Chapter 2: Seattle, Washington

The Seattle Starlight Site stood seven stories high on the West side of the city. In one of the many control rooms, the lights flickered and wires sparked. After the project was turned on and things began to go south, the workers tried a manual shutdown. As many of the plants had announced they were trying when people started dropping. Now the place was almost empty, with the alarms blaring.

A shout of a name echoed through the halls. Originating from the tall black haired teen struggling to get off the floor. "Tucker, where are you?" The room was dark where he had passed out.

"Here," a soft voice answered from the darkness, "Willis, I can't get up."

"Hang on, I'm coming," Willis got to his feet, and looked around. He saw a pair of black sneakers a few feet away and walked over. Tucker, the dirty blond on the floor, held his head in his hands. Willis sat beside him,

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know. The alarms are really loud."

Willis pulled him up to sit against the wall. A trail of blood ran down his forehead. "Dang. You're bleeding," Willis whispered. He pulled off his loose tee he always wore over his undershirt, and held it against Tucker's head.

"Ow, that hurts" Tucker complained. He tried to push against Willis, but the other teen had two inches, and twenty pounds on him. It didn't stop him from trying, "Come on, Willis. I'm fine."

"Don't fight me on this."

Tucker didn't. He heard the tone in his voice. After knowing him for 12 years, there were certain things Tucker knew better than to fight Willis about. The two were closer than brothers. Willis examined the wound on his forehead carefully.

"You'll be fine," Willis declared, pulling Tucker to his feet, "so let's get out of here."

"And go where? Your dad was right next to us, where is he?"

"I don't know but this place looks ready to explode so the best place to be is not here." Willis started dragging Tucker out of the room. They walked down the deserted halls

"Who were we supposed to call if there were problems?" Tucker asked.

"Vegas branch," Willis reached into his pocket coming up empty, "but I can't find my phone."

"Here," the younger handed over his phone. Willis dialed the number. It rang once then disconnected. He tried again with the same result. He gave it back, "it's not working. I know where a satellite phone is, maybe it'll work."

They ran across the facility to one of the storage rooms. Not a single person crossed their path. The entire building was empty. Willis opened one of the large black cases stacked against the back wall. There were four satellite phones inside. He tossed one to Tucker before trying a call to the Vegas Station. There was again no answer but the phone had rung, meaning there was no one to answer.

"What if everyone is gone," Tucker said hesitantly, "no one's in the building. Why would it be different anywhere else?"

"That's not possible."

"You said the same thing about your dad's theory but he was right."

"My father is a paranoid conspiracy theorist, besides he thought it would be worse than this," Willis closed the box and carried it with him. "Come on, we need to get moving."

Tucker hurried after him down the hall, "Where are we going?"

"If Vegas won't answer us, then we go to them."

"We're not even sure on what the Starlight Project was supposed to do. We can't fix this."

"It's a project to cure mental illness using vibrations and radiation."

"How did you-"

"What? You think I spent all the times I was forced to be here doing nothing. My father made me memorize the blueprints for the generators, and antennas. First time I've been thankful for it."

They burst into an office space. Willis started going through the filing cabinets.

"What are you looking for?"

"I said I knew how to work the generators and antennas. There are a lot more working pieces than that."

"Hey!" A man shouted from the hall, "what are you doing here?"

The relief of seeing another human being quickly dissipated when they saw that the man wasn't looking at them. Willis recognized him as one of his father's advisors, a tall, broad man. He was looking down another hallway. Tucker moved towards the door when a wall panel slammed into the advisor, sending the man out of view. A crowd of people slowly walked into their sight. The people's eyes looked dead, staring into nothingness. Willis put his hand over Tucker's mouth, and yanked him away from the doorway. They hid behind the wall. The shuffling of feet came closer as each second passed. Tucker was starting to panic.

"Don't move." Willis whispered into his ear. He covered Tucker with his body, his mind raced trying to find a solution. Then someone grabbed him effectively separating the two. Willis was tossed into the desk. He looked up at his attacker, one the zombified looking people. There wasn't much space between them.

"Willis," Tucker called in panic. He tried to get to his friend but two more of the crowd held him back.

"I'm okay, just keep calm. I'll figure this out," he assured his younger friend.

A slow clap started and the people separated allowing a raven haired boy about Willis's age to enter the room, "It amazes me that you two are still this close."

Willis slowly recognized him. It had been years since he last saw him, "Urek? What are you doing?"

"I just happened to wake up with this wonderful ability to convince people to do as I ask," Urek chuckled, "then I thought why not come find the one person who no one could ever control." He turned away from Willis, glaring at Tucker. "Did you really think I would let you get away?"

Willis screamed at him. Tucker bared his teeth, "I told you to leave me alone."

"It's funny that you think that matters to me." He got closer, "juvie wasn't much fun but it taught me how sweet revenge is." Urek grabbed Tucker by the face, his eyes glowing a bright green. Tucker cried out. Willis shouted some more, fighting against the men pinning him down. Urek bent over Tucker, "oh the things I could make you do."

Lightning cracked through the small space, knocking everyone to the floor. Willis scrambled to his feet, grabbing Tucker and a stack of the files before booking it out of the room. Not too long after the zombie crowd chased them. Urek's voice taunting them. They crashed through the stairwell door, taking them down three at a time. Willis struggled to get his keys out of his pocket when they made it to the parking garage. He clicked the button and the red Camaro started up on its own.

Tucker ran to the passenger side taking the files as Willis jumped in the driver seat. Willis slammed the car in reverse, pulling away from the horde. One of them jumped onto the hood, it clung as they backed out of the multi-story garage. Willis scraped the side of his car on the way down the spiral.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered to it. The car spun when it hit the street. Different vehicles littered the streets, all stalling with no passengers. The person rolled off the car, giving them a chance to escape. He went 0 to 60 down the street and away from the facility. The Seattle skyline glowed in the dawning light. Tucker was quietly panting, clutching the papers to his chest.

"We're okay," Willis said, trying to calm himself.

Tucker looked around, "Vegas?"

"Yeah."

"And you have your bag?"

"Spare in the trunk."