"Did you hear?" asked a customer wildly from across the aisle stocking up on Lysol wipes. "About the new virus?"

Milly nodded her head. Who hadn't heard about it? It had been all over the news for months. The new virus that was supposedly worst than the last one.

Cov-25. Dubbed two-five by everyone. It was always: Did you hear about two-five? Have you got the two-five?

The lady in the aisle stocked her cart full of Lysol wipes. Way too many for any sane person.

"Do you have any more of these?" The lady asked as she placed the last package in her cart.

"I think you have more than enough ma'am," Milly said. She wasn't going to mention there were any more in the back.

"I suppose you're right," came the lady. "I can never be too prepared though." You would think people would be a little less crazy this time around. Milly left the aisle and headed to the storage room to restock the Lysol wipes.

As soon as she got out of sight, Milly pulled out her phone.

Ten more news notifications. That wasn't much of a surprise. __ Cases surpass fifty in North America. Global death toll rises. Is another lockdown necessary? Friday the Thirteenth: Is it Doomsday?

All the same old. Same old.

Milly took down the boxes of Lysol wipes and went back to aisle three to unpack them.

"Hey, Milly!" came a familiar voice. It was Darlene from cosmetics. "Let me help you with this!"

Milly moved over to make room for the friendly coworker. Darlene had always been nice and willing to help.

"Do you believe the stories?" Darlene asked.

"No," came Milly. "I think we learned better this time. I don't think anything can be as bad as before. I'm sure it will all be over in a few weeks."

"Hon," started Darlene. "We all said the same thing five years ago and look where it got us." Well that part was true. "Besides, it's Friday the thirteenth. Something bad is bound to happen."

Well five years ago everything had gone downhill on the thirteenth that happened to be a Friday. Still. Milly did not want to believe it. There wasn't even many cases yet!

The Lysol wipes were stocked.

"I have to go back," said Darlene. "Call me over when the next overprepared customer comes and clears out the hand sanitizer!"

"Oh, I will!” called back Milly.

Ping. Came Milly's phone. Ping. Ping. Ping.

She pulled it out.

An unprecedented amount of deaths: Is two-five the silent killer? World leaders to make press conference at noon.

A sudden change of events. What was going on?

"Help!" came a voice from the front of the store. Milly quickly stuffed her phone in her back pocket and ran in the direction of the plea. "Help," it came again.

By the time Milly reached the front of the store a crowed had gathered, staying at a safe distance. In the middle was the woman with the Lysol wiped.

"We need a doctor, quick!" yelled one person. The lady lay in the middle of the floor with half her Lysol wipes on the conveyor belt of the check-out stand. Her face was pale and she was gasping for breath. She looked weak, an opposite to the cheery lady who Milly had seen just a few minutes earlier.

"Don't go close," a man warned. "She's got the two-five." The circle backed up a few more steps.

"I'm trying to call for help," came an elderly woman holding out her phone. She was on hold with the emergency line. It was blocked up with calls.

The woman begged with her eyes making gasping breaths. She struggled, but no one wanted to get close. She gasped and gasped.

Still no doctor.

No 911.

The lady took one last gulping breath and then died in the middle of the shopping centre floor.

No one wanted to do anything.

The store suddenly fell silent except for a click as the old lady hung up her call to 911.

The silent killer.

Just as the article had just said.

One moment fine. The next, dead.

Darlene reached over the counter for the box of masks on hand. She took them out and Milly grabbed one.

Ping. __ Ping. __ Ping.

All around, phones were pulled out of pockets and gasps were made.

Milly checked her own.

National Emergency! National Emergency!

The bright red letters blared in her face.

Immediate Lockdown Order __ __ National Emergency!

The two-five had turned around quickly. Milly had been wrong. The thirteenth day had lived up to its name.

What did Milly need before she went back into lockdown? A lonley place with a lot of quality time with her cat Flompy. Eating leftovers for days on end. Catching up on all of her Netflix watchlist. Zoom calls with family members and friends. No good-paying job.

No. Milly needed to be prepared. And she was in the best place to do that.

In the supermarket.

All around her customers and staff had the same idea and chaos erupted.

Toilet paper. Milly needed that. It wasn’t going to be like last time. She would be prepared.

