3 Lockdown

<Loki>

"Ash… I understand that your hurting. I do. But-" I voiced as calmly as I could given the situation... Or at least, I tried before I was interupted.

"You don't understad shit! My sister is fucking dead beacuse you couldn't pay attention to the fucking road! My blood sister, Loki." She spat with tears falling down her face, snapping her head back at me with more venom than 1,000 of these trees combined while she continued to click away at my phone, trying to get reception.

She was angry... No. Anger couldn't begin to describe what I witnessed in her eyes. What I saw in her eyes for just that brief moment was hatred.

"I..."

"You what?! You're sorry?! Sorry isn't gonna bring her back to life. You killed her. YOU! Do you even care? You just want to up and leave her how she is? You wanna leave your dead best friend's sister's body here to just rot?!" she shouted.

Without giving me the opportunity to talk, she began to walk back and forth, trying to get a connection.

I... I never in all my years thought words could hurt so much. This wasn't a punch to the gut, this was a shotgun to the heart. To tell the truth, I was fighting every urge in my body not to cry right now. But... I guess I deserved this. It was my fault that we ended up in the accident.

[*Boom*]

Before I could open my mouth, another aftershock hit us, causing me to stumble and Ash to fall on the ground landing a few inches away from the tree we crashed into.

That was when I noticed it... A tiny little glowing spike aimed at her forehead that I had to blink at a few times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

'Shit!'

Limping as fast as I could to her, as snapped her head back at me as if telling me to leave her alone. She could get up on her own. I wasn't having it. I wasn't losing her today too.

"Ash! Watch out!"

Before she could rebuttal, I grabbed her in one arm, tumbling to safety. Luckily, I had arrived just in time because, in just a few seconds, the glowing thorn ejected from the tree as if it was rocket-propelled, launching directly into the engine of my car, and ripping through the metal exterior like a newspaper.

"*Cough-cough*"

Covering my mouth while towering over her, I felt the slight drowning sensation in my chest once more, coughing up blood again.

'Damn...' I thought looking down at my forearm which was coated in blood and mucus.

Shaking my head, I checked on Ash's condition. She was in shock, staring at the tree that almost took her head off.

"Wh-what the hell is that thing?" She asked, shivering, finally realizing her mortality. Lucky for me, she hadn't paid attention to my condition. It was better this way. I needed to be strong for her right now.

Taking a deep breath of the cold air around us, I spoke.

"If I'm being real with you, I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine. What I do know is that we need to leave. Those trees... They have a mind of their own, and it's one of the reasons Lina is the way she is... That's not excusing myself of what happened, that's me being telling you how it is." I said firmly.

In my words... She looked at me with shaking eyes while her lips began to quiver.

"What the hell is happening? None of this is making any sense." She sounded exhausted. She nor I could take much more. We both needed rest and a proper place to grieve.

"I don't know, Ash. I don't know. But... Let's survive until we're able to figure that out. Can you do me that favor, please?" I asked.

Yeah... She did hurt my feelings just a few minutes ago, but I loved this woman. I would never abandon her. I made that promise a long time ago.

Wordlessly nodding Ash grabbed my forearm, picking herself up.

"What about your..." Turning around, Ash realized that we were right on the edge of one of the newly formed sinkholes with my phone nowhere in sight.

"I'm so-" Before she could finish, I shook my head, wordlessly telling her that it was fine. As far as I was concerned, a phone was useless to me... Replaceable. She wasn't.

I placed my arm over her shoulder, but before we could walk off, she stopped.

"Before we leave, I need you to promise me something, Loki. I'm doing you a favor, so do me one too. And if you can't do it, I want you to at least try. It's the only thing I care about right now."

Judging by the way she spoke, she was dead serious.

The fact that she compared my favor which was for her to stat alive meant that she vauled her favor just as much as her life itself. My ears were open.

"Yeah. I try to do whatever I can to get it done. What's the favor?"

"I want you to get her body after all this. I want her to have a proper funeral... I don't want this to be my last memory of her."

"..."

I didn't know how the hell I was gonna make that happen, so for a moment, I stayed silent... But, I would at least try. For the sake of not just Ash, but her family, and even myself.

"Yeah. I'll do it."

"You don't have to. Don't make promises that you can't keep." She replied.

"What?" I quested, frowning my brow.

"With these skink holes popping up everywhere, I'm pretty sure that your car won't be here for long. But even with that being said, I want you to at least try... Please... Please promise that you'll at least look for her." She pleaded with a shakey voice.

