Disclaimer: I do not own LWD and so on.
fanficrulez - To be honest, I didn't have that planned at all, but I thought it would make things a little bit more interesting.
1hotactress - ESP, lol. Glag you like it.
daisy617 - I've got a few ideas on the "Saving the world" part, nothing definite though. Haha, I'm happy my story can deprive you of sleep...just kidding.
Chapter 4: Vacant
Fear and confusion has swept everyone, and there faces show no sign of it diminishing. None of them ever dreamed of being in a situation quite like the one they are in. Well, maybe one of them has. "Uh Noel? You do know the meaning of engage right?" Chad queries, while walking over to the console in front of Noel.
Noel peers over his shoulder, "Chad, I need to know where we are first before we…engage."
Chad pats him on the back, "Right…carry on."
Noel's face cringes in confusion. "Sally, are you picking up the same info?" Noel taps his head. Sally nods, "Yeah, isn't that weird." The others gather around Noel and Sally.
"Weird?" Emily asks rattled. "What's weird? Her and the others stare at Noel and Sally for a response. Sally smiles and looks up at the ceiling, "This." The fluorescent white ceiling of the ship transforms in to display showing the outside of the ship, making it look as if the top of the ship had been completely torn off. A shimmering blue glow illuminates the room. Everyone gasps as their eyes sparkle from the ambient light. "Holy shit! We're on a water world!" Chad exuberates. Sally chuckles, "Sorry to burst your bubble, but we're still on Earth." Emily and Casey exhale, "Thank god."
"Lake Ontario to be exact," Sally finishes. Their eyes widen. "You're shittin' us," Sam says, baffled. Sally shakes her head, "Nope, we're only a few kilometers from Toronto." Derek jumps up, "Well let's get airborne and dry off."
"Way ahead of you," Noel smirks. "Everyone take a seat."
Lucy looks around, "What seats?" Noel touches the view screen on the consoles, making eight individual chair-like contraptions rise up from the floor, "These."
"Sweet," Chad, Derek, and Sam remark in unison.
"What about these two," Casey asks, looking down at the napping infant in her arms.
Noel smiles, "I got that covered too." This time two crib-like apparatuses protrude from the floor. Casey and Emily walk over to them, placing and securing the babies in their new unnatural cribs.
"I'm guessing you already knew how to do that somehow," Derek says, looking at Noel. Noel gives a slight nod, "It's kind of like breathing. It's involuntary."
"It must've been confusing knowing this kind of stuff when you were younger," Derek replies. Noel snorts, "Actually, the whole alien hybrid knowledge crap didn't turn on till we started puberty. So yeah, I guess it was a little weird, well more than a little weird, but I got use to it."
Chad claps his hands, "Alright, how about we share our life's history with each other after we reach dry land."
"I agree, let's go," Emily concurs. Noel places his right hand on the console. An array of lights surrounds the perimeter of his hand, "Everyone hold on tight. I'm kind of new at this."
It only takes a few seconds for the ship to break through the surface. The occupants feel nothing as the ship reaches speeds past mach 4. Noel comes to a full stop in the middle of the air, miles up. He touches the view screen once again, but this time to bring in a little natural light. The floor of the ship vanishes displaying the lake that sits underneath the ship, or so they think. Everyone clings on to their chairs for dear life.
"Relax," Noel chuckles. "It's just an illusion. You won't fall to your deaths."
"Turn it off," they yell all at once. Noel concedes, bringing the very dull white floor back to it original place. Noel and Sally's foreheads wrinkle at the same time. They turn to each other. "Did you get the same thing I got?" Sally asks.
"Yeah, but how can that be?" Noel replies. Casey pivots her attention back and forth between Noel and Sally, "What? What going on?"
Sally glances at everyone, "The ship is telling us that there isn't anything alive in Toronto or in the surrounding areas. Nothing not even animal life. It's only reading plant life." The group shares confused looks with each other. Casey cocks an eyebrow, "Huh?"
Chad sighs, "Goddamn woman, did you not get enough vitamins when you were younger. What she is saying is that there is no one left on Earth."
"Actually just part of Ontario, we don't know about the rest of the world yet," Sally corrects.
"Isn't it possible that ship is wrong?" Emily asks, now scared of the thought of her family dead. "In this case, I would hope the readings are wrong, but it just isn't so," Sally sympathizes. "We don't know that yet, there's always a chance. Take us to London now," Derek asserts. "Okay," Noel replies with a grim expression.
After what seems like just a few seconds, the crew arrives in London, uncertain if the reality they see is one they can handle. Noel lands the vessel in the school parking lot of Thompson High. Derek stands up from his chair, "Alright, let's meet up back here in an hour." The rest of them stand up.
"Wait, it's better for us to stick together, we have no idea what has happened here. It could be dangerous," Noel objects. Derek turns to the others, then back at Noel, "Your right."