Milly rushed across the hall to the shopping carts where she quickly piled as many toilet roll packages as she could.

Thump.

A man was down.

The two-five.

This time no one rushed to help.

Milly ran down aisles collecting all that she needed.

Hand sanitizer. Lysol wipes. Thank goodness she had restocked them. They were already low.

Masks. Lots of them. Paper towel. Cold medicine. Flu medicine. Stomach medicine.

Not that anything seemed to help with these new symptoms.

Lots of beans, canned soups, canned everything.

Rice, rice, and rice. Frozen fruits and veggies.

Chocolate.

Lots and lots of chocolate. Miley wound up swiping down the whole shelf.

The store was chaos. Shelves stripped to the bone, stray items falling off over-filled carts and flooding the floor.

Waves of new customers spewed in. All with the same thought in mind.

More bodies fell to the ground. One after another.

There was no stopping the two-five.

What else did Milly need?

Apple cards. She grabbed a row of them.

There was no one at the cash registers. Just an open door into the messed up parking lot.

Milly ran.

She ran, loading all her stolen goods into her car, and drove off.

Milly left the raging flood of chaos behind and headed towards her apartment.

Bound to be her home for the forsseeable future.

To isolation. And Flompy.

“Attention! Attention all staff,” says the manager over the P.A. system. Why do we even have one of those? What are we, children in school? He continues, as I begrudgingly stop my work and listen to his nonsense

“Today’s lunch special is pepperoni pizza with Caesar salad. Also there is a meeting with all department heads at one today. And to the person who is writing profanity in the woman’s bathroom please stop. You will be caught and you will be punished.”

“Good luck with that,” I utter with a grin. I’m so bad sometimes. But of course he wasn’t done yet.

“And to end my announcements, the world is going to end today. Thank you and have a nice day.” With an annoying crackle, he stops talking and we all go back to work as if nothing happened.

I should probably explain. You see a normal person would have jumped out of their seat, rushed to their vehicle, and rushed home to be with their loved ones before the end. Well that did happen… the first three times that they announced the end of the world. After that anytime they said the world was going to end, we all just shrugged it off and said “screw it.”

So as the slothful hustle of the office resumed, people began to discuss their weekend plans. Which meant that Mary was coming over to talk. As if having the thought summoned her, her curly red hair popped over my cubicle wall, a dumb look on her face.

“Hey Ciara! Big plans for the weekend?” she asked.

I gave her my most insincere smile and replied, “Just the usual stuff, Mary. Watching Netflix, exercising, and just taking some well deserved me time.”

She smiled, as if she really cared, which to be honest I think she did. “Well doesn’t that sound lovely. I’m going to take the kids to the park for a picnic. Supposed to be a real nice weekend. Anyway I best be off. Talk to you at lunch.”

I waved as she walked away and once she was gone I dropped my fake smile which meant that Bobby was about to get his two cents.

“You should be nicer to her,” he said as he rolled over to my cubicle. I glared at him.

“I’m nice enough,” I sneered not wanting to have this conversation once again.

“You could be nicer. You at least could have least made a comment on her picnic. Or even offered to go with her. She…”

“Enough!” I snapped, maybe a bit louder then I wanted. “Look Bobby, I like Mary. She’s nice and somewhat tolerable but I do not want to hang out with her outside of work especially when it means hanging out with her two Yorkies, one of which peed on me when I hung out with her the last time.”

“You mean her ‘kids’,” he snickered.

I gave him my look and he slowly wheeled away.

“Good choice, Bobby.”

Thinking about it all now, I really should have been nicer to Mary. After all the world did end, she did hold a grudge and she now has mutant Yorkies that are about to use me for a chew toy.

Hindsight’s 20/20 right? But hey this is just another Thursday during the apocalypse right?

(PS. I started going in one direction with this and then decided on something else near the end. I apologize if it seems confusing.)