"...Yeah. I promise, Ash. I look for her. When I feel better, I try my best to do that for us... I'll do it for you."

"Don't do it for me. Do it for her." She corrected.

"I'll do it. I'll try for her. For Melina."

"Alright... Then let's get out of here," she said, leading the way up a hill so steep that it was more akin to a small mountain.

Strangly enough, that was the direction I was gonna suggest we should go. She was a step ahead of me.

She looked lost… hurt. No matter what, I intended to make good on my word before... Before "it" started to affect my life too much.

As we hiked up the small mountain,time began to fly. It got darker and darker outside. Before we knew it, about an hour passed. When we got to the top, we were both out of breath and exhausted. Too exhausted to exchange any words in between each other.

We just found a comfortable place to sit and kept warmth in each other's embrace as overlooked the town below. A town with a center that had a surprisingly large H-Mart. It looked to be a few miles off, but that was our next destination without a question. We were both hungry and in need of resources.

But even from the distance we were at, we could tell that there was chaos ensuing.

Cars were tipped over amongst the traffic jams while people trampled over one another in an attempt to find their way out of this hellscape. Firefighters were attempting to quench the flames of buildings, but as one fire went out, another started.

The only place that seemed to be safe was the H Mart.

"H Mart…I think it's safe over there." I commented.

Even though there were people who were probably looting the place, it looked structurally sound. It was our best bet even though people were running in every direction. Their lives depended on it after all.

As sociopathic as it sounded, I was kinda grateful that a lot of people looked like they were getting out of dodge. They seemed to have different destinations than us.

"Hey. Did you hear m-" Before I could finish that sentence, I finally looked Ash in the face.

Her eyes were red, puffy, and yet, her face was expressionless. My soaked shirt should have been a signifier of the situation, but I just stupidly overlooked it as simply being extremely sweaty.

It was at this moment that I realized that If I didn't say something now and ground her to reality, she was gonna break. I couldn't let that happen. Not right now. I needed her. She needed me.

Although I could justify it, she didn't need me acting cold right now. And so, with my only working arm, I pulled her in for a tighter embrace.

"Ash…I- I'm sorry."

With those words, tears started to pour. Her's and my own.

"I tried to pull her out. I broke the window but I couldn't… I couldn't get to-"

"Loki… stop talking. Please, stop talking."

She whispered.

"…Okay."

Kissing her forehead, she and I sat down on the grass, crying silently as everything we knew was changing before our very eyes.

I just felt so numb. There were so many things happening at once and that wasn't even mentioning the fact that my expiration date was coming up. This… whole day… it didn't feel real.

And like that… 2 hours passed. The fires died down, but quickly following that was a city-wide power outage. From what I could tell, Anyway.

"Alright. We probably should start moving now before more trees start to grow." I said with Ash laying on my chest.

"Yeah."

With her helping me up, Ash and I began to walk toward the Town center. I regained feeling in my hand, but my other arm was still broken.

"These trees… what do you think they are?" I asked.

"I don't know, but we probably shouldn't get close to them."

"Yeah…"

The thing was, we were already within grabbing distance. I knew because I saw how far the trees could stretch back at the car. But bringing that up would probably bring more stress to Ash, so I just let the questions that I had pile up in my head.

Why did the trees not grab us? We're they not hungry enough? At this point, we were moving through a small glowing forest ripped straight out of a Sci-fi movie. It looked beautiful, to be frank.

Logically speaking, these man-eating trees should have ripped us apart by now, but for some reason, they didn't.

We continued to push forward until we got to the streets. And what we saw… what we saw stopped us in our tracks.

"*gasp*"

Ashley put both of her hands to her face in shock. I probably would have done the same if both of mine were working.

"What the fuck…"

A tree had sprouted from underneath a mini-van, killing everyone inside with its barbed branches. From the looks of it, a vine had degloved the face of the driver who had become a dried-out husk while the person in the passenger seat had a large branch shooting from his or her chest cavity.

In the backseat, it was so bloody that I couldn't tell what exactly happened. All I could see was a glimpse of a bloody booster seat.

That wasn't all we saw. On the streets, there were mangled bodies everywhere. Some people, including kids, were stomped to death.

From the rubble of a few buildings, I could see bloody and burnt limbs sticking out. The worst part was, we saw some of their loved ones still crying, sitting beside the people that were lost. We were walking through a war zone.

We passed a few people who were crushed underneath a billboard, and we saw the remnants of what was a multistory parking lot with several body parts poking out of the rubble.

"All these people."

"*sniff*"

"They're kids, Loki. They died in this, just like Lina." Ash said, falling to her knees.

