Jack stood at the window with his phone to his ear, staring out at the decrepit motel parking lot before him. The asphalt was so broken up it was a year away from being gravel. Yellowed weeds had made a home around the edges of the largest sections that were left intact.

This musty road side motel had been his brother Bryan and his home for three days now.

“We’ll be ok mom!” Jack exclaimed, for what felt like the hundredth time. “Yes, we have plenty of food. We have bottles of water just in case too, but we’re not going to need them. We have been keeping tabs on the news all day and they say there is no chance of it hitting earth.” Jack leaned his head forward against the window, tapping his toe against the wall in anxiety. “My battery is about to die though, I have got to go... Okay mom, love you too. Bryan too.” Hanging up the phone, Jack let out a long sigh and looked over to his brother Bryan.

Bryan was lounging on one of the two stiff as a board twin beds with an amused look on his face, happy it wasn't him fielding calls from their parents.

Jack had saved up for a long time to make this trip happen. But having never done anything like this before, he hadn’t counted on a few things.

Like that all the hotels in LA had either been booked or way out of his price range when he had tried to book one only two weeks before the trip.

Furious with himself having not planned ahead properly, he booked the cheapest motel he could find that wasn't somewhere they were in danger of being shot. The result of which is where they sat now.

The closest to LA he could get was almost 2 hours out of the city, all the way in the city of Wittier. It was a dingy, somehow damp room.

The only light in the room rested in-between the beds on a cigarette burn stained nightstand that really needed replacing. The walls where a smoke stained wallpaper that might have at one point been white but now was an aged yellow with strips of wallpaper pulling up in the corners. Under the window the air conditioner looked older then Jack, with mold spreading out from its edges that lent even more must to the smoky stench of the room.

Despite the disrepair, Bryan had made himself at home.

“I don’t even know why I let mom and dad talk me into this stupid trip!” said Bryan, sitting up on his elbows to look strait at Jack. This argument had been going on for days now and was only interrupted by the phone call from their parents. “Of all the times to leave home, you chose now. Good job Genius!”

Jack hated it when his brother called him that, it never meant what its intended to. Jack had always felt like the screw up of the family, always clumsy and accident prone. He had a streak of bad luck that at times was just inconceivable. And his brother never let him forget it.

“We are going to be fine” Jack retorted with frustration clearly showing in his voice. Jack moved to the empty bed and plopped down on top of the grubby blanket the hotel supplied.

Laying his head down on a pillow he brought from home, he tried to relax.

He took time to reflect, thinking back on the events of the day, never having expected anything like this would ever happen.

The last three days, Jack had been in absolute heaven spending all day at the convention center.

Jack had been planning and saving for so long, it was extremely gratifying for him to have it have paid off.

The struggle to complete what his parents had set for him had been a serious list of conditions that at times Jack thought were unfair.

But after finally making the trip, to Jack, it was worth it.

GameCon is the largest collection of new and upcoming games in the world, where thousands upon thousands of people come every year to see the latest and greatest games and technology. Jack had always been a fan of all video games, anything sci-fi and his ultimate favorite was fantasy books

The only drag on the entire trip was been his brother Bryan’s chaperoning, Jacks least favorite loop his parents had set for him.

Bryan was the total opposite of Jack. While Jack was into video games, reading and school work, Bryan was the golden boy of the family. He was a state champion in wrestling and football, while only doing enough school work to barely get by. Now he is two years into college, attending Kansas State for the football program, he was the pride and joy of his parents.

Little did they know how much he had gone wild since hitting the campus. They knew nothing of him joining a fraternity and partying all the time, class work and even sports had fallen quite far in his priorities.

Jack and Bryan had never gotten along well. Seeing as they didn’t have much in common at all, they always where butting heads. Their shouting matches and brawls where legendary in their neighborhood growing up. They were always coming home with black eyes and skinned elbows and knees. Their parents didn’t know what to do with them but luckily Bryan went to college before it escalated too far.

Jack was glad they at least some what had been getting along on the trip. Sarcasm aside of course.

Even Jack's reminiscing and thoughts couldn't keep him from turning his head to stare out at the increasingly green sky.

That was the other major excitement of the trip.

A meteor the size of Texas had snuck up on scientists coming from the far side of the sun. It came over the top of the sun and was currently hurtling towards earth.

Having appeared just before the brothers flight to LA, the meteor was traveling so fast that in the three days that had passed, it was already making its approach to earth.

The scientists said that it would pass close to the planet, even in-between the moon and earth but all studies say that it will pass by the earth at a safe distance. The public had seemed rather subdued for such a major event, seeming to blindly accept the words of broadcasters.

Even parties had sprung up for the event all over the world!

But Jack and Bryan where still underage to get in the clubs and bars, so they stayed in their dank hotel room and were resting up for their trip home the next day.

Jack silently hoped that the scientists were right. The fact that they didn't catch it until it was already over the sun didn't leave him with much faith in the matter though.

Bryan was laying back on the bed flipping through the channels on TV, glancing out the window from time to time just to take in the green. It's not every day the sky turns almost neon green.

He watched as a family with binoculars walked by the window and across the parking lot to their minivan. With a look of frustration that slowly turned to elation, Bryan had come to a decision on how he could finally get something he wanted to do done on this trip.

“Let’s go see it” he breathed. It seemed like he even surprised himself.

Jacks ears perked up and just blinked a few times astounded by what he had just heard. “You can’t be serious?”

“Hell yea I am, if this meteor thing is coming and could kill us all, I want to see it.”

