Chapter One---------
Somewhere in Minnesota, which doesn't exist.
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Anna sat at her computer, wishing that her internet would work faster so that she could log into RAF right NOW. She REALLY wanted to talk to Claire. Anna's cat, Sprite, was curled up cozily nearby.
FLAAAASH!!!
A pulse of light filled the room.
In the blink of an eye, Sprite and Anna's sister and aunt vanished from right in front of her eyes.
"Auuughhh!!!"
Anna blinked quickly, trying to clear her vision. Whoa. That was radically freaky. Wait... where are they? Sprite? Okay, I'm kinda' scared, now. I've never seen anything like that.
Huh. Claire should've seen this! It'd blow her mind! Radioactive-looking, like something straight out of a super-hero movie! I wonder if I'll get any freaky powers....
POOF!!
Anna vanished, too...
... and she reappeared in front of a lean, athletic, smiling girl, who was riding a bicycle at full speed straight at her.
"Auuughh!!"
"Auughh! Get out of the road!"
The girl stopped smiling.
Anna held her hands out in front of her and closed her eyes.
POOF!!
The girls and the bike vanished from Adelaide, Australia.
Anna would be poofing a few more times that day. Everybody else would only get to poof once, and they wouldn't be reappearing.
---
Urbana, northern Illinois---
Tyler slowly followed the long cluster of people that shuffled into the auditorium of the University of Illinois. Today was the Open House, and there was enough school spirit here to choke a cow. Tyler carefully broke away from the crowd as they passed a computer lab, and he snuck into the lab and punched up the web.
I wish these things were faster. Good. RAF isn't blocked here. I wonder who is in the chat? Estelore? AWESOME. Send her a PM to join the chat, maybe, if nobody catches me in here. I can't see why Esty hates Chicago so much. I mean, it's just a little traffic, really. Maybe it's kinda' cold here, but that's not all bad. The cold can be... nice... sometimes.
FLAAAASH!!!
"Gaaaahhh!!! Yeeeowch!!"
Tyler fell backwards out of the swivelling chair, barely catching himself on his outstretched hands. Five more chairs spun slowly, suddenly emptied of their occupants.
"Whoa. What. The. Eff."
A fine mist of condensation formed on the windows of the computer lab as the temperature dropped from seventy degrees Fahrenheit to negative forty. The condensation crystallized into spiky frost, and some of the windows cracked.
"WHOA!! Hey... where'd y'all go?!"
---
Somewhere in Southern Illinois---
SPLASH!!
"Scheisse!"
CLAAANGGGG!!!
A plume of frothy water sloshed out of the sink and onto the floor, soaking Estelore's bare feet. A stack of freshly-washed drinking cups clattered off the counter, where Este had just finished arranging them after she dried them. Este grumbled softly to herself while she gathered the dishes and placed them back into the sink to wash again.
"Gravity, why do you hate me so? What did I ever do to offend you? Jeeze!"
Another plate slipped backwards into the sink, and Este hissed in irritation. There was klutzy... and then, there was Esty. For a person without a clumsy bone in her body, she had an awfully tough time getting things to stay where she put them.
Este dried her hands and glanced at her laptop computer, sitting on the kitchen table with its battery charging. The screen showed an avatar of Wakko Warner against a blue background.
FLAAAASH!!!
A blast of blinding green-white light surged through the air around Estelore, and she fell down. Hard.
She didn't quite notice that she never actually hit the floor.
The laptop screen went black.
"Yipe!! What in the name of Asimov's Teeth?!" Before she could get properly to her feet, every dish in the sink LEAPT up out of the water and fell, raining water, soap, and heavy plastic and silverware down on Este. She held up her hands defencively, and the plates... the plates redirected themselves, forming a neat circle on the floor around her.
"Awww, Hell! Okay, WHAT?!"
CRRAAAAASHHH!!!
HOOOONNNNK!!! Weee-OOOOO weee-OOOOOO weeee-OOOO!!
