Junelle Maddison's Story

June was in her room emptying her closet onto the bed. She had always left the packing for the last minute, it was a bad habit of hers which always drove her mother crazy. After taking out the clothes she planned on packing, she folded them as small as possible and put them in the duffel bag. The music in her room blasted through the speakers. It was way to loud but nobody bothered to tell June to lower down the volume. Her parents left with one of the last planes to Europe,and the neighbors were probably in church praying for some kind of miracle. As if that would somehow move Matilda, which was clearly inching closer and closer. A Marilyn Manson song came next on her playlist and she couldn't help but smile from the irony as she sang along.



As the song ended June was ready with packing. After zipping up the bag, she brought it downstairs and left it by the front door. She went to look around the house to see if she had forgotten anything. The last room she went into was her brother's former bedroom. It had poster posted all over the walls, along of a few pictures from when they were little, family vacations, birthdays... She took down a few photos, then walked back downstairs. Grabbing her bag she waked out, locking the door behind her. She thought calling a taxi but she changed her mind and decided to walk there instead, after all it was just a few blocks away. She put on her earphones and started walking. On the way some guys wanted to pick her up, but she just flashed them her middle finger and walked away as they shouted after her. She could only guess what since she haven't really heard them from the music. Soon she could see RV parked in front of the apparent building. "Not bad." She said as she got a closer look. "This trip better be fun."
June walked into the building and just as she was wondering which was the right door she spotted two guys standing by one of the doors. She raised her eyebrow as she took in their appearance; they didn't looked quite as bad as she thought they would be. This will be fun, she thought.

"Hello, there." She said walking up to them. Just then Noe, the girl from the apartment, yelled for them to come in.

---

Three weeks.

Three weeks left until the end of the world, until that mighty lady in the sky slammed with apocalyptic force onto the face of the earth somewhere and everything expired, and Santiago was feeling pretty okay with that. Sure, he reflected as he kept up a steady pace, the various straps and fastenings of his hiker’s backpack clinking together, he didn’t exactly want to die, but maybe it was the fact that he’d made a habit of staring death in the face frequently that allowed him to sort of shrug it off. The part where it was inevitable was actually kind of boring, if he thought about it the right way.

Half the fun in most of the things he did was the fact that you never knew if you were going to die or not. Cliff-diving, hang-gliding, bungee jumping (with less-than-safety-approved equipment), skydiving, bull-riding, underground arena fighting… chances were if it was dubiously-intelligent and carried a substantial risk of serious injury, he’d tried it already. The fact that he was going to die in three weeks anyway kind of took the fun out of staking his life on things, though. Which was probably why he was giving this whole ‘traveling with complete strangers’ thing the old college try.

He hummed an old capoeira fight song to himself to keep his march apace, not that it was too difficult. That had been the one thing that was a little difficult about packing the essentials and leaving: the dojo was the closest thing he’d had to a home in a while, but there wasn’t much point in staying. The master had boarded the place up and gone to stay with family in Brazil, which was probably how things should be. Santiago might have gone to stay with his, but he’d been ignoring his mother’s phone calls for a few years now, and there was really no good way to fix that kind of thing. He didn’t want to spend his last three weeks awkwardly wading through all the family issues he’d managed to accumulate over the course of the last twenty-three years. Seriously, could there be a bigger drag?

So instead, he’d hitchhiked and hoofed his way across a couple states and wound up here. Naturally a pretty decent navigator, he’d considered getting intentionally lost a few times to see what would happen, but each time he’d discarded the suggestion, something drawing him forward along the shortest possible route. This was something he had to do, now, for no other reason than because he’d decided he was going to do it. No point contemplating the alternatives.

Dusk was fallen over the area, the sun’s last tendrils flinging magnificent flame-hues into the sky, and a check of his watch revealed it to be just before six. Santiago picked up his pace a little, settling into an easy jog, apparently heedless of the weight of what life he had left upon his back. The address was around here somewhere…

He slowed as he arrived at what seemed to be the right building, at least it was lent that impression further by the small cluster of people in front of it. He blinked grey-green eyes a few times at the scene, then smiled and covered the rest of the distance, in time to hear someone call out from within. Presumably, that was Noe. Shrugging, he complied with the implicated suggestion, and opened the door, stepping aside to let the others go in before him. "Hey, kids. All here for the end of the world?" Introductions were clearly in order, but that could wait until everyone was there. Was this everyone? He actually had no idea how many people might have answered, though he was going to guess ‘enough to fit into that RV and not more,’ so maybe seven or eight?