“It’s not going to kill anyone, it’s not going to hit earth.” Jack dejectedly sighed.

“Whatever, I just spent three days going to this stupid conference of yours, we’re going.” Bryan sprang from bed committed to this new idea. He looked around at the room that was now covered with their belongings that seemed to have spread everywhere in only three days. Shaking his head, he headed to the bathroom.

Jack did some head shaking of his own, thinking his brother was crazy.

It’s not that that he didn’t want to see it, he really did actually. He was just afraid of what it would be like out in the city. They didn’t even know where to go, not being familiar with the area at all. Sure, people seemed to be taking this disturbing news pretty well, there wasn’t panic or rioting going on. None the less, earlier today at the convention there was definitely a subtle uneasy feeling in the air that felt like everyone knew something was off.

Jack was mentally digging in on his opinion to stay at the motel the more he thought of it, and now he had to try to convince his brother.

“What about our flight tomorrow? We have to be at the airport at 5am!” Jack called to his brother in the bathroom as he sat up in the bed.

“So we will pack tonight and even pack the car. That way we won’t have to worry about it in the morning and can catch up on some extra sleep in the terminal.” Bryan explained.

Jack thought on it a moment, his curiosity was starting to get the best of him. But his logic just wouldn’t let him go. “We have a full day of traveling tomorrow, it’s already seven o’clock. What if we get back and sleep through our flight?” he argued.

Bryan walked out of the bathroom with a look on his face that bordered on angry and annoyed. “I can’t even piss in peace.” He muttered and started walking around the room picking up his things with a little more force than he would have liked, starting to let his temper show through.

“So we just stay up all night, is that too much for the little baby?” Bryan teased with a smirk, talking to jack like he was 2. “Besides, like you said we have a day of traveling tomorrow we can just sleep on the plane. I don’t care what you say, we’re going.”

Bryan was a master at that, turning Jacks argument back on himself.

Giving up, Jack sat up the rest of the way and swung his legs over the side of the bed. As much as he really wanted to go, he couldn’t let his brother know he won. “Alright fine.” Trying his best to sound dejected.

He slowly stood and stretched. His legs and back where sore from all the walking around they had been doing the past few days. Walking the short distance of the room to the dresser under the TV at the foot of his bed, he started gathering his belongings.

Jack tossed his backpack onto his bed next to his duffel and started sorting through it. Over the past three days he had accrued a bunch of junk from the conference. Some of which he wasn’t too keen on bringing through security at the airport. Jack took all the fliers and handouts he had received out and dumped them in his duffle bag. Most people would throw them out, but Jack actually reads them. He’ll get to them eventually. Next he comes across some tech gadgets he bought. These he wanted to keep with him, not trusting that they would still be in his bag when he got home in New York. Then came the assorted snacks and drinks that he had brought with him from home. A slew of chips, granola bars, a large bag of trail mix and four water bottles. Jack takes all of it and reorganizes it as best he can to make sure nothing gets crushed.

Lastly he came across his new favorite possession.

The knife was just over a foot long from tip to pommel. It was a deadly looking eight inch blade that resembled a lick of fire sprouting from a black steel cross piece. The handle was wrapped in a red dyed leather that came down to the black steel pommel tipped with a single talon shaped spike. He had found it in a corner of the conference at a vendor booth. It was a particularly good find since it was razor sharp.

As a rule at the conference no actual edged weapons were supposed to be sold.

To Jacks luck, the local vendor had accidently packed it for the show not realizing it had been sharpened. Or so he had said...

Jack started to remove it and its sheath from the bottom of his bag. . But as he does, he gets a strange feeling in the bottom of his stomach and decided to leave it. Better safe than sorry, he thought to himself.

With a last thought he grabs a sweatshirt from his bag and toss’s it in and closes the bag.

“You ready to go Bryan?” asked Jack as he started his check to make sure he had not forgotten anything.

“Almost, just a few more things” Bryan says.

While jack had been busy with his backpack, Bryan had been picking up his disaster strewn side of the room.

He always was the messy one when it came to traveling. But by now most of it was stuffed into his own duffel and he was doing his own check to make sure he had everything. “Just one more thing.” Bryan crossed the room to the bathroom with a mischievous grin on his face. Jack immediately knew just what he was doing.

“Do you really need all that stuff?” Jack calls, sighing, as his brother ransacks the bathroom for any and all things he can find to take with him.

“No, but that’s not the point. It’s free, so why not take it?” Just as he finishes, he comes around the corner with an armful of soap and shampoo.

Bryan makes it to his bags and starts piling it in, Jack notices he is even taking the wash cloths. “Okay now we can go.” He states with a grin.

Jack and Bryan pick up their bags and make for their tiny rental car. Neither of them like the little eco box as Bryan calls it. With four doors and only about enough space inside for three people. It was functional but cheap, just like their motel room.

They both dropped their bags in the trunk, with those alone it was pretty much full.

Jack made for the passenger door and had to throw some trash in the back so he can actually have some foot room to speak of.

Bryan slammed the trunk shut, excitedly rushing around the car, opening the driver’s side door and throws his backpack to Jack. “Ow, hey. Come on now.”

Bryan just laughs and starts to get in, but stops with a look of stupidity on his face with one leg already in the car. The realization hits him that he has no idea where to go. “Ah man, wait here, I’m going to go ask the reception person for directions to a place to go.”

Rolling his eyes Jack yells “Now who’s the genius?” Which gets him a stiff glare from Bryan as he turns to go to the front office.

Leaning the seat back, Jack lets a smile creep on his face for getting one back on him finally.