Thomas was the first to wake. Never an easy sleeper, he sat up with a start the moment he noticed he wasn't in his bed. The familiar scene of his form room, unfamiliarly lit by the first rays of dawn greeted him instead. He was on the floor, the desks pushed to the side and the chairs stacked as if for some group activity. It was then he noticed that some of his classmates were there too.

Doug was slumped on his side, as if he had been dumped there by someone else. That wouldn't have been out of the ordinary for him, if it weren't for the fact he could see Luke and some of the girls set the same way. Only the quiet one, Mira if he remembered correctly, looked somewhat normal, curled up in a ball.

Warily, Thomas picked himself up. He didn't like that he couldn't remember why he was here. Sure, it was summer (?) but it wasn't like they shared a club, and he didn't see any teachers. Uneasy, he stepped out to the door and looked down the hallway. No-one. Going to the windows showed it was a quiet morning. No cars on the road or even in the parking lot.

He just shook his head and turned back to the others. On second glance, he noticed there were bits of burned paper on the ground between them. Before he could move to pick one up, Doug jerked in his sleep and hit his head on a table leg.

"FUCK," he shouted, immediately curling up and covering the spot with his hands.

"We're in school retard," Tom simply stated. Doug was a pain, but at least he was an amusing one.

"No we're not-" he answered reflexively, before his eyes shot open and looked around. "What?"

"Yeah." And Tom left it at that. Doug seemed to pick up on the atmosphere and started taking in the situation, the bump on his head completely forgotten.

"Is this some kind of abduction thing?" Doug said when he'd finally seen enough. Tom gave it some thought but dismissed it.

"Why school?" was the obvious question.

"I dunno. Punishment for skipping detention? Never thought they'd do it but..." Doug trailed off. That would've made sense for him, but-

"You're the only one who does that, Doug. I don't think Ellie or Mira even get detention," he pointed out. Tom wasn't a perfect student, but he at least faced the consequences of his actions with dignity.

"Yer right. Well, nothing for it. I'm gonna head home. See you lot never," he said, and without ceremony headed out the door. Tom reached out to stop him but thought better of it. The situation was weird as fuck, but Doug had a point. Why was he sticking around?

Too proud to copy Doug of all people, he decided it would be best to wake the others. Maybe they'd remember what happened. If nothing else, it'd sate his curiosity. And settle the unease he didn't want to admit was there; ten minutes and not a single sound from the road. It wasn't normal.

Tom decided to wake up Luke first. He was pretty inoffensive so far as people went. Just didn't know when to shut the hell up. Tom prodded him with a foot.

"What?" Luke mumbled sleepily. He blinked bleary eyes at the room. It was at this point that Tom noticed Luke was wearing his glasses. Tom didn't know a lot about glasses, but he was pretty sure you weren't supposed to sleep in them.

"Doug said the same thing," Tom offered, trying to remain disinterested. The word really did sum up the situation.

That seemed to startle Luke. "Doug?!" he sat up, looking around in mild panic. That was interesting.

"He's gone." Tom wasn't heartless, after all.

Luke just nodded his head and scrunched his face as he took in the room. Then he reached his hand out to his side, patting for something not there, before reaching up to his glasses. His eyebrows upturned and he looked around for something else.

"Seen my bag?" he asked, looking up at Tom. There, in his eyes, was the same fear he felt in himself. Damn. Fuck. Shit. Luke was absent minded, but he was the last person who could be accused of being an idiot. Thinking about their bags, and he realized, their journals, was exactly the kind of cleverness Tom lacked.

"Not if you haven't. Check the window," Tom said. Another good thing. Luke followed orders. Who knew why, but he did.

Luke nodded and picked himself up in his weird way. Rocking his body to a pre-planned spot like it was a physics problem. The boffin always acted like an alien badly trying to fit into a human body. It was mildly amusing. When he got to the window he took a look before turning around.

"You know what day it is?" It'd be a dumb question if it weren't that Tom didn't know either. He said as much.

"What the heck were we up to?" He asked, as if Tom could answer.

At that moment one of the previously sleeping girls, Sophie, piped up. "You two have five seconds to explain before I call the cops," she said, holding her phone -school contraband- in her hand. The look in her eyes brokered no compromise.

Tom shrugged while Luke tensed. "You're not worth jail, Soph," he said, which made Luke glance at him like he was mad.

"You're right. You and dweebus don't have a testicle between the two of you," she said, putting down her phone. Tom just snorted. Sophie was alright.

From beside her, Ellie said, sleepily, "Then what's going on?"

Tom shrugged again. "Beats me. Nobody seems to remember anything," he said, then looked around, "and our bags are missing."

Sophie looked like she wanted to say something but hesitated, eyes wide. Instead, it was Luke who spoke up. "Sophie, what's the date on your phone?"

"What? It's- its..., uh," what confidence she had seemed to evaporate. Reflexively, she flicked about her phone, only to frown again. Flick, frown. Flick, frown.

"Calendar's not opening," she said.

"Try the lock screen?" Luke suggested.

