A quick rap on the door alerted the girls that someone had arrived. Diana crossed the room to open the door since Tori was doing dishes, something she insisted on since Diana was nice enough to cook while she slept. Matthew and another male that Tori recognized as his brother Dom stepped inside, taking their coats and shoes off at the door. Dom was bigger than Matthew at about six foot one and a solid one ninety. He looked like he did some weight training and probably had a two percent body fat rating. With short brown hair and hazel eyes on top of his physique he did pretty well in the lady department.

They hung the coats on the rack and headed into the living room, pulling the coffee table towards the couch. Dom set a backpack on top of it and started pulling some things out, including a laptop, map and hand-held GPS. Matthew booted up the laptop and opened an Office document before standing up again and heading to the kitchen.

"Hey Tor."

"Hey Matthew" said Tori, finishing up in the kitchen by wiping down the counter tops. "How's it going out there?"

"Not bad this way yet, but the downtown area is getting blocked off." He walked to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, cracking it and taking a drink before continuing. "Army is all over down there. Directing traffic, evacuating some of the bigger buildings. Lots of commotion and scared people, recipe for disaster."

Dom spread the map out across the table and placed a dime where they were currently located, turning then to put the exact coordinates into the Office document. "It's moving fast, though, so if we want to get out of here we're gonna have to go soon."

Tori crossed the room and pulled back the curtain to get a good look outside. Families were crowded together in their cars, luggage packed to the roof and babies strapped in for the long haul. A long line of traffic sat in front of her complex and after a minute she realized it was because a new barricade had been set up at an intersection the opposite way she traveled to work. A few people walked rather slowly by in a tight group, talking quietly while searching all of the cars in the line with their eyes. Tori rolled the crank on the window to open it as far as she could and stuck her head out.

"Hey, can you come here for a sec?" she yelled, getting the attention of the group and everyone else in the room with her.

One of the guys from the group walked forward and stopped about five feet away from the window, hands in his pockets. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering what's going on down that way with the barricade?"

"Another National Guard post, like the rest. Same as border patrol really. Searching suspicious cars and asking a lot of questions. Where you're going, who you're going to see, stuff like that." The man turned and looked at his group who were standing back on the sidewalk waiting patiently for him to return, then back to Tori.

"OK, thanks" said Tori, bringing her head back inside and cranking the window shut. The man waved before walking away and Tori turned to the room and made an 'oh boy' face, sitting flat on the couch with her eyes on the laptop.

"I guess if it's this close to us we should get stuff together and go" said Diana, standing up and walking over to the door. "I'm gonna head to my place and pack a bag, I suggest everyone else does the same."

"Wait" said Tori suddenly, hopping up from her spot by the window, "I don't want you to go by yourself. How about we all go and do what we need to do and meet back here in two hours?"

Matthew and Dom shook their heads simultaneously and Marie made a sound that was indicative of an "OK."

"What about Marie?" Diana asked, looking to Tori with worry. "Her roommate is gone now so she's by herself too." Diana slipped her shoes on as she talked, nodding in Marie's direction.

"I'll be fine, my house is only around the corner from here. Plus, I'll be going towards the barricade where the soldiers and stuff are so there probably won't be much going on."

"Are you sure?" Tori asked, getting ready the same as Diana by slipping her worn leather jacket over her shoulders. "You can come with us and we can hit your place on the way back."

"Yeah I'm sure, you guys go ahead. I'll probably be back before you." Marie stood up and slipped her boots on quickly and nodded on her way out the door, having only worn a hoodie to the meeting.

The others funneled out eventually and Tori locked the door behind them. She nodded towards Diana and the two of them started their trek to Diana's place, taking careful looks to the left as they headed out to keep an eye on the soldiers in the area. Tori noticed that the amount of people on the streets had at least doubled in the past couple of hours, making it hard to maneuver. When they hit a particularly thick crowd of people she took Diana's hand and guided her through it with quick precision. The feeling of Diana's warm hand against her own sent shivers down Tori's spine, but she wasn't sure if the shivers were solely from the contact or aided too by the fear in the air.

