Chapter 1

May 5th, 2010

"Simon, Wake Up! Geesh man you've gotta see this!" Simon sits up groggily and rubs his eyes. "What George? The world better be ending since you woke me up at…." Simon checks his cell phone lying in the cup holder. "Crap dude, its three, forty five in the morning." Simon sits up. He's 5'10, 20 years old, with slender build and short brown curly hair. He's wearing a black novelty t-shirt, and blue jean shorts. Average looking, except for his dark blue eyes, which look as if they can see through a person. His hands are slender but supple; he has a lot of dexterity. Because of his smaller stature he has grown a dislike of the general populace, for the way he was treated growing up. His childhood was not the best either, and instead of a family who helped, they smothered. His views of mankind were not pleasant. He prefers his alone time.

"I know, you hear that?"

Simon listens for a moment, and then he hears it. "It's the tornado siren!" Simon jumps off the recliner and goes to wake up another sleeping person on the floor of George's basement.

"Wait, it's not a Tornado, don't wake them up yet."

Simon glares over. "Then what is it?"

"Come upstairs, it's on the news." Simon frowns and follows George up the stairs to the living room and George goes to sit down on a large couch that occupies 2 whole walls in the shape of an L. Simon looks at the T.V. and sees it's on CNN. The reporter is talking rapidly, and the caption at the bottom says 'World War III, president to speak in 6 minutes'.

"When did this happen?" Simon asks George as he sits down.

"Bout ten minutes ago, same as the sirens. They said they turned them on country wide beca… oh there it is" At that moment the reporter showed the threat level for the country had elevated to a dark red. Invasion imminent.

"Some countries have already dropped the bomb." George sighs.

"What!" Simon gasped. "No one has used the bomb aggressively since Hiroshima and Nagasaki! Where did they hit?"

"Where didn't they? It's on every channel, even ESPN." George gestured toward the TV. "Obama is gonna talk bout it"

"Go get the rest of em. They need to see this." George nodded and got up and walked back downstairs. The newscaster continued about how this disaster meant troop movement from Iraq.

"What's goin on?" Simon turns toward the stairs to see who it is.

"Hey babe. Just the end of the world." Simon starts laughing. Seeing her smirk, he says "what? Just my evil plans, ya know."

"Uh huh. Sure, what's really goin on?" She comes to sit down next to Simon.

"Not sure Tiff. Apparently were goin to war, again." Tiffany looked surprised.

"Truly?"

"Yep, just watch. Where's the rest of em?"

"Taking our time, geesh Simon bein a prick. You know I need my sleep." Tyler was yawning while coming up the stairs.

"Oh hey Tyler, welcome to the party. And what you mean sleep? You sleep 13 hours a day!" Tyler stalks over and sits down. Tyler's about 6' 2" and 20 years old with brown shaggy hair and glasses and about average build, and he usually wears green. Now he's wearing a plain gray shirt, green cargo pants, a red flannel shirt tied around his waist, and a red handkerchief tied around his head to keep his shoulder length hair back. Simon looks over at Tiffany. Tiffany is about 5' 5", 18, brunette, and wears a lot of black. Her shirt has a logo of a hard rock band. She puts on her glasses and looks at Simon." What?" she says.

"Nothin… you look nice this morning."

"You're hilarious, I need my sleep too."

"I'm surprised you got any sleep with Simon!" Kyle starts laughing, coming up the stairs.

"Kyle, Im gonna let her kick you." Simon shakes his head. Kyle is about 5' 11", 23 years old, athletic build, and bald, and he has a comeback for everything. Usually, tonight not exempt, he wears a comic t-shirt. Today he's wearing a black shirt with Vader on it, it says 'Vader was framed'. George and his brother Jerome walk up the stairs next. George and his brother are African American. George is about 6', 21 years old, with short black hair that's gelled wildly, with glasses. He's wearing a plain white t-shirt and blue jean shorts. His brother is a three years younger and has an afro. He's wearing about the same thing as his brother. About the same height, but he's overweight, but not too badly.

Tucker comes up the stairs next. He's your average Hill Jack. Bald with a tiny bit of hair, farmers tan, wearing a green shirt with a John Deere logo, and blue jeans. He's 21, about 5'11" and muscular from farm work. "Hey guys, what's up!" He puts his glasses on, and smirks widely.

"Hey Chewy, sit down, the shows about to start." Kyle calls over. Tucker gets the nickname on account of his amount of body hair. Tucker grins at him and sits down.

Michael comes up next. He's 21, athletic build, about 5'11" and brown hair cut short. He's wearing a college t-shirt and cargo shorts. He was in the air force until an injury two years back. He's now in college for medicine, he's extremely intelligent. 1st of our class in high school. He has a serious face, and asks "What's wrong?"

"Take a look, Mike" Simon points toward the screen.

Michael sits down on a chair and stares at the TV.

The next couple people coming up the stairs are already laughing. Then they pile through the doorway, first Chris, then David, T.J., and Chelsea. Chris is 6'4 and 18, with a surfer look. He's wearing an orange shirt with a company logo, and blue jeans. David is 19, 5'8" with tan skin, brown curly hair, and a sling for his right arm. He made the mistake of jumping from one tall trampoline, to another smaller one two feet away. He hit the small one and catapulted forward. Complete work of genius there. While not really liking school, he does have a thing for Iron Man. He's wearing an Iron Man shirt and blue jean shorts. T.J. is 19, a little overweight, 5'11", and has brown hair down to his stomach. He has glasses and a goatee, wearing blue jeans and a plain blue shirt. Chelsea is Tiffany's best friend. She's 18, dyed black hair, about 5'6" and very slender. She's wearing all black as well. She puts her glasses on and smirks at Tyler. Tyler's been in love with her for months now, but hasn't built up the courage. Michael's engaged. T.J.'s girlfriend is at her house. So is David's. Tucker's girlfriend is at his house with her 1 year old daughter, that's not his. The rest are single. Simon looks over at Michael to see his reaction to the news. Michael sighs and turns to look at Simon.

