Apocolypse

On a warm Saturday afternoon, on the outskirts of a little town in Maryland, a trio are in basement hang-out room. Mark, Tony, and Chris are watching an old zombie movie and eating pizza. The couch they are sitting on is full of grease stains and faded out cushions. In the corner of the room is a small white mini fridge for drinks. The walls consist of several video game posters that are dear to Tony, and their feet resting on a coffee table cluttered with open magazines, napkins, pizza boxes, video games, and movie cases. Chris and Tony have been friends for over seven years, spending all of middle school and high school together. Mark came from Australia a few years back. His family had lost their old house and needed a new country to call home. America had offered them new friends and better job opportunities. Mark’s mom started a new job with Tony’s mom and the families quickly became friends. Mark was quick to become close friends with Tony, and when introduced to Chris, their similar interest and personalities made them click instantly. Tony is a tall and skinny eighteen-year-old with short red hair, often he had a laid-back and mature attitude, with a hint of immaturity. He is usually in a shorts-sleeve music shirt and jeans with the occasional baseball cap. Chris is a shorter and slightly thicker seventeen-year-old with longer curly brown hair in the front that often times covered his glasses. He is a smart and tech savvy kid with a sense of pride and adventure. He always wears longer pants with a nice long-sleeved or a sophisticated short sleeve shirt. Mark is a tall and skinny seventeen-year-old who has long curly hair and a big nose, he always wears short shorts and a t-shirt. Mark is the guy who is a loose cannon adding in his comedic quips whenever and wherever he can.

Chris wipes off his greasy hands on his sweatpants and adjusts his black glasses. "Man did you guys hear about the new trailer for that upcoming zombie movie?"

"Nah, but I reckon it sucks compared to the classics." Mark states with a mouth full. "Nothing beats the oldies like Night of The Living dead or-" Chris cuts him off.

"This one has a zombie tiger. A ZOMBIE TIGER! How cool is that?"

"A zombiger you mean?" Mark asks.

"Pffft, zombies are overrated anyway" Tony says looking towards the ground, a hint of sadness in his tone.

"Everything okay Tony?" Mark asks after he and Chris exchange troubled glances.

Tony sighs and says "Yeah, just family crap you know? it's like a constant warzone in my house. I love them but all they do is argue" A hint of frustration present in his tone.

"Mate, I feel ya. Back in 'Straya', mum and dad were always going at it. It was all due to the move, you know. I get it, I really do.” " Mark says with empathy.

"Yeah man, whatever Mark just said." Chris added.

"Thanks guys" Tony added.

"Now, enough sobbing, I want that last slice" Chris says while he reached for the final slice of pizza.

"Over my dead body mate" Mark added while slapping Chris's hand away.

The two start play boxing and wrestling over the coffee table, flip over the couch, and right on to the middle of the floor. Mark dives back towards the table, reaching for the slice, but Chris tackles him out of the way and grabs the pizza slice,

"You two are idiots." Tony remarks as he shakes his head in disappointment and laughs to himself.

"Yeah, but we're your idiots." Chris says holding the slice victorious.

"Whatever, you earned it" Tony said.

"No, he didn't." Mark said whilst lying face down on the floor.

"Alright you two chuckle heads, we should probably start cleaning up before our parents get back from their day out. I think there also might be some cake in the fridge upstairs" Tony says while laughing.

"Okay grandpa." Mark replies.

The boys quickly gather up all the trash and cardboard, running to the recycling and trash cans. They then put all the video games back in their respective cubbies along with the movies. They sweep the floors and wipe of the coffee table, then they made their way up the stairs to the dining room. As they entered the dining room, Mark sprinted to the kitchen and started tearing it apart to find the cake.

"Let's see...leftover spaghetti, some questionable Chinese takeout...Ah hah! found it." Mark says as he rummages through the fridge.

Mark makes his way to the dining room where Chris and Tony sat waiting patiently for the wonderous cake. The dining room was a simple hardwood floored room, with one big window and a sliding door to a deck. The table could sit six people comfortably. The trio divided the cake into three huge chunks and ate without saying a word. The silence was deafening.

"So Tony, why do your parents always argue? If you don't mind me asking." Chris says, trying to spark a conversation.

"Just the same old crap as always. Money, Jobs, college, retirement, and time they don't spend together. It's like World War three in this house." says Tony.

"Aw, I'm sorry dude. Look man if there's anything we can do, let us know." Chris says sympathetically.