---

The sound of Song for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age rocked the small car, undoubtedly pushing the speakers close to their limit. It was a wonder they hadn't blown out yet after so many years of abuse. Then again, that wasn't exactly Cole’s problem seeing as how it wasn't her car. Her right temple rested heavily against the cool glass as the black-haired male next to her tapped his hands against the wheel in time with the music, a thick pair of black shades resting a bit too far down on his nose.

“How close are we?” Cole said, gaining no response due to her voice immediately being lost in the music. She rolled her eyes a bit, smiling to herself about how nothing at all had changed since the last time she saw her older brother. He had agreed to let her stay at his flat last night since it was closer to her destination, albeit by only ten minutes, and the two of them chose to get pizza together and catch up. It was some welcome quality time seeing as how she probably wouldn't get the chance to see, well, Chance again before the meteor hit in three weeks. Sitting up straight again, she looked out the window to see the sparkle in the sky that indicated Matilda— she felt a slight shiver go down her spine at the thought of the oncoming tragedy.

Trying to push that from her mind, Cole leaned over towards the driver’s side of the car so she could get a better view of the GPS that was mounted on the dashboard and was surprised to see that they only had a few more turns to make before they arrived. She slumped back in her seat, reaching up a hand to run through her hair—she normally didn't spend a lot of time on it, anyways, so it always had that slightly messy, fresh-out-of-bed look. The car jerked to a stop and the music stopped abruptly.

“I’m not helpin’ ya with your bags.” Chance said simply, one hand resting on the wheel while the other was on the gear shift. Cole rolled her eyes once again, grabbing her grey drawstring bag from the floorboard and tugged it over her shoulder, opening her door and stepping out. She took a moment to look over the hood of the car to see an RV and a few people gathered at the doorway of what she assumed to be Noella’s home. She then pulled open the back door and took her overstuffed red and white duffel bag out, resting the strap on her other shoulder. “Have a good time and all that jazz. Gimme a call sometime.”

“Don’t worry, I will.” With that, a small wave and a nod of the head, the music in the silver car started up again and it sped off, leaving Cole fully facing the apartment. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder and walked up to the few people just after another male, who only appeared to be a few years older than her. “Evening.” Cole said with a half-smile, looking over the features of her new travelling companions.

---

It was rather cold and calm outside the hospital walls, befitting the season, but not so much the occasion of an apocalypse. Nathanaël was walking to his nearby car, only stopping by at the hospital he'd been very recently employed to pick up a few things and leave. He sincerely felt horrible, leaving the hospital and patients who had been abandoned by their families, unlike his more noble co-workers. It was just that he didn't have time. No one quite had time at his point. With just how quickly time seems to pass by, you never really realize it's passing until it's too late. Nathan only realized this when the official apocalypse was announced. Nathan had no friends other than those he met in college or work, and no life, even worse, he never did anything worthwhile with his life. But now was the time to change, in fact it was the only time he had left.

Nathan had already packed most his possessions, well, most that would be useful to him. He didn't have to go back home to get his things, just go straight to the girl's apartment. He'd already memorized the route he was going to be taking the night before. Not obsessively, Nathan never had the attention span to be obsessive, rather, quick and easy memorization, just another bonus of geniusness. He kept his eyes on the road, it was never good when he got caught in random thoughts while driving. An accident wasn't what he needed at the moment. But whether he liked it or not, the thoughts streamed through his head. Eventually he came o pondering back just a little while ago, when he explained why he was leaving to his co-workers. Nathanaël had said he found the ad and was going, but he told them it was merely because he was concerned over a bunch of reckless young people coming together at the end of the world. It was probably a bad lie, now that he looked back on it, but he was never really great at lying. Really he was going to make friends, to be normal for once before he died, he just couldn't quite think of a way to phrase that without sounding like a loser. Then again, he sounded like a loser either way, going to make sure people didn't kill themselves before they died rather than seeking out his family to spend his last moments with them. He didn't know why but he didn't want people knowing he had no friends or social life. then again his personality probably screamed that out to everyone.

Really he didn't know why he didn't go to his family, he felt like his mother had changed after she got married to Nathan's new step dad and had his baby sister. But the change was for the better, she was happier, so Nathan didn't protest, but he always felt so jealous. Not even towards his mom, but more or less the situation. Why couldn't it have happened earlier? Why couldn't he have grown up with at least a father figure? Nathan didn't know why he asked questions like that, they only made him upset and he already knew the answer anyways. His mother was just to upset with everything that happened, Nathan was the one who had to get over it and grow up. He didn't have time to grieve anything, not that it matters, he keeps anything too personal or emotional locked up nice and neat.

