The most common question you get asked in the apocalypse if you ever run into a new person on the roads or woods of Georgia is "What were you before?" or any version of that question.

Cass and her family have run into a few people along the way since Atlanta and even have lost a few along the way. But they always asked, "What were you before everything?" Whether it was the first five minutes, five days or months. The Hastings always answered with normal people. A family. A friend. Someone who lived.

BEFORE THE APOCALYPSE.

The final High School bell rung and all of the chaotic and high energy students ran to their friends or just rushed through the front doors. Cassandra walked out of her last class beside her twin brother, who was older by five minutes, Drew. They were making their way to the front doors, meeting their best friend there.

Apollo stood by the bikes, unlatching the lock around his own bike and moving it to the small grass area when the Hastings siblings came closer to him. "Hey." Apollo said. "Gas station?" Drew asked his sister and friend. "Gas station." Apollo and Cassandra said together with a smile on their face.

There was a Gas Station, seven-eleven, three minutes from the school. It was commonplace for High Schoolers would go to after school or whenever they ditched classes and almost everyone knew the old guy who worked there, greeting everyone at the door before turning around and watching the news on the TV. If you started talking to him, it would be awhile before you leave from the amount of stories he would tell you about his old days or his wife.

On the way to the Gas Station, the three friends talked about the most random stuff or mostly complained about the stupid High School they went to.

"We were playing dodge ball and Brad purposely hit me in the gut with the ball making me fall over." Apollo started. "Was he on the other team?" "No. He was on my team." Apollo answered, making Cassandra snort. Apollo looked at his best friend with a death glare which made her stop and Drew who watched the interaction, started laughing with his fist over his mouth.

The Hastings twins laughed the rest of the way to the seven-eleven, Drew making impressions of how he imagined Apollo hovering over in gym class while Apollo just had his mouth in a straight line and continued to hold his bike alongside him.

Apollo locked his bike against the window of the Gas Station and then the three walked inside. "Hey Wally." They greeted the old man together. The man turned around and smiled, "My favorite customers." "How's your wife?" Drew asked.

Wally smiled happily, "Oh you know. Same old, Same old. A cat went on our doorstep a few days ago and she insisted on keeping it." Wally chuckled. He continued talking to Drew as Cass and Apollo went into the back of the store for some drinks. Cassandra grabbed an Arizona tea and a Dr.Pepper for Drew.

Apollo looked at Cassandra, "Arizona Tea? Really? You've had like five of those this week." Apollo complained about his friends recent addiction to this tea. "Oh, shut up. Your probably gonna grab apple juice you big baby." Apollo shook his head, "Psst. I'm not." Cassandra rolled her eyes before walking down back to Drew. Apollo looked around before grabbing the Apple juice from the fridge, smiling at the bottle for a second before meeting up with the twins.

Once he reached them, Drew was still talking to the owner. Cass stood on the right side of her brother, handing him his Dr.Pepper, and in return, she got a small "Thank you." The three friends put the rest of their stuff on the counter.

As Wally had scanned all their stuff and given them the total, Drew and Cassandra were doing rock paper scissors as to who would get to pay for the items, Apollo's attention turned to the TV hung on the wall behind Wally.

It looked like chaos. A newscaster was talking and behind him seemed like a fire? And multiple cars abandoned and crashed into each other. People running around behind the caster in panic. "Hey, can you turn that up?" The boy interrupted the game between the twins. Wally gave him a confused look before turning up the TV and that's where everyone's attention went.

It was in fact chaos. The teenagers couldn't make out most of what he was saying but fear rose inside of them. The last thing the caster had said was for the residents of Atlanta to stay in their homes before the TV fully cut out.

Wally turned off the TV and went under the counter, pulling out a shotgun. The three kids immediately backed up from the register, Drew standing in front of them slightly more.

The old man looked at the kids, his face softening, "You kids need to go home. Now." The three nodded. Drew took his sister's hand and the three friends began to speed walk over to the exit before the man called back out to them again.

"Actually, I'll drive you. Cars in the back come on." He said and headed for the back door. The two siblings and best friend looked at each other before Drew nodded. That's all they needed.

They all collected into the grey car. Cassandra in the middle, Drew to the right, and Apollo to the left.

Wally put the shotgun into the passenger seat and started the car but before he started driving, he looked at the back of his car, "Seatbelts," he told them. They froze for a second before getting fed up and just put them on.

Safety first. Even in the possible goddamn Apocalypse.

Apollo was always such an apocalypse buff. He watched a lot of zombie movies and had lots of comics in the same genre. The Maxwell boy always said, "If the world came to an apocalypse, I'd survive," but everyone always laughed. Except Cassandra. She believed that he would survive, he could survive anything. Even at the end of the world.

When driving through the streets of Atlanta to reach the Hastings house. It was chaos, just like how it was on the news.

Fire filled their eye vision, screaming filled their hearing and fear filled their body.

By the time they had reached the familiar neighborhood, all you saw were people outside on the driveway packing their cars with supplies and then some, locking their front doors and hiding behind their window curtains.

What's happening?, Cassandra thought.

Wally had stopped the car right in front of the home, Apollo and Cassandra jumped out while Drew stayed back for a moment, looking at the driver. "Why don't you come with us?" He asked. Wally looked at him and sighed. "I have to go home to my wife." He spoke softly.

"And cat," Drew mentioned, smiling. Wally laughed and nodded his head, "Yes. My cat." Drew's face fell for a moment, he looked serious and nods at the man. "Thank you." Drew left him with that and got out of the car. Wally then drove off.