DEE DEE DEE DEE!!
FWOOOM!!!
"What now? How could this POSSIBLY get any -"
CRAAAASHH!! WeeeEEEP WeeeEEEP!!
"Okay, I've had just about enough of this. Screw the dishes, I've gotta' see what just happened. While I'm at it, I also need to stop talking to myself like this. It's creepy. Seriously."
Este leapt to her feet, ignoring the soapy mess on the floor. Let it figure itself out, the mutinous wreck. She jogged to the front porch and leaned out the open window.
"What the Hell?!"
There were four cars piled up in front of Este's house. Every last one of them was on fire and squealing its own distorted siren. Every last one of them was completely empty of driver and passengers. In fact, there was not another person to be seen on the entire block.
Este froze in her tracks. A dreadful realisation had just struck her. Four-car pile-ups don't just HAPPEN.
"Veronica? Where are you, sweetie?! Veronica!!!?"
The cat was missing, too.
"Scheisse. VERONICA?!"
Oh, great. Dreadful realisation number two: Why wasn't the dog barking?
Este searched the house. Oscar should have been going positively ape over this, and he wasn't making a peep.
Neither was Mum, who had been sitting just a moment ago on the couch, with the little dachsund snoozing on her lap.
Gone?
Este shut the door and sat down hard again. She was shaking uncontrollably, so sitting was just about the ONLY option, right then.
Gone. GONE. Oh, Scheisse.
But I'm older than 15, for pity's sake! I can hardly remember 15! If they poofed, why haven't I poofed? Why are the tykes across the street poofed? Why are the critters poofed?
Wait a second. Birds? I can still hear birds. Why, then....
She picked up the house phone. Dial tone... try calling Da. Ringing. Ringing. Answering machine? DRAT.Estelore dove for the cell phone and punched up the first number on her speed dial, her best friend.
Come on answer Robin, comeONandANSWER...S CHEISSE!!
The phone went to voice-mail.
"Michael Grant, eat your heart out."
She sat there awhile, leaning on the porch walls, trying to reset her brain. This stuff doesn't just happen. What the Hell. This stuff doesn't just happen. Can't be real. They can't just be... gone. What? No! Gotta' check RAF. Yeah. Check RAF.
Este stumbled back to the kitchen and reached for her laptop, a last futile tie to reason. She prized the lid open with trembling fingers and punched up the web's url.
Please. Please work. Don't make me do this alone, please. Don't cut off the web. Load, load!
Este breathed a deep sigh of half-panicked relief as the website's familiar blue filled the screen.
RAFChat. Gotta' load the chat. 23 people? What the Hell? Why haven't they been kicked yet? How am I logging on?
Phoenix: Okay, everyone, just stay calm. Stay where you are. It looks like we may be the only ones left. It's only been about ten minutes since the... thing.
Ken: The Poof.
Esplin: don't panic. we will figure this out.
Phoenix: If we are the only people left, then we need to find a way to get together. Some of us are too young to survive alone.
Estelore: Hey, folks. Ummnnn... is it just me, or did everyone IRL just... go vanishment?
Tyler: It's not just you.
Ken: It's not just you. Everyone is disappearing, except RAF.
Anna: hey does anyone know what just happened? I log into RAF and *poof* I'm in Adelaide with Claire!Goom: Why isn't the chat kicking us?
Richard: I don't know. Everyone, stay calm.
Estelore: Wait, what? Anna, you poofed to Adelaide? Like... teleportation?
Anna: I mean she almost ran over me with her bike!
Anna: yeah teleportation
Anna: whatever I guess
Anna: it was freaky
Anna: so I tried to see if I could do it again
Claire: Yeah, so she grabs my arm, and *poof* we're in Minnesota, just me, Anna, and my bike.
Skye: They poofed into the house, grabbed me, and poofed to Ken's place.
Ken: That's where we are right now, me Anna, Claire, and Skye. At my place.
