Mollie looked down at her compass. She couldn’t understand how she and her mother had gotten lost on this stupid tiny island. This was ridiculous; she couldn’t believe that she was stuck with her mom out in the middle of nowhere when she didn’t even want to be out here. This was just another stupid “bonding” thing her mother was making her do. She wasn’t even really a bad kid, she just wasn’t at home much, which made her mom freak out. So now she was stuck with her psycho mom in the middle of nowhere, lost.



She didn’t notice at first but when she looked again, she realized the compass wasn’t even working. It would point at the east, then change to the north, then the south, then west. Over and over again it kept changing, never stopping at one spot.



“Mollie, look!” She heard her mother shout. Mollie looked to where her mother was pointing and saw that there were birds flying around in the sky. All of them, every single one. It looked like the sky was black with them. Mollie didn’t know much about birds, but she knew that wasn’t a good sign. She had to go, now.



Angel watched as everyone flew past her, tears down people’s faces, horror in their eyes. The four year old next to her was screaming, “Mommy, mommy, where are you?!” panic running down his face. The empathy she felt for him was almost enough to make her break right then and there. But she didn’t have time. She quickly pushed past bodies of terror, with Allie and Marielle in front of her. She had to get them in that plane. Now.



She passed a mother pushing her teenage son in front of her. The lady fell to her knees and immediately Angel grabbed the hand of the kid.



“Take him to the plane, dear god please!” She screamed at Angel. She just nodded and kept pushing Allie and Marielle in front of her. The boy’s hand seemed to be shaking in hers. She looked back to see him shaking with sobs, and she started shaking too. Her beach blonde hair whipped in her face and tears stung her eyes.



“Just get to that plane Angel, come on.” She murmured to herself. She wished she was with her mother and little sister, Mollie, right now, on an island so far away from this chaos. Away from trying to save every person she passed by, along with her cousins, from whatever the government was warning them about. Everyone’s minds were on the fact that today was December 21, 2012. The day religions around the world had warned us about.

Power had already gone out in the states and the moment that had happened she had grabbed her cousins and flew to the car, driving like a speed demon for the first time in her life. She was very superstitious, and had dreaded this day since the first time she had heard about it. But now it was too late, and she couldn’t turn back.



Ten more yards, nine, eight, seven. She could see the plane start from here, and others pushing past the guards to get in. Five, four, three. She saw another boy that looked around nineteen crying near the front. Two, one. She grabbed the kids hand and flew past the guards.



“Ma’am! Stop! Ma’am!” They shouted after her. But her legs wouldn’t stop until these kids got on that plane. She pushed the kids into the plane. Then she looked behind her. The guards were rushing after her, but before they could get to her, she grabbed the handle of the door and slammed it close to herself. Then she slid down to the floor, silently crying the whole plane ride. Out the window, her world disappeared.



Chace woke up to the sound of pouring rain and rushing water. His head was throbbing and he felt like puking from being in the airplane for so long. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. When he looked around he remembered the night before.

How the government had said that they should evacuate the city and how his parents had rushed him to the airport with his little sister. Then sprinting into the crowd with his family only to look back to see his mom barely keeping up with him because she was having an asthma attack. He had stopped and sprinted back to her when she fell, only to be taken away by some bleach blonde haired, brown eyed late twenty something woman that shoved him through the crowd and onto the plane.



Tears came to his eyes. This was not how he envisioned his life. Away from his family, with a bunch of scared people he didn’t even know. He didn’t even know what was going on.



“Anyone up?” he heard someone whisper. He looked to the seat next to him to see a girl with wavy dark blonde hair and deep chocolate brown eyes. She was wearing a blue shirt that was tied at the waist, and green cords with a chunky belt and a lot of dangling bracelets for accessories.



“Yeah.” he informed.



“Where’s Angel?” she asked him



“I have no idea who you’re talking about.” he replied.



“The girl who saved your butt, you moron.” she remarked



Chace was taken aback by this girl. She wasn’t like all of the other girls that just swooned over his good looks, which was weird. She must be blind, he thought.



“Sorry I’m kind of blurry about the last few hours, so what’s your name?” He asked in his sweet voice that sounded like a melody.



“Yeah I guess so if you can’t remember who saved you from being a dead man right now. I’m Marielle, if you are awake enough to remember that.”



This girl was really starting to bug him. She would not give in, like all of the other girls. He would just have to give up instead. It was useless anyway to think about this Marielle instead of what was going on.



“Do you have any nicknames because I don’t think I will.” he joked.



“I normally go by Mari. Will you remember that?”



“Yeah, I’m Chace.”



“Well, Chace, it’s very nice to meet you. Now do you know where Angel is?”



“I think she’s sitting behind us, but I’m not sure.”



