Apocalypse

I heard a loud bang out of the lodge. Then a man screamed, and I heard a gigantic roar. My heart was pounding outside of my chest and my ears were ringing from the roar. I had never been so terrified in my life. I tried to get up and run to the window to see where the beast was, but fell immediately. Then I heard a loud crack from overhead as the roof split. I looked up, and there was one of them, staring right into my eyes...

3 Hours Earlier

“Yo, Thomas, are you ready to go!” I heard Matt yell from upstairs.

“Yeah I’ll just be a second. You should really come look at this though, you may change your mind about this whole snowboarding idea.” I yelled back up at him. I heard him thumping down the stairs like a madman on a mission. He swung into the kitchen and thumped down onto the couch. He took a quick look at the TV and and then glared up at me.

“Dude, you’re scared of meteorites? They’re never gonna hit us. Let’s go, we need to hit the road, you’re taking too long.” He said as he went to the garage to get his gear. “Now hurry up and load up the car, time is money” Matt was pretty wealthy, they had a mansion of a house, and the most expensive top notch stuff possible. His parents were out of town more than they were home, so he basically ran the house and babysat his two younger siblings, but at the moment they were both at day care. So we had the house to ourselves and they wouldn't be back until 5 p.m. later today.

So we packed up the car and headed out. We stopped at Sarah’s house to pick her up. She wanted to come along with us. She had been friends with us since the third grade. We always hung out and did everything together, and since third grade our families had become really close. We sat there for about 3 minutes before she came running out of her house out of breath. We unlocked the car to let her in.

“Where’s your board?” I yelled out the window to her.

“Crap,” she said “be right back.”

I rolled my eyes and looked at Matt. “She’s always forgetting stuff” I said as I chuckled. She came running outside for the second time, carrying her board this time. When she got in the car she started to apologize, but Matt stopped her short.

“Yeah, yeah, we know, you slept through your alarm again,” he said and started laughing. He pulled out and we were on the road. About 20 minutes into the car ride, Matt changed the station to the news. “Sarah did you hear about those meteorites Thomas is so scared about?”

“Yeah,” she said, “They are supposed to be hitting in Asia dude, you’re fine, now put on some tunes please.” So I switched the station and we sang the rest of the way there. When we finally pulled up to the resort, the sun was shining high in the sky, but the cold started biting. “Come on, let’s get inside, it is freezing.” We all rushed inside to pay our ticket to get up and going.

“So what trails are we planning to hit?” I asked “I think it’d be fun to go on 6 and 8 first, then we can head to tip top trail of terror.” Six was a long back-forest run, it was about 1.5 miles long and it was nice and easy, but there were a few drastic drops, which were quite fun. Not many people come on 6 because it isn’t one of the fun, fast thrilling ones. But it was enjoyable to mess around with your friends on, because it was nice and easy. Eight was a big, steep, windy one that splits off of 6 near the beginning. And tip top trail of terror, well it was a double black diamond, the hardest one in the whole resort. I’ve gone down it only 3 times.

“Alright sounds good to me!” said Sarah.

“Lets do it!” said Matt. We all strapped in, then headed up the lift to 6. I looked around and saw we were the only three on the whole lift, yet we were all crammed into one chair. “It’s kind of deserted in here” I heard Matt say. “It’s as quiet as night.”

“Nah” I replied, “it’s just the 6 lift, I’m sure all the other lifts are fine.” Then, all of a sudden a loud alarm went off. It was deafening. We all looked at each other panicked, then a loud voice was heard overhead. Everybody please report to the emergency cellar located at the right of the ticket booth. Please stay calm. Everybody please report to the emergency cellar located at the right of the ticket booth. Please stay calm.

“What are we going to do?” asked Sarah. “We’re not even at the top of the trail yet, and its the longest one on the entire hill!”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’re gonna make it.” Just as I said that, a large fireball flew across the sky overhead, and then the voice said, we will be closing and locking the doors in two minutes. I looked up to see how much further we had to go on the lift, then it stopped.

“Oh crap!” I said. “We’re going to have to jump off!”

“Are you crazy!?” yelled Sarah over the alarm. “We would all break our legs.”