No one is really doing any work me included. I just want to get home to my wife, pack the car and head West. The news this morning had said that although communications had broken down there was still hope and to carry on with normal daily business. That was this morning by lunch time a murmuring rumour was going around the office saying that a tactical battlefield nuke had been used. I have no idea what I am typing on the screen, it’s an email to a client but it’s jibberish. I keep checking the news on my phone but nothing is being said. 2.44 pm surely he is going to tell us all to go home. My heart stops, I hear an escalating murmur “ shit have you seen this “ Danny shows me his phone. Breaking news, tactical nuclear weapon kills unknown number in Lublin Poland. “ that’s fucking NATO “ Danny screams. I jump up and begin to pack my bag. “ I’m going home “ I say stoically. I can see others doing the same. I look out the window, I’m on the 15th floor I can see people on the street running. Mary in accounts stands up and shouts out petrified “ they are telling us to stay indoors and take cover or get to a basement “ Too late, I feel nauseous, shocked. I rummage in my drawer and find the bottle of Jack Daniels I had bought for Christmas but not taken home yet. I unscrew the top and take a huge swill and offer the bottle to Danny. I can see nothing but white as I dissolve into non existence.

“Help!!” I heard from another room. The voice was female and she sounded truly scared, as if she was already dying.

I rushed over towards her and saw a crowd of people already standing there.

“What’s the matter?!” I shouted at the person next to me so I could be heard over the tumult of people.

“I reckon she was one of the first to be struck by the End.” He shouted back.

Not the End. I backed up from the crowd quickly. My mother had told me growing up that the End was awful, and it was contagious. I didn’t want to be anywhere near here when it spread.

I ran back to my office and grabbed a few things before sprinting outside. It was a mistake. People were already out there, getting consumed by the End. I heard the screams of the people inside my building and knew that I couldn’t go back in there.

I ran quickly, covering my mouth and nose with my jacket. I had to avoid the End. I had to get home to my daughter.

I ran quicker than I ever have before, dodging people and animals as they all ran towards their various destinations.

I saw multiple people catch the End. I saw black fog seep from their very skin, consuming them until there was no more. Judging by their screams, it was not a painless process. I avoided them to the best of my ability, I had to get home. I promised her.

I reached the gate to my front yard and began calling out for my little girl. I had to make sure she was okay.

I saw her open the door and felt an immense rush of relief. As I stepped towards her, I saw the first of the fog seep from my fingers. I yelled at her to go inside, I couldn’t let her catch this, I just couldn’t.

The last thing I heard was screams piercing the air, but whether they were mine or my little girl’s, I could not tell you.

“Hello citizens of Metrodalia, this is a governmental message coming from the head of house”

Everyone hushes after this is said, and look up at the glassy sky where the announcement is being broadcast.

“Do to too many servers being created, because of the increase in population, I am sorry to inform you that all seven million citizens living in Metrodalia, city 337828, will be terminated in five minutes. Have a great day!” The announcements go off and everyone freezes for a second.

I was always worried this would happen to me. That once I transferred to live in the digital world, the servers would get so big, some people would have to be deleted. But I never thought they’d delete a whole city.

I almost can’t believe it. I have gotten so used to the idea of living in a server forever, that death just wasn’t something I thought of.

I look around, hoping for some proof that I imagined it all. But it was all real.

Riots of people stampede the highways demanding to speak to the manager.

To my left two big guys start arguing, when they have only four minutes left to live.

“This is because they elected Smith as our head of house!” Screams the man in the blue shirt.

“No it’s because your party can’t shut up about reducing the population!” Screams the other.

And on top of all this madness, I see a mob of people, on there phones, streaming.

My mouth drops initially in disbelief, then disappointment.

A young man with pointy black hair and thick chain neckless takes out his phone and starts recording.

“Hey peeps, what’s up, it’s your boi Levin here, and there has been some news going around that they are unplugging my city. Nobody needs to worry, because I have this theory that the government it doing this to create a distraction from their real plans, and we’re all ok.” He starts going on a tangent of conspiracy and pointless remarks.

Sometimes, it takes the end of your world to remember people like this exist.

They could be panicking, praying, saying goodbyes, but they just sit here and waste their last five minutes.

With a minute left on the clock, I call my boyfriends who is currently in another city, to say my goodbyes.

But he hangs up.

“ My family. Where is my family?” she panicked There was no way the world is going to end without her by their side. She always had a terrible feeling the whole world would end prematurely, she’d hoped that the others wouldn’t be around to see it, that it would only be her world ending, but here they were. There was no way this was happening.