Mari glanced at the people sitting behind them and then turned around again.



“Yeah, she is, but she’s asleep.”



“Okay, so now what? Should we wake her up?”



“No, do you know who Allie is?”



“Not really.”



“Well then, you’re a big help. I’ll search for her myself.” Then she got up and started to walk down the aisle. Chace just sat there for awhile, thinking. Then he looked out the window. They were over an island mainly made up of a volcano. Suddenly, he heard an explosion that ran through his ears like a long gunshot when you were standing next to the gun, and the whole plane shook like it feared the noise. When Chace looked back down, he saw an evil mix of lava and smoke coming from the volcano, and huge waves coming from all around the volcano. Right then and there, Chace knew that there wouldn’t be a California or Hawaii anymore by the looks of those waves.




Marielle walked down the aisle thinking about how much that Chace kid had seemed like another stuck up jerk. She knew he thought he was all that, and she didn’t care.



When she finally saw where Allie was she realized that she was sitting next to the other guy that Angel had managed to save before they jumped on the plane. But before she could reach her, the whole plane seemed like it had an earthquake.



As Marielle was still watching Allie, she saw her eyes shoot open with fear and terror. The plane shook again and that’s when Marielle hit the ceiling of the plane and then nothing.



Mollie immediately grabbed her mother’s hand and sprinted like all heck had broke lose. She had to find their car before whatever was coming found them. She saw other people realize, too late, that this was a bad sign and still stand there in awe. All that Mollie knew was that she had to get to their car.



When they finally reached the car, Mollie threw her mother into the passengers’ seat, and jumped into the drivers’ seat. She didn’t even bother buckling up; she just wanted to get off of that stupid island. Even more, she wanted that bad feeling in the pit of her stomach to go away, because she knew what this was telling her.



She jammed the key into the ignition, and threw her foot down onto the gas. The car sputtered to life and she steered her way out of that place. She could hear her mother screaming and shouting at her, but she didn’t even register the words. Then she noticed her mother pick up the phone and dial some numbers, frantically trying to call someone. Her older sister Angel probably.



Then she looked into the rearview mirror and gasped. Right behind her, the volcano was exploding. Fire and smoke and lava were hurling right at her. But she couldn’t stop. Then they would all be barbeque for whoever’s left after that.



She started to think of what to do. They couldn’t just drive until they ran out of gas and were dead meat. So she started to wonder if she could find a plane around. Then she could drive into the plane, where those baggage places were.



So she looked up. Sure enough there was a plane right ahead. The problem was how to communicate to whoever was up there.

The jolt of the plane woke Allie up with a start. She saw Mari staring at her as she flew up and down in the aisle. Then there was another huge jolt and Mari’s head ran into the ceiling of the plane.



“Mari!” Allie screamed as she jumped up and ran to her. She kneeled over her and lightly slapped her face. Slowly, Mari came back. She helped her up to her feet.



“Oh god, that really hurt.” Mari held her head.



“What on earth were you thinking?! You are such a moron!” Allie screamed at her.



“Look out your window.” She warned.



Allie ran to her window and flipped the blind up. Then she stopped breathing for a minute. Outside a wave of lava and water, almost like fire and ice, were erupting from the volcano under them. Waves were crashing everywhere, and the whole island was being consumed by the cloud of lava.



“Oh my god, oh my god…” Allie kept repeating.



“Yeah, I know.” Mari agreed.



Allie sat down. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. This was worse than a nightmare, because she knew she couldn’t wake up. This world was never going to see tomorrow.



Brody woke up to see everyone crying. Then last night came back to him. The reports on the news that everyone should evacuate. Getting on the plane with people he didn’t know. He originally was supposed to get on with his uncle, but when he ran off and left Brody alone, he didn’t have time to wait. Maybe he could get a signal on his phone and call his parents to tell them he was okay. He got his phone out of his back pocket and turned it on. Dang, no signal. There was probably just some mudslide thing going on and that was why they had to evacuate. So why was everyone crying?



He looked over at the girl sitting next to him. She was sitting there looking like she had just witnessed a murder. Her brownish blonde hair was starting to fall in her face and her ice blue eyes were even wider and more noticeable than before against her olive brown skin. What was her name again? Allie? That was it.



“Hey Allie, what’s going on?” he murmured.



“ Oh my god. There’s probably no more California, or anywhere off the pacific.”



Brody looked at her like she was a freak. She wasn’t making sense at all.



“ What? Why?”



“ I think that volcano out the window just created a tsunami.” Then she started to cry. Not like a sob, but more like the tears just slipped down her face. He grabbed her hand. They might not survive, but at least they could cry on the plane together.



Alicia, Mollies mother, was internally bursting. Her heat rate had to be through the roof, and she felt like she could barely breathe from the fear that if she did, that flood of lava behind them would catch her.