Taxis lined both sides of the road with their lights on, waving out their windows and yelling of promises to evacuate people from the city. A few couples took their offers but most people seemed to be set on either watching what the army was doing or finding a way to get their stuff out of town with them. Traffic was a nightmare with the amount of people trying to flee and the barricades popping up everywhere, making Tori wonder what exactly they were going to do to get out when they all met back at her place. She wondered how the others were fairing, especially Marie all by herself. Matthew and Dom were probably packing bags full of survival supplies and batteries while Marie was most likely gathering makeup and electronics. Everyone had their strengths, some more useful than others.

A few blocks away from the apartment a fight seemed to have broken out in the middle of the street. A few men were attacking one lone man, shouting something about him trying to loot their cash register. Most of the people around them watched out of the corners of their eyes, trying to see what was going on but also trying to make it look like they weren't really paying attention to avoid the guilt of not intervening. The man in the street had gobs of blood on his face and hands and holes in clothing. One of the attackers was holding a pocket knife with the blade still out, pointing it at the accused with a purpose. Diana shook her head gently as they passed and Tori rubbed a reassuring hand on her back, hoping that it would keep both of them calm.

About forty minutes later they arrived at Diana's place. A large brick building with a black iron fence around the entrance stood at least ten floors taller than any of the surrounding buildings, casting a long shadow on the street and the houses on the other side. Diana put in a code on a number pad attached to the gate and there was an audible click as the gate popped open, allowing them entrance to the building. Inside the front door they took an immediate left and went through the first door they came to which opened up to a very large front room complete with media center and furniture.

"This place is amazing" said Tori, looking around in awe at the open room.

"Yeah, my parents are pretty loaded" Diana called back, having headed into the next room to find her bag and start packing. "They bought this place when I told them I got into Columbia. Always overcompensating."

Tori walked around the edge of the room, taking in the space to get a feel of what Diana was like in every day life. A couple large paintings hung on the walls in which landscape scenes stretched over canvas, giving the room an even more open feel. The high ceiling would have given the room great acoustics for singing or maybe a piano, and Tori wondered if maybe Diana ever liked to sing. She'd note that in the back of her mind and bring it up later when conversation was dry. Diana crossed from the room she had first entered to a different room across the hall from it with bag in hand, glancing quickly out into the living room on her way through. Tori decided to head back that way and maybe get a look at Diana's bedroom to learn a little more about her.

The floor was hardwood like the rest of the place but in a little worse shape. The flooring in the living room must have been replaced at one point. To Tori's surprise the walls were a light blue, her favorite color. Pictures of Diana and her friends covered the majority of one wall in a giant collage, arched around a big vanity mirror that set atop a sturdy wooden desk you'd normally see in a CEO's office. A queen sized bed sat pressed against the far wall with a bedside table on the left that held a small alarm clock and a bottle of water. Pieces of clothing lay on the bed and floor, strewn about in a hurry to pack things that were necessary for their trip.

Diana reentered the room silently with a small toiletry bag, placing it in the larger dufflebag she'd packed with clothing and extra shoes. A backpack sat next to it with survival items like flashlights and batteries, a pocket knife and matches. Tori looked through what she could see in the bag without moving anything and was impressed with Diana's readiness. It seemed like she had already planned for something like this to happen and all she needed to do was scoop everything up together and go. The dufflebag was packed with a couple hoodies and pants and a lot of the shirts were spring apparel since April was coming up quickly. Heading out west the weather would be warming up pretty quick and they didn't want to be stuck with heavy clothing the whole time.

"OK. I have the backpack full of small useful stuff like matches and needle and thread. I'm gonna grab some camping water bottles from the kitchen on the way out. Can you think of anything I missed?" Diana pulled both of the bags open wide so Tori could look.

"Seems like you got most of it" said Tori, nodding slowly. "Just make sure you bring feminine products and maybe some lotion or something."

"Good call, I was just in the bathroom and totally forgot that stuff."

"I'll grab the water bottles" said Tori, leaving the room behind Diana to find the kitchen.

The doorway on the right side wall from the entrance led into a kitchen that was about the size of Tori's entire apartment. A white tile floor gleamed in the daylight that shone in from the unblinded windows and gave the room a homey feel. An island with a granite counter top sat in the middle of the floorplan with shiny silver pans hanging overhead. The fridge was the fancy kind that had digital climate control and water and ice in the door. Tori walked over to the sink and started opening cupboards that she thought might house the water bottles, getting it right on the second try. She grabbed both of them and shut the cupboard gently, taking a second to admire the room a little more before she went back to the bedroom.

