The Beginning

"Okay, now everybody take out your number two pencils to take this test," Mrs. Applewood began. She looked around the room at all the faces as everyone began to shuffle around and prepare for the test. Everybody except for one person, me.

"Lucas, please put the book down and prepare for the test," she ordered. I didn't even hear her.

"Lucas, please put the book down," she said again. I still didn't budge.

"Lucas Taylor, put the book down and prepare for this damn test!" my teacher yelled. That one got my attention. I grabbed my bookmark, put it in my book, and set my book down as fast as I could. Teachers were always yelling at me for not paying attention and reading too often yet I had the highest GPA in the history of SLE High School. I think it had to do something with respect of the staff or something.

"Thank you," she stated breathing heavily, "this test has fifty multiple choice questions and…" then just like that she was gone. I looked around at everyone else and they looked around at everyone else too trying to figure out what was happening.

"This isn't happening," I thought to myself, "this isn't happening. I have to get out of here." The weirdest part was that the book I was reading was Lies from the Gone series. I stood up and bolted for the door. I had to find my friends and get out of here fast.

I was on the second floor, my closest friend, Melanie, was in room 1305 which was just down the hall. I made it down to her room and thrust the door open. Her teacher was gone as well. I saw Melanie in the back row texting on her phone, because when in doubt, text people.

"Melanie," I yelled, "come with me." She looked up and just starred at me. I motioned with my hand for her to come with me. She threw her phone in her bag, grabbed her bag and weaved through the desks to the door where I was standing.

"What's happening?" she asked me.

"Remember that novel Gone that I told you about," I told her.

"Yeah the one where all the adults… oh no way!" she shouted in sudden realization.

"Well that's what's happening. Don't worry though, if it's anything like the book then I'll know what to do. Come with me, we have to get Matt, David, Katie, and Stephanie," I told her.

"Ok," she began, "I'll grab Katie and Matt, they're making out in the janitors closet downstairs," she said.

"Ok, then I'll get… wait… huh… I don't want to know. I'll get Stephanie and David; their classes are right next to each other. When you get them tell them to get in their cars and meet me at the end of the school drive. Ok?" I asked.

"Sounds good. See you in five," she said and started sprinting down the hall towards the stairs. I went in the opposite direction down the other hall to the stairs at the back of the school. By now a few people had wandered out into the halls.

I got to room 1222 to find it empty. I spun around and looked down the hallways, but David was nowhere to be found. I went to room 1221 and opened the door. Right there in the front row was Stephanie. Her long blonde hair wrapped around her head as she turned to see who was at the door. Her hair settled to reveal her face of gold. She was called the most beautiful girl in the school by most if not all the guys in the school. She was voted homecoming queen, was captain of the cheerleading squad, and was my girlfriend.

"Come on Steph, we're getting out of here," I commanded her.

"Okay babe," she replied with a giggle. Her looks were to die for, but God must have spent so much time on her body that he forgot to put certain organs inside her.

I grabbed her hand and we walked down the hallway. Only two minutes later we ran into David, literally.

"Where are you guys going?" he asked us.

"We're getting out of here," I told him, "you're coming with us."

"Okay," he replied slightly annoyed. I had to admit I could be a little bossy at times. We walked down the hallway to the main staircase. We saw Melanie, Katie, and Matt down at the bottom of the staircase moving swiftly toward the doors. I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled loudly. They spun around in surprise.

"Wait for us," I ordered them. They stopped and we moved briskly down the staircase towards them.

"What should we do?" Katie asked me.

"Everybody get in their cars and drive to Kroger's Supermarket. Grab all the food you can. Try and get mostly non-perishable food, canned fruits and vegetables, drinks, and dare I say it, candy. Get two or three cart fulls or as much as you can fit in your car. When you're done, meet me at my house," I commanded.

"What about beer and smokes?" Katie asked.

"No absolutely not. We can't afford to ruin our health this early into the game," I said, "let's go." We bolted out the door to our cars. I pulled the keys out of my pocket on my run to my Ford Flex so that I could quickly get out of there.

I was the first out onto the road. The speed limit was only thirty, but seeing as this wasn't a normal situation, I went thirty miles over the limit. Many cars had been on the road when the adults disappeared, but their cars didn't disappear. Most drove off to the side of the road, some didn't, and even a few were on fire. They were easy to avoid, but a nuisance none the less. After five minutes of hectic driving I pulled into Speedway to get gas. I put the nozzle into my gas tank and ran into Speedway. I got a forty four ounce cup and filled it with frozen coke ICEE. This would probably be the last one I had for a while, maybe even ever.

I got out to my car to see the gas pump had stopped and my tank was full. I got back into my car and drove to Kroger's. I pulled into the parking lot and parked unusually, inside the building. I drove right through the sliding doors. The main isle was just large enough to fit my car through. Apparently I wasn't the only with good ideas. Katie had driven a large truck through the wall, backed it out, then drove her Focus through the new door right to the drink isle.

I grabbed the nearest cart and ran to the canned food isle. I grabbed what I liked first, canned beans of every type, canned peaches, tomatoes, applesauce, and anything that didn't make me want to puke.

After my cart was full I ran it back to the car. I unloaded it into the back seat. I got six more loads into my car before finally there was no more canned food in the isle. Before I got in my car I grabbed a load of fruit, vegetables, and milk. This would have to be eaten first as it would soon go rotten.

Just as I hopped into my car my cell phone rang. I pulled it out and flipped it open automatically putting it on speaker.

"Hey Mel, where are you at?" I asked.

"I'm at your house, but I think we have a slight problem," she stated.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There's a kid here who says he wants to talk to you," she said.

"Is he about nine years old, three and a half feet tall, redhead?" I asked her.

"No, eighteen, five foot eight, black hair, and not too sexy," she replied, "he says he needs to tell you something about your parents." My heart skipped a beat.

"Okay, I'm leaving Kroger's right now I should be there in about five minutes," I told her.

"I'll tell him," she said and hung up the phone. As I drove I probed my brain trying to think of who that could be. My neighbors had kids, but they were older and in Florida. He could be my cousin Charles, but why would he want to talk to me about my parents. Soon it wouldn't matter what I thought.

I pulled up the driveway and there he stood standing next to Melanie. I parked in the lawn next to Melanie's Maybach 57. Her parents were loaded. They got it for her for her sixteenth birthday. I stepped out of the car and approached them.

"Hello, my name is Tom," Tom said as he stuck out his hand. I grabbed it in my hand and shook it firmly.

"Nice to meet you, but if you don't mind me asking, you said something about my parents?" I noted.

"Yes, I guess I should just come right out and say it," he began, "they are actually secret agents for the TMPD. Time Machine Protection Division."