Muffin laid back into Nadwe's bean bag, petting Milli's fur. The cat was curled on his stomach, mewing quietly in her sleep. Nadwe sighed, waiting for the Minecraft world to load. When his character spawned in, Nadwe didn't move. Instead, he stared blankly into the screen, thinking.

/That wasn't real... There's no way that was real! I'm dreaming! I have to be dreaming!/ he thought.

/But then why can't I wake up? I tried- I'm still trying! And Muffin! He's real... I think.../ the other half of his brain argued.

/Can I just not think about this right now?/

/No. There has to be an explanation. And what even was that thing?/

Nadwe growled in frustration and grabbed his phone out of his pocket, checking messages. 

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_|.-/¯|STINKY BUDS|¯\-.|_

[TBH | 9:48]
-| U guys seen this shit or just
   me-
-| (1 Image attached)
-| *seeing

[MemeGod | 9:49]
-| Tb im in india
-| Ur in ohio
-| -_-

[Blaza | 9:50]
-| WTF is that?

[TBH | 9:51]
-| ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Nadwe | 9:52]
Wat are yall talkin about? |-

[Dino | 9:53]
-| Teh lizard thingy-
-| *the

[Woolf | 9:53]
-| Furry

[Dino | 9:55]
-| First off, I'm not the furry, you are.
   Second off, that's not what I was
   talking about. Third off, Nadwe,
   don't you have school?

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Nadwe blinked and held back a laugh as stared at the screen, contemplating what to type. He glanced over at Muffin, who'd also pulled his phone out. His notifications were buzzing like mad.

"Sorry," Nadwe said.

Muffin nodded his acknowledgment. Nadwe turned back to his phone and proceeded to click and analyze the image. A lizard head stuck out of a what looked like a purple-ish mech suit. Underneath some of the plates of metal was some type of light source. It had the same silhouette as the figure Nadwe had seen at the school.

The mech-suited lizard was standing beneath a highway ramp, but the lighting made the creature much easier to see than the one that'd been at the school. Nadwe glance nervously back at Muffin, who was staring at him.

"That's the thing, isn't it?" Muffin whispered.

Nadwe didn't respond, turning back to his phone with the blue light of the screen and fear shining in his eyes.

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_|.-/¯|STINKY BUDS|¯\-.|_

[Socks | 9:56]
-| R u skipiing classes child?

[Blaza | 9:56]
-| o-O

[Nadwe | 9:57]
No |-
School let out early |-
Tb wear did U get that image? |-

[TBH | 9:58]
-| I took a photo wile i was driving
   this morning
-| Y? Wats up?

[Woolf | 9:58]
-| Nadwe u arent even thru half
   the school day
-| Is Muffin out to?

[Muffin | 9:59]
-| A thing came up
-| A wierd thing- they had to
   sned us home
-| Ya no wut i mean?

[Memegod | 9:59]
-| Nope :]

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A crash sounded outside the house. Nadwe's head snapped around and Muffin stood, looking out the window. Nadwe joined him by the glass, his eyes wide. Two of the lizard-mech-things stood outside, breaking down the door of the house across the street. 

The house to the right had already been broken into. Nadwe felt Muffin grab his shoulder and start shaking it.

"We need to get out of here-" Muffin started.

The sound of someone kicking at the door came up the stairs and both boys froze. Then a blast from what ever gun the creatures had was heard, along with the crackling of wood from the front door.

Nadwe grabbed Muffin's hand and ran to his parents' room, as it was faced towards the backyard and would take longer to get to if the lizards were coming from the front. He closed the door, locking it, and slid open the window.

"Come on, let go," he said, pushing Muffin ahead of him.

There was an overhang for the patio below, which wouldn't be too far of a drop for the duo. Muffin shimmied out the window, dropping down carefully, and Nadwe followed right after. A forest stood beyond Nadwe's backyard, and without hesitation, the two friends ran into it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nadwe! We need to get my parents- EEP!" Muffin yelped as his friend gripped his wrist tighter.

"What we need to do is LEAVE! I'm not dying today!" Nadwe argued.

They continued to run a bit longer before Muffin spoke again.

"... Nadwe if these things are doing shit here, TBH needs to know so he can, ya know, skedaddle," Muffin warned.

Nadwe tensed. /I didn't even think of that! God, okay-/

Nadwe continued running but let go of Muffin's arm to fish his phone out of his pocket. He grabbed it out, slowing his pace momentarily to read.

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_|.-/¯|STINKY BUDS|¯\-.|_

[Joocie | 10:01]
-| Well, Nad, if you're open, do you
   want to record? I have a new mod
   for Minecraft manhunt

[Socks | 10:02]
-| I'll play!

