Those of you who've read The Lost may remember me saying something in chapter ten's author's note about a Loud House AU where all the siblings are the same age: 14. Only they're not related (except Lana and Lola). Well, this story is kind of based on that idea. Only instead of all the adults going crazy, they simply disappear.
That's the premise of this story. Everyone over the age of 14 has vanished without a trace. So Lincoln and the rest of the kids are going to have to look after themselves and try to rebuild society.
Alone
Chapter 1: Gone
PROLOGUE
Fifteen years ago.
Thomas and Marie Miller had completed working on a device, a device that could open portals to other dimensions. They were part of a top-secret operation.
Code name: Hole.
The man and woman were both brilliant scientists, and they wanted to push the boundaries of science by opening gateways to other worlds.
Worlds that could contain greater knowledge than the one they resided on now. Two worlds were better than one.
The machine was ready, if it worked, they'd go down in history as one of the most brilliant physicists of all time. And if it failed… they preferred not to think about it.
They made some final calibrations and prepared to start the machine.
"Are you ready, Marie?" Thomas asked his wife.
She nodded. "Yes."
The man pushed a button and the machine began to whir to life. Electricity began to flow to the tip of the machine that was pointed towards a brick wall that had been placed in the large room that they resided in.
The machine shot a beam at the wall and a bright flash caused the whole room to lite up as if one thousand suns were shining down on it. The flash dimmed in a microsecond and the two scientists felt something travel through their entire bodies.
And then… nothing.
No portal- just silence.
They tried desperately to get the machine to start again, but it wouldn't.
They'd spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours to try to make contact with another dimension, but in the end- it was all for naught.
Eventually operation Hole was abandoned, and the two scientists had a baby and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. Getting a job at a pharmaceutical company. They may have been physicists, but they were also into the study of medicine. If they couldn't discover life- then they'd try to make life better.
Unbeknownst to them, they'd change the lives of everyone.
DAY 1.
August 8th
Lincoln White woke up to the usual sound of his alarm clock going off at six o'clock a.m. After pressing the off button on the clock, he sat in silence for a few seconds. The only sound was the silent buzzing of his pedestal fan slowly moving its head from side to side at the end of his room. Sunlight shone through the blinds on his window, casting golden bars on the walls.
After a few more seconds Lincoln rose up and sat on his beds, his legs hanging off the side. The last thing he needed was to accidentally doze off again.
He got up, walked into the hall stripped off his clothes and began to take a shower. Washing his white hair, his most well know feature. Everyone thought it was funny that he had white hair and his last name was White.
Was it destiny or something? After all, his mom and grandpa had white hair, too.
After taking longer than he needed to. He turned off the shower faucet and got out, wrapping a towel around himself and walking through his hallway again. It was quiet, which wasn't unusual since it was just Lincoln and his mom. She must've gone to work. His mom was a dental assistant.
Soon, Lincoln dried off and got dressed. Electing to wear his usual outfit of an orange polo shirt, blue jeans and white Adidas shoes with red stripes.
He was about to reach for his backpack and leave his room when a staticky voice filled the room.
"Lincoln. Come in Lincoln. Over."
Lincoln looked to his dresser where there was a purple walkie-talkie resting on top of it. He recognized the voice that came from the device as none other than his best friend: Clyde McBride. The white-haired boy realized that the tone of his friend's voice sounded urgent, so he hurried up to the talkie and answered it.
"This is Lincoln. What's up? Over."
Clyde responded less than a second after Lincoln released his finger on the talk button.
"Is your mom at your house?"
That question struck Lincoln as odd. Why would Clyde want to know if his mom was home, did he need something from her?
Lincoln pressed the talk button, "No, I don't think so. Why? Over."
And then Clyde said something that filled Lincoln with trepidation.
"Because my parents aren't home either, no one can find their parents or older siblings…over."
Lincoln paused. "W-what do you mean?" he didn't even bother saying 'over.'
"I don't know what I mean, man. Just that there doesn't seem to be any adults around…Over"
Lincoln's arm dangled to his side as he suddenly hurried to his mom's room. Once inside the first thing he noticed was an indentation on her mattress, as if she'd just vanished as she lay in bed. Then he noticed that her purse was still on her night stand. He went through it and found her Driver's license, cell phone and other things she'd never leave at home.
