the lake trip

My name is Lizzie, I am going to tell you the story of 6 friends on a road trip to the lake and the disaster that it became 

It all started on July 12, with a group of friends. two girls named Katie and Shelby and three boys Chris, Sean, and Luke. they were the kind of people who lived outdoors, did well in school, and didn’t care about appearances. I was not, I was a girl who loved to shop, sing and dance. I was the type to go out at night and party meanwhile they liked to stay in, watch movies.  You may be wondering how I got involved with them. Well in a small town like Everwood, everyone knows everyone. Margot and I had been friends since kindergarten, we used to be more alike. But like any friendship, as we got older we drifted and Shelby found a new crowd of friends as did I. but we always stayed in touch. We had met through our parents. And even though we had drifted our parents never did. 

One day this particular group of people decided to go on a summer road trip to the mountains, Katie had read about a beautiful lake surrounded by trees. They all agreed a summer road trip would be the best way to escape the heat. 

The trip was planned but a few days before they we set to leave. Margot’s mother suggested she invite, I think its only cause our moms wanted a girls day. Margot didn’t argue. that's when she called me. I was getting my nails done when she called. We talked for what seemed like hours. She filled me in on the idea of the road trip and asked if I wanted to come. I was hesitant at first but I figured I needed to escape the summer heat and get away. So I said yes. I wouldn’t have if I had only known what would happen on this road trip. 

three days later, on July 15, we left for the lake. the drive was long. And I had no cell service. I started to regret coming along. That's when Chris suggested we play truth or dare. I thought to myself that I was in no way in hell I am playing truth or dare with them.

but we played anyway. Playing made the drive go by quickly and we laughed until we reached the lake. 

once we arrived it was almost dark. We were all hungry and tired from being in a car all day.  and Luke began to complain that he had nothing to eat or drink.

But we had packed well and brought tons of sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, and more after we all ate we went to sleep. the next day we spent the whole day sitting by the lake listening to each other's stories and jokes.

later that day we all went swimming. The water in the lake felt so nice. the boys started playing soccer in the sun. The girls and I lay in the sun and dry off. As I laid there I thought to myself, I had never been happier in my life, I felt free, I even enjoyed the company of my new friends. 