"I know. I know. I see it too… but we have to keep moving before we end up like them."

"*Sniff*"

"I can't…"

"You have to. We gotta go."

"I can't. I-I-I"

"Ashley… Ashley. Look at me." I said crouching down, putting my hand on her face, and gaining her attention.

"Remember what you said earlier. We shouldn't get close to those trees or we might die. Remember, you also said you'd survive with me. If you stay here, your gonna break that promise. From the looks of all this, there's more evidence to prove that those trees seem to move on their own. We need to go before-" Before I could finish, I was interrupted by a voice that I never heard before.

"HELP! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! IT'S GRABBING MY LEGS!"

Snapping my head towards the direction of the scream, a few blocks away, I could see a man with a muscular build being dragged by one of the black tree's vines, grabbing onto a street post. His life depeneded in it.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME! PLEASE!"

He was terrified. What was more terrifying was there were other people around, watching the whole thing transpire. They were all too mortified to do anything.

I… I had to do something. I couldn't just let this man die right in front of me. I wasn't a hero, but I was a good person. I saw what these trees could do. I couldn't just sit back and watch this man die right in front of me without at least trying to save him.

"I-I gotta go help him, Ash."

"No! Don't be fucking stupid! What if it grabs you too!"

"…"

In her words… I turned around and ran without another thought. I had to at least try. If I let him die, then that meant that I would have been responsible for two deaths today. I couldn't… I couldn't just do nothing.

"Loki! If you die and break our promise, I'll kill you!"

Ignoring her, I ran to the man as fast as I could.

On the way, I picked up a piece of sharp glass on the ground so that I could cut the man free, praying that this tree was different than the one I crashed into, as illogical as it sounded.

"I'm coming!"

At my words, his head snapped towards me with relief in his eyes.

"Thank god! Please, help me! I was just trying to find my wife when all of a sudden, it grabbed me. Use that glass in your hand to cut me free." He said with hope glimmering in his blue eyes.

Judging by his appearance, the man looked to have just come from doing something active. Maybe a jog or a quick session at the gym, but that didn't matter right now. What did was getting him free.

"Alright-Alright. I'll try. Just, calm down while I try to figure this out."

"Okay… okay. Thank you." He said, still hanging onto the street pole. At this point, his body was completely parallel to the ground. The vines… they were pulling hard.

"Fuck…" I mumbled.

"Wh-what? What's going on man? What's happening? I can't feel my leg. Is there something wrong with it?"

"No-no. Nothing wrong with it. Just… just tell me your name." I lied nervously.

The vine that was wrapped around his leg was thorned, just like the branch that cut me earlier. But the thorns on this vine were far thicker. It was like 3-inch knives were sawing into his leg, tearing chunks of his flesh off like a butcher knife to a slab of meat.

Judging by the amount of blood that was leaking out of his thigh, I was 75% sure that the tree had cut into his femoral artery. Even though the plan was to save him, the harsh reality was that he was probably already dead. The black tree sap was probably the only reason why he was the only one who didn't realize... He didn't feel it.

But a morbid thought came to mind... If I could cut him free, then maybe he could say bye to his family one more time. That's something Lina didn't get to do.

Maybe... Me trying to save him was just my the foolish attempt at trying to repent... Maybe it was just the good in me... Whatever it was, that didn't matter now.

"My name is Liam."

He said with fear in his eyes, using all of his willpower not to look down.

"Alright, Liam. Imma need you to get a good grip on that pole while I'm busy cutting you free. Can you do that for me, bud?"

"Y-yeah."

"Good." I nodded.

Taking a deep breath, I began to cut the vine, with the piece of glass, but as I attempted, the piece of glass grinned down as if I was trying to cut down a tree with a number 2 pencil.

"Shit…"

"Is it not working?" He asked in a panic. I only shook my head in disappointment.

"Shit… uh-uh. Look in my back pocket. There should be a knife in there. I-I take it with me every time I go jogging with Linda."

As he asked, I reached into his back pocket and found a 2-inch switchblade.

[*click*]

"Alright. Let's get you free." I said, giving the brightest smile I could… but that was when I noticed a larger and thicker vine slithering over to us from the same tree.

'Fuck.'

"Hey, thanks, man. I really appreciate this. When you get me free, I'll owe you one."

"Yeah…"

Sweat started to drip down my face. If the other vine got too close, there was a very real chance that I'd be caught up too.

"You look pretty big, haha. When I get out of this, If you ever need a spot at the gym, I got you. Me and the wife go 5 days out the week."

