Laura wasn't just going to sit around and hope for change. She got her driver's license a few months ago, and now there was no one to arrest her if she was being "too reckless". So, she didn't bother unpacking her things. She just got into her parents' car, sent a text to Maxxie because void seemed trustworthy enough, and decided to drive to the closest city or airport or train station, whatever she found first.

She didn't get far. Barely two miles away from home, the road that she'd driven down a million times before was just gone. The road just stopped, and it looked like a forest behind. She turned the car and tried another route, but wherever she went, there was no way out.

Now, Laura Easton was not easily scared, but being trapped somewhere with no escape? That shook her to her core.

madmax: did you find anything?
laurie: nothing
laurie: like literally nothing it's really freaky the roads just end? and turn into forests?
madmax: oh shit
madmax: what's in the forest?
laurie: idk
laurie: we should check
madmax: we'll make a search group.
laurie: k

-

"Hello, you've reached Vivian Lewis. Unfortunately, I cannot answer the phone right now, but-"

Danny knew the message off by heart now.

"-please feel free to leave a message after the tone."

"It's Danny. I'm okay. Mae's okay. Please, just be okay too. You and Dad. I love you."

Danny didn't expect a reply. They tried, at least.

-

Colette didn't usually like to go places alone, but they also hated having strangers in their home, so it was a lose-lose. She chose to take a walk.

As they neared the closest supermarket, they heard some indistinct shouts. People were grabbing everything off the shelves, carrying multipacks of chips, TVs, clothes, toys, and practically anything they could find was being dragged out of the store. It was as if Black Friday was a fight to the death.

-

Maxxie was picking some first aid kits off the shelves of an almost-deserted pharmacy when void heard metallic rattling coming from behind them. She turned her head to see Octavia tugging on the lock of the security gate that had shelves of drugs stored behind it.

"Hey, uh- What are you doing?" Maxxie took a step closer. Usually, they wouldn't ask, and it wasn't really any of their business, but they'd known Octavia Belmont for years, and this was far from usual for her.

"This thing is fucking indestructible," Octavia replied, tiredness clear in her voice. She just pulled the lock slightly harder, as if that would do anything.

"What, do you have a drug problem or something?"

Octavia chuckled.

"Depends what you mean by that." She turned her head to smile at Maxxie, who just gave her a strange look. "What? I'm kidding."

"No, I know," Maxxie said, slightly defensively. "Your lips look kinda blue."

Octavia stopped what she was doing immediately. "I need to go home." She muttered.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to go home. Bye, Maxxie."

"I'll walk with you."

"You don't have to do that."

"No, I do. When your parents come back, they will murder me if I let something happen to you."

-

"Okay, I got five days' worth of food. That should be enough to get us somewhere." Laura held the bag closely, skeptical of her friends. Maxxie didn't show up, but Laura had a feeling that Danny and Mae might know more self-defence anyway. Plus, Maxxie sent Antonia Fox to take her place, even though Laura doubted how much being on the track team in high school translated to having real survival skills.

"Shit, are there snakes here?" Mae exclaimed, looking closely at the ground. "Don't put your face closer to the ground if you think there might be snakes there," Laura stated tonelessly as if she'd had this conversation a million times before.

"Just watch your step, Mae. A snake doesn't want to bite you. Don't provoke it." Danny pulled their little sister a bit closer. However unlikely it may be, she wasn't taking any chances when it came to Mae's life. That was a game of Russian Roulette that Danny was not interested in.

-

"I'm going to fucking die," Octavia said, throwing out another empty orange pill bottle.

"Don't say that." Maxxie knew that when Natalia came back, she would be absolutely crushed if she lost another friend. And it was most certainly "when" they came back, not "if". "We can get into the pharmacy. At least someone in this town has to know how to pick a lock."

"We're stuck here and I have a pacemaker. It's not exactly ideal."

-

The four sat down in the woods for a break and a snack. Laura barely spoke, but Mae kept the conversation lively with discussions of whatever new TV show she started watching yesterday and had already made her entire life.

"Hey, who's got the peanut butter?" Mae asked, taking a breath from her discussion of The Owl House.

"I don't know, I don't see it." Danny said, looking around.

"It's still in the bag. I'll get it." Antonia smiled, walking barely a yard to the bags.

Mae playfully threw a pinecone at Danny, who caught it with ridiculous reflexes.

"Ow, fuck!" Antonia exclaimed from behind them.

"What happened?" Laura asked with little emotion.

"Shit! I got bit by a snake."

"Lie down with your head up, keep it above the bite!" Danny started grabbed their backpack and put it under Antonia's head.

"Take slow, deep breaths. You'll be okay."

-

"My mouth is tingling." Antonia said from her spot on the ground. She laughed at the ridiculousness of it. "That's weird."

Danny smiled at her, but they could hear the constricted breathing and see her ashen face.

Antonia was dying, and there was nothing any of them could do about it.

Danny wasn't surprised when the constricted breathing turned into shallow gasps.
And then nothing.

-

"Everyone we go to school with are assholes." Colette declared as she walked into the house, holding a brown paper bag of groceries. They tossed their keys onto the coffee table and set the bag in the kitchen before turning back to look at their sister, who was being unusually quiet. "What are you doing?" She asked Octavia, who was curled up with a blanket on the couch.

"I can't find my medication." Octavia said breathlessly, which was never a good sign.

"It's in my bag. Mom gave it to me, in case you forgot." Colette couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if they didn't arrive home right that second, but pushed the thoughts away. Octavia was alive.

Colette left the room and returned with a full orange pill bottle and a glass of water. They took a seat next to Octavia.

"You have to do something. EJ is about two ego boosts away from starting a riot and declaring a dictatorship, there are three kids out in the fucking forest, just trying to see how far it goes and every store in this town has been looted. You have to do something about this."

"Why? Because I was student council president?"

"Because people listen to you."

"People will listen to anyone if they speak loud enough."

"Octavia, I have lived in your shadow for sixteen fucking years. You can't just disappear now. If I am living in your shadow and you're gone, what does that make me?"

-

"I've got a bar of reception!" Mae exclaimed, refreshing her phone.

"Good. Only took 12 hours of walking." Danny rolled their eyes, but still looked proud. "I'll text Maxxie and get void to have everyone meet in the church."