“Shit!” She rifled through her bag trying to find her phone. She would call her mum first, though funnily enough it was her dad that entered her head first. He has passed the year before and although we was already gone, Noah had a sudden feeling that he was still here. Noah noticed chaos erupting in the hospital. “What do we do in a situation like this?” She thought “it wasn’t as if we could get all the patients to some sort of safety, I’m sorry but I want to go home” she said out loud to her friend Lisa next to her.

Looking down on the streets from the fourteenth floor of the tower, Noah saw an eruption of people running into the London Underground stations, roads closing and London Buses abandoned at the traffic lights. It had been twenty one minutes since the announcement and people were already chaotic. “What else is there to do?” She thought, “what’s the point in being civil when the world is going to implode?”

Noah reached back into her bag and dialled for her mum. She answered in a panic. “Noah, Noah? What’s happening? Where are you? Get here right now, Alex is here with Dave and the kids, have you heard from the others?” Her mum sounded how she felt- panicked and desperate to be with her family. “I’m on my way mum, I need to find a way home but I’m on my way, I promise I’m going to come home” “And the others?” She repeated “have you spoken to the others?” She desperately looked for comfort in the idea that everyone was on their way. Noah could hear Alex crying on the other side of the phone. “This isn’t right” Noah thought. “She has kids, we don’t deserve this, they’re just kids.”

“I’ll try them now mum” Noah reassured, when inside she was ready to burst with anxiety. She ended the call. She proceeded to call Jonah, Warren and Thomas, whichever of them picked up. Noah stepped out of the building into a blinding sunshine.

The sudden silence of clacking keyboards jolted me out of my nap. I peered over at the bottom left corner of my screen, “2:42PM.” The work-day wasn’t over for another two hours at least, but everyone had stopped typing. Instead, their attention had turned to another screen, the big TV that overlooked the entire cubicle area was flipped to Channel 7. Instead of the usual midday news of petty theft and traffic, there was an emergency broadcast by the president.

“I am so sorry for all the impending misfortune, but as a result of misguided overseas negotiations, we are headed into Doomsday. Our nation’s soil will be plagued by nuclear warfare in the next three hours, so take underground shelter if possible. If not, please pray.”

“Donald. We need to get the fuck out of here.”

Donald. Looked at me. He said nothing, all he did was eye me down. He grimaced. That smile forming on his old and deteriorated cheeks, the skin around his eye cracking at the corners. He never looked older than he did at this exact moment.

“You’re freaking out Ross. Trust me. It’s nothing.”

My brain felt like it was going to explode. “Donald the News just said they’re going to fucking nuke us. We have to evacuate the building.”

Donald smiled. “Corporate still needs those shipments Ross.”

I damn near collapsed. I could feel my knees weakening, they were on the verge of buckling.

I grabbed Donald’s desk for support and I could see his eyes widen as his desk jolted above him.

“Calm down Ross.” He insisted.

My jaw fell open. My hands clamped onto the desk as Donald continued to smile at me.

And then we heard the sirens. The sirens as they blared through the sky.

For a second I saw a glimmer of fear slice across Donald’s face. But he shook it off and returned his eyes to mine. “The shipments.” He said with a smile. “Have them continue with the shipments.”

I saw them in the distance. It seemed as though they were miles away, but I knew they’d be here soon. I ran out of Donald’s office and into the break room. I ran for the fridge. I’d seen this in a movie before…it was the only option I had. I frantically ripped the shelving out and climbed in.

I saw people attempting to run as the nukes got closer and closer.

I could see into Donald’s office. I could see him sitting at his desk, smile on his face, as our respective world ended.

The nukes hit.

And for a split second I watched. Watched as Donald screamed, as his flesh melted off his bones. I watched as his eyes exploded from within his skull.

For a split second.

And then I closed the fridge door.

“Have a great day and enjoy the rest of your stay here at the park! “, Eleanor called out to the park guests leaving the restaurant.

This was always her go to line whenever saying bye to the park guests. It’s something you develop over time while working here, it’s your personal  park spiel. The lines you recite in your head over and over until it feels like clockwork only  while you’re here. It’s what only amusement park employees can relate to. A language only they know how to speak.