[Blaza | 10:02]
-| Same! :D

[Joocie | 10:03]
-| Tb, how about you? You joining
   in?

[Blaza | 10:07]
-| Tb, u good? It wood at least B
   nice two respond  :|

[Nadwe | 10:08]
Tb if u r alive plz respond |-

[Memegod | 10:08]
-| XD

[Nadwe | 10:09]
No fr |-
Me and Muffin r in the middel of |-
some crazy shit rn   
Im a bit woried, Bcuz were kinda |-
dying a bit   

[Woolf | 10:10]
-| Very funny Nad

[Blaza | 10:10]
-| ._.

[Socks | 10:11]
-| K tbh ur scaring me now XD
-| ...

[Blaza | 10:14]
-| Dude r u trolling? O-O||

[TBH | 10:16]
-| THEIRS A BUNCHA TEH LIZARD
   THINGYS
-| OUTSIDE
-| DUDE WTF
-| NAH IM OUT

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Nadwe could feel his heart beat speed up. An explosion was heard in the distance and it turned his blood cold. 

"Nadwe... We live over a thousand miles away from TBH..." Muffin suddenly said. He must've been reading over Nadwe's shoulder.

Nadwe glance over at his friend, speeding his pace back up to a run. "And?"

"Nadwe, if they're that far away, how many states are they in?"

Nadwe suddenly halted, his eyes widened. Muffin collided with him and the two toppled to the ground. A thought flashed through Nadwe's brain.

/Are we getting invaded?!/

Of course they were! What kind of stupid question was that?

Another explosion was heard, this time closer. Muffin screamed and stood, running faster than before. Nadwe quickly followed. He was tempted to call to Muffin so he would stop and Nadwe could catch up, but was too scared to manage any words. 

Suddenly, Nadwe's foot caught on the edge of a rock, and he toppled to the floor once more. Then the meltdown started. Instead of standing, Nadwe crumpled into a ball and let out a few confused, scared tears. 

/I'm going to die. My friends are going to die. Everybody is going to die. There is fucking lizards with mech suits and they're exploding things and we're all so fucking dead. Muffin's leaving me. I'm going to be killed alone in the middle of a forrest away from everyone. I'm never gonna get to build that tree house me and Muffin dreamed of. I'll never meet my friends at VidCon. I'm dead. I'm going to be dead/

Someone- probably Muffin- poked Nadwe in the side and then dragged him up from the floor.

"Nad, chill," Muffin whispered, his voice shaking.

"..."

"J- just... Come on..."

Muffin dragged Nadwe further into the forest, letting his friend lean on him. Muffin was whispering quietly to Nadwe in a somewhat comforting way, but Nadwe continued to cry.

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The duo now sat by a small, poorly made fire, Nadwe being scrunched into a small ball and Muffin sitting next to him. The child stared gloomily over his knees into the flames.

"I don't wanna die," he whispered.

"N- nobody said we were dying, N- Nad," Muffin tried, rubbing Nadwe's back.

Nadwe just sighed. Then, a sudden idea cut through his thoughts.

/... I can't be the only that feels like this.../

Nadwe slid his phone- which now had a huge crack in the corner- out of his pocket and opened up messages to the SockSquad group chat. He didn't read through all of the texts, but they were spaced out and seemed pretty panicked. Nadwe also noticed that he hadn't received any texts from his parents.

/Typical.../

It'd been a few hours since fleeing from the house, and everybody seemed to be in a similar situation as Nadwe... Which meant that not only were the lizards in the U.S., but they were also across the sea in the U.K. and Netherlands. Well, those places at the very least.

It was likely that the rest of the world had the same lizard problem. Nadwe sighed. Then, a look of determination spread over his face.

/I'm gonna get to you guys. Socks, Meme, Blaza. All of you. I'll find you. You don't have to be alone/

Muffin gave Nadwe a worried look, probably because of his sudden change of expression. "A- are you okay?"

Nadwe nodded. "Yeah... I- I have a plan... A stupid plan..."

Muffin smiled. "I like stupid. It's fun, and funny!"

"... Well, then, first we gotta tell the others."

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Okay so this chapter is kind of rushed, but at least it's done! Anyways, in this AU (along with basically all the other ones I have-) child is really emotional, and has monophobia (the fear of being isolated, lonely, or alone). In this case, he's the selfless, take care of everybody before me, but still keep myself safe kind of guy. He is okay with being alone, but it can really get to him when he doesn't know how the people he cares about are doing, and when he feels like nobody cares about him. Friends are important, even if they're halfway across the planet. Friends equal family. And Nadwe's going to do everything he can to keep his family safe. (Word count: 1512)