Anna: its like I imagined their faces and *poof* there I am
Anna: with them wherever they are
Anna: and whatever I grab goes with me
Anna: even people.
Anna: I'm scared.
Skye: Me, too.
Shanker: Whoa! What just happened?
Touquie: The world POOFed.
Myitt: The FAYZ? No... can't be. Can it?
Estelore: Hey, is anyone else having freaky stuff happen?
Estelore: That's what we're trying to figure out, Shanker. Phoenix? Any ideas? Richard? Esplin?
Richard: We don't know.
Esplin: no clue. can't be the FAYZ cuz this looks worldwide.
Phoenix: Whatever it is, it is big. We need to get organized.
Estelore: We need to figure this out and form groups. If the infrastructures are down, we may have a tough time surviving. We definitely can't pull it off if we are all separate.
Ken: It's just like GONE.
Estelore: Yeah. I know. Stay calm, people. I have sorta' an idea. Don't know if it'll work.
Phoenix: What is it? We need ideas.
Estelore: Okay, I live within spitting distance of Goom, and Jen and John are both pretty close. I think that we should try to gather as many RAFians as we can in one place.
Estelore: Get everyone to drive to a common location, and have Anna teleport to them, if her power... or whatever... keeps working. She can
Estelore: pick them up, and we can meet in a common area. Maybe... oh, I don't know.
Estelore: Most of us live in the American Southeast and Midwest.
Tyler: Have Shanker and Touquie meet, and have all the Floridians and Georgians gather.
Tyler: Have all the Aussies and such collect in a single territory, if you can. Right?
Estelore: Exactly!
Phoenix: Anna, how do you find them?
Anna: I imagined their faces. just their faces. I could probably find you, Esty.
Estelore: Okey, good.
Anna: but I can't find anyone I've never seen.
Estelore: Fine. Guys, either send Anna a pic of you, or meet with someone that she knows.
Phoenix: And gather your first-aid supplies.
Tyler: And food. Stuff that won't spoil, probably.
Tyler: And anything else you'll need.
Tyler:>>Estelore: Um... hey, you asked about freaky stuff? I think that I can freeze stuff.
Shanker: Okay, where do we meet?
Estelore:>>Tyler: What, Ty?
Tyler:>>Estelore: What's it called? Kryo-whatever? Cryokinesis?
Estelore:>>Tyler: The power to freeze?
Tyler:>>Estelore: Yeah. This place just got REALLY cold, right after the flash-poof, and it's hardly even fall yet.
Tyler:>>Estelore: Yeah. Well, I can freeze stuff. I touch something and BAM it's frozen.
Estelore:>>Tyler: Okey? Well... be careful, Ty-la.
Tyler:>>Estelore: Yeah. Yeah. Careful. Right.
Anna: I know your face, Danial. just stay in one place so I can find you. you too Rachel.
Anna: I'll take you back to Ken's house.
Ken: Anna, be careful. You might have limits.
Anna: I don't know yet.
Estelore: Exactly. Just in case, bring everyone in the north-half to where I am. I know where we can get plenty of emergency supplies. My Mum used to work in a hospital, for 8 years.
Goom: I know a little first-aid, too.
Estelore: That's great, Goom. You're closest, so I'll come fetch you first, okey?
Goom: Sure. I'll get my stuff together.
Estelore: Once I get you, we can go get John. You guys can stay with me, I guess, until we get this figured out. Jen, can you find your way to East St. Louis, if not necessarily all the way here?
Froggie: Yeah, I think so. Just across the river, right?
Estelore: Right. I'll send you a map, if you need one.
Froggie: Nah, I'm good.
Phoenix: Tyler, Toomin, can you guys gather everyone in your part of the world?
Tyler: Well... actually, I'm in Urbana, right now.
Estelore: What? You came to Illinois, and you didn't tell me? Jeeze!
Tyler: Yeah, it's sort of a visit-thing to see how I like U of I. I'll just come south, okay? Where should I head?