He then went and looked out the window and saw her car still parked in the driveway. He stared at the car for several seconds and then slowly backed away from the window. It was very quiet in his house and outside as well. He could hear his heart beating faster and faster.
He then called out for his mom and ran through the entire house.
Nothing.
He then pressed down on his walkie-talkie again. "Clyde where are you at right now?"
Clyde told him that he was standing in front of his house and that there were several other kids wandering the streets. All of them wondering the same thing: Where was everyone?
Lincoln told him that he'd meet him there in a few minutes. Over and out.
As soon as Lincoln was done talking to Clyde, he went back to his room and got his iPhone. He decided to check his twitter feed to see if what was going on around his neighborhood was happening everywhere else. Unfortunately, the website didn't load. There was no internet. Lincoln then turned on his TV in the living room, but all the channels showed nothing but static. Lincoln wondered if the power would eventually shut off as well.
Soon, Lincoln was standing in his front yard looking all over the place. The houses in his neighborhood were so close together. He looked to his left, if he went that way he'd eventually reach a road that was called West Washington Street and then to his right where a petroleum factory resided at the end of the street. That's where he'd go first since it's was the direction Clyde's house was in.
As he walked he passed several kids who were wandering around aimlessly while some just stood around chatting nervously and checking their phones. Other kids just sat and sobbed. A small part of Lincoln wanted to sit and join them.
He wondered if this was all one big joke. Did everyone's parents plan this months ago? Did they sneak out in the middle of the night and hide. Were they all secretly watching their kids on monitors and laughing as they all began to freak out? No that couldn't be the case, that was beyond cruel.
The white-haired boy soon passed a car that had crashed into a pole, as if the driver just took their hands off the wheel and let the vehicle do its own thing.
That made Lincoln wonder; did all the adults suddenly vanish at once? And if so, would they ever reappear? What if they didn't? What if today was the start of a new era, and all the kids were going to have to fend for themselves from now on?
"Lincoln!" the white-haired boy heard someone shout.
He looked up and saw Clyde approaching, as well as a few other kids. An orange haired boy with freckles named Rusty who was holding his younger brother named Rocky's hand. Another boy whose orange-ish hair was style in a bowl cut named Liam. And a short, red-haired boy with glasses whose name was Zach. They all looked upset, worried and scared. Rusty's younger brother even looked like he'd just got done crying. Lincoln couldn't say that he blamed him.
Lincoln hurried over and met them halfway.
"I'm guessing your parents are all missing too?" Lincoln said to his other friends.
"Yeah," Rusty spoke first, his voice high-pitched and squeaky. "My brother woke up in the middle of the night because he had a nightmare and when he couldn't find our parents he woke me up. We've been up ever since.
"I can't find my ma or pa neither," Liam spoke now. He had a thick southern accent that he'd acquired from living in Texas before moving to Indiana a year ago.
"This is weird," Zach spoke now. "What the heck could've happened? People don't just disappear overnight…unless it has something to do with aliens.
Lincoln gulped when Zach said that. Normally Lincoln paid no attention to Zach and his conspiracy theories. But what if he was right for once?
So many people disappearing at once was so weird. So…alien.
"What are we gonna do?" Rusty said to no one in particular.
The six boys all looked at each other. No one said anything. There was no easy answer for any of this.
Lincoln then looked up at the morning sky. So crisp, clear and peaceful. A few feathery clouds here and there. No airplane contrails at all. Lincoln's mind then went back to the crashed car. What if airplane pilots suddenly disappeared too, and there were wrecked planes all over the world. And what about cars on the highways? There were probably tons of pileups.
Clyde began to hyperventilate.
"Clyde, are you okay?" Lincoln asked, which was a dumb question.
Clyde quickly took out his inhaler and pressed it to his mouth and puffed. Soon his breathing evened out.
As soon as he was done, he answered Lincoln's question. "No, man. I'm not okay. I don't think I'll ever be okay again."
