~Felix

"So, what's the plan?" I clapped my hands together to get everyone's attention. Jack, Ken, Bob, Wade, Mark, and I had just finished eating breakfast downstairs and decided to gather in my room again to make a plan for the day. Mark had on a black t-shirt with his logo in red with his vibrant red hair combed to the side, Bob had a dark blue button up shirt, Wade had on a long sleeve light gray shirt, and Jack had on a blue hoodie with his slightly faded green hair neatly brushed out of his pale blue eyes. All of them were also wearing navy blue jeans.  "We could record something." Wade shrugged. I was about to agree with him when my t.v flipped on by itself. President Obama's voice filled the empty silence that had taken over the room. "And without further ado, let Freedom reign!" Obama announced, then the t.v turned back off again like nothing had happened. "Uh, okay?" Bob eyed the t.v suspiciously. From the hallway, I heard doors swing open, then slam shut, and people screaming at the top of their lungs. "What the he-" Jack began to say, but before he could finish his sentence, a guy with a .42 pistol broke the door down with a loud bang. "Get down and put your hands in the air!" The guy ordered. Wordlessly, I complied and moved slowly from where I was sitting on the edge of my bed to my knees on the carpet next to Wade and raised my hands in surrender. "Now don't move." He clicked the safety off and pointed the barrel of the pistol at Mark's heart. "Give me all your money or I kill you all one by one." He threatened. "Why should we listen to a douchebag like ye?" Jack scoffed without a trace of fear from where he was on his knees by Bob and Mark. The barrel of the pistol instantly swiveled from Mark's heart to Jack's forehead at the sound of Jack's voice. "Jack." I hissed, hoping the Irishman would back off. "Don't believe me huh?" The guy smirked, then fired a bullet into Jack's right shoulder. Jack yelled in pain, his body collapsing to the floor with a thud. Blood leaked from the hole in Jack's hoodie and onto the carpet. "Get up!" The man snarled, kicking Jack hard in the ribs. Jack grimaced as he sat up and whispered "Go to hell." "Alright, you asked for it!" The guy aimed the gun at Jack's chest, then pulled the trigger. To my relief, no bullet was fired. The guy muttered curse words as he fumbled to reload the gun. Mark and Ken took it as an opportunity to tackle him to the ground, knock him out, then steal his weapon. "Jack?" Wade lightly nudged his not bleeding shoulder. Jack was unconscious, but his heart was still beating and his breathing was coming in ragged breaths. "We need to go." Bob reminded us as Wade scooped Jack up and carried him out the door.