Sophie just nodded and clicked the button. Her frown deepened. "What the hell," she said. Luke seemed to grow some confidence and hovered closer.

"It's blurred out," he mumbled, stroking his chin like it'd make him smarter.

"Mira might know," Ellie piped up. Tom glanced to the sleeping girl, still curled up like she was pretending to be a cat. He didn't know her well, but it wouldn't hurt. He made to move towards her then stopped. Ellie seemed to pick up on this and leaned over to rock her shoulder.

"Mira. Mira wake up," she said softly.

"What?" Tom was beginning to hate that word. "Ellie?" she asked, her voice tilting in surprise. "Why am I in my uniform?"

"If the boys are to be believed, nobody has a clue," Sophie said.

Mira shot up and patted herself, before realizing something and relaxing. "Oh, right," she said with some relief. Tom just quirked his eyebrow. Noticing the attention, Mira blushed and withdrew into herself.

"Does it matter? Seems like nothing happened," Sophie said, idly flicking on her phone. "Must be one of those mass hysteria things they were talking about in RE." She put the phone against her ear and waited.

And waited. From where he was standing, Tom could make out the sound of the call not connecting. Ellie, who had been next to Sophie and able to see who she was calling frowned. Sophie tried another number. No luck.

"Maybe the phones are down?" Mira offered.

Luke nodded and said "Do you see your network provider icon?" To which Sophie gave him a blank stare and just showed her phone to him. "Try texting XXX," he said.

"You better not be pulling something," Sophie grumbled but did so. Simultaneously, the two let out a huh at something. Sophie shot Luke a dirty look. "Whatever. I'll just take the bus back. You can play detective without me."

Luke and the others looked uncomfortable, but no one stopped Sophie as she left. Figuring that they were useless on their own, Tom decided to be the responsible one.

"You three have a way back home?" he asked.

Luke blushed lightly and said "My mum drives me." Mira seemed to regard him with sympathy while Ellie was simply curious.

Tom nodded. It made sense; guy was sheltered to the extreme. "Alright, I'll show you the tables," he said, and left the classroom. Behind him he could hear the others following. But besides them? Nothing. The school was deathly quiet as he walked down the halls to the front entrance. The automatic doors swooshed open, but no one was at the entrance desk. Just outside, past the open gates was Sophie, standing near the bus stop.

The gates were never open unless the desk was manned.

"You two wait here a second," Tom said. Not giving a moment for a response, he opened the door to the staff corridor. Most students didn't know about it, but he tended to get involved with things. Consequence of being "responsible". Casually, he made his way to the breakroom, only to see no-one there. Walking back up, he quietly knocked on the principle's office door. Nobody answered.

Looking unperturbed, he rejoined the others and headed towards Sophie. Ellie seemed like she wanted to ask something but ended up not saying anything, while Luke simply frowned.

When they arrived at the bus stop, they found Sophie tapping her foot impatiently as she checked her phone. "No bus?" he asked, already knowing the answer by this point.

Sophie bit her nail. "I think we missed it," she said.

"Nothing for it. We get the next one. Luke, where do you live?" he asked, and then gradually guided Luke through how the tables worked. From the corner of his eye he could see Mira smiling.

They were interrupted by a shout. "What the FUCK did you DO?!" It was Doug, presumably back from running home. His fists were clenched and his face was red, and he seemed set on Tom.

"I didn't do jack," he defended. Subtly brining up his guard in case Doug wanted to start shit.

"Bullshit! Everyone's fucking gone. Even the bloody pigeons!" This close, he was practically shouting in Tom's face. Sophie looked at him with disgust while the others shied away. Doug was right about the pigeons, though.

"I've got eyes Doug. What makes this my fault?" he asked, as if Doug wasn't moments away from hitting him.

"Fuck if I know. I wake up and its your shifty ass sneering over me," he said, sneering himself. Was that really how people saw him?

"Is everyone really gone?" Ellie asked, and that seemed to draw his attention.

"NIGGER! NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER," Doug shouted to the surrounding buildings by way of response. Ellie cringed, but Doug continued. "Hear that? It's fucking nothing."

Tom grimaced, but Doug had a point. Were it any other time, someone would be out to drag him by the ear to suspension for that stunt. It was Sophie who spoke next.

"What, you're seriously suggesting everyone just," she waved her hands and made a poofing noise, "disappeared because you're spooked by a quiet morning? Get real."

"Shut it dyke," he said, to which she gave him the finger, "Everybody's gone and it's all that bastard's fault!" With nothing more for warning, Doug threw a punch at Tom, which he swiftly blocked and returned with a swift strike to the jaw. Doug crumpled in pain, glaring daggers at Tom.

"Don't start shit you can't end, retard. And it's not my fault. I know as much as the rest of you," he said, trying to maintain an even voice even as adrenaline pumped through his veins. Hopefully nobody noticed him shaking.

"We should head into town." It was Luke who said this. Ellie nodded quickly and Sophie rolled her eyes while pocketing her phone, saying "I live that way anyhow."