"Haha. A spot would be nice. I usually go alone." I laughed nervously with guilt burning in my soul.

"What was your name by the way? I gave you mine. You didn't give me yours."

"Ah… it's Loki."

"Woah haha. Cool name. You can probably tell, but I'm Swedish. I know a couple of things about Norse myth. Is that like a nickname or is the world ending your fault?" He chuckled. But I wasn't smiling.

"Hey, I was joking, ya know."

"Yeah… I know." The reason I didn't laugh wasn't because of his shitty joke. I wasn't a dick. I would have given him a pity laugh if the situation was different. The thing was, in the current situation, I had been sawing at the vines for a while, but as I lifted it up, I realized that my efforts were worthless. I hadn't even scratched them, and the other vine was getting closer.

"Then… the knife… it's not working, is it?"

To his words, I slowly shook my head.

"I'm sorry."

Taking one big gulp, I could see the tears beginning to fill his eyes.

"I don't want to die… I really don't want to die. Please try to do something. Please!" He begged.

As he pleaded, the other vine made itself known as it wrapped around his waist, digging into his skin, causing the man to wince in pain. But that pain quickly disappeared as the tree sap seeped into his wound.

"Loki… LOKI! Save me! Please! I have a family. I have a daughter! Please don't let me die!"

As he screamed, the tree vine grabbed a firmer hold on him, tightening its grip, pulling him in to be consumed, but Liam held on tight.

"Loki! Please! For the love of god, do something you fuck! Save me! I don't want to die like this! Nobody deserves to die like this!"

He kicked and screamed, but no matter how much he fought back, he could do nothing.

I watched as his hold on the poll finally gave, but to my surprise, he grabbed my arm and began dragging me along with him.

"What the fuck are you doing?! Let me go you retarded fuck!?" I screamed in a panic.

"Please, I don't wanna die alone! Do something to save me!" He begged.

While we were both being dragged, I saw the fear in his eyes... The same fear that was now in mine most likely.

I had gone out of my way to help this man only for him to drag me down with him.

I then looked down at my free hand and realized what I had to do in order to live. That good person shit was thrown out the window when this piece of shit tried to kill me.

"Liam, I will stab the shit out of you if you don't let go. Now Let my goddamn hand go!"

No matter how much I begged, he just dug his nails into my skin more intensely pulling me closer and closer to the giant tree along with him. I was in panic mode which wasn't good for either of us right now. I was young. I still didn't know a lot about the world... But I knew that I was panicking right now. And when people panicked, tgey made rash decisions.

"Please, man! I just wanna live!" He screamed.

'Fuck... I really have to do this right now. If I do it, he dies. If I don't we both die. Let one person die, or let two people die and sacrifice yourself.'

I wasn't gonna lie, there was a weak-minded part of me that wanted to let go. It would ease the pain that I know I had coming to me down the line... But there was a strong-willed side of me that was determined to live. Not just for me, but for the promise I made.

I then looked at my hand, then at Liam. I had already made the decision. I had made it the moment he grabbed me... But I was hesitating. If I walked down this path, there was no turning back.

What fixed that almost instantly was the fact that I could see her in the distance. Ash was running toward me as fast as she could.

I could see her try to push pass the bystanders who were blankly watching my demise. From what I could tell, she even tried to encourage some of the others to help, but they were too pussy for that to even be an concept in their minds.

Agian, Time slowed for me. I saw her lips moving in slow motion, but I couldn't hear a thing. Not because of the distance between us, but because I was about to be eaten alive and my brain canceled out all of my other perceptions that weren't related to saving myself.

Seeing Ash... That was all I need to light the fire in me to make my move.

I then took a deep breath and looked Liam in his eyes.

"I'm sorry. But you you gotta go."

"What are you-"

[*Shink*]

Before he could finish, I stabbed the knife he gave me in his right eye socket, causing his eyeball it self to explode in a geyser of blood that splattered on my face and lips. And because my mouth was open, I could taste his blood.

"AHHHH!! YOU FUCKING BASTARD! MY EYE! MY FUCKING EYE!!!!" He roared, freeing me of his grasp causing him to fall to the ground, slowly being reeled in like a fish on a hook.

"No-No-No! You fucking cunt! Your gonna fuckin kill me, you murdering piece of shit! I'm gonna die because of you!"

He tried to reach for me again but failed as I had backed up out of his reach.

