The Fall...

Chaos spread throughout the citizens of earth. From their 'planet' being turned into a giant landmass to half of the population being wiped out in the process, everyone was freaking out. No one had expected that aliens would target them simply because their 'progression' was too fast for them. 

Burnir had just turned sixteen when their whole planet got terraformed. His parents and younger brother had been sitting beside him inside of the local ice cream shop. Life was pretty peaceful for them, and they were out celebrating his birthday with his family. He still remembers what happened that fateful day. 

His father's old friend had opened up an ice cream parlor right outside of their local high school. It was an extremely popular location because both students and parents loved getting a cold treat after working or studying all day. His father's friend, Ace, had served them ice cream on the house because of his birthday. 

He had chosen his favorite, cookies and cream, while his brother chose chocolate vanilla swirl and their parents split a large ice cream sundae. They had enjoyed their ice cream on the hot July day, but his father's stomach didn't stay quiet. He quickly excused himself to the bathroom which made the whole parlor erupt in laughter. 

His mother had started asking him what he wanted to do with the rest of his day. "So, my little honey bunches, what would you like to do for the rest of your birthday? We could go to a waterpark, go shopping... mini golf?"

"Haahahaha, maybe not shopping, I don't want to spend too much of dad's money. Hmm maybe mini golf would be fu-"

Suddenly a deep earthquake had echoed through the ground. The ground hadn't broken at first, but everyone went quiet. They were in an area where earthquakes, while not common, did occasionally happen. "Burnir, take Haffi to the truck and wait there, I'll get your father from the bathroom, and we'll go." But there wasn't enough time...

As soon as his mother told him to go to the truck with his younger brother the earth shook. A giant crack appeared and swallowed their truck and the whole parking lot into a giant pit. Everyone started screaming, "Get under the table NOW!" His mother screamed, but they could barely hear her. She ran to the bathroom to get their father, they could see him trying to pull up his pants as fast as he could. 

She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the bathroom... but the ceiling collapsed. Burnir covered his brothers eyes as he watched his parents get crushed by the falling concrete. Suddenly they heard large, heavy foot steps running towards them. "GET UP AND FOLLOW ME, BOYS," His fathers old friend yelled as he pulled them to their feet. Pulling the two brothers along he ran inside the back storage of the building and grabbed some car keys and a large black bag that was along side it. 

The building continued collapsing, squashing almost everyone else that was inside the store. Some people managed to run outside, but Burnir couldn't see them after that. The three of them sprinted as fast as they could to an old truck, same as his fathers but a couple years older, and got in. The two boys jumped in the back seats while Ace jumped in the drivers seat. 

Putting the keys in the ignition and slamming on the gas, Ace cautiously drove around the cracks opening up in the earth. He was the literal definition of pedal to the metal for ten minutes, until his gas light came on. "Shit. Burnir, under your seat their should be a map of the surrounding towns. Find a gas station before I run out of gas." 

Nodding, he slowly reached down and grabbed a grey bag. Opening it up he found some water and the map. He handed the water to his younger brother and told him to drink. He didn't let him see their parents die, but he was still able to hear it... to feel that they died. For most of the car ride they had sat in silence, too shocked to say anything. 

Running the fourth red light Burnir recognized a store from the map, right down the road there should be a gas station. It's not like there were many cars on the road right now anyways. It was eerily quiet outside. Other than the occasional rumble of the earth. "Right ahead on the left should be a gas station." Nodding, Ace started to slow down the truck.

As expected they found the gas station. Along with a crushed police car and a half stable roof over the station. The police man was nowhere in sight, but the cop car was wailing and wailing its car alarm. Stopping next to the gas pump, the three got out. Then his younger brother started puking his chocolate vanilla swirl onto the pavement. 

"HAFFI! What's wrong?" Burnir yelled as he tried running towards his younger brother, but Ace held them both in a tight hug. "It's alright Haffi, let it all pour out..." He said letting the young boy cry into his shoulder. Burnir stopped struggling out of the hug, beginning to cry as well. He finally realized what was wrong.

They had just lost their parents, the only family they had left. They only had each other now... "That's right, let all of the tears out..." Ace said in a calm and soothing voice. But that only made the two cry harder. "Remember your not alone in this, you have each other, you have me here too. I promised your father I'd take care of you if anything happens to him, I intend to hold that promise until the day I die."

His father and Ace had been war buddies together. They grew and pushed each other up the ranks. They soon because leaders of their respective groups, his father a lieutenant and Ace a sniper. They were both large and muscular due to their training and made sure to keep their body in the best physical condition they could. However, his father soon met the love of his life and retired soon after.

Ace quit soon after and started the ice cream parlor as a new start. The old man let them cry their hearts out. His parents had died while he was serving so he didn't get the chance to mourn for them. He let them cry everything out for a whole 10 minutes until they soon dulled to a low sniffle. "Alright boys, you can go see if there are any snacks in the gas station. If there is anyone in there then come tell me. Don't take long though."

He watched them slowly nod and walked to the store before starting to get some gas. "Poor kids, 16 and 15 is way too young to lose your parents. I hope they won't get stuck in the past mourning them. Acceptance is an important part of growth and I need them as strong as they can get to keep them alive."

The two came back soon, arms full with as much treats that they could carry "There's no one in there," Haffi said as he sniffled. "Perfect, lets go back in and get as much as we can. Hold on a minute though..." Grabbing a crowbar from the back of his truck, Ace smashed the polices window open and grabbed a set of keys on the drivers seat. 

He turned off the car alarm and grabbed some cash, some handcuffs, and some medical supplies and guns from the trunk. "Help me move this stuff over to the truck boys," They soon moved all the supplies over to the truck and were ready to raid this empty gas station for supplies. They were too hungry to worry about stealing. 

They grabbed a bunch of nonperishables and waters and got back into the truck. The truck itself had a bed cover to make it look like a van in the back, which allowed them to store a lot of stuff. "Alright lets get going boys, we need somewhere safe to stay, we don't know when or if rescue is coming,"

But before they could get ready to leave a white message board popped up in front of all their eyes, and it changed everything.