Trapped in Apocalypse Chapter 6
In the swamp cabin, Cordelia told the witches what the next step would be and Mertyl returned with urgent news.
"He's going to make an apocalypse." Cordelia said, calmly.
Hannah whimpered.
"He's going to end the world?" Mallory asked.
"Try to." Mertyl said. "There will be survivors at outposts. Hawthorn with be one."
"What about the warlocks there?" Kate asked.
"He killed them all." Cordelia said. "Mertyl and I went to visit after he attacked us, and they were slaughtered."
Hannah buried her face in her arms.
Kate put her hands on her hips and looked down. She took a deep breath before speaking. "How will we survive?"
"Some of us will go underground," Cordelia said, taking a step towards Mallory and Kate, "And some will be in those outposts."
"Why do you sound so nervous about that?" Kate asked.
"I only have enough power to keep three of us safe from the blast, hidden beneath the earth. The rest of you will go to the outposts, but you won't remember who you are." Cordelia explained.
"What?" Hannah asked.
"It's for your protection." Mertyl said. "Michael will search each outpost in time. He cannot know it's you until we have arisen."
"Who's going underground?" Kate asked.
"Me, Mertyl... and Madison." Cordelia said.
"Me?" Madison asked.
"Michael has seen your face. He got you out of purgatory. It's too risky to have you in an outpost." Cordelia explained.
"Michael has seen me too," Hannah said, worried.
"In a crowd of witches. He didn't even see you escape. Besides it will be months before he sees you again. The vague memory will have faded." Mertyl said.
Hannah sat down and put her hands on her knees.
Mallory sat with her. "It's going to be okay. We'll get our memories back when the time is right."
"I don't to forget you guys." Hannah said. "I-I've loved our time together."
Mallory held her. Misty walked over and put her arm around Hannah too.
Cordelia put the enchantment on Mallory, Coco, Hannah and Kate. Mallory was paired with Coco, as her assistant. Kate and Hannah were paired together.
Kate and Hannah woke up in the back of an Uber. Kate looked out the car window and back at Hannah.
"What happened?" Kate asked. She checked her body. She wasn't injured or drugged. She had a small purse next to her. Hannah had one too.
"You fell asleep," Mertyl said. She had an Italian accent. She wore a dark brown wig. Her license plate displayed said that her name was Eliza Young.
"Where are we going?" Hannah asked.
The car dropped the two girls off at the Santa Monica Pier. The sound of the roller coaster zooming by distracted Kate from her confusion.
Once the car left, Hannah quickly checked her purse. There was an ID card, with a local address, a cellphone, and a credit card. "We're older." She said aloud.
Then she noticed her arm. Her wedding band was gone. "Hey my wedding bracelet is gone."
Kate started walking towards the pier, in a daze.
Hannah ran after her and pulled her arm. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Going to Pier. That's why we're here." Kate said.
Hannah snapped her fingers in front of Kate. "We don't know where we are or why we're here? How did we get here? I didn't die."
Kate shook her head. "I... I didn't either. We survived Coven. The last thing I remember is Cordelia announcing the existence of witches."
"Same here." Hannah said. "Then..." She looked down. "Is that what happens if we survive a season? So it's possible to survive a season? And where is everyone else?"
Kate pulled out her phone. She scrolled through the contacts. "Harry and Amy aren't even on here."
Hannah checked her phone too. "Damn it. Why is just us?" She gasped. "Are we even in AHS?"
"We just saw Mertyl/Moira. I'm pretty sure this American Horror Story." She sounded annoyed. "Look, let's just go to the pier. I'm sure we'll find some familiar characters there." She started walking.
"I don't remember any season taking place in Santa freaking Monica." Hannah said.
"Well it's close to LA, so maybe it's Murder House."
Hannah look at her phone again. "Oh my God." She stopped walking.
Kate kept on walking. "What?"
Hannah ran up to Kate me showed her. "It's 2018."
"It was 2014 a few minutes ago." She stated this as if it was a huge deal.
Hannah stared at Kate. "You've aged too."
Kate took out her phone again and checked on the camera. "Yeah... that's new."
"I think this is a new season." Hannah said. "We've been gone so long that a new season has started..."
Kate put her hand and Hannah's shoulder. "I know this is tough, but right over there," she pointed to the pier, "is the Santa Monica Pier. The Boardwalk. Pacific Park. Rides and a beautiful beach. We've been given an opportunity to have fun. We can panic after today."
Hannah folded her lips. "It's too good to be true."
"Maybe Luke has taken over." Kate commented.