Diana looked up at Tori as she reentered the room, hands busy folding more shirts and underwear to stuff into her dufflebag. Tori set the bottles on the bed and then checked her phone, realizing they only had forty five minutes to get back to her place in the two hour timeframe they'd agreed on earlier. Matthew and Dom would probably be on their way back and Marie would most likely already be there, waiting inside since she had given her a key to get in. Diana finished up the final preparations and picked up the backpack and dufflebag both before Tori grabbed the latter.

"I'll help."

"Thanks" said Diana, putting her arms into the straps of the backpack. "Should be all set to go."

"We'll make it just in time if we don't hit any snags" said Tori, hefting the dufflebag strap onto her shoulder.

"Hopefully everyone else did as well as we did."

"Don't count your chips yet" Tori warned, turning the handle on the front door, "we gotta get out of here first."

Outside of the building the scene was much like it was by Tori's place. Hundreds of people hustling to get out of town before things got any worse. Tori picked up the pace and made sure Diana stayed close, linking arms with her when they rounded the corner of one of the larger intersections between them and their destination. No one paid attention as they bumped and ducked their way through the crowd since everyone was too preoccupied with themselves and their families. Police cars passed on both roads of the intersection as they waiting to cross, sirens blaring as a warning to those ahead. Tori hustled across the street with Diana right behind her.

About six blocks away from her place Tori noticed smoke rising from the ground floor of a medium sized building. She watched intently as they passed, wondering what the cause of the fire could be when a deafening explosion blew all of the windows out of the building and shot a large fireball straight into the street. The crowds of people near the explosion started screaming and running in terror, and the ones that were too close were claimed in the blast. Half a dozen bodies lay in the rubble in the street as the fire grew larger, feeding on the fresh oxygen in the open city. Diana tugged on Tori's arm as a reminder they needed to get as far away as possible as quickly as possible. Tori could barely tear her eyes from the carnage as she felt herself being pulled in the opposite direction. She had never seen something so destructive with her own eyes, and the sight of the bodies made it all the more uncomfortable.

They covered the last few blocks in a light jog to meet the deadline. Marie was already inside with her bag situated next to the door. She sat on the couch, eyes glued to the TV as they had been before, watching the live news feeds of the horrors happening right outside of their window. She turned her head slightly but didn't look away when Tori and Diana entered. Diana sat her bags next to Marie's and headed for the kitchen to get some water while Tori went to get her bags together.

"Get everything Marie?" Tori asked on the way through.

"Mm."

"You OK?"

"I guess" said Marie, readjusting her spot on the couch. "This whole thing is so bizzare I just feel like I'm in a dream or something."

"Well that dream is gonna collapse on you real fast if you don't come back to us."

Marie shut off the TV and stood up. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, just help Matthew and Dom with the preps when they get back, which should be any minute."

"Can do."

Tori headed into her room and grabbed her workout bag off the floor at the foot of the bed. She thought of where they would go first as she packed her bag, folding things up into tiny balls to fit more in. Surely getting out of the city was going to be bad enough, and with the uncertainty of their heading and of the road ahead tensions would be high in such a cramped space. A recipe for disaster. Tori thought of ways she would be able to diffuse situations in the confines of the car as she finished up packing, hearing Matthew and Dom enter the front door.

The smattering of voices echoed subtly off the bare walls of the apartment, masking Diana's footsteps as she entered the room.

"Anything I can help with?"

"Uh, sure. There's a flashlight in the top drawer of that desk you can grab" said Tori.

Diana retrieved the item and handed it over, eyes raking around the room. "Your room kind of reminds me of mine."

"Yeah, but about ten times smaller" said Tori.

"I just mean the colors, the bedding, your closet. We have a lot of the same tastes."

Tori blushed and turned her face down towards the bag to hide it. "I guess maybe we were meant to be friends then."

"Well that is definitely possible. And you know, as friends, we have to share clothes, especially since we're the same size."

"I dare say your wardrobe tops mine, it looks way more comfortable from what I saw." Tori zipped up her bag and turned to face Diana.