Drew turned around to see Cassandra yelling at her father, wondering what they were doing while Apollo stood at her side with his hand on her right arm, showing his support.

The Hastings parents were packing the car. Why were they packing the car? The news said to stay inside, Drew thought.

"Mom. Dad!" The oldest twin had gotten their attention. Cassandra stopped her ranting and looked at her older brother. "What are you doing?! The news said we have to stay inside. It's dangerous out there!" He argued.

Roman sighed, dropping the box on the concrete and walking to his son, "We can't stay here either. We need to get out of the city." He put his hands on his son's face, making him listen.

"Why?" Cassandra spoke up behind them.

Roman stood up straight, "Because something's not just coming, it's already here. A virus. And when it gets out of control, they take the city first," He sighed and picked up the box off the floor and put it into the trunk, "We can't be in the city when that happens."

"Now, Apollo. You can come with us and try calling your parents along the way, tell them where we are. Now, you two," Roman pointed at the twins, "Go grab anything you need into a backpack. Now. Hurry!"

IT WAS DARK. The only light coming in was from the lights of the city buildings over the hill. It was horrible dead traffic and the plan didn't exactly go the way they imagined.

Apollo couldn't get ahold of his parents the whole time and was currently standing outside with his phone in the air, trying to get better cell service. All he wanted to know if his parents were okay and them to know that he was too.

Roman and Delilah, the parents, were sitting in the driver and passenger seat. Delilah had her head against the cold window, looking out into the traffic and her mind filled with her overbearing thoughts. Roman was instead angry. His mind was red. He couldn't believe this.

Drew was outside with Apollo, claiming he was making sure Apollo didn't go far and get lost. There had to be almost the whole Atlanta city on this highway and Apollo had the tendency to get lost. He was also hungry so he was going through the food in the back of the trunk and settled on an uncrustable.

Apollo finally gave up hope on finding cell service and walked back to the trunk. Passing Drew eating his sandwich, Apollo rolled his eyes and just leaned his head against the backseat car door and closed his eyes for a minute.

When he opened them again, he was met with the midnight dark sky. The one thing about the city, you can never see the stars but from how far we were from the city, you could see a few stars. That was enough for him. Then, he caught the full moon and sighed. Of course.

Cassandra was inside the trunk with a blanket resting on her lap. She's been having terrible anxiety since they saw the news at the gas station but the only thing that seemed to calm her down was her dog, Birdie. She was a Germain Shepard and was only one years old.

Birdie was laying on the car floor with her head on her owner's lap, trying to give her comfort. It was working until Cassandra would look up and see that they were still not moving. She sighed and looked out the window to her right, seeing Apollo drinking his apple juice?

She reached over and rolled down the car window, getting Apollo's attention. "What?" He asked his best friend confused.

"Did you seriously grab your apple juice before we left the gas station?"

"Uh.. yeah. Why wouldn't I?" Apollo asked as if that was the stupidest question in the world. Cassandra rolled her eyes and rolled up the window once again. Muttering something about how he's an idiot. Apollo shrugged careless and kept drinking his bottle of juice.

ITS BEEN A FEW HOURS. Nothings changed besides that Roman had stepped out of the car while Apollo had went back inside. Cassandra leaned her head on Apollo's shoulder when she had gotten sleepy but her anxiety kept her awake. Drew was taking Birdie outside for a bit, a few times getting the attention of some little kids who were waiting in the traffic with them.

Suddenly, the silence was taken over by a loud noise. Such as helicopters. Cassandra perked at the sound as did everyone else around her. She was caught around the noise that when her dad had hit the window, signaling for them to get out here, it made her jump. Her, Apollo and Delilah got out of the car and ran to where everyone was.

They watched as the helicopters made their way toward the city. Delilah was holding onto her husband's arm, feeling tears well in her eyes. The three teenagers in the right front of them, watching desperately for what will happen next.

Are they saving people? Is that part of the refugee center?

They weren't saving people. The helicopters had started dropping bombs into the city to stop the infection from spreading outside the city. What she didn't get was that there were still innocent civilians there. Not infected.

They could've had a chance.

"What? What are they doing?!" Drew exclaimed in panic to his parents, his best friend, his sister. He was confused. He didn't understand. Yet, no one answered his questions with answers.

You could hear peoples cries and wails around the family. Everyone watched and grieved.

Delilah hid her face and her sobs in her husband's chest while he watched. Apollo had tears streaming down his face, the only thought on his mind was his parents. He didn't think they were dead but now, he wasn't sure. He's given up but deep down, maybe had some hope.

Cassandra cried as she saw her city blow up in flames. She leaned down and hugged her dog that was sitting in front of her. Birdie didn't move away or bark. Nothing. The German Shepard knew that Cassandra needed her.

Cassandra felt an amount of pain as she let her cries out, her chest was aching. One thing the pain reminded her of was that she was human.

The pain reminded her that she was alive, and Cass was grateful for that. But it still hurt.

The sister looked for her brother, wanting to make sure her twin was okay. She saw him a few feet away from where he previously was, kneeling in the grass and his hand balled in a fist over his mouth. She sat up and walked to her brother, giving him a hug from the side. He froze at the contact for a moment before realizing it was just her. His twin. He let her in and they hugged each other. Trying to relief the pain.

God, please don't let us die.

( word count: 2383 )

authors note.
this took me days to finish but
let's not talk about that.
also some foreshadowing???
maybe :)