The Fall of Kass: Chapters 1-5

one

Laney

The Apocalypse.

Those words have been on a loop in my head for two weeks. Two weeks in which I watched the world lose its shit. Well, at least the world around me.

In my lifetime I've seen many natural disasters. The earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, the Tsunami in Japan, and the Joplin Tornado just to name a few. When a natural disaster hits, the morning after is devastation. Slowly, people come out of their homes to find not much is left. Most will rebuild but some won't. People from all over the nation, the world even, will try to help. The population will rally together to send food and water and many will go to the location of the disaster to help physically rebuild. However, when the end of the world hits, people lose their damn minds.

No one slowly emerges from the wreckage of their house. Most aren't even in their home anymore. Many have gone into hiding, only coming out to raid the nearest grocery store to find it's been wiped out by others.

It's been two weeks since the world went to shit. The people not in hiding have been shooting each other on the streets. The nights are filled with screams and gunshots, the days filled with tumbleweeds. It's like a ghost town during the day. No one wants to see anyone else. Humanity has been wiped from each and every one of us.

Every day, Kass and I roam the University looking for Ryan and Miguel. We search every inch of the place in hopes that maybe they're just hiding really well. We haven't seen them yet, not even a glimpse. One of my roommate's bedroom upstairs has a hole burned in the roof. We both know what that means. Luckily, by the time we'd arrived at the house, the body had already been removed.

We've been staying at the house Ryan and I rented with two other girls. The windows have been boarded and the door sealed shut every night, but they still haven't come. Kass is beginning to get antsy and I can't blame him. Both of us are worried about our friends.

"You want to start the trek to your parents' house tomorrow?" Kass asks me as he comes through the kitchen door.

I've been putting the trip off because I'm afraid of what I'll find. If my parents are alive, they're probably in hiding. If they aren't... I just can't even think about it.

"Yeah. I don't think Miguel and Ryan are coming back. We would have found them by now if they were."

Kass nods but doesn't say anything else. It's been tense between us since it happened. Two weeks ago things were great; we were getting back together and planning a future, at least I was planning one. Now, I'm not so sure we were ever on the same page. Kass has barely spoken to me since the Heavens began reaping souls. I don't know what's wrong or how to fix it and every day I feel us drifting further and further apart. I don't want to lose him again, but I fear I won't be given a choice.

"We'll leave in the morning, just after sunrise," he startles me by saying. He stares at me for a moment, zero emotion on his face, before turning and going back into the other room.

Like most nights now, I don't sleep, and it's not just because I'm nervous about finally finding out about my parents. If the phones worked, I would have called immediately. Kass thinks the electrical current from the lighting is shorting out the cell service, but even landlines won't work. Nothing requiring any bit of electricity works.

About an hour ago, the sounds of gunfire began. It's off in the distance but it's still loud enough to make me anxious. Kass is lying next to me on the mattress we put on the floor. He said it was safer that way, even though the windows are boarded the boards aren't as durable under gunfire as the house. He's not touching me, not even facing me in his sleep. I hate that we can't seem to communicate on any level. I don't know how to feel about us anymore.