"Either way, I think we fit together pretty well."

Tori felt the blustery feeling in her stomach come back and all she could do was give a shy smile. She grabbed the bag and headed out into the living room where the smattering of voices echoed softly off the walls. Matthew had moved the laptop to the kitchen counter and was making a list of the items they'd brought and of what they found in Tori's apartment. Dom was pinpointing more GPS locations on the map and giving instructions to Matthew on what to write down. They decided to have paper directions just in case they lost the GPS. Diana sat on the couch and closed her eyes while Marie did the same in the chair opposite her, and Tori stood at the counter with the boys.

The plan was to go from Chicago to Port Huron, Michigan so they could cross into Ontario. If they were denied entry, which Matthew assumed they would be, plan B was to head northwest towards Alaska to get Diana to her parents. After that they would head down to California to drop Tori and Marie off at Tori's house and Matthew and Dom would decide what to do from there. Since their parents were gone and they had no other family it was just them. Tori envied that slightly in light of the situation, but she was sure they would rather have their parents back instead of an easier stroll through the Apocalypse.

Dom went around the room and collected cash after he finished with the coordinates, laying all of the bills down on the counter for everyone to see. He flipped through all of the notes one by one, straightening them and turning them the right way as he counted. Tori grabbed spare batteries from a drawer in the kitchen with a spur of the moment thought and set them on the counter next to the laptop. Matthew grabbed them and walked over to his and Dom's bags by the door and dropped them in a front zipper compartment.

"Alright guys, I need everyone to come over here" said Matthew.

The group gathered around the counter and looked at the laptop to see what Matthew and Dom had been working on.

"Go over this list a couple times, all of you, and make sure we aren't forgetting anything critical. If there's something that isn't on there that you think should be, speak up. We don't need to be caught by surprise in this situation."

Marie and Diana got up from the living room and looked, nodding their heads slowly and consistently as they scanned. Tori did the same, noting they didn't have toilet paper or any other bathroom stuff.

"We need toilet paper and q-tips and stuff. If we're gonna be on the road for a while we need to be fully stocked."

"Good thinking" said Matthew, adding those two items to the list. "Anything else?"

"Water bottles and some finger food would be good to have for the long stretches" said Diana, heading to the fridge to grab what was left of the water. "I have camping water bottles that we can fill once the spring water is gone."

"Alright, I guess we're all set" said Matthew, packing his laptop into his bag. "Who wants to drive first?"

"I will" said Tori.

"OK, let's move out."

The group dragged all of their bags to the parking lot behind the building, waiting for Tori to pop the trunk so they could load it up. Once everything was packed they shuffled into the vehicle, surprised and relieved at the amount of room they had, even being three deep in the backseat. Matthew sat up front with the GPS as the navigator while Dom sat behind him with the paper directions and laptop. Luckily whatever was going on was still in the beginning stages so the internet was still working fine, and Dom used his cell phone as a hotspot for the laptop. He tracked their movements in real time via a mapping site and coordinated with Matthew to make sure they stayed on course.

Tori pulled out of the parking lot slowly. The amount of people still wandering the streets hadn't gotten any smaller and traffic seemed to not be moving at all. It took ten minutes just to get onto the road, and another twenty five to get up to the barricade. Smoke rose from somewhere beyond the buildings in front of them and the general consensus was that another explosion happened or more fires were being started. Police cars continued to move towards them from the west as Tori rolled up to the barricade. Everyone in the car took out their Ids and passed them forward so she could hand them out the window when a large, burly man in uniform with a clean shave and buzz cut appeared.

"Ids."

"Here you go" said Tori, handing all five of them over.

"Where you guys headed?"

"West. Alaska and then California." She didn't mention Canada since she thought that the U.S. Army might not like the idea of its country's citizens fleeing to find sanctuary somewhere else.

"Don't want to be going west, not safe." The soldier handed the Ids back and typed something into a computer that was housed in a makeshift shack.

"Our families are out there" said Tori, frowning a little at the thought of a soldier saying something was dangerous. "We're just trying to find our parents."

"Well good luck. Try to stick to the back roads."

"Thank you."