A horrifying thought entered Lincoln's mind. His friend used his inhaler for medical reasons. What if it ran out? In fact, what if all the medicine his friend took ran out? Clyde was a kid with a lot of health problems.
Lincoln swore. "We need to do something."
"Like what?" Liam said, "We're just kids."
Lincoln looked around and studied all the kids who were wandering the street. Then something came to mind.
He turned back to his friends. "You're all fourteen-years-old, right?"
They all nodded, except for Rocky who was only eight.
"Have any of you seen anyone over the age of fourteen?"
They all looked at each other and then back at Lincoln. Shook their heads no.
Lincoln looked around again and then began to approach a small group of kids nearest to him who were clustered together in a circle trying to use their phones but to no avail. His friends followed close behind.
"Excuse me," he said to the kids who all seemed to be around his age. There were five of them.
They all looked at him with worried expressions and waited for Lincoln to say something.
"How old are all of you?"
The kids all exchanged slightly puzzled glances and then turned back to the white-haired boy.
"Why?" was all one of them said, a boy with brown hair and glasses.
"Because…" Lincoln paused, and they all continued to look at him weirdly. "…are any of you over the age of fourteen?"
They all looked at each other again and then turned their heads back to Lincoln at the same time.
"I don't think so," the boy with the glasses said.
Lincoln then looked back at his friends. They all had the same worried expression that Lincoln was positive rested on his face too.
The white-haired boy then went over to some more kids and asked them the same question and got the same response. After asking a few more kids Lincolns mind was pretty much made up. All the people who disappeared were over the age of fourteen.
"What does this mean?" Rusty said, one arm shrugged out, a hint of panic in his voice. It sounded like he was trying his best not to freak out while tears began to form in his younger brother's eyes again.
"Could mean a million things," Liam said, so casually, "or one really big thing."
"Like what?" Rusty said and he clenched his teeth, beads of sweat racing down his face, bracing himself for what Liam was about to say.
"God."
They all stared at him in silence as all around them kids talked, whimpered and cried.
"What do you mean by God?" Clyde asked.
"What if the Rapture happened," Liam continued. "What if something happened before we were born, and those who were alive when it happened were whisked up into heaven while us who weren't alive are doomed to stay here until Christ returns."
"That's ridiculous," Zach scoffed.
"Oh, and aliens aren't?"
Zach didn't respond, he just narrowed his eyes at Liam.
Lincoln's mind began to race; God, aliens, everyone over fourteen. This didn't make any sense. He closed his eyes and began to think of his mom. She had white hair as well, hair she'd got from her dad. Lincoln didn't know who his dad was, though. Apparently, his mom had had a one-night stand with some guy when she was nineteen and got pregnant with him. Lincoln didn't know the details surrounding that one-night stand, all he knew was that it happened shortly after she'd graduated high school and went to Florida one week for Spring Break. She wanted to be a dentist when she was younger but when Lincoln happened she had to settle for being a dental assistant. Which made Lincoln feel a little bit guilty even though it wasn't his fault in the slightest.
So now, here Lincoln was, fourteen years later standing in the middle of a street surrounded by other kids who were just here, now… forever.
"Lincoln?" Clyde said and put a hand on Lincoln's shoulder which kind of made him jump.
"Huh?"
"What should we do?"
Lincoln's friends all looked at him as if he had all the answers. Sure, he liked to boast sometimes and call himself the Man with the Plan, but that was just when it came to trivial stuff, like video games or getting out of gym class.
"I don't…" Lincoln paused and continued to look around eventually setting his sights on one direction. He couldn't see past the houses and trees, but he knew what was in the direction he was looking at-Downtown Indianapolis.
He looked back at his friends. "I say we go back to our houses and pack some things, take as much food and water as you can carry and anything else you can't part with."
"Why?" Rusty asked. "Are we going somewhere?"
Lincoln nodded.
"Where?" Clyde asked.
"Where going downtown," Lincoln said.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I really wanted it to be longer but the reason it's so short is because I just wanted to establish the basic premise and so you could all see that this is a story that I'm working on. I don't know how long this story will be as I have no ending planned, but I want it to last a long time. My goal is for there to be over 100 chapters, but I won't get too ahead of myself as I still have other stories that I need to finish.