By the time Nathan had focused back on the road, he was already turning into the apartment complex. Nathan pushed his glasses up his nose, looking out his windshield to check the address was in fact correct, almost bumping into another car as his car crept forward. As he parked he stepped out, running his fingers through his hair to keep it out of his eyes, he noticed the RV, confirming this was the place. It wasn't until he straightened his heavy winter coat that he realized that his clothing might have been inappropriately formal. He wore a suit, including: a white dress shirt; black jacket, vest, and trousers; and a blue tie, and dress shoes. He usually just dressed like this for work it must have just slipped his mind he didn't have to go to work anymore. Nathan sighed, he couldn't exactly change right now, he just went to grab his things from his trunk. He took out a black duffel bag and a black first aid kit with a 'Emergency' printed in white bold letters and a red cross typical of hospitals, the kit basically carried everything he needed as a doctor, so it was a bit larger than most normal kits. Nathan walked towards the apartment, finding people already going inside. Not just people, his new traveling companions for the next month. He followed suit, entering the apartment, "Good Evening." he greeted the others courteously, smiling. He stood up straight as he was accustomed too, standing at his full 6'6", setting his bag and first aid kit by his feet. His eyes wandered the apartment, not really observing, just looking for a place to stare, a little unsure about actually conversing with these people. Nothing was wrong with the people of course, Nathan just didn't want to embarrass himself before he even learned their names.

Upon reaching the apartment door and hearing the shout from within, people began to show up left and right to join Kael and the other man outside. He was a little distracted by the blonde woman who strode up and joined them to immediately head through the door as two others suddenly appeared. Another woman and a more than courteous guy that held open the door for the rest of them to enter first. The man looked like he had gone a few rounds before arriving. But judging from his smile, he may have won.

"Thanks dude," Kael said as he stepped passed the man and into the apartment. Walking around as best he could, Kael looked over to study his new traveling companions. The guy who had been there when he arrived looked a little on the skinny side and possibly a bit skittish as well. Either that or cold. He couldn't exactly tell at the moment. The blonde he had seen a minute ago was definitely on the opposite side of the spectrum as the guy. Aside from the fact of being a very pleasant distraction, she looked as if she was ready to take on the world. Or the end of it.... The final woman that had walked up looked to be more on the same level as the first man than the blonde girl. She wore a sort of half smile and was studying the rest of them as well.

Looking around at the stuff all around the apartment, Kael gestured with his hand and looked over at the others. "Did we miss the apocalypse? Looks like the meteor hit here already..." Just as another man entered the apartment, Kael raised his voice a bit to be heard over the music. "Noe! I hope you aren't under one of these piles, I didn't bring a shovel!"

Turning back to the man who had entered while he waited for their host, Kael thought the zombie apocalypse had started as well when he spotted the half dead looking man plopped on the floor. In his head, Kael imagined the first skinny man injected with almost every known drug and then sleep deprived for a week. That may get you half as wrecked as this guy looks... A spot of red caught his eye off to the side of the guy and Kael sighted the medical kit sitting at another man's feet. He hadn't heard the other man come up, but it wasn't surprising with the music.

"Um Doc," Kael addressed the man with the medical kit, "I think you've got your first patient of the trip...."

Nathan just looked off into space, letting random thoughts consume him, that is until someone made a comment on the state of the room. He remembered that he was in fact not alone, but really in a room full or people. He snapped out of his thoughts, noticing the messy room before him. He took time to look over the people that where here, he really should at least get to know them right? He should, but for now he'd just watch over everyone, it seemed like the easiest thing to do. Really he'd been trying to build up courage to talk to any one of them, but it really was no use. Nathan wasn't good at talking to people unless he was strictly business. He looked over the people that had come before him, most of them seemed like they could handle their own, maybe they wouldn't need his medical assistance after all...

He scratched that thought from his head as the same person who made a comment on the room, addressed Nathan. He was about to ask how the man knew that he was a doctor, then looked down to his huge first aid kit, silently thanking the lord he didn't ask such a stupid question out loud. The doctor moved towards the person leaning against the wall, squatting so he could slightly be on the same level. He brought his kit to his side, opening it to reveal everything tucked away nice and neat into their own storage compartments. This Nathan could do, just pretend that the man was another patient. "Hello sir, I'm Doctor Nathanaël Baron, I'm only going to help you. Would you mind telling me your name and what you recall happening to you last. Have you hit your head at all?" Nathan asked smoothly, as he took out a few wet napkins, offering them to the man to clean himself up a bit. He suspected that the man was under the influence of drugs in the past 24 hours but would pass off his curiosity as questioning for concussion. It was absolutely true, Nathan could never act this calm and confident unless he believed someone to be in danger. He pushed his glasses up again as he waited for the man's response. It was possible all he needed was some cold water to the face or a good night's sleep. Nathan already had his stethescope out and around his neck, waiting for the man's answer before continuing his diagnosis.