Apocalyptica
by Mowsy Merethil and Bryce Ridgeway.
Edited by ??
Dedicated to all the people I’ve met over my years of life, Every person who helped carve me into what I am now. Heather, Dylan, Cameron, Kate, and everyone else.
It was just an average day on Earth; life bustled on like always as humans went about their daily lives. One specific town becomes the center of our story, a small town yet not a village called DuQuoin. It was somewhat a city you might say, though it lacked the skyscrapers and tall buildings you'd see in today's cities. The day this story begins is a simple Friday, a Friday in November during 2006. The previous night into the morning had been displeasing for a young man named Brian Merethil, as a nightmare struck him once again. The same nightmares continued to pound at his brain throughout the morning until he reached school.
DuQuoin High School was not something Brian liked. It had too much drama, in his opinion, it was nothing but cutting, drinking, and drugs that the teens did and that’s not mentioning the constant arguments over someone’s cousin’s boyfriend’s sister having a crush on someone from another town and somebody else getting mad at you for something you didn’t do. Yeah, way too much conflict for Brian. But he had to live through it, he had to take the every day shit. He knew he’d get a break over the weekend so he was grateful it was Friday. As he walked in his school, the polished floor shone. It was like always, the tiled floor was sparkling and students were sitting on benches around the bathrooms. As Brian walked, he turned to the long hallway that would branch off into smaller hallways leading to classrooms. Far down the hallway, he saw doors similar to the ones he came in at the end of the building and not far to his right was the opening to the cafeteria, where students would spend time until Extended Learning Time and ultimately class.
Brian turned into the scarcely populated cafeteria and walked down the six steps. He noticed one of his friends immediately. Dirty blonde hair ran to the collar of his friend’s black shirt; uncurling as if it were straightened. The face was the face of his great friend Dustin Himes, who gave him a signature thumbs-up and smiled like he usually did. Brian also noticed Eli Epplin, another good friend of his with short brown hair. Eli wore glasses and was somewhat a straight A student. Brian returned the gesture to Dustin and sat across from his friends.
“So. What’s on the agenda?” Dustin had asked. Dustin was two years older than Brian and Eli, his height showed it, but just barely. He didn’t tower over Brian or Eli, probably because Brian was tall for his class. Freshman class’ average was probably somewhere around 5’8 or so, and Brian happily exceeded that.
“Well, for today… China Buffet?” Brian replied with glee, and Dustin responded by pulling out his wallet and checked. “Yeah…” he said, “…I’ve got enough. Twenty bucks should cover it for me, right?”
Brian nodded. “It’s only eight for lunch so you’ll be fine.” Brian turned to Eli, who shrugged. “I don’t know… I’m thinking more McDonalds today.”
Dustin decided it was a good time for a laugh. “Yeah, You would like to see that clown in his overalls romancing you, Eli!” This was followed by a bustle of laughter from Brian and Dustin.
“Where the hell was my hello?” Brian heard a voice from behind him; it was the voice of Meka, a girl whom Brian had fallen head over heels for recently. Meka already knew this though because it was pretty obvious.
Brian turned to see the purple haired girl sitting in a chair at another table; she got up and moved next to Brian. “So what’s up?” She said as she looked at him through glasses. Her eyes were orbs of brilliance, a simple miracle that he could gaze into forever and he—
His slow-motion moment of staring into her eyes was interrupted by a black haired boy about 5’10” pushing his hand into Meka’s side. Meka counter-attacked with a backhand slap and a push that made the teen go to arm’s length. The teen was Brandon Eubanks. Brian could see, in the blurred unfocused region behind Brandon, Brian could see a few kids standing at the top of the stairs and then three figures moving down the stairs.
Two were female, one with Black hair that hung behind her in a black ponytail and the other with brown hair to her shoulders. The black-haired one was about 5’ 8” and the brown haired one was 5’ 4”. The male was around 5’11 (about as tall as Brian) with black hair that poofed out and raced down to his shoulders where it spun out of control. The females were Cameron Dean (the short one) and Katelyn Fann. The male was Dylan Fann. As the trio moved down the steps, another figure appeared in the doorway up the stairs. This one was a 5’6” female with long black hair, wearing a black hoody with the hood bouncing behind her as she walked to catch up with the other three. This was Lenora Broski, Brian’s cousin.