~Ken

       "Mark, watch your six!" I shouted as loud as I could over the sounds of people screaming wildly and explosions from nearby vehicles occurring around me. Mark fluidly swung around on his heel and punched a burly guy in the stomach before the guy could shoot him in the back of the head with a shotgun. Everything had gone so chaotically wrong at a surprising rate. And all it took was one announcement, I thought bitterly as I ran over to where Jack, Bob, Wade and Felix were crouching behind an overturned semi truck that was blocking most of the road. "Can you tell me what the hell is going on?!?" Jack yelled to me in confusion as his eyes flew open at the sound of the people screaming. His hand was held tightly over the bullet wound in his shoulder. He winced whenever a nearby clothes store went up in flames, sending wisps of smoke spiraling into the air. "Out of all of the days in the year, the president chooses this one." I growled under my breath. Mark jogged over to us, his red hair matted to his forehead with sweat. "We should raid some stores and try to find supplies." Bob suggested. "Lets go to Walmart first, it's a little further down the street!" I vaulted over the semi we were hiding behind, followed closely by Wade, Felix, Bob, then Mark who had to help Jack walk around it. "Seriously, what is happening?!?" Jack panted. "Welcome to your first Freedom day." I barely heard Mark reply as he helped Jack speed up so he could catch up with the rest of the group. I skidded to a halt a few feet shy of reaching the doors. The large pumpkin colored roof loomed over our heads, covering our shadows. Two muscular guys with black ski masks were already there, one was pouring lighter fluid and gasoline all over the dull red brick walls and the other had a rifle slung over his shoulder, watching the streets,  apparently not closely enought. "Hey!" Mark led Jack over to Wade, tapped the man with the gun on the arm, then punched him hard in the face while he was distracted. The guy reeled back, dazed from the blow. The other guy noticed Mark and charged towards him. I intervened by pushing Mark out of the way and tripping the guy by sticking my foot out in front of him. He stumbled and fell on his knees to the road. "I'll go get supplies, I'm the fastest!" Mark offered. I opened my mouth to protest, but before I could say a word, he had already dissaperared through the automatic doors. I glanced over at Wade and Felix, each of them were battling the guys on their own. Bob and Jack were keeping their distance since Bob couldn't fight and watch over Jack at the same time. I hit the guy that was attacking Felix first, knocking him out, then I turned to help Wade, who was pinned in a corner by the gasoline and flame thrower. On Wade's face, I could see pure terror and determination flicker in his normally humor sparked dark brown eyes. "Wade-" I started to warn him about the flame thrower, but before I could finish my sentence, the guy that was attacking him had picked up the flame thrower and he sent blue and orange flames in his direction. He narrowly dodged out of the way by ducking. Thankfully, he didnt get burned, although I could've swore that the top of his head got slightly singed. Instead of Wade getting caught on fire, the gasoline and lighter fluid soaked wall behind him did. The fire started slowly, then gradually grew bigger and bigger as the seconds passed by. "Jack, what are you doing?!?" I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw the green haired Irishman tear away from Bob, then run past me and through the doors just before the fire spread across them, separating Mark and Jack from Felix, Bob, Wade and I. Soon after, the doors exploded in a shower of glass. I threw myself down onto the concrete sidewalk, dragging Bob, Felix and Wade down with me to avoid the razor sharp pieces of glass that were flying towards us. "You okay?" I gently put a hand on Felix's shoulder as I helped him up. "Y-yeah, I'm good." He stammered. "Bob, Wade?" I inquired. "Fine." Bob flashed me a thumbs up as he pushed himself off of the ground. "All good." Wade huffed. "But what about Mark and Jack?" Bob gestured over at the flaming building. I could see concern for his friends shimmer in his light brown eyes. "Just pray that they find a way out." I sighed. I couldn't risk getting anyone else hurt. From behind me, I saw the two guys wake up, then start running like maniacs out of the parking lot. "Morons." Bob yelled at their retreating forms, then smiled smugly.