Michael knows Simon is just as smart as him, so he knows what he's thinking. As he looks Simon in the eyes, Tiffany and George wonder if they're telepathic, because there's some kind of communication going on. Their thoughts are interrupted by George hushing them and pointing at the screen. President Obama has come on; he stands at the podium in the white house, with the press all in front of him.

"My fellow Americans, War has come to our great nation. In an interconnected world, the defeat of international terrorism – and most importantly, the prevention of these terrorist organizations from obtaining weapons of mass destruction -- will require the cooperation of many nations. We must always reserve the right to strike unilaterally at terrorists wherever they may exist. But we should know that our success in doing so is enhanced by engaging our allies so that we receive the crucial diplomatic, military, intelligence, and financial support that can lighten our load and add legitimacy to our actions. This means talking to our friends and, at times, even our enemies. We have been fighting the War on Terror for a long time now, with no serious hits on us, until now. A terrible thing has happened this night. Weapons of mass destruction were used against civilian cities, in multiple countries. We will be pulling our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan and bring them home, and ready them to go fight this new threat to our nation. Because of troop inflation in other countries across the globe, we will reinstate the draft for men and women between the ages of 18 and 25."

There are shouts from the press. "Mr. President Mr. President!"

Obama motions to one. She stands and raises her microphone. "Mr. President, what countries were hit?"

Obama stares at her for a moment, then at the camera.

"I see no need to lie to you America, too long politicians have told half truths! In this time of uncertainty, the people deserve truth! Very well, the following places were hit: Rome, Italy. Multiple cities in Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Great Britain, the country of Georgia, Iran, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and a lot of other places. The worst of which is Africa." He paused. The reporter stood and asked "What about Africa?"

He looked up with tears in his eyes "Its….Its gone, all of it, even Madagascar, Egypt, all of it" A gasp swept the room. He straightened "The men who sent it sent a message, it said 'all centers of civilization will be purged, along with the motherland of mankind, now there is no where to run when your big cities and superpowers fall', he refers to how mankind all came out of Africa. And now there is not a living thing or plant left. It was glassed. In the last decade we had discovered that even if all life outside Africa died off, humanity and nature could restart, but no where else. Whoever did this new this."

A reporter stood "Are you saying we don't know who did this?"

"That's correct. But we do know it was the work of multiple countri…" the sound cuts out. A voice cuts over with a Russian accent.

"Good morning America. Hoped you liked the fire work display!" laughing. "I definitely did! And there's more to come comrades! Speaking of which here's a present." At that moment the roof gives out and something falls through. "I'll give ya a couple minutes to make your goodbyes!"

Everyone looks over and sees a missile pointed down, in the stage three feet from the podium. It has a timer for 30 seconds, it's counting down.

"My fellow Americans, it seems the Russians are to blame for this atrocity! I leave you in the care of my Vice President, or whoever survives this. In all likelihood D.C. will be gone in 30 seconds. I urge you, my brothers and countrymen, to take up arms and fight for your freedom! Take up the flag and hold it proudl…" The screen flashes and goes dark. The Russian voice comes over the sound again.

"Whoops, I guess it went off at 10! My mistake comrades! That isn't the only bomb that hit your country though. My army is on its way to take out its biggest threat, you! I wish you good luck in combat comrades."

The screen changed to the CNN reporter. He looked shaken; it took a few seconds for him to regain his composure. "I'm sorry to say that Washington D.C. is gone. The other locations have also been bombed: Miami, Florida. Richmond, Virginia. New York City, New York. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Colombia, South Carolina. Boston, Massachusetts. Atlanta, Georgia. New Orleans, Louisiana. Las Vegas, Nevada. Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento, California. Outside the U.S. Mexico City, Mexico was hit, Havana, Cuba, and other countries. We take you now to Vice President Joe Biden, live."

"Fellow Americans, a great tragedy has befallen our great nation. Let there be a moment of silence for those who have lost their lives this night." After 3 minutes he begins again. "Foreign powers have attacked us, and being the great country that we are, will repel these invaders from our borders! We will take vengeance for those lost. Countrymen take up your arms! The Russians are on their way; let's give them a warm, lead filled welcome! Good night, get what sleep you can America, the war starts upon the sunrise."

"Holy Crap…." Was all Kyle could say.

George muted the TV and set the remote on the table. Everyone just looked around blankly, not really knowing what to do. War has come to American soil, which hasn't happened since WWII. And that was at a harbor, not the mainland. Faced with this, the group sat in silence, not really knowing how to even react. The only thoughts in their heads were of fear, confusion, and worry.

Simon stood up and looked back at them all. The group looked up as he spoke. "Get some rest, were gonna need it." With this the group slowly one-by-one gets up and walks to where they were sleeping before, in George's basement. What started out as a night of fun and being with friends, turned into a night of foreboding doom. Simon waits for Tiffany; they clasp hands and descend the stairs. They say nothing as they curl up next to each other and try to sleep. Tiffany and the rest are asleep, too tired from the emotional backlash. Simon lays awake with his arm around Tiffany, he thinks of what is to come. He reaches his hand out and brushes his finger on her cheek, but as he does so, a loud boom sounds overhead. A loud noise of snapping, then dust pours down the basement. The few lights that were on and dimmed went out. The floor shakes, and objects fall around them. Simon is knocked unconscious.