  This started off as any ordinary repetitive day. Nothing too unusual, just another hosting shift at the restaurant. Everything from greeting park guests to cleaning menus. Eleanor didn’t mind the repetitive work, everyday here was different. No park guest is ever the same. The one thing Eleanor always looked forward to, was getting to clock out and head home. She hated that her job was such a long drive from home. But three days out of the week wasn’t so bad. 

 So you can imagine how crappy Eleanor felt, when 5 minutes before she was to clock out from her seemingly short shift. The sound of sirens is blasted all through the park’s speakers, and simultaneously the emergency alert message begins to wail from every cell phone in range. 

  Eleanor ,much like everyone around her, pulls out her phone to read the same message being sent to every electronic device equipped with receiving alerts. 

The emergency alert message read as follows: 

   “EMERGENCY EMERGENCY EMERGENCY .This is an emergency alert. Repeat, this is an emergency alert. There are numerous accounts of rabid people attacks all over not just the nation but the world.  What seems to be an air born virus is spreading rapidly from human to human. Stay indoors if possible and stay alert. EMERGENCY EMERGENCY EMERGENCY” 

 “Great,thought Eleanor. Looks like I won’t be heading home anytime soon”.

I wish I could say this morning was like every other morning, but it isn't. I had spent the night in the seismology lab monitoring the earth's tectonic plates. Their activity was more unusual as of the last 36 hours. 9 am Tokyo time and I clutch the graphical evidence I found a few hours before. I watch as the president of the University of Tokyo, the President of the Seismological Society of Japan addresses the nation about the unusual activity that has been found. The tectonic plates have begun to shift out of control that caused a few earthquakes and tsunamis to the north of the country early this morning. We have shared our findings with the western half of the world. Their machines graphed the same data. As we discussed past events of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanos, etc the current findings were much worse than the activity of those in the past. We all believed it would get worse before it got better. After hours of deliberation, we concluded the world was at the beginning of the end. Alerting the governor of Tokyo who in turn would alert the President of Japan, We pushed them to make a statement about what the coming days were going to be like. The top aide for the governor was dismissive about it, saying that we were exaggerating the data. He didn't want to believe the world was ending from seeing a few more earthquakes hit the world. He didn't relay the severity of it to the governor, who in turn didn't relay it to the people for comfort. Standing on the sidelines next to my colleagues I had to step in and say something. I raced up the podium pushed the governor out of the way and stated for everyone to prepare for the worst. The world was going to continue to break and flood and to seek safety, by then the security came and escorted me off the stage and to the back. The governor continued to address the people calmly and assure them all was well. His aide started to chastise me for my abrupt statement. I retaliated by saying that the governor needs to tell the truth, this will get worse before it gets better. During the middle of our argument, another earthquake hit. This time the building shook, lights flickered stress cracks appeared all in the walls. Skaffolding started to fall on the press in the audience, the security detail rushed the governor out of harms way of anything. One trailing the group got crushed by a falling light fixture. As i struggled to keep my footing i felt the governors aide grab my arms to hold me up. “We have to get out of here.” He said to me. We turned around and worked our way through the small crowd. I needed to get to my equipment to see the severity of this current event. He yelled to me as i made my way down the hallway to my lab. “Where are you going? We have to evacuate.” “I need to see the severity of this. Theres no point in evacuating if this gets worse and we will be hit with something worse and the earth swallows us up.” We stood in front of my computer and i punched in some data reading the plates are shifting and we just experienced a 6.5 magnitude quake. A tremor shook the building again, the lights and computers flickered. “We have to get out of here.” “Oh so you believe me now.” I replied. “Yes you dont need to rub it in, i believe you. Now lets go.” “You dont have to stay here with me, go run away and try and find a safe place out there in the kaos.” “Are you always this bossy and direct?” “Pretty much… now if i predict this right another quake will hit any minute now and following it minutes later will be a tsunami. We are better here then out on the streets.” I said. “That i wont take you at your word.” He said back. The ground shook again, the computer parts on the tables vibrated all over. Things fell off the desks. We looked at one another, he reached for my hand. The floor split in two under my feet and the world went black.