I acknowledging that I was no longer gonna be his anchor, Liam began digging his fingernails into concrete in an attempt to stop himself from being sucked in. I couldn't do anything to save him. I just lackrd far too much.'. which I had to watch each of them be peeled off, leaving a trail of blood behind him from his fingertips.

During the entire duration, he stared me directly in the eyes throwing every curse at me in the dictionary.

"I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL YOU FUCKING BASTARD! I HOPE YOU LOSE EVERYTHING YOU EVER LOVED!" He whaled like a Banshee.

As the tree pulled the man closer, it dangled the man in the air upside down while he squirmed with every fiber of his being. But it was apparent… no matter how big or strong the man was, he couldn't escape the hold of the tree.

'Fuck-fuck-fuck!'

I couldn't do anything aside from panic for my life. I just slid down the pole powerless watching the whole scene with my fist clenched.

"Loki!!" The man shrieked.

But then, something started to protrude out of the tree. A branch, sharp and barbed, just like the one that had pierced my car.

It started out small, no more than the size of the average stick on a tree… but then, it expanded to a point, like a slowly forming spear.

"Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhghhh! It's poking through my back! It hurts! It hurts!" Even though it was the dead of night, I could see a puddle of blood forming underneath the man. I could hear the popping of his spinal cord as the tree severed it slowly. Most of all, I could see the fear in his eyes, coupled with his hatred of me and in inability to help him.

"Ahhh!"

[*splat*]

The branch had finally made its way through Liam's abdomen. His skin... Watching it being torn through was like watching a needle the size of a baseball bat rip through a car tire.

His blood... I watched as his mouth turn into a fountain that leaked liquid directly into his nose. He was drowning in his own fluids.

From our respective distance, I couldn't hear him… but I saw what his final word was… it was my name. In his final moment, he called to me.

I felt my heart rate rise. The world started closing in on me. I began to feel hot and my vision quickly became blurry. I… I couldn't unsee it.

'He died.'

'He died.'

'I couldn't save him.'

'I killed him.'

'He died in my hands.'

'He died.'

'I watched him die.'

'I made him die.'

'I couldn't cut him free. He died. I couldn't. He died.'

'He died. Lina died. They all died. Everyone died. I have cancer. I'm gonna die. Everyone will die. He died because of me. He died and I'm gonna die. They died. We'll all die! We're all gonna die! WE'RE ALL ~Loki~ GONNA DIE! THEY ALL ~ Loki~ DIED! WERE ALL GONNADIE!SHEDIED!IKILLEDHER!WE'REALLGONNA DIE!'

I couldn't stop shaking… but, that voice, it brought me back. That touch… that face… Ashley, she was in front of me with her hands on my shoulders.

"Loki!" She shouted.

"I… I'm okay. I'm here." I voiced, trying to catch myself.

"That wasn't your fault. You were the only one that did anything while everyone else watched. He died, but theres nothimg we can do about that. You did what you had to do to save yourseld. And like you said earlier, we're alive. And we have to stay alive by getting to… where?"

"H-H Mart," I replied.

"H Mart."

She affrimed.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to push what I had just witnessed deep down in my psyche.

"Right… right. H Mart." I mumbled, picking myself up, and suppressing the urge to cough.

"How far is it," She asked.

"Just a few blocks up."

She said while patting my head.

After 5 minutes, I was finally stable enough to move forward.

And so, we continued to make our way to H Mart.

And about 5 minutes later, we arrived in the parking lot.

There were a few trees that sprouted from the ground, but they seemed to be passive as we walked past them like the ones in the center of town.

In front of H Mart were 2 cops escorting people in the building.

From what I could see, all the outside windows were shattered due to the earthquakes, but they seemed to be barricaded from the inside with furniture. On the outside, cars surrounded the building which meant that the people inside intended to fortify the outside as well.

It's just, the thing was, from my experience, if these trees wanted to get inside, they would have already killed everyone in the building and ripped through everything like wrapping paper. Wood, concrete, metal, it didn't matter.

Ashley and I made our way to the entrance where we waited in line behind a family of 3; 2 women and a little boy.

We had about 10 people in front of us, so Ash decided to spark up a conversation.

"This whole thing… It's terrible."

She voiced.

"Yeah. You can say that again." The ponytailed woman with a septum ring, gray tank top, and sweats stated.

She was rather tall, about an inch shorter than me while her partner was on the smaller side, around the height of Ashley who was 5'6. She was wearing pajama top and bottoms on and had slippers on. The two looked like they had just gotten out of bed.

"Who would've thought we'd live to see the apocalypse… My dad always told me that god would come down to punish the gays. Now look at us?" The woman chuckled with her Southern accent. Her partner glanced at her in ridicule.