Dustin gave the signature thumbs up yet again, this time to Lenora and Dylan as they took their seats. Dylan sat next to Cameron on the right side of Brian, Katelyn took a seat across from Dylan and Lenora sat next to Brian.
“China Buffet…” Lenora said as she sat, looking from Brian to Dustin, who both nodded. Dylan spoke up, as did Cameron.
“But I don’t have enough money!” Dylan and Cameron said at the same time, then looked at each other and said “Whoa!” again simultaneously.
“Just go to McDonalds with Eli.” Brian replied. “Dustin, Lenora, and Myself will go to the China Buffet.” He leaned back in his chair; Lenora used her finger to prod Brian in the side. Brian jumped and his hand immediately went to hers.
“Revenge!” Lenora said laughing, pulling her hand back. Brian returned the poke to the side and this time Lenora jumped with a high-pitched yelp. When she landed, her eyes were closed and a look of displeasure was on her face. “Bastard…” she muttered. Brian simply laughed.
“Meka, We’re together.” Brandon said, grasping Meka’s arm. Meka responded by lifting her fist and launching her fist towards Brandon's face. The collision made Brian smile, but he tried not to let it show. He did a horrible job of it, but Lenora, Dustin, and Dylan smiled along with him.
Brandon just smiled. His flirt games were always fun for him. He grabbed Meka’s arm again, and she hit him again while wrestling from his grip, this time he stayed away. “Meanie!” he said, sticking his tongue out at her as he scooted from her reach.
“I’ll show you how much of a meanie I can be, Now get over here!” she said, attempting to attack him once more. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he was out of reach.
Brandon just smirked. “You won’t!” he said in a sarcastic, daring voice.
“I Will now C’mere!” Meka attacked again and struck Brandon’s arm.
Brian found himself laughing even more along with the rest of his friends, that's about when Jessica and Amie came down the steps to join the now nearly full table.
"Hey!" Amie said, going around giving everyone hugs like most people did in this group of friends. Jessica did the same but without a greeting. Amie was a bigger girl, with brown hair and a very kind heart. Her hair was most of the time in a ponytail. Jessica was a black-haired girl with her hair also in a ponytail. They both took a seat and the table was full. "So, what're we doing after school?"
Dustin was the one to answer. "Brian, Lenora, Cameron, and Myself are going to the China Buffet."
Amie shrugged. "Not enough money, where's everyone else going?"
"McDonald’s or something."
"I'll go there with them."
And that was basically that. Everyone had a set path, so normal conversation could resume. But as the new topic started (The new topic was abortion, noone knew how that came along) the bell rang and class began. The group stood relentlessly, all tired and weary from lack of sleep. They each gave their departing hugs and headed to their next class.
--
Brian was not a school person. He did not like school one bit, and part of that was P.E. being a required class. It was his first class of the day, it made him even more tired because of having to work in the morning. As he walked into the gym, he set his books down under his chair and waited for the teacher, Mrs. Bruns, to come in and make sure everyone was here. Sure enough, about 5 minuets after the bell rang, she walked from the girl's locker room onto the shiny DuQuoin Indian's themed basketball court. The words Indians and the school's mascot Indian were both painted on the floor, along with the lines and dots and stuff used in Basketball.
Brian sat a row above the floor level, next to an African American named David Rose and next to a Caucasian named Tommy Rector. Both had short hair, David's was black and Tommy's was blonde. Really, that's all Brian remembered of them. He didn't care much for people he didn't know. By the time Bruns made it to the desk, she had already completed most of the role-call.
"Alright. Today, You don't have to dress because it's a half day. I told you yesterday, make sure you have something to occupy yourselves.” And occupy himself Brian would. It wasn’t a hard task, all he did was sit and read or write. At this time, he was writing about a man named Mike, a SWAT Officer investigating a house with his squad when something happens. Brian really wasn’t sure what would happen, but it would include someone in Brian’s squad dying, leaving Brian to survive. He was only a paragraph into the story, so he didn’t have much.
By the end of the period, Brian had gotten Mike’s fate down. He would be attacked by a vampire and turned into one by a vampire. Of course, Mike would be the embodiment of Brian himself as an older form and other characters may or may not take embody people in Brian’s life. Brian had always looked up to an author, Stephen King, as an Idol. Brian didn’t really consume himself in King’s work, but he did read a few things. He thought his writing style was somewhat close to King’s.