~Jack

     "Mark?" I shouted as loudly as I could. All I got in response was the sound of the flames crackling as they continued to grow and the crashing of pieces of the building falling off. I took a deep breath, ignoring the smoke that entered my lungs, and ran off towards where I thought the food aisle might be, assuming that's probably where he'd go first. Pain was searing in my shoulder, lungs, and ribs, but I forced myself to continue. After a tense few minutes, I found Mark with his arms filled with various supplies in the canned food area. "Here." Mark thrusted two 24 packs of water bottles into my arms. My shoulder screamed in protest as I staggered at the sudden weight. "Let's go." Mark then dashed off further towards the back of the store. I rolled my eyes, then chased after him as fast as I could, the cases of water slowing me down. From overhead, I heard the support beams creak. "Mark-" I started to caution him, but before I could say or do anything else, the flaming ceiling began collapsing in towards us. "Mark?" My voice went up an octave higher in fear. "Find cover!" He commanded, then knocked a shelf over, sending packaged cookies flying, and crawled underneath the shelf. I followed his example and shoved the water cases under with me as well. I felt the bits of debris fall on the shelf, and the shelf even dented in some, but thankfully nothing hit me. After a few moments, I rolled out from underneath the shelf and helped Mark up to his feet before grabbing the cases of water. All around me, burning wooden beams were scattered everywhere. "I have a plan, but it's crazy." Mark informed me. "Anything right now would sound normal." I sighed in exhaustion. "You see those beams?" Mark pointed over at a group of beams that weren't on fire yet. "They lead up to what's left of the roof." I realized. "What do we do from there?" I queried. "Haven't planned that far ahead. Do you trust me?" Mark extended his hand for me to grab. Without hesitation, I set down the water, then took his hand and let him drag me with him to the beams. I turned back around, retrieved the water, then nervously waited for Mark to move forward. "Don't look down!" Mark reminded me once we started walking on the first beam. I couldn't help but look down at the chaos beneath me. Bad idea, I thought, immediately regretting the decision. The entire ground was encompassed in blue flames, blocking out the view of the concrete floor. "You're doing great!" Mark encouraged me once we got on the second beam. Under my feet, I could feel the heat of the flames beneath the beams. "Just think of it like a balance beam." I whispered shakily to myself. The beam bent under my weight. "Maybe an old one." I added. "Last one!" Mark shouted once we reached the third and final beam. Suddenly I heard the snap of wood. When I glanced behind me I saw that the fire had reached all of the beams, including the one Mark and I were on. Abruptly, the beam we were walking across burst into flames. The bottom of my shoes grew increasingly hot. "Go go go!" Mark urged me. I sprinted as quickly as I could without falling off, which wasn't very fast. Mark was almost there to the roof when the beam broke in half, sending Mark plummeting down towards the fiery depths below. His right hand shot up and snagged onto the flaming border of the wall. He grabbed the edge with his other hand and tried to pull himself up, but he couldn't since he still had some supplies tucked in his arms. His fingers gradually started to turn black from being burnt. "Jack!" Mark cried. All of the supplies that he was carrying fell down to the fiery floor below. I dropped the cases of water and darted over to his side, then grabbed his hands right before he let go. I pulled as hard as I could, but my feet were still gradually sliding towards the brink, melting the rubber soles of my shoes. Mark tried to use his feet to scale the wall, but the wall was too weak to support him and crumbled, leaving him dangling helplessly in my arms. "Let me go." Mark ordered me tearfully. "I can't take you down with me. "No, no no no." I chanted as I gritted my teeth in concentration and tried to pull harder without any luck. My feet were almost entirely off the border. I could feel Mark's sweaty hands slipping from my grasp. With a sudden burst of strength, I managed to heave Mark up to what remained of the roof, which was only the thin top of the walls. Mark and I snatched up a case of water before the part of the building it was sitting on crumbled. The water was boiling, but other than that, the cases seemed fine. "Mark, Jack!" Bob waved excitedly at us. "Um, how do we get down?" I furrowed my eyebrows in thought. Abruptly, the entire building began collapsing in on itself. "Hold on to something!" I told Mark as entire building began to sink to the ground. "Jump now!" I ordered Mark once we were a foot off of the ground. I held the water close to my chest as I leapt from the wall with Mark by my side. We both stumbled as our feet made contact with the ground in front of our friends, stupid grins plastered on both of our faces as we dropped the water down at their feet. All of us burst out laughing until we were out of breath. "I can't believe I'm still alive!" Mark exclaimed in amazement. "Oh man, that was insane!" I gasped. Once we had regained our breath, we all stood around, unsure of what to do next. "Now can some explain what's happening?" I inquired the group. The smile on Ken's face instantly faded into a serious frown as he took a deep breath before explaining. "Since I was very little, once every few years, the president would have a day where the rules didn't matter and everyone could do whatever. It's called Freedom, since we have zero laws or rules of any kind." "Explains the crazy guy." I mumbled. "That's basically the gist of it." Ken finished. "Kinda funny that it happens to land on a Friday." Felix mused, trying to lighten the mood. "So, we have to survive 24 hours of this kinda shit?" I groaned in annoyance, ignoring Felix's comment. I reached into my ash and blood covered hoodie pocket for my phone to check the time, but then I remembered that I left it back in my room on the charger. "It was around eight-thirty when Obama said the announcement, and it's," Mark paused to look at the time on his phone that he had in his jean pocket. The screen was cracked slightly in the upper left hand corner and the silver back was coated in dust and ash. "Nine." Mark informed us. I frowned in contemplation, hoping someone would come up with a plan for our next move. "We could....find shelter?" Wade advised uncertainly. "Or ye know, we could stop me from bleeding. That'd be nice." I mentioned sarcastically as I put pressure on the still bleeding bullet wound. "Right, sorry." Wade apologized meekly. "Uh, anyone know how to take a bullet out of someone?" I asked the group. All of them looked confused. I sat down cross legged on the ground, muttering curse words as I used my fingers to find the bullet and water to rinse the wound. "Ow!" I shouted in pain as I finally found the bullet and pulled it out. A wave if dizziness crashed over me, but I didn't pass out. Mark ripped the sleeves off of his black t-shirt and used them to make a crude bandage around my shoulder after he removed my hoodie and peeled my blood soaked white pj shirt off. A cold breeze swept across my bare chest, making me shiver. "We'll find you a shirt before we go find shelter." Ken promised me with a wry grin. I nodded in appreciation with a small smile as we set off towards the north of the abandoned parking lot. "The septiplier fans would go crazy if they saw us now." I chuckled.