Tori rolled up the window and pulled through the barricade, being gestured to the left by another soldier directing traffic. Matthew was following a virtual route on the GPS and pointed to the road up ahead, signaling for her to follow the car in front of them. He watched as the large buildings of the city started to eventually fade behind them until they were far enough away from downtown that you couldn't see them at all, wondering if he would ever make it back. The thought of leaving the place he'd lived his whole life and lost his parents in was hard but the reality was they couldn't stay. Sometimes you have to leave your life behind and start a new one; that was something Matthew's Uncle Jack had told him at his parents' funeral.

A couple years back Matthew and Dom's parents had finally decided to take a break from work and spend a romantic weekend together. Hotel room, wine, the works. They'd gone out one of the nights to see a movie and the way back from the theater proved to be deadly. A police chase screamed down the street next to them and started in their direction, blowing through the intersection where they were stopped at a red light. They had no chance to move before the car overcorrected and slammed right into the front of them. Paramedics were called to the scene but both were announced DOA almost immediately.

The service was three days after the accident. They were both shown together but they were both closed casket. Their mother, Tera, had become disfigured when her head went through the driver's side window during the accident, and they decided to keep his father, Daniel's, closed as well out of respect. Dozens of people showed up. Cousins and cousins of cousins. People that Matthew and Dom had never even met before that they were supposedly related to. They endured two whole hours of countless 'I'm sorry's and 'If I can do anything let me know's. After a while it got to be too much for Dom, who went out to sit in the car and listen to music. Matthew forced himself to stay through it but vowed that he would put it all behind him the second it was over. Towards the end of the service he had a short conversation with his grandfather, his mom's dad, someone he'd never really liked much growing up. Apparently he had taken care of everything police wise with the accident and the funeral, and he had saved something from his daughter's personal effects for Matthew.

Tera had an affinity for a certain handkerchief she'd gotten at a yard sale, unused of course. It was fairly large at twenty five inches square, yellow fabric with the Pittsburgh Steelers logo sewn into the middle. She was an avid football fan and the Steelers were her favorite team, so the find was extra special to her. She purchased it right away and kept it in her purse at all times, though she never used it for its intended purpose. A couple years after she'd gotten it she managed to get it signed by a couple players from the team at her first live game, and she said for years after how that was one of the best days of her life. Matthew's grandfather had gotten it out of her purse when he picked up the items from the Coroner's office and thought that Matthew should have it, since he was a fan of the team as well.

He took the fabric and folded it up, sliding it in his pocket with a quick thanks. The service ended shortly after and he'd barely thought about any of it ever since.

The view changed once again as the car merged onto the highway heading north. Tori checked her rear view mirror and locked eyes with Diana, who was sitting patiently in the back with her hands folded between her thighs. Tori wondered how she had been so lucky to find such a cool new friend out of nowhere, especially right before all of this was going on. Good friends were hard to find but Diana seemed to have just fallen into her lap. Tori couldn't help but smile as her eyes were locked with Diana's, until the world was literally shaken so hard she was thrown out of the moment, and Diana's eyes were the last thing she saw for a few minutes.

A car bomb had exploded at the intersection to get onto the highway and took out a couple cars near it, strengthening the blast and making the radius larger. Tori and the group were caught in the explosion, close enough that the car flipped over twice before landing on its side. Matthew managed to open the door and crawl out, reaching in to pull Marie out and then Diana. Tori had gotten her door open and stumbled into the street next to Matthew, looking in to see if she could manage to get Dom out. Screams erupted from all directions making it hard to decipher who was where in the aftermath of the explosion. Their ears rang and their vision was fuzzy for the first few minutes, making the situation even more stressful than it needed to be. It took a few minutes but Dom finally climbed out of the car, the side of his face covered in blood from hitting the window when the car rolled.

"Is everyone OK?" he asked.

"I think so" said Tori, checking her legs and brushing herself down to get out scraps of glass.

"I'm good" said Marie, followed by an echo from Diana. Matthew nodded his head, blinking rapidly to try and restore his vision.

A few cars burned fiercely as gusts of wind fed their fires. People were still screaming and fleeing in different directions, trying to find shelter from the flames and debris. Tori's car was totaled in the rolling as all of the windows were either shattered or spider cracked all the way across. A couple people clawed their way up from the pavement between two burning cars gasping for air and Dom ran over to help, picking a woman up under the shoulder and leading her to the sidewalk as her husband managed himself. He nodded his thanks to Dom and took his wife under his arm, shuffling around the corner and away from the scene. Dom crossed back to where the group had congregated as he formed a plan in his head.

