June 8, 2020

11:00 PM

Foster Residence

Angie Foster

_______________________________

She sits down at her desk, one that hadn't been touched in ages. Angie wipes away the thin layer of dust that had accumulated through her absence, sending the particles flying around the room. Placing her laptop on the desk, she opens it and the device begins its power-on process. As the device begins humming to life, she glances around the desk and its backboard. The dim light that was cast from the desk lamp made a number of pictures and trinkets visible. One picture had fallen from the backboard and lay facedown on the mahogany surface. Angie turned it over and brought the picture into the light to examine it.

It was a collection of photos; a picture strip that one could take at a booth in a mall. In the picture were three people. Angie. Her brother.

And her brother's best friend, Carter.

She smiles as she looks over their grinning, ridiculous faces. The pictures were from three or four years ago when Angie had taken them both to the mall for Adam's birthday. He was having a rough day with their parents being out of town for a business trip yet again, not to mention the added seasonal depression of winter, so she had dragged him out of the house as a distraction. They ran around the mall for a few hours and had a great time.

Until they got kicked out when Carter accidentally knocked over a massive Christmas tree display.

Angie had turned away for literally one second, and then she heard the crash and shattering of glass ornaments on the tile floor. The kid apparently thought it was a good idea to try and climb the tree. In his defense, he claimed that it had looked sturdy enough.

False.

Freshman boys are capable of doing some stupid shit, but that...

Angie sighed and put the photo down, a longing smile on her face. Those were simpler times. She had always teased Adam back in the day, claiming that he had a crush on Carter. Her suspicions were confirmed when Adam came home extra moody one day because Carter had just gotten a girlfriend. One thing led to another as she interrogated him, and he let loose the fact that he was jealous of the girl. So, as any decent sister would do after accidentally outing her little brother, she took him out for ice cream and ranted to him about her boy problems. Good times.

After what feels like an eternity, her laptop final reaches the home screen. She opens up an internet browser and immediately goes to a news site. There aren't many new headlines. Except one detailing the recently declared state of emergency situation. Angie clicks on the article and reads through. Nothing helpful. It was a very minimalistic page, only giving a brief description and instructing readers to stay safe and indoors. A line on the bottom claimed that the website would be updated every few minutes. Angie sighs in annoyance and stands up, starting to pace while checking her phone.

"Something is really off," she mutters to herself. "There has to be more information about this somewhere."

She scrolls through a collection of social media stories. Lots of people seemed worried or were posting things about the text that came through, but no one seemed to know what was happening. Starting to get frustrated, she tosses her phone on the desk and crosses her arms, resting her head on them.

A knock sounds at the door.

"Come in," Angie mutters from her resting position. She turns and Adam enters, with two sandwich on a plate. One half eaten.

"Please tell me that's mine," She jokes. Angie had been meaning to get something but opted to just crash upstairs instead.

"Yup," Adam shrugs. "Figured you'd still be hungry after Eddie's. Plus the kitchen was kinda lonely so I wanted some company."

"Understandable," Angie sits up and brushes strands of brunette hair out of her face. She glances in a small mirror and notices how exhausted she looks. "It's been anything but boring tonight. How are you holding up?"

Adam takes his sandwich and then hands Angie the plate. He sits on the bed and checks his phone, sending a quick text.

"I asked you a question," Angie raises her voice a bit, catching Adam off guard.

"Um...good I guess? I don't know, this whole week was a blur. And now with the purge going on outside I'm honestly a bit on edge." Adam yawns and runs a hand through his hair.

"Well I don't think we've reached 'purge' category yet. And you'd be in pretty safe company if it does," Angie tries to cheer him up. "But yeah I feel that. Did you see how Mom and Dad are holding up?"

"I looked into the living room as I was heading upstairs. Mom was just passed out on the couch and Dad was pacing back and forth coughing. So, nothing new."

"It's strange how they both came down sick so fast. The fact that they're here means that they must've had to cancel their flight to New York tonight."

"Aw what a shame," Adam laughs, his voice full of mock sympathy. "Looks like they'll miss a business conference, or whatever."

"True that. Consider it karma for ditching your graduation," Angie offers, taking a bite out of the sandwich. "Damn boy this is good, what's in it?"

"A bunch of stuff that looked edible." Adam thinks for a moment. "And a lot of honey mustard."

"Well color me impressed." Angie gives him a thumbs up and looks back at her computer. She refreshes the article for updates. Nothing. Angie turns around to catch Adam texting on his phone again.

"Who ya talking to?" She inquires, a sly grin on her face.

"No one." Adam responds.

"You sure it isn't...Carter?" She says in a teasing voice.

"What are you, like five?" Adam laughs. He picks up a pillow of Angie's bed and chucks it at her. She catches it and sends the object flying back at her brother, knocking his phone into the air during the process.

"Well, didn't him and that barbie doll break up?" She reasons. "I never liked them together. Now's your chance."

"He's straight, Angie." Adam sighs. "Besides, I moved on a long time ago."

"Wait hold up, who's it now?" She snaps.

"Quit acting like a child," Adam recovers his phone from across the room, examining it for damage. "I'm not gonna tell you."

"Bet."

____________________________

Adam Foster

11:55 P.M.

"I still would never support you dating a guy named George," Angie crosses her arms. "Who cares if he can play football. You're better than that."

"Goddamn Angie chill." Adam laughs and raises his hands in defense. "You don't even know the guy, he's really nice."

"Nice is the word people use to describe someone when you can't think of anything else." Angie shakes her head and brings a hand up in a waving motion. "Left swipe, case closed."

"Ok I'm done trying to reason with you." Adam goes back to his phone. He checks the time and raises a brow. That flew by pretty fast.

It was a nice, no, great ranting session though. Even if most of it was just Angie chiding him and trying to offer that good old "big sibling" advice.

Angie slams a fist on her desk in annoyance, causing Adam to jump a bit.

"I'm awake I swear," He shouts. "What is it this time?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Still nothing." Angie groans. "I had given up trying to refresh this page when we started talking, but this..." Angie motions to the screen. "Nothing new."

"Have you tried other news sources? Maybe your computer is just not working." Adam stands to get a closer look at the screen.

"I know my laptop is old but it shouldn't be acting like this. Could be a Wifi problem. I'll go downstairs and reset the router." Angie stands up and puts on a light jacket before leaving the room.

Adam had been trying not to add to his sister's panic, but his service was out on his phone. He kept refreshing it, to no avail. All social media and news outlets were ineffective. Text messaging had frozen around the same time as well. Adam stares at the computer screen and sighs, trying not to let these circumstances get the better of him.

He blinks and the computer screen goes black.

"What the..." Adam types on the keyboard, trying to exit the screensaver. The screen stays dark. He presses the power button a couple of times and nothing happens.

"That's one shitty laptop," He sighs, picking his phone up from where he left it on the bed, and his heart drops.

The phone didn't turn on either. He messes with it for a few seconds before getting frustrated and shoving it back into his pocket. He notices that his breaths had become rapid, and his heart started beating a little faster than normal.

"Angie?" He shouts as he walks to the door. As he opens it Angie runs into him on accident, also out of breath, but looking much worse. Sheer panic was etched all over her face, and her hazel eyes radiated fear.

"They're not breathing."