth and comb his hair. Sometimes being Asian had its benefits, he thought to himself. At least he didn't have to go super crazy with his hair all the time.

The sun was beginning to shine it's first rays of light through the blinds on Jake's window as Jake sprinted out of the door with keys in hand, jumping into his car. The clock said 7:00; school starts at 7:30.

Jake barreled out of the driveway in reverse, almost hitting the fire hydrant across the street with the back of the car. The neighbors were walking their dog this morning, like they do every morning during this time of year. Going as fast as he reasonably could, he drove to the front of Reina's house. The brick façade and the two trees in the front yard were a sight that he had grown used to. He remembered when the trees used to only be eight feet tall; now they were at least twenty-five feet tall.

Reina wasn't waiting outside, so Jake honked the horn on the front of his car. Of course, Reina opened the front door, her long brown hair in a ponytail. She had a smile on her face, just like always, her green eyes looking all around. She always seemed happy. Jake would rather have that than her always being sad.

"You're late," said Reina scornfully, yet also playfully at the same time.

"I had a big breakfast."

"Pfff, you lie." They both laughed a bit as Reina jumped into the passenger side of the car. Jake drove his car out of the neighborhood and turned right onto the main street he took to school everyday.

"So," said Reina, "the school dance is coming up soon Jake. Are you planning to do anything?" Jake had never been to one of the school dances before; it really wasn't his kind of thing. Besides, he didn't think there would be any girls interested in a guy like him.

"Not really," replied Jake. "I might just stay home and play video games again." Reina scoffed at the remark.

"Come on Jake, it's senior year. You can't just skip every dance all four years, nobody does that." Jake flipped the right blinker on as he came to a stop at an intersection.

"Oh yeah? Watch me." He looked at Reina, who stared at him with disappointment.

"You could at least ask someone to go with as friends, or even just go with a group. It's honestly not a big deal!" Jake rolled his eyes at the remark. The past few years Reina had tried to convince him to go to at least one of the school dances; so far it hasn't worked out so well for her.

"Well, who do you think would really go to a dance with me, even if it was just as friends?" Jake asked sarcastically.

"You know I would go with you as a friend Jake," said Reina, "that's what friends are for." Jake rolled his eyes again.

"Reina, you could probably get a better date than I could ever be. You know that."

"Yeah, but half the guys at our school are absolute dicks. It would be fun if I went with you."

"Glad I know that now," said Jake. She wasn't completely wrong; it would be fun if they went as friends to a dance.

Jake turned left on the roundabout to turn into the parking lot for the school. By now it was 7:25 and they were really cutting it close. However, Jake was set aback by the number of cars in the lot; it seemed unusually empty today. He didn't remember any of the senior class council planning a skip day, or that it was a holiday today.

"Where is everybody?" inquired Reina.

"I'm not sure, but let's go in anyways." Jake parked his car in his regular spot and grabbed his backpack from the back seat.

"Last one to class is a rotten egg!"

"We don't do that anymore Rei, you know that."

"Who cares, it's still fun!" She took off towards the school, leaving Jake standing by the car.

"Ohohoh, it's on now." Jake sprinted to catch up to Reina, but she was simply too fast and reached the door before he did.

"I won again."

"I went easy on you."

"Sure you did." She opened the door and he followed her into the school. The normally filled commons to the left of the hallway was near barren besides a few freshmen and sophomores, and there were no kids painting the walls in the arts hallway. Jake and Reina walked towards the library to where they normally waited for school to start. Jake's other close friend, Andrew, was waiting at the table they normally sat at.

"You finally showed up, huh?" asked Andrew. Jake looked around the quiet library, which ironically wasn't normally quiet in the morning.

"Where is everyone?" Andrew shrugged.

"I dunno man, I'm just as confused as you." He looked towards Reina. "Hey Reina, whats up?"

"Not much, Andrew. You?" Andrew nodded in agreement. They both sat down to join Andrew. He quickly scooted in closer to the table.

"I hope you guys realize what's going on here," said Andrew, "because I've been especially observant the past few days, and I've noticed a few oddities."

"What do you mean oddities?" asked Jake. "It wasn't this empty today."

"I agree, it wasn't. But people began disappearing about six days ago." Jake thought about it for a moment; it did seem a bit quieter yesterday than two days before. Maybe Andrew was on to something.

"How do you know this?" asked Reina.

"You just notice. Teachers, students, administrators, your neighbors, even the news people; people have been disappearing. Have you noticed the lack of news stories the past few days?"

"Most times something like this would cause a lot of news stories," replied Jake.

"Yes, but the news journalists have been disappearing as well. I will say though that I've run through a few calculations." Andrew pulled out a few sheets of paper as the bell went off. Jake stood up but Andrew grabbed his shirt sleeve and pulled him back down.

"Relax, most of our teachers our gone; there's no need to go to class."

"But what about the subs-"

"It's likely most of the district's subs are either also missing or busy at other places." Andrew grabbed a pencil and pointed out a few equations.

"The disappearances have been increasing exponentially over time. Every day more people go missing than the last. If I'm correct, I'm guessing about ¾ of the affected population has likely gone missing today."