" Yeah, mate. We’re here for ya, no matter what. Plus, we’ve got some cake. That’s gotta count for somethin’, yeah?” Mark says while nodding in agreement.

"Thanks guys, that means a lot". Tony says.

The boys finish up eating, and head to the sink to do some dishes. They joke around here and there as they spray each other with water from the faucet. The finish up and dry off with the kitchen towels. Mark proceeds to towel whip Tony, which in turn causes them all to start running around like a group of fifth graders on a school trip.

Chris stops running and starts holding his stomach and says. "Ya'll, I got a date with the toilet, all this running has given me some business to attend too." He makes a mad dash to the back of the house and slams the bathroom door shut.

"I really hope he doesn't blow up the pipes" Tony adds, trying not to laugh at the chaos that just happened.

Mark and Tony sit in awkward silence while Chris relieves himself in the bathroom. Occasionally they would hear some banging on the walls as if Chris was fighting for his life. Once, they even heard what sounded like a scream and grunt of immense pain. After ten long minutes, Chris finally reemerged from the bathroom with a sense of levity.

"Mate...that sounded painful." Mark said very worriedly.

"Yeah, kinda like you tried to push an atomic bomb out." Tonny added.

"Whatever you do, do not, and I cannot stress this enough, do not go in there." Chris states trying not to laugh.

"I wasn't plannin' on it, mate, nobody is that brave." Mark says.

"Do y'all wanna throw the football around for a little?" Tony asks.

"Yeah!" The other two say in unison.

The boys then proceed to try and find the football. It had been a long while since they had thrown it. None of them ever really liked watching or playing football but throwing it with each other was something sacred to them. They did not fully understand why but they loved it when they could.

"I found it!" Tony yells.

They head through the main entry of Tony's house into the main yard. Tony's property is quite large with a massive front lawn, a swimming pool in the backyard, and a side yard that expanded towards a large cornfield. The front yard consisted of a gravel driveway that was slightly overgrown. A few trees were scattered around, the biggest right in the middle of the yard facing towards the front door of the house. The boys found a nice open patch of grass and started tossing the ball around. They started nice and easy with simple passes, then as they got more comfortable started doing more complicated throws and catches.

Chris chucked the football high up in the air and Mark ran to go catch it, but he was not paying attention to where he was going and tripped over a garden gnome. He went tumbling into a bush headfirst.

" Oww, mate, I swear that thing came outta nowhere! It had to have moved or somethin’, surely." Mark groaned as he grabbed his knee and winced.

"Yeah, I'm sure that that gnome has a vendetta against you." Tony says while laughing.

"Yeah whatever, here." Mark says as he tosses the ball to Tony.

"Hey Chris go long!" Tony yells as he hurls the ball a great distance.

"I got, I got it!" Chris explains, but just as he does, an unexpected gust of wind throws the ball off course and causes Chris to trip over his own feet and fall.

"What the heck?" Chris says looking up at the sky.

Tony and Mark join him in looking up, the once cloudless blue sky was rapidly getting darker and darker. The wind started picking up even more causing the trees to start swaying and creaking. Leaves were starting to fall off the trees and small sticks were being lifted up off the ground. Suddenly several large balls of orangish reddish light started forming in the sky. They were all heading in different directions. The perplexed trio were standing there in awe of the events taken place before them. The wind was picking up even more, now the trees were starting to break apart and fall, rocks were starting to fly faster, and telephone poles were coming down. The balls of light were not getting any bigger but were just sitting there, radiating light like miniature suns. Then the rain started falling. At first the rain was like soft little splashes but quickly became faster and started feeling like pebbles hitting the trio, causing them to jolt out of their stares.

"We gotta move, now!" Chris yelled over the wind.

"No really? I thought we were just gonna stand here and die." Mark replied sarcastically.

"Enough you two! head towards the front door!" Tony yelled irritated with the two bickering. Jeez these two will be the death of me. Tony thinks to himself.

The three of them dash towards the front door trying not to stumble as they run harder than they ever have before. Tony gets to the door first and gestures the others to hurry it along. Mark makes it there second offering his thanks and then tells Chris to get a move on. Chris was not much for running and was not the fastest sprinter. Meanwhile, a tree started to break and fall towards Chris as he was running. As he made it to the door, Mark grabbed him, Tony shut the door, and they all threw themselves to the ground as the tree hit the ground and a branch shot through the door and stabbed the wall in front of the trio.