As the period ended, Brian finished his sentence and closed the notebook.
To Spanish.. He thought with a grimace. Spanish was NOT his subject.
--
As he entered the room, throwing a quick “Hola!” to the teacher, he looked into the room to see the same old Spanish posters and pinats hanging around. Brian made his way to his seat but before he could sit down, he felt a weight fall upon him. Brian felt the figure of a person, and arms wrapped around him. He emitted a noise of suprize and stumbled a bit, caught off guard. The person on his back hopped off and giggled. It was his cousin, Lenora.
Brian turned around to see his cousin holding her arms out to the side. His friends' international signal for "Gimme a fuckin' hug." Brian hugged her, she apologized for jumping on him, and they both took their seats. Lenora sat to the left of Brian, far left on the edge of the room. The distance didn't matter because Brian and Lenora didn't talk at all during class anyway.
The classroom filled up quickly, but Brian didn’t notice. He was nose-deep in a science-fiction book written by some science-fiction writer. The book was about a few people being injected with some unknown substance and then trying to run from assassins. Brian was severely interested. Sadly, his book reading was cut short by the teacher announcing class. Because it was a shorter day, Brian had a plan ready.
The kid in front of him was somewhat larger than him. Perfect cover. So Brian laid his head down and soon fell asleep.
--
“Come on! Hurry!” Dustin said. Brian was standing behind him, He heard footsteps behind him. Dustin’s dirty blonde hair was matter and caked with blood and blue goo, his white shirt with black sleeves were more red than ever.
All Brian knew was he had to move. Instinct told him to keep moving, so he ran behind Dustin. Brian noticed they were outside, on an upward slope. Probably a hill, and he could hear footsteps of his friends. He didn’t know how, but he knew they were friends.
In the running, Brian noticed a few distant thumps, something large, but after a while Brian noticed the thumps were louder. Growing closer.
“Shit, Hurry up! We need to move, damnit!” Dustin looked back. His face went from panicked to ‘Shit guys, we’re fucked.’ Brian looked back to see a giant, bulky, solid man made of what seemed to be rock. This was the first time Brian saw his friends. The only ones there were Val, Eli, Meka, and Cameron. They were bruised, bloody, cut up, sore, and in pain. That was something Brian could tell by looking at them. Eli’s left arm was hanging limply to his side as if it were broken.
The rock man was running right towards them. It had a blunt horn at the top of its head, its mouth was blue like the rest of it with blue edges that seemed to be teeth. It had no nose, nor a tongue. It had an eye in the center of its head, big enough to occupy the space between the horn and its nose. The eye was an aqua color, the Iris was blue as was most of the eye itself.
“Keep running!” Dustin said, turning to continue running. He stopped, because what he found was the side of a cliff.
Brian skidded to a stop beside him and looked down. The drop was probably 50 foot down, straight to the rocky bottom. The rocks at the bottom were in a variety of spikes and blunt rocks, and a fall would ensure death. Brian turned to see the man of rock still running right at them. He was closer, and you could see the rage in its blue eyes. It’s priority was to kill Brian and his friends, and they were on the side of a cliff.
“Move!” Dustin said as he shoved Brian into the rest of his friends. Eli grunted as he landed on his broken arm, Cameron and Val screamed, and Brian simply fell. All of them fell to the ground away from Dustin, who made contact with the big blue arm of the creature. Dustin flew off the side of the cliff, rising and falling. The creature that had hit Dustin couldn’t stop itself and began tumbling down the side.
Dustin had a clear drop, far off the side away from the edge. His limp arms and legs made no movement, unconscious. The creature began flailing and trying to grab onto something but getting nothing but another smack in the face from the side of the cliff. It was being cut, bleeding blue as it fell until it landed on 3 spiked rocks and died.
Dustin, however, fell straight down. Brian watched on as his unconscious friend dropped. Brian saw the spire at the bottom under Dustin, and he could only utter one thing before it happened.
“No...”
--
His head shot up from the desk in an instant and met resistance behind him. He slammed the back of his head into something and instantly recoiled his face back into his desk.
“Ah F–“ Brian uttered as he held the back of his head. He heard a laugh, followed by more laughs of his classmates. As Brian lifted his head, it was met with a force that pushed his head back into the desk once more. His head made another painful contact, blurring his vision.