"Then how the heck are we still here?" asked Jake.

"Pure luck my friend," laughed Andrew. "I'm honestly just as surprised as you are." The final bell rang throughout the empty library, startling the group of three. Andrew grabbed his backpack and stood up.

"Well you two have a nice day," said Andrew. "I'm going to go home. I'm not spending my last day on Earth in AP Biology, especially if the teacher isn't there." Andrew began to open the door back to the hallway.

"Wait Andrew," exclaimed Jake, "what do you mean the last day on Earth?" Andrew turned slowly and took off his red-rimmed glasses and wiped it on his shirt. His short blond hair stopped moving as the AC shut off in the library.

"My calculations say that, at this rate, 100% of the affected population will have disappeared by the end of today." Andrew walked towards Jake and offered out his hand.

"If we don't see each other again, it was nice knowing you."

"Nice knowing you too…" Andrew shook Jake and Reina's hands before leaving. He suddenly stopped before completely closing the door.

"Also, by the way you guys, I always thought you two would make a cute couple. And so did a lot of the school." Jake was left a bit boggled as Andrew walked out of his sight. Reina was still by his side, still gazing at the door.

"Rei, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a bit shocked, that's all."

"About what?"

"Having one more day on the planet. Seems a bit far fetched, huh?" She turned and looked up into Jake's eyes. They still glittered, but seemed worried at the same time. Jake didn't see this face often.

"Yeah, even I have to admit this is weird. Normally Andrew says some pretty weird things as a joke, but he seemed really serious about this." Reina nodded her head in agreement. There was some silence between the two.

"Want me to drop you off back at your house?" asked Jake. Reina was quick to interject.

"Nah, I'll just stay with you, wherever you want to go." Jake was a bit shocked.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, my parents are on vacation anyways. I could really use some company." Jake nodded.

"Okay, that settles it then. Let's go back to my place then."

"Your place it is." They slowly walked down the hallway out to the door, and went back to his car. Jake drove back to his house, parked his car back in the garage, and went inside, where his mother was quite surprised to see him there.

"Jake, why are you home? Don't you have school? And why is Reina here with you?"

"Hi Mrs. Lee!" piped Reina, seemingly feeling better.

"They canceled school today Mom," muttered Jake, "some sort of emergency 'Teacher Orientation Day' or something." She looked at him a bit skeptical.

"Okay Jake, I hope you're right about this, because otherwise you're really not going to like being grounded for a week for skipping school." Jake gulped nervously.

"Of course Mom, why would I lie?" He gave his mom a hug before taking Reina up to his room to play video games.

"It's almost like old times, you know?" said Reina, picking up the Xbox One controller. "When we used to be able to hang out more often. Those were the days."

"Yeah, I agree," replied Jake. "It's too bad we won't have more of these days."

"Don't remind me Jake," said Reina quietly. Jake stuck the old Battlefront II into the Xbox and it slowly booted up the game. He quickly took a glimpse at the clock; it was 9:00; he had about fifteen hours left on this planet, if Andrew wasn't playing a seriously good joke on him.

"Jake, you do know I always kicked your butt at this game," laughed Reina. He turned to look at her.

"In your dreams Rei." She chuckled and looked at him.

"Challenge accepted." Jake booted up the Conquest mode and they played for what felt like the longest time. It was almost as if they were ten again, just having as much fun as they could, no stress about school, sports, work, or anything for that matter.

The time flew by faster than Jake wanted it to. Before he knew it, it was 9:00 and time for bed. They had been playing Xbox all day, and Jake was exhausted. Unfortunately for him, Reina kicked his butt just like she said she would. He had a great time though; if it was Mario Kart the split would have been even worse.

"You ready to go home?" asked Jake. Reina was quiet. She gazed off into the distance, her hair now down, her face in a pensive state. He got closer. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Jake." She was silent again. "Do you mind if I stay over tonight?"

"No, of course not. I'll get my sleeping bag from downstairs and I'll let you have the bed."

"Thanks Jake." Jake ran down to the basement to grab his sleeping bag, and slowly snuck back up to the kitchen in order to avoid waking up his mom. However, something seemed off. Jake felt like he was being watched. He carefully snuck across the wood flooring, making sure to avoid all the boards that creaked whenever he stepped on them. He cringed when he stepped on a creaky board, and braced for something to happen. But nothing did.

He ran up the stairs back to his room, where Reina was already in his bed, trying to sleep. Jake laid out his sleeping bag on the ground and turned the lights off in his bathroom. He jumped into the bag and zipped himself him.

"Rei, I just wanted to let you know that you are a great friend. Just in case we don't see each other again-"

"Jake, we'll see each other again, I know it." She was silent after words.

"I hope you're right. And I hope Andrew is wrong."

Jake laid on his pillow and went to sleep, knowing that today could possibly have been the last day he had on Earth.

I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter of this new story!

I will open OC submissions for this story, as I have done in the past. Just fill out this form and send it to me by PM or on a review.

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Only the areas with stars are required, but I highly recommend filling out as much of the form as possible in order to give me as accurate of a portrayal as possible.

I'll see you guys next chapter!

-Blox