It was the fifth of February, and the weather in Washington D.C. was bitter cold.

But Petra Carter barely felt the cold as she hurried along the sidewalk, walking as fast as she could, almost running.

"Wait up!" Her best friend Caleb called from several yards behind her, panting from their fast pace. "Petra, slow down!"

Petra hopped over a pile of dirty snow and turned to face him, her foot tapping with impatience. "Oh come on, Caleb. Pick up the pace!"

Caleb caught up with her and flopped down onto a bench. "You are deranged!" He gasped, unzipping his jacket and fanning the cold air in. "I can see the headline now: teenager drops dead after chasing a crazed friend for two miles."

Petra tried to keep a straight face as she sat down beside him. "Oh come on. It wasn't two miles. It was a mile and a half, tops."

He scowled and silently glared at her out of the corner of his eyes.

Trying to hide her smile, she crossed her arms and imitated him, while highly exaggerating his pose and facial expression.

Finally, after ten seconds of silence, Petra's facade crumbled and they both burst out laughing.

"Why does that never work?" Petra wheezed, leaning against him for support.

"I have no idea." Caleb chortled, earning strange looks from the people passing them. No doubt they thought two laughing fifteen-year-olds were trouble.

Regaining her composure, Petra stood up and offered him her hand. "Come on. Let's get to my house before- hey!"

She cut herself off to glare at the person who had nearly knocked her over.

"Pardon me," the man said, clutching his briefcase and avoiding eye contact.  "You shouldn't stand in the middle of the sidewalk. You might trip someone."

Before Petra could open her mouth to indignantly remind him that he had nearly knocked her over, and therefore he was at fault, the man wheeled around and hurried down the street without another word.

Petra glared after him for a long moment. "Well someone forgot their coffee this morning," she muttered grumpily.

Caleb stood up. "Him, or you?" he quipped, zipping back up his jacket.

Petra turned and gave him the look. "You know what I mean. Now let's get home before my mom calls in the National Guard."

Caleb grinned. "Knowing your mom, we should get to your house before she calls in Superman." He linked his arm through her's, and they continued down the sidewalk at a much slower pace.

Petra giggled. "You are a dork!" she announced.

"And you are a nerd," he replied, without missing a beat.

Petra opened her mouth to reply. But the reply never came. An instant after Caleb had spoken, something happened on that cold February afternoon, in Washington D.C., the surrounding areas, the whole country, and across the world.

Every adult vanished.

Crying out in shock, Petra stumbled backward, pulling Caleb with her. They had been about to step off the curb, and the two people in front of them, the people on the other side of the street, the drivers in the passing cars had vanished. Without a trace.

"What happened?" Caleb cried, looking around wildly. "Where did everyone go? They're all - Petra look out!" He grabbed her hand and yanked her out of the path of an empty truck as it barreled out of control into a fence.

Then came the deafening sound of millions of vehicles around the city crashed into each other, followed by the sound of thousands of car alarms going off at once.

"Is anyone there?" Petra called letting go of his hand and running to the nearest car and peering inside. It was empty. 

"Help!" 

They heard a voice call from somewhere nearby.

Petra gasped and whirled around. "Hello?" she yelled frantically.  "Where are you? Don't move!"

They heard a loud banging sound. it was coming from a nearby car that had flipped upside down. They ran to the car. A teenage girl with long wheat-colored hair was hanging by her seatbelt in mid-air. 

She twisted her head around to peer at them. "Oh, hi," she said, her voice muffled by the glass. "A little help?" she sounded surprisingly calm for someone who was dangling upside down in an overturned car.

Petra knelt down beside the car. "Hold on," she said, rummaging through her purse. "We'll get you out. Just hold still."

"I'll go check the other cars for anyone else," Caleb said placing a hand on Petra's shoulder. "You stay here and get her out."

Petra nodded. "Okay." She said grimly. "Good luck." Caleb nodded and ran off

"K," the girl said, struggling against the tangled seatbelt to look in the front of the car. "What happened to my mom?" She asked. 

"We don't know," Petra said, pulling out a window breaker. "A bunch of people just disappeared."

"How did that happen?" the other girl asked, grabbing the seatbelt, still dangling.

Petra closed her eyes. "I wish I knew."

She clutched the window-breaker in her hand, reared back and smashed the window in one blow.

The glass crumbled into a heap of shards.  As soon as her exit was clear, the other girl grabbed the end of the seatbelt attached to her seat and unbuckled herself.  She carefully swung around, then gingerly crawled out the broken window.

They both stood up. "Hi. I'm Annie." The girl said. She was tall, several inches taller then Petra.

Petra gave a little wave. "Petra. My friend is Caleb."

Annie nodded. "Nice to meet you. And, we should probably go help him. You might need to use Mjolnir again," she said, gesturing to the window breaker Petra still held in her hand.

Petra nodded. "Let's go."

Sooooooo..... How did you guys like it? I hope I got your hair right, Coco-Da-Me and don't 

worry, @Jedimaster129  you'll be in the next chapter.

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