“No time to think,” I replied “1, 2, 3, go!” Matt and I both jumped off. I landed softly on my butt in the powdery snow. I looked back up at Sarah.

“Come on, don’t think, just jump,” I yelled up “it’s soft and powdery.”

“I can’t!” she yelled back down.

“You have to!” Just as I said that, another fireball flew through the sky and landed less than a mile away from us. I turned to look at Matt and the next thing I knew Sarah landed on the ground.

“Ok, now lets go,” she said in a frightened voice. One minute until the doors lock was heard overhead. I strapped my foot in as fast as I could, then Matt flew by us, headed down towards the cellar. I looked back at Sarah.

“You ready?” I asked.

“Yeah” she said. I looked down at her foot and saw it wasn’t strapped into her board. I looked back at her sternly.

“Go,” she said, “I’ll be a foot behind you”

“Is it broken?” I asked. She grimaced in return. I knelt down and unstrapped both of my feet, then her one foot. Doors close in ten seconds. I heaved her up and then the ground shook, and she almost fell out of my hands. Nine. We turned the corner and there was Matt, making his way back up to us. Eight.

“What happened?” he yelled up. Seven.

“Broken foot” I replied. Six. I gently let down Sarah so Matt and I could both prop her up to get down faster. Five. “We’re not going to make it” I thought. Four. The ground shook again as another fireball hit. Three. We were at the edge of the woods, the cellar within sight. Two. My heart sank as I heard it. One. And then the thick steel door swung shut and we heard a clang, as they locked it. We ran up to the steel door screaming and pounding. Then I heard some trees snapping. I looked back and a path was being cleared by something big and black. It looked 30 feet tall, had slick black skin, and looked ready to murder.

“Let us in, please, we’re stuck out here, help!” I screamed

“We’re going to die! Please open up!” I heard Matt yell beside me. I pounded and pounded on the door until my hands were bruised and numb. I gave up and fell down on my butt, exhausted and beat. I looked up and Matt was still yelling, his voice turning hoarse.

“Come on,” I said. “Lets get her to the lodge, thats our best shot.” The beast was almost upon us, its mouth foaming with spit, its eyes a ferocious orange. I looked down and picked up Sarah ready to run into the lodge, then the ground started shaking. I looked back at the beast and saw it was taking big leaps at us, then it was on us. It looked down right at us and breathed out heavily. Its breath smelled like rotten flesh, it showed its razor sharp teeth to intimidate us, then breathed in quickly.

“Get out of the way!” I yelled to Matt and Sarah. We all dodged quickly to the side as the beast released a jet of fire right where we were.

“Oh… my… God…” Matt whispered, as the building caught fire.

“Go, go, go, go get inside, get to the back of the lodge!” I yelled. Matt and I heaved Sarah into the lodge. I took off Sarah’s boot to get a look at the foot. It was big and swollen. I cringed as I saw it. Then I heard a loud bang out of the lodge. Then a man screamed, and I heard a gigantic roar. My heart was pounding outside of my chest and my ears were ringing from the roar. I had never been so terrified in my life. I tried to get up and run to the window to see where the beast was, but fell immediately. Then I heard a loud crack from overhead as the roof split. I looked up, and there was one of them, staring right into my eyes. It dipped its head in straight at me, and I screamed like I never had before. Then Sarah jumped out in front of me as the beast opened its jaws. Crunch, I heard as the jaws clamped around Sarah. She screamed and then the beast swallowed her.

“Oh my God…” I said, then I looked back at Matt. He had turned tail and fled, I saw the back on him escape out the front doors. Then the next thing I know, the beast had its jaws around me. I heard my bones snap and looked down numbly at my body. Then he took a big gulp, and I died.

I gasped and sat up straight. Where was I?? I looked around breathing hard, and realized I was in my room. It was all just a nightmare. I looked at my phone and realized my alarm had been going off for a few minutes, then I recognized the noise. It was the alarm from the nightmare. I chuckled and got up and ready to go snowboard with Matt and Sarah. I rushed downstairs to get some breakfast, cocoa pebbles, my favorite. I switched on the TV and there, flashing before my eyes, the story of meteorites...