“God, fuck, What the hell...” Brian cursed, pushing an arm away. This was followed by more laughter from some of the class. Brian lifted his head again, turning to see the kid that sat in front of him laughing.
“Fucking...” Brian shook his head, turning away from his classmate. “Why?” he asked, looking back at the peer.
“Wake up! This is Spanish class, not ‘sit-on-your-ass-and-sleep-on-your-desk’ class!” he replied.
“It’s a half day.” Brian lifted himself fully from the desk, rubbing his eyes and stretching a bit. Suddenly, the bell rang. The teacher bid “adios” and “hasta luego” to everyone and like that, the day was over. Brian got out of his chair still half asleep, Lenora stood at the door waiting for him. Dylan was already heading out the door, probably up a the hall to Cameron’s locker.
Brian quickly gathered his books, held them in one arm and hugged his cousin before they both left the door and split up to go to their own lockers.
The walk to his locker was short from Spanish class, but it was always something new. Upon passing his friend Brodi, he received a hug from the male. After pushing away from him, laughing and continuing on his way, he was met with an African American named Stevie, who was also his friend.
“Hey Brian Lee!” he said, pointing to Brian. “Do a spin kick for us!” This was followed by some laughter and a few more people saying “Do it!” Brian did what he always did, never wondering if they were making fun of him or not. He opened his locker, their chants still around him, put his books up and backed up. “Alright, Alright!”
Brian did his usual spin, before extending his knee and letting his foot slam into his open locker, closing it. A few cheers, a “Nice job Brian Lee” and a pat on the back were given before Brian began heading outside.
Outside, his friends were already massed and ready to go. They all stood in a circle, talking. When Brian emerged from the doors of the entrance to the school, everyone looked at him.
“‘bout time! We’ve been waiting for a long enough time. Let’s go already.” said Lenora as she began walking. Everyone took a moment to glance at Brian, then followed and soon massed.
---
Upon reaching McDonalds, all except Lenora, Cameron, Dustin, and Brian left to go eat. The last four began walking to the China Buffet, which was down the street from McDonalds, Past a Wal-Mart and then next to a Movie Gallery. The subject switched from “How do turtles have sex” to “God I want to curb stomp” Dustin personally wanted to curb stomp a kid named John who had joined up with the group on the way to McDonalds, and had been an alright guy to most except Dustin. He would constantly put his opinions down and disagree with most things Dustin tried to make humor from.
After the talk of curb stomping, the group of four reached the Movie Gallery when a sudden quake shook the earth. “What the hell?” Brian asked, holding himself steady. The quake lasted for about a minuet, shaking at a steady pace. Brian fell to one knee after about 20 seconds, the quake still going.
When the quake subsided, Brian and his friends stood again. “What the fuck was that...?” Brian didn’t get an answer, the earth began to shake more violently than before. Before Brian’s very eyes, the ground literally split under the now collapsing Movie Gallery. The countess inside, wearing a red and black button-up shirt with a small tag on the left side of her chest, panicked and tripped as the movie rental store tumbled in pieces down the now widening gap. Brian grabbed Lenora’s arm and began running, not bothering to look back. He ran to the side of the road, still tightly holding his cousin’s arm. He looked back at the large gap in the earth that used to be occupied by Movie Gallery. Dustin and Cameron ran next to Brian, turned around, and gawked at the sight.
“What the fuck just happened?” Dustin asked, looking around. “Oh my god... Look!” he pointed to various locations. “They opened up everywhere...”
It was true. The surrounding area was littered with cracks in the surface of the earth. Some were big, and some were small. But this wasn’t it.
“What’s that?” Lenora asked, pointing to one of the fissures.
“That’s a huge crack in the world that just tore down the local movie rental shop.
“No, Look... something’s crawling out.”
This was strange enough. From the distance, Brian could tell it was humanlike but it was crawling fast, faster than a human would. It was red and black, two arms and two legs. One head, but something wasn’t right. It moved to fast to be human.
“They’re coming out of all of them!” Cameron exclaimed, looking around. “Oh my god, what are those?!’ As more came out, they stood on two legs and looked around. When one looked in the direction of Brian, his heart stopped. Its eyes were pure red. It was bald, looked to be starved. Two red horns poked from his forehead, and it had no mouth. Two blades grew from its arms before it pointed at Brian and began running.
“Run.” was all he could say.
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Submission Name: Apocalyptica Chapter 1