Toomin: No problem. I'll round people up, sure.
Estelore: Tyler, just drive south, and stop before you hit Marion or Carbondale. I'll find you after I find the others.
Estelore: Okey, I've gotta' log out and go fetch the people in my area. Everyone figured out? Hang in there. We can do this.
Touquie: You sound like Rachel. Esty, do you have any idea what this is?
Estelore: Not yet. G'day. John, if you can get even as far as Indiana, it will be a help. Stop at a hotel somewhere and use a computer to log into RAF. I'll keep my laptop
Estelore: handy, and I'll hi-jack somebody's wifi to check on your progress west. Okey?
Venemousspiderwooki ee: Okay. Hurry.
Estelore: As soon as I have Goom, I'll come for you as fast as I can. On my word.
Duff: Myitt, you're in New England, too, right?
Myitt: Yeah.
Estelore: Bye, all. Be safe.
Este logged out of the chat, glad to have something like a plan in hand. She jumped into her car, picked her way around the smouldering wreck out front, and sped northwest, taking the exit that would bring her closer to Jen and Goom.
Hang in there, everyone.
Este didn't get very far before the piled-up empty cars on the interstate roads started to block her progress.
"Oh-keeey, I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS!!!"
Estelore hit the brakes and threw her hands up in exasperation.
Every car within a hundred-foot radius leapt up into the air... and hovered there.
"Auuughhh!! What now?!"
Este dropped her hands fast, covering her head. The cars slowly descended and settled in a neat ring around Este's car.
"Whoa... wait a second. Gravity? Now, wouldn't THAT be ironic."
Este tentatively gestured toward the nearest truck. It floated smoothly upward, stopping twenty feet up. Este waved her hand slightly, and the truck sped through the air, slamming into a nearby stand of trees. A flock of disgruntled blackbirds screeched and disbanded from their perches in the trees.
Este winced.
"Sorry!"
She winced again and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, great. First, I move a truck through the air without touching it, now I'm talking to birds. Let's try this again. Without the pathetic irony, if you please."
She leaned back and drove slowly, steering with one hand and using the other to carefully clear the road, trying not to start anymore car-fires by slamming the abandoned vehicles into each other.
Eventually, she found that she could regulate how wide an area was affected by this... specialized gravity? Close enough. She scooted trucks, cars, and trailers gingerly off the freeway, finally managing to clear her path fast enough to get up to a decent driving speed. She was within a mile of Goom's town before she knew it.
Este picked her way through the little city, casually lifting cars away from the streets. She rolled down the window and leaned on the horn to get Goom's attention.
"GOOM!! YOU HERE, GOOM?! IT'S ME. ESTELORE."
A honk in the distance, unlike the car alarms, made his presence known. Estelore headed toward the sound. She found Jen and Goom sitting together on the sidewalk in front of his home.
"Hi, guys. I'm almost out of gas, so I'm gonna' siphon some from one of these other cars. Anyone have a problem with that?"
"Nope."
"I don't. I've already done the same thing, actually."
"Okay, thanks, guys. Umn...don't be freaked out, okey? I can do stuff with gravity."
"Uh...okay. Like... what?"
"Just don't panic, please. I don't have time to look for a hose."
Este opened the gas tanks on her car and a nearby Hummer that had crashed into a building. She gestured slightly toward both cars, and the gasoline floated up from the Hummer's tank and into the tank of the tiny Cavalier.
"You guys okey?"
"Yeah."
"Uh...yeah. H-how did you do that, exactly?"
"I made my gasoline tank have a stronger gravitational pull on the gas than the planet itself. Not sure how I do it. So...you gonna' ride with me, or follow in another car?"
"I think that I'll follow, Este. We might need my car later." Jen sounded quite calm, despite it all.
Huh. She's taking this well.
"Can I ride with you, Estelore?" Goom asked.
"Sure. Watch that door. It's heavy."
The three of them sped east, toward Ohio and John.
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