"Is it possible to just teleport us to our houses, instead of walking, 'cause I'm too hungry and tired to walk," Chad asks. "Yeah, I almost forgot we could do that. Okay, so where do we go first?" Noel asks.
Chad shoots his hand up in the air, "Oh Oh mine."
"Okay guys, I know you all know what it feels like to be teleported, but that's from with in the ship. It might feel a little different this time," Noel informs. In the split of a second the group materializes in Chad's living room. Everyone almost fall to the ground due to the loss of some motor function in their knees. "Oh my," Emily inhales. "Definitely different." The others quickly regain the use of their legs. Sam clinches his hands, "Is paralysis going to be a side-effect every time we do this?"
"I'm not sure," Noel shrugs.
"Great," Sam replies, sarcastically.
Chad ignoring the banter between the others darts to through the house calling out for his family.
"Mom!"
"Dad!"
"Jill!"
No response, devoid of any presence, Chad goes on to check all the rooms anyways. After finding nothing he ends up in his own room. He picks up a few items and leaves, not even bothering about closing the door. Chad joins the others, who are now in the kitchen. Chad gasps, "Hey!" Their faces turns to him, stuffed with sandwiches, corndogs, and other various foods. Chad continues to stare at them in amazement. Casey points her finger up and shallows the last remaining morsel of food in her mouth, "Do you have any apple sauce or baby formula?"
"No!" Chad slouches, "But go ahead and keep raiding my fridge, there's no one here to care anyway."
Everyone stops what they are doing. Chad straightens up as he notices the pitiful faces they put on, "Don't get all emotional on me, just because they're not here doesn't mean they aren't somewhere else." Chad stands firm throwing up his fist, "Keep the hope alive." The girls just start wailing, in turn making the infants cry too. Chad sighs, "Who's next on our list?"
After been at almost everyone's house except for Derek and Casey's, there was still no sign of anyone. All the houses were empty, as well as the streets, not even dogs or cats roaming around, nothing. They finally reach the Venturi-McDonald residence, still ingrained with the hope of seeing their family. It wasn't a secret that everyone thought it was pointless, but nonetheless, it became a sort of closure like it did for the others. Casey hands the baby to Lucy and dashes off to the basement to check her parents. Derek runs up the stairs to check the rooms. Derek runs into Lizzie's room, empty, the same goes for Marti's and Edwin's. Derek takes his time walking the down the stairs. Sam walks up to him, "Well?" Derek shakes his head side to side. Sam pats him on the back. Derek scans the living room seeing no sign of Casey. "Where's Casey?" He asks. Sam looks in the direction of the basement. Derek runs to the basement calling out Casey's name, "Casey! Case—." Derek stops himself, as he enters the room and finds Casey on the bed crying. He looks around, and then walks up to the bed. Derek exhales and moves onto the bed next to Casey, who is now cradling one of George and Nora's pillows. Derek lies down taking the pillow by his head, impersonating Casey. Tears start running down Derek's face, with no sound accompanying them. "Casey." Casey looks up, still bawling. Derek pauses. "I know at times like this, I should man up and take care of things, but—." Derek closes his eyes, "I'm scared. This is all too real for me." Casey's crying almost comes to a stop. Derek wipes his cheeks and opens his eyes, "By myself, I'm nothing, but with you I'm…something?" Derek grins, "This is where I say something real cool and charming. But all I know is that to get through this, I'm going to need you. And I'm pretty sure you're going to need me, if you don't mind my arrogance." Casey chuckles. Derek wipes the tears from under her eyes, "And like Chad said, 'Keep the hope alive', we'll find them, somehow." Casey sits up, putting the pillow back by the head board. Derek does the same. Casey sniffs and starts giggling. Derek snorts, "What?" Casey stops, "If only I had a camera."
Derek stares at her in confusion, "For what?"
"To capture that one-in-a-lifetime event that just transpired," Casey grins. Derek continues to stare at her for awhile. It finally dawns on him what she means, "That never happened." Derek leans in closer.
"Hey guys! You two okay?" Emily yells, walking down the stairs.
"Yeah, we're fine," Casey replies. Derek gives her the death glare. Casey sighs, "Fine, it didn't, happy now?"
"Hmm? What would I be happy about?" Derek pretends. Casey rolls her eyes, "Come on."
Derek and Casey walk up the stairs hand in hand, and join with the others sitting at the dining room table.
"Sorry guys," Sam empathizes.
"Look on the bright side, we're all on the same boat, err….ship," Chad replies emphatically.
"How in the hell is that the bright side?" Sam argues.
Derek walks over to Sam, to quell his fury, "Come on. Let's forget about that. But Chad is right about one thing." Sam looks over at Derek, "What?"
"We're in the same boat," Derek replies. "We are all we have right now." Everyone looks at each other. Lucy turns back to Derek, "So then what are we going to do now?"
Derek looks at her, "The only thing we can do." He glances at everyone before finishing, "Travel."
A/N: I wonder where everyone went...What am I saying, I already know.
Lates.