She had tried to call Angel, but couldn’t get service. That made her feel worse. What if she was dead? Her own poor daughter, dead, made Alicia feel like vomiting. Like she should just jump out the window and surrender to the lava hurling at them. But then Mollie, who needed her help the most would be alone, forever.



So she helped her daughter find a way to contact that plane ahead of them, only part of her heart in it. She had no idea her other daughter was up in that plane, right now thinking of where she was.



Chace sat up when he saw Mari coming back with that Allie girl, holding her head.



“Are you okay?” he wondered.



“No, she’s not,” Allie pointed out. “When someone’s holding their head, they normally don’t feel all fine and dandy.”



Chace helped Mari back into her seat, “Sorry, it’s just natural to worry about someone when you have a heart.”



Allie didn’t seem phased. She just moved away from them back to her seat.” Make sure she doesn’t get up, I’m getting some ice from a steward up front.” Was all she said on her way up to the front.



He sat back down next to her, exasperated. She was barely conscious, but she seemed okay besides that. Then the speakers overhead shook with the pilot’s voice.



“Everyone stay calm. I know that we have gone over some frightening things in the past few minutes, but we’re okay now. We will soon be landing. Please stay calm until then.”



Chace for once this whole ride, felt relief wash over him like a tidal wave.



Angel felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. How could that happen? She was over a thousand feet in the air, with barely any signal. But on reflex, she reached for her phone anyway. The screen on her phone said; MOM. She flipped open and said, “Hello?” All she heard for a minute was sobbing on the other line. She kept saying hello over and over again, hoping each time the person would say it back. Her stomach twisted and reeled, getting tighter each moment, and she knew something was wrong with who was on the other side.



“Angel, its mom. We’re in the car, where are you sweetie? Oh god, I’m so glad you’re alive. I prayed and prayed, and when I called you, it was on instinct because if we weren’t in this situation, I knew you would pick up you’re phone. Our car is right below a plane and a huge wave of lava is chasing. Oh god, I don’t know if we can make it.”



Angel could hear her mother voice falter, and start to cry again. Angel’s insides felt like jelly, and she felt tears sting her eyes too. “Mom, I know where you are.”



Allie noticed something out of the corner of her eye. When she looked again, she realized it was outside someone’s window. There was a car.



Mollie looked over to her mom for the first time this whole insanely unrealistic car ride. Her mother had just said Angel. Her sister, who shared her DNA, and the one person she related to the most. Her best friend. Angel, the one person she hadn’t worried about since this had started. Mollie felt like fainting.



“..Oh god, I don’t know if we can make it.” she heard her mother start to cry again. She started to shake and take in quick breathes, like she was going to start hiccupping soon.



Mollie looked up again at the plane and saw the luggage door at the back of the plane start to open up. As if god wanted to put her through more pain. Then the plane started to descend.



“You what?!” her mother screamed.



Mollie looked over again at her mother. She saw her jaw drop and her eyeballs pop out of her sockets. She looked up again at the plane. It was now almost close enough to drive into the back.



It felt like hours before her mother looked up at the plane too. It seemed to come together in her mother’s mind at that moment. The fact that her own daughter was up in that plane with their cousins, Allie and Marielle, and that they were about to be saved by the pilots and her sister up there.



Mollie laughed. It was ridiculous to be laughing at a time like this. But that was the funny part about it. She was laughing at a time when she should be crying and screaming. Now might be the last time she laughed, so why not?



Brody felt like the plane was slowly descending to the ground. He looked out the window to find this true. A car down there was about to drive into the back. Brody figured he must’ve had too many salted peanuts. Thinking of food made him hungry, and he realized he hadn’t eaten since yesterday. He headed up to the front of the plane to get some more food.



When he finally got up there, he asked a stewardess for some food and a drink.



“I’m sorry, but we ran out of food, and the refrigerator where we keep the drinks isn’t working.” The lady still smiled that cheesy fake smile, even as she said those words,



“Oh, well thanks anyway.” He turned around and walked back to his seat, his stomach grumbling all the way back.



Alicia screamed as they drove into the back of the plane. Mollie pushed down hard on the gas, and Alicia felt the car jerk forward with a kick. Then they just sped into the back. It was over before she opened her eyes. They were safe. All of her family, finally safe.



Mari breathed a sigh of relief when she touched the ground again for the first time. They were all safe again. Nothing was happening now because they were safe.






Then she looked toward the city. That’s when she realized that the lights should be on in the houses since it was only 8:30. But there was darkness. Her breathing started to get quicker, and she realized why the fridge in the plane hadn’t been working. Power outage.



Just then she heard a gunshot, and people screaming in the distance. This was not the world she once lived in. This was post apocalypse, and it was only beginning.