Me and Ashley just looked at each other and then back at the two.

"Wow. Not laughing at my jokes. Is it cause I'm gay? Veeeeeeerry homophobic. You guys are problematic."

"Am I problematic because I'm black?"

I had 1 of 2 options that I could have taken with these women. Ignored them, or try to talk to the so that I could ease my mind even if it was only slightly.

I chose the latter and retorted snidely. Maybe... Maybe if I joked a little, I could run away from the thoughts in my head.

"Yep. You blacks are the reason this nation is-"

"Crystal! Shut up." Her partner snapped.

"*snort*"

I chuckled.

"Wow."

I voiced in astonishment.

I was thrown off guard, but at the same time, I couldn't help myself but to smile. I had to after the fucked up shit that I had seen and dine today.

"Racism is not funny."

"Ehhh… Made this guy laugh didn't I?" Crystal replied, with a smile. One that managed to make its way to my face.

"Yeah. You got me." I replied.

"See?"

"I'm sorry for her," said her partner who rolled her eyes.

"My name is Anna. This is Crystal. A failed-"

"Aspiring." Crystal corrected.

"Comedian. Sometimes she says things for shock value. She can be funny… Other times, not so much." Anna finished.

"I object."

"Overruled."

"Kangaroo… But annnnnyway. How y'all two doing? What's y'all names?" Crystal asked, stretching out her hands.

"I'm Loki. And this is Ashley. A pleasure. Also, wow. You got some tough hands. You one of those cliches lesbians that chop wood or do construction work on the side?"

"Dang. How'd you know? I do both of those." She asked, sarcastically tilting her head.

"Loki!" Ashley grumbled through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I like him… So Loki, I'm guessing you're one of those cliche black men that exclusively date white women?"

"Crystal!"

"*snort*"

"How'd you know?" I replied with the same level of irony. It wasn't true, but I went along with it for the sake of the joke.

"Lucky guess." She said, shrugging her shoulders.

"So… Who are you, little man?"

I said, crouching down, making eye contact with the little boy, but the moment our eyes met, he quickly shifted them.

"Is he shy?" I said, looking upward.

"His name is Issac. He's our special little ray of sunshine."

"Does he not like me or something or is it a stranger danger type of situation?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

"Issac is a sweet little boy… Like I said, he's our SPECIAL ray of sunshine."

"Stop calling him that." Anna spat, now slightly angered by her partner's remark.

"Girl, please. The boy came from me. I'll call him whatever I want to as long as it doesn't get CPS involved. Plus, since when is being special an insult? Everybody is special in their own way."

"*Sigh*"

"You know what? You're right. Issac is special. But his mother is really special."

Anna spat sarcastically.

"Awe. That's so sweet… I think you're special too, love bug," Crystal remarked with a grin which caused Anna to roll her eyes.

"I'm kinda lost. What are you two talking about?" For a moment, the two women stared at me blankly which made me kinda nervous because I couldn't catch on to the social cues. My excuse was that I was concussed.

"Uh… Right. What I mean by special is that Issac really likes trains… and his tablet. I mean, really likes 'em. He's not real vocal about unless he has that tablet with em' though. Unfortunately, we didn't bring it with us."Crystal stated.

"Oh…Trains are fun," I mumbled mindlessly.

"Oh? Does Loki like trains too, Ashley?" She asked Ash which caused her to chuckle.

"No. Not that I'm aware of. Sometimes I think about getting him tested though. Loki, Issac is on the spectrum." She said, nudging my shoulder.

"On the… Oh! Shiiiiiooot. Shoot is what I was gonna say." I said, scratching the back of my head.

"Uh-huh," Anna smirked.

"Did you just ask if I was neurodivergent?" I said raising a brow.

"Yes… but it's okay if you are. I'm sure that Ashley will care for ya all the same." She said, patting my shoulder which caused me to roll my eyes.

"Stop being mean to him, Crystal."

"It's alright," I said, shaking my head.

"So, how'd you guys end up here?" I asked.

"Well, when everything started to happen, me and these two were at home, getting ready for our movie night but ran out of snacks. We live not too far from here and thought why not just drive and get some… 45 minutes later, our apartment complex breaks down, the world goes to hell, and we needed a flat area to stay in the middle of an earthquake. I drove here. Now I'm talking to you two. How'd you guys end up here?"

"We… Uh...This day has been real long for us."

"Ah… Never mind then." Crystal replied, almost instantly understanding that we had a tragic backstory we wanted to keep to ourselves for the time being. My trauma was probably written all over my face for a split second.

"Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you both." Anna.

"Likewise," replied Ashley.

As we bantered a bit, we made it to the front of the line where two police officers waited for us at the door. Anna and Crystal had already made their way in. Now it was just Ash's and my turn to check-in.

One officer was short, had a mustache, shades on in the nighttime, and tattoos all over his arms. The name tag on his vest read J. McClain. He had a clipboard in his hand with a few dozen names written down on it.

The other officer was about the same height as me with the name, M. Hernandez sewed into his vest. He looked like he had a good 100 pounds on me that went directly to his gut. That wasn't me being mean, I was being objective. The guy looked like he ate good. While his partner wrote, he handed out blankets and what looked like yoga mats.

"First and Last name?" Said McClain.

"Ashley Rhodes."

"Age?"

"24."

"Alright. Take a blanket and a mat. After that, head inside."

Nodding, Ashley went ahead. Usually, she would have waited for me… but I guess she was just scoping out the scene for us.

"Name?"

"Loki."

"L.O.K.I?" He asked with a raised brow with his and his partner's ears perking up.

"Yeah. That's how you spell it."

"Cool… Were you like, born with that name, or is that like a nickname or something?"

"Yep. It's my legal name."

"Cool-Cool… so do you have like a last name?"

"I don't," I replied.

"So, your legal name is just, Loki. Like, the God? And you have no last name at all?"

"*sigh*"

'Every fucking time. At the DMV. At school at every goddamn job interview.' I thought, putting my fingers on the bridge of my nose.

"Yes. My name is Loki. My dad gave me a dumb name. Can you let me in, please?"

"Do you have any form of ID on you?" He said with a brow of ridicule.

"Jesus fucking Christ, do I really need to give you I.D. in a situation like this? What if there is another aftershock that knocks off the H at the top of the building and lands on my head because you decided to have this stupid ass conversation with me? Wouldn't it be wiser to skip this part?"

"Well, no. Not really. We have to take attendance of everyone here just in case anything bad happens. If another quake hits and we lose somebody, which is a very real possibility, we need to make sure that everything is documented so.. ya know, everyone's loved ones know the deal. That'd be kinda hard if people just started giving us fake names? Also, it helps with rationing food."

"Fake name? You serious right now?"

"Yeah. It's been a couple of folks who did that. We had a Man-Man, We had a G-Money. A D'Mack, And now we got a Loki. I don't know why people when we're just trying to help em' out, but they do." He said, shrugging his shoulders and all I could do was take a deep breath in frustration.

"I thought you said you didn't have free time."

I retorted.

"We got enough time to have this conversation with you I guess. I mean, if this was a normal day, I usually would be home at this time taking care of my cats, but I'm pretty sure they're dead now. Like, I live on the 10th floor so you could kinda guess what happened when my building collapsed. I'm still kinda sad about it… Anyway, we gotta stay posted the whole night." Voiced Hernandez who hadn't spoken until just now.

'Fuck those cats.' I thought. This guy was worried about his cats and treated the situation like it was just another day while thousands of people were out there dying… I wanted to say my thoughts out loud, but that would have probably slowed the process of me getting in. After that, I could finally relax and have a moment to think.

"Here," I said, pulling out my driver's license.

"Holy shit. What do ya know? His legal name is actually Loki. No last name. That's kinda cool." Stated McClain.

"Wow. Honestly thought he was lying." Hernandez chuckled.

"You think he's responsible for the world tree situation?" Commented McClain.

"Ha. Probably. We should pray to this guy. Hey, you think you could put Ragnarok on hiatus, pal?"

Needless to say, I was pissed off. Not only because these two just wasted 5 minutes of my time, but because they repeated the same thing that Liam said to me. For a second, the image of him getting ripped apart flashed in my mind.

"Are you two-"

*"Cough-Cough-Cough-Cough"*

Covering my mouth with my hand, I felt fire come out of my lungs… and I meant that. Judging by the wet feeling in my hand, I knew that I had just coughed up more blood.

"You alright?"

Hernandez asked with concern while McClain took a few steps back as if he could catch what I had.

"I'm fine… are you two done integrating me?" I said, wiping the blood on my pants.

"Yeah, I guess. You should really lighten up a little. We're all trying to get through this. A joke here and there never hurt anyone."

"…"

"*sigh*"

"Come on through. Take the blanket and mat." Spoke Hernandez.

Without thanking him, I took the blanket and mat, and walked inside.

"Dick."

One of the officers mumbled, I just shook my head and kept walking.