She set off, and everyone minus Doug followed. Tom noticed Mira rubbing her arms, and couldn't help but feel bad for her. The whole confrontation with Doug was unnecessary, and Tom hated how useless he felt not being able to prevent it.

The walk was silent, tense at first with the others looking back to see if Doug had followed them. Gradually, however, the atmosphere relaxed even, or perhaps because of how quiet everything else was. "It's so peaceful," Ellie murmured and Mira nodded. Of all of them, only Sophie seemed to be in a sour mood regarding something on her phone. Occassionally she'd glance at Luke, but always she'd return to her phone without saying anything.

Half an hour later, and they'd arrived in town. In that time, not a single car had passed by. Nobody had spotted any animals or any other signs of life. Seeing the busiest place for miles completely dead was deeply unsettling.

"Surreal," Luke commented. "You think it's global? I don't think I've seen a contrail yet."

Tom's frown became downright ugly. Mira immediately returned to rubbing her arm, looking down at the ground while Ellie rested a hand on her shoulder. Sophie remained aloof, but Tom could see signs of worry in the unsteady way she held her phone and her unusual attention to other people.

"Is there any way we could know?" he asked.

Luke paused a moment to think as they meandered the dead streets. "Internet. Radio. I can't think of anything else that'd be accessible to us."

"Sophie," Tom said in an even tone. Sophie looked at him with only half hearted anger.

"Don't bother," she sighed. "Insta's dead. twitter's dead. TikTok..." It was wrong, Tom thought, seeing such a look of defeat on the perpetually headstrong girl.

Luke shook his head. His mouth opened but then closed again. "There's still radio," he said, then pursing his lips.

Tom nodded, idly. This was too far out of his depth. What the fuck was he supposed to do in this situation? He could take care of himself, he'd done that all his life, but that was still in a world with other people. To say nothing of taking care of the clueless kids following him.

"Maybe we should stop for breakfast?" Ellie asked, out of the blue. Mira seemed to be in strong agreement.

Tom laughed. "Yeah, alright," he said just as Sophie chastised Ellie: "You don't need to ask his permission to eat, Ells."

Together they entered the nearest restaurant, a hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop. Predictably, no one was at the tables or till. Not waiting for anyone, Sophie opened up a fridge and grabbed a packaged sandwich.

"You're not going to pay for that?" Mira asked.

"Pay who?" Sophie responded, and Mira didn't say anything after.

They all ended up getting sandwiches from the fridge, by necessity of the counter being empty. Mira looking at her own with worry while Ellie dug in with abandon and everyone else eating more or less normally - if staring into space could be considered normal.

"We should start collecting long conservation stuff," Luke said, suddenly. Everyone glanced at him with varying expressions. Tom's own of grim understanding.

"We don't know how long this'll last," he started, quickly mumbling "If it's even temporary at all," before continuing: "And we can't count on the fridges running forever, and even if they did, stuff will still rot. Long conservation food should be good for years."

Tom decided to add to his thoughts. "We'll need a place to stay before that. Best place would be right on top of the stores."

Ellie raised her arms and made an big X with them. "Nuh-uh. Veto. That's all kinds of creepy."

Tom tried not to show any reaction, and instead asked "where else do we go?"

"School," she answered.

"We'll have to travel half an hour to get supplies," he stated, deciding to play devil's advocate.

"If everyone's really gone, then we can put things on sleds. Or steal cars or something," she said, seeming a little excited at the prospect.

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "Ells, somehow I can't see you hotwiring a car."

Ellie shook her head and grinned. "Who says we need to? We can use the keys."

Tom grinned with her. "That's not a bad idea. We'll hit up the dealership after breakfast."

Sophie frowned at Tom. "Who made you the leader?"

Sophie had a point, but "Do you want to be leader then? I'm saying what's sensible. No one's forcing you to follow me."

Sophie snorted "Kinda are; being alone is one bad day from being dead and this lot thinks you're hot shit for some reason."

Mira looked away, Luke frowned, and Ellie just rolled her eyes. "Soph, you don't need to play tough here."

"I'm just saying! Nobody knows anything about dark and broody over here, but because he keeps his cool, he's the one in charge?" she said.

"Yes, actually." It was Luke who said this, sounding unusually confident in his interjection. "Calm under pressure is the quintessential quality of a leader."

"Also he's done D-of-E, Soph," Ellie chipped in.

Sophie threw up her hands, exasperated. "Fine. We'll let Batman over here play leader." Mira smiled.

Tom's face contorted in confusion. "Do you guys really see me that way?" Sure, he'd never been very social despite the leadership positions the faculty threw at him, but this bordered on the absurd.

Ellie did not hesitate at all to give an offhand "yeah". Luke grimaced and wavered his hand, while Mira shrugged shyly. Sophie turned to him and asked, "You eat alone at the cafeteria, Tom. Do you even have any friends?"

That stung. More than he'd like to admit. But she was right. Before he could speak, Mira of all people spoke for him with unusual conviction: "Sophie, that was mean." And surprisingly, Sophie seemed cowed by that.

"Ok, yeah, that was harsh. I didn't mean it like that." was what amounted to an apology from the chastised athlete.