Kate and Hannah used their credit cards to pay for everything. Each time, they were worried the card wouldn't work.
"Do you know the limit on these cards?" Hannah whispers to Kate.
Kate shook her head and ran over to the line for the roller coaster ride, West Coaster. Kate cheered on the ride, while Hannah screamed. Next, they went on Shark Frenzy, a shark themed tilt-a-whirl. Then, they went on the pendulum ride, Sea Dragon. At one high drop, Hannah shouted, "This is not fun!" Kate laughed.
As they went up on the Pacific Plunge ride, Hannah asked Kate, "Do you think this could be Hotel?"
"What do think that?"
"It's also on LA, and I think Holden was taken in LA..."
"I don't remember. But even if it was here, that happened in like 2011." Kate looked over at Hannah. "It's too late for that."
Then the ride started dropping them up and down, ending their conversation.
Once off the ride, Kate looked at her phone again.
"What are you looking for?" Hannah asked her.
"I thought... for a second I thought we might be in the real world." Kate said. She smiled, relieved.
Hannah tilted her head but seemed to agree. "I could have lived in Coven and been perfectly content there."
Kate nodded, "me too." Her eyes began to water. "Come on. Let's go on the Ferris wheel."
Kate and Hannah took a bus to the nearest stop by their address on the ID cards. They shared a nice apartment a couple blocks away from the airport. It was very spacious and clean. There were two bedrooms, each with a queen sized bed, vanity, dresser, and nightstand. Their closet was half full of trendy clothes. The living room has a large TV and two spotless couches.
"I think we have the wrong apartment." Hannah said.
Kate giggled. "What jobs do we have?"
"Are we models?"
"Or drug dealers?" Kate said.
Hannah checked the fridge to find it full of food and a bottle of vodka. She grabbed a glass from the cabinets and poured herself a glass. She quickly took a large gulp.
Kate looked down and folded her arms.
"What? Technically we're like 25, between all the lives we've lived." Hannah said. She took another drink.
"It's our first day in our new life and-"
"Harry and Amy aren't here."
"Maybe they're together somewhere, feeling the exact same way." Kate said calmly. "They just need to find us. Maybe this storyline needs us to be separated for a little."
Hannah finished the glass. "Maybe," she said in a wierd voice.
The next morning, the girls discovered that their jobs were at the apartment building. They both worked in maintenance. All day they had to help tenants with a broken fan, clogged toilet, broken doorbell, etc. there were gaps where there were no tasks to do. During that time, Hannah and Kate watched TV In the break room and ate their cup of noodles. They had to wear jumpsuits as part of thier uniform. They spent thier evenings in thier apartment playing cards and board cames. On the weekends they went grocery shopping and did the laundary.
"I think we've got the hang of this whole living on our own thing." Kate said. They sat in the kitchen of thier apartment cooking dinner and watching TV in the background. "I could really make it on my own in the real world."
"Okay, but this does not count as real job experience. We can't put this on a job application. And somehow, our credit score is outstanding. Someone helped us out. We did not get all this furniture on our own." Hannah said.
"Maybe we got lucky at Goodwill." Kate said.
Hannah shook her head. "It won't be this convenient in the real world."
"Well this still counts to me as living experience." Kate said.
A few months later, the aid raid went off.
The morning of, Kate got a text on her phone from an anonymous number: Pack up. Get to the Airport.
Kate wanted to dismiss it, but Hannah stopped her.
"What if it's Harry or Amy?" Hannah said.
Kate replied but didn't get an answer.
"Should we do it?" Hannah asked.
Kate sighed. "Sure. Why not?" She shrugged. "I don't know what we would pack. None of this stuff is really ours."
Hannah pulled a suitcase from the closet. "Okay, this is just too convenient."
Another text came in: Don't pack clothes. Bring food.
Kate shrugged and went into the kitchen. She grabbed all the canned food and piled them into the suitcase.
"Uh, is this for an apocalypse?" Hannah asked.
Kate gave her look. At first she was annoyed, but then her face fell. "AHS Apocalypse. Has a nice ring to it. Could be a season."
Hannah folded her arms and went over to the bookshelf. "In that case, we'll need the essentials."
After packing the suitcase, the girls got ready for work. They took the suitcase with them down to their office lounge. Hannah grabbed all the cup of noodles from the break room and shoved them into a bag. Fortunately, it was a slow day at work when the air raid went off. Hannah gasped at the sound. Residents quickly fled their apartments. Kate grabbed the suitcase and they both ran for the airport.
"Are you sure we can get a plane?" Kate asked.
"Sure. I mean, we're major characters in the show, aren't we?" Hannah said, nervously.