that night we all sat by the fire and talked. We promised that we would return to this same place every year, just us only the six of us no one else.  We all promised to never breathe a word about the place because if people found out, it would become a hangout and we all knew the beautiful lake would become trash. We spent days at the lake we went on hikes played games, and we all left with incredible tans. We were all very sad we had to return home, we took the long drive home. once we got back to town there was no one in sight, we didn’t think much of it We went to Margot's house to look for her parents but no one was there. we were all very worried. that's when we heard a gunshot. I screamed. We all didn’t know what it could be. Scared we went out to Margot’s family barn. In the barn, we looked around. All the animals were gone and some even dead. We all ran into town, all the stores were empty it felt like a ghost town.  Sean sacred ran to his house we followed. When we got there it smelled awful, we all walked into the kitchen, we found the door in the kitchen open. In the doorway, we all were terrified to find Sean’s dog dead and surrounded by flies. Sean couldn’t believe him and ran to the living room. The boys went out to comfort him. We stayed in the kitchen. Katie walked around the dead animal and remarked. He has been dead for days, the flies wouldn’t be here yet if she had died today. With horror in my voice, I said “what happened while we were gone.” Margot replied “I don’t think I want to know” we didn’t know what to do next the rest of us were too scared to check our homes. We went back to Margot’s house, until night. Luckily she had food and the electricity was still running. We all drank water and ate fruit and snacks. We all sat in her living room in silence. Chris said “what are we supposed to do, no one here,” Katie said “I don't know what to do, I don't even wanna know what happened”  we all didn't want to know for we were all afraid our family was gone and we only had each other. We all fell asleep in the living room subtlety we were all awoken by a blinding light and a loud noise. We ran outside to see a helicopter with bright flashing lights. We hid from the light and stayed in the house. I asked Margot what the hell that thing was. She said she didn't know but it couldn't be good.  Katie then said I think it is a military helicopter. Why would that be here said luke? Katie then said I have no idea. We waited it out for the rest of the night. When it was finally morning we all headed back to town. To our shock we found it destroyed. Windows broken in all the shops. We walked into the supermarket hoping to get some food. When we walked in all the food was off the shelves and the cash register was open it looked like someone rampaged through. We then saw on the broken tv. A newscast from when we were at the lake. A reporter on the tv said that there was a terrible virus that had broken out and that the government was clearing small towns and grouping everyone in a government building, she said that everyone should leave their homes before they were forced into the building. We were all terrified, the boys got some food and we ran back to Margot's house. I then shouted, what the fuck do we do. Everyone just looked at me no one knew what to do. What could we do? That's when Katie said I say we find our families and save them. Margot looked at and said, save them how do we know they don't have the virus they may even be dead. Katie replied the virus is made up I positive something else is happing, the news reporter would tell everyone to leave if it was a virus she told everyone to leave before the government came. All of us stared at him in awe, not understanding a single thing she had just said. But we trusted him since she was the smart one. Luke said then what's the plan. We need to find out where these government buildings are. We brainstormed plans all night until we fell asleep. I woke up in the middle of the night I was restless. I looked out the window and saw a fence go up scared I woke everyone up. We all had no idea what the fence was. Then sean said is that our parents. We looked indeed wretched as the people of the town were lead into a big truck. There no way this is due to a virus. We didn't know what to we walked outside to get a closer look that's when we were spotted. We heard a loud noise it was a voice shouting. All civilians need to be in the transport. We ran back to the house. That's when soldiers were sent throughout the town we need to hide. We all hid at Margot's barn. We all didn't know what to do that's when Sean suggested we go back to the lake. We all thought he was crazy.  and leave our families. Sean said what choice do we have there no chance we can fight the government we would be foolish to believe so. Part of us knew he was right we knew we had to abandon the plan we had made. Ok, say we leave for the lake. We need food, and a way to get back to the car not to mention we have to get past the gate. 

We came up with a new and crazy plan. We split into teams, sean and luke would get food and camping supplies, Katie and Chris would try to get the car and gasoline.  And Margot and I had to find a way out. We both knew our task was decidedly the hardest. Margot and I ran to the gate to see how to get it down that when we saw the sign. The fence was electrocuted. We needed to turn it off. We saw a tower that must be how it is being controlled. Night fell and we knew we were in trouble the guards were back standing post at the gate. That's when I suggested, what if you get in that garbage truck and distract the guards by driving around. I will climb the tower and turn off the power to the fence. Then you need to drive into it to knock it down. We both knew it was a crazy idea but it was the only idea we had so we went with it. Margot got the truck and started to drive the guards were instantly alerted and got into their cars to chase her. That's when I climbed the tower once I was up it looked simple all I had to do was pull a lever. It was my mistake to assume it would be easy. I was caught a guard found me I tried to fight him. I thought to myself well I fucked. That's when I grabbed a pipe that was in the tower and I hit him over the head and pushed him out of the tower. I was in shock at what I had just done but I had no time to waste I turned off the power and Margot drove straight through the fence and circled back I climbed down from the tower and jumped onto the truck once I was in the passengers seat me and Margot couldn't believe what happened it was like something from a movie. We drove back to margot's house and met up with eh team everyone had completed their tasks. Now we just had to drive out of town. We all got back into the car and drove. We drove so fast until we were far away. We finally got to the lake and sat in the same spot as before we all had a million questions in our heads would we see our families again? Would we be able to return? What would happen if we did return?. I broke the silence and said what now. We all agreed that we would stay here for a few days then we would get back on the road and drive to try to find somewhere new to live. That night as I was in my sleeping bag I thought to myself, I was amazed how a simple summer road trip had brought me new found friends and had turned into the greatest and worse adventure of my life or so I thought.