As I walked through the store, I realized that it was packed full of people in every aisle.

'Damn. They really cleaned this place out.'

I thought, taking note of the empty shelves all around.

"Loki, Over here!" Ash shouted toward the back of the store by the meat aisle, or what was left of it after all the looting.

She sat in the back by the two we met earlier and few we didn't.

One person was an average-looking white kid with long blond wavy hair. He was either 18 or 19 Judging by his attire; A black hoodie, Cargo pants, beat-up shoes, and a scruffy goatee.

Another was an elderly Hispanic woman who looked to be in her early 60s.

The last guy was an old bald black man with glasses who was standing at about 5'5, and who I could tell abused drugs. He looked real familiar… In fact, I remembered the guy from a few years ago. His name was Rimmy.

"Hey, guys." I waved.

"What took you so long?" Said Ash while I set up my bedding for the night.

"Don't worry about it. I'm here now." I smiled.

"About time. I was thinking one of those trees got ya." Crystal jested, but it was a little too soon to be joking about the trees. I didn't have it in me to give a sympathetic laugh.

"Is that my Loki? Man! Y'all didn't tell me y'all was talking about this Loki. He ma people!" He said walking up to me to dap me up.

"What's up Rimmy? It's been a minute."

I said with a smile.

"Long time no see, family! How ya dad been?"

"He's good. He's good. Just doing the work thing… or he was until all this happened."

"Wait, you two know each other?"

Ash asked.

"Yeah, we do. I met him my last year of high school. Believe it or not, he taught me a lot."

"What you mean by that? You make it sound like I'm a bad influence or something. Don't you speak bad on me in front of these people, now." He said with a frown.

"…Still do crack, Rimmy?" I said with a smirk.

"Haha. You Goddamn right! Love it too. Ain't gone stop either." He laughed unapologetically.

That's what I loved about Rimmy. No matter what the situation was, He always stayed true to himself. He taught me a lot about honesty and integrity.

"Haha. It's good to see you. I'm glad you're safe."

"I'm still a little confused… are you telling me that you two went to the same Highschool?"

"Crack does break you down, I'm not gone lie. But naw. I used to sleep outside the corner store by the school. Loki used to bring me food. He used to cry about this lil girl name Ashley, telling me how much he love her and-"

"Yep! I used to give him food. That's it. That's all."

I interrupted nervously.

"Boy, what's wrong with you? You acting like she here or something."

At that moment, everybody went silent, then giggled a bit. Meanwhile, the room got hotter for me while Rimmy started to connect the dots, seeing how close Ashley and I were.

"OH! Is that her?" He asked in surprise. Where other people would have been embarrassed for being so dense, Rimmy embraced.

"Hi. I'm Ashley." She giggled.

"My bad, Lo." He shrugged.

"I'm Rimmy. It's a pleasure." He said, reaching out his hand. But before they could shake, they were interrupted.

"Hey everybody! Look outside! It's like rainbow snow is falling or something!"

Exclaimed the voice of a woman at the entrance of the store.

'Rainbow snow?' I thought with a brow of suspicion.

Ash then whispered in my ear.

"Didn't they say something about that on the radio before…"

Knowing that she had no intention of finishing her sentence, I nodded my head.

"Yeah. They did. We should be safe here, so let's see what she's shouting about."

I voiced to everyone in the group.

As we reached the front of the store along with many others, we finally saw the rainbow pollen with our own eyes through the glass doors, to the amazement of everyone.

"It's beautiful."

"Woah… this is crazy."

"You think this is some type of divine intervention?"

"Honestly, at this point, I don't know."

Honestly, even I was drawn in by the sight… but not for the same reason everyone else was… I was alarmed. Nothing good came out of the things that happened today.

First, there was an earthquake. Then, demon trees that ate people. Now, this weird pollen. I didn't know what it was yet, but I knew that it was nothing good.

"Ash… I don't like this." I said, Grabbing her hand.

"I don't either. First the trees, now this? Last time I checked, Trees create pollen so that more trees could sprout… but these trees are different. Whatever that pollen is, It's probably for the best that we avoid touching it."

"Yeah."

Right as we were thinking of backing up, Hernandez and McClain wisened up and decided to come inside before anything strange happened.

Making his way through the crowd, McClain stood atop one of the self-checkout machines, gaining the attention of everyone around including the other officers around the store.

"Everybody, listen up! This pollen… No one knows what it is or what it can do to people. Until we get word from our supervisor, I want everyone to stay inside the building. From now on, we're on lockdown."