As they crossed the street, they heard gun shots and car brakes. Someone jumped off the roof of their apartment.
At the airport, a small plane just took off. There were no other planes in sight. A crowd of people were fighting each other.
"What are we going to do?" Hannah asked.
Kate looked around. She reached her hand out but nothing happened.
"You're not a witch in this world!" Hannah shouted.
"It was worth a shot!" Kate said back.
Suddenly, the flapping sound a helicopter filled the area. Kate and Hannah looked up to see a helicopter gliding over the airport, lowering itself. A long rope ladder dropped a few inches away from Kate's face.
Kate immediately grabbed it and started climbing up.
Hannah tossed the bag of noodles up to Kate before she put the suitcase around her back and climbed up the ladder.
Before the angry mob could climb up, the helicopter lifted up and took off. A passenger inside the helicopter helped Kate get up into the chopper. Kate gave him a weird look. He looked familiar, but she couldn't think of where she had seen him before. He was one of the warlocks on the witch's side.
As soon as Hannah made it into the chopper, the other passenger shut the doors. The bombs went off a few seconds later.
About a half hour later, Hannah asked the passenger on the chopper, "Are you the one texting us?"
The passenger shook his head.
"What about you?" Kate asked the pilot.
The pilot was silent.
"Do you know who was contacting us?" Kate asked.
The pilot lowered the microphone on his headset. "Yes. She paid me a great deal to fly here at this time and retrieve you both."
"She?" Hannah asked.
Kate shrugged.
As the helicopter descended, the passenger handed large gas masks to Hannah and Kate as well as a body suit.
Kate and Hannah were allowed into the San Francisco (Hawthorn) outpost, as Grays. They were given a small room of their own. Miss Venable told them the rules as "grays." They had to wear their plain uniforms daily and tend to the superior "purples." The female grays also had to wear their hair in a ridiculous top bun.
Hannah and Kate split the contents in the suitcase that night.
"I'm surprised she didn't confiscate any of this." Kate said. "She seems so..."
"Uptight." Hannah finished. "Hey, did you bring a can opener for these?"
Kate gave Hannah a pissed off look. "It wasn't really on my mind."
Hannah sighed and picked up a book. "At least we'll always have these to remind us of what life was like before."
"It's been a few hours." Kate said. Her voice shook, "I can't believe the world is just gone. Only the rich gets to survive or the lucky, as servants."
"What about the cup of noodles?" Hannah asked.
"We need hot water. I'm not going to eat that raw." Kate said.
"If we're hungry enough, yes we will." Hannah said. She tilted her head and put the noddles down. "Come on. Let's hurry and gets into our uniforms. There's some event going on downstairs."
"Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Because Harry and Amy might be there." She said urgently.
Kate clasped her hands together. "I know you hate Holly, but this brought you and Harry together."
"Oh shut up!" Hannah said, irritated. She stormed out of the room.
Down at the ballroom, Kate and Hannah began their work as Grays. Their eyes widened at half of the "Purples." They were the same actors from other seasons.
Hannah held a tray out and served them. She slowly made her way over to Kate. "Look who's here."
"I see Evan." She said casually. "And Adina."
"And isn't that Meadow from Cult?" Hannah said.
"Hey grays," Evan's character said, "stop talking and do your job."
Kate sneered at him.
Everyone in the house ate a cube of vitamins. The residents were still hungry after the meal. At night, Kate and Hannah would try to open their canned goods. They tried with their nails and bare hands. There were no knives around to cut them open. If they banged it on the floor, everyone would hear them.
One night, Mallory walked by and saw them with canned foods. She entered the room and fell to her knees. "Oh my God, is that real?"
Hannah nodded.
"You've has real food all this time?" Mallory asked. She looked at their collection, touching each can. "Corn. Peaches. Pineapple. Fruit cocktail. Peas. Cranberries. Chicken broth. Beans. Green Beans. Ravioli. Tuna. And a lot of cup of noodles."
"Does it count if we can't even open it?" Kate asked.
Mallory put her index finger on her lip. "There might be another way..." she left the room.
Hannah quickly grabbed the fruit cocktail.
Kate giggled and clapped her hands.
Mallory returned with three metal spoons. "I remember reading about this." She places the spoon on the rim of the can and pressed down. Soon, she was able to open the can with the spoon.
Hannah's jaw dropped. "Oh my gosh, thank you."
"We can totally share with us." Kate said.
They each took a spoonful of canned fruits and ate it. They "Mmmm"-ed and "Hmmm"-ed.
"I don't think fruit ever tasted so good." Mallory said.