"We need to get another car and get out of here, fast." He was turned facing the direction they had came from with the army barricade just over a stone's throw away. "The army is coming right now and they're going to start shooting."

"Well what do we do? Do we just steal a car?" asked Marie.

"That's exactly what we do."

Dom flocked everyone to the sidewalk and had them crouch behind a car that was still intact while he ran up the road, searching for a vehicle big enough to fit all of them and their gear. He laid eyes on a black midsized BMW that was running but had no one in sight around it. He checked all around a few times, looking in windows and checking alleyways between buildings to see if the owner was in the area. He couldn't see anyone that looked interested in the car and the car itself was void of any personal items so Dom hopped into the car and pulled it up to Tori's so they could transfer their things.

Matthew helped to flip Tori's car back onto its wheels since it wasn't on fire, making it easier to open the trunk and get things out. Tori threw her bags in quickly and jumped into the driver's seat of the BMW, getting acquainted with everything so they could take off as quickly as possible. Shouts came from the direction of her apartment and sure enough the army was pouring into the area. They held tight formations with guns drawn, crouching low to the ground and taking cover behind vehicles as they advanced. Dom watched them over the roof of Tori's car and pushed everyone to hurry up, finally getting the last bags into the trunk and slamming it shut. They piled in one after the other and as soon as the last door closed Tori punched the gas, aiming for the highway. She could hear bullets ricocheting off the pavement and one or two that punctured the back of the car but they weren't damaging, and the group managed to weave through the small spaces between cars and escape out onto the open road.

The aftermath of the explosion made it difficult for the big army vehicles to maneuver, and when it came to them squeezing by them wrecked cars to pursue the group, it just wasn't possible. Two Hummers stalled at the few cars that were still burning, all jumbled up into a pile in the middle of the road. They watched the sleek BMW shrink further and further away.

The Midwest was severely flat and boring to watch out the windows. Everyone else in the car had gone from checking out the scenery to flicking through their phones or iPods quickly while Tori tried to keep herself entertained watching the road. She noticed a few animals in the treeline looking for food or seemingly playing games. When a car in front of them would take an exit she'd make up a story in her head about who the people in the car were and where they were going. Earlier a newer model BMW, like the one they'd liberated, with just a man in a suit had taken an exit towards Cleveland and Tori thought maybe he was a business man and was on his way to a regional meeting on what to do in the crisis or something. She assumed he was single since he had a suit bar hanging across the backseat and no other luggage or people with him. It seemed kind of sad to be alone in a time like this. She couldn't imagine he had a wife or girlfriend since she would most likely be with him, but maybe he did and he was going to meet her? So many possibilities made it easy for her to change and reform the stories she created to keep her mind occupied.

"How is everyone doing?" she asked, hoping to pick up the energy a bit.

"Still a little rocked," said Dom, "but my head feels better." He held a balled up t-shirt against his head to stop the bleeding after they were safely out onto the highway, but the cuts would have to be looked at as an infection was one thing they couldn't have.

"That was crazy" said Marie, staring out the window as they drove. "I can't believe this is really happening. I mean I've seen stuff like this on TV and in movies and stuff but who really thinks it'll happen to them, you know?"

"Well we're going to have to be vigilant. This just proves that things have already gotten worse since we first heard, and they're only going to go down from here."

Diana smiled at Tori's reflection in the rear view mirror and sat back against her seat, face turned towards her window. The flatness was somewhat reminiscent to Seattle since there weren't any mountains or anything like that in the city, but the lack of large buildings and smog placed the two settings vastly apart. She found herself wondering where she would be if she hadn't left the city. It sounded like the western seaboard had gotten the worst of it, seeing as it started in California and rose north pretty quickly, and fire burns hottest near it's core. Her parents had fled to Alaska which was hopefully untouched by the whole thing since it's out of the way and treacherous. Diana wondered what would happen when they got there, with both her and her family and the group. She looked at each individual person in the car, thinking of their lives and their loved ones, especially Matthew and Dom not having anyone. At least for now they had each other, and hopefully it would stay that way.