The last file finished saving and I pulled the drive from my laptop, already thinking of my next move as I slipped it into my pocket. It settled lightly against my thigh, but to me it felt like it carried the weight of the world.

I double checked the icons on my screen. 8:42 am. No available network connections. The internet was still down, and I had barely three hours to get everything uploaded if I were to finally triumph over my longtime rival.

The annual Mega Online Book Review Contest would end at noon today, and unless I found someplace with a working internet connection fast… I’d lose everything I’d fought so hard for. Again.

Three years in a row, Buqlovr9 had taken the coveted Top Reviewer star, and this time I was determined to beat his smug smiling face, no matter the cost. I’d cashed in all my vacation time and isolated myself completely for the past week, doing nothing but reading and composing reviews.

Before I started my weeklong reading binge Buqlovr9 had already posted four more reviews than me.

I couldn’t let that stand. I refused to come in second place again.

But this year, I had a plan. I would only post half the reviews I wrote each day to lull Buqlovr9 into a false sense of security. Then, at the eleventh hour… I would strike with my full power!

But… curse the fates, now that the time came to post my deluge and finally, finally triumph… the internet still hadn’t been repaired at my house.

My mind raced with potential options as I hastily threw on clean-ish clothes and grabbed my car keys. There had to be someplace.

The library? Thirty minutes away, full of students, and a slow network. There was no guarantee I could upload all forty reviews before a librarian kicked me out to make room for someone else. I needed someplace with a faster connection and no time limit.

A cafe? Maybe. I didn’t like trusting an unsecured connection with my precious laptop, but for something this important, I could make an exception. I unplugged the laptop and jammed it into its bag, stuffing the cord in and throwing the bag over my shoulder.

One other option. My office at work. It was a twelve minute drive from my house, if I rushed, and I knew our network was top speed. Sure, it wasn’t work-related activity per se, but no one actually monitored our online activity. Even if Ben caught me red handed, he was a pretty tolerant boss all things considered. I might get a reprimand, but nothing too severe.

Worth the risk.

I tossed my laptop on the passenger seat as I started the car and pulled out into the blessedly empty mid-morning streets. Without the usual rush of traffic I made the trip in just under nine minutes. Maybe I should find a way to drive to work an hour late every day, if it meant this little competition for road space.

I typed in the code, ran up the stairs without waiting for the elevator, and burst into my office already worrying that I’d not done quite enough.

Loreen looked up from the desk, eyes brightening when she saw me. “Oh, look who’s survived the magic apocalypse. What brings you here today?”

“Hah. Nice try.” Loreen knew my love for fantasy and never let a day go by without teasing me about it one way or another. “So the magical apocalypse happened, but cars and electricity are still working just fine?” I pretended to play along, but I was really hoping to distract her long enough that she’d roll her chair back to talk and give me the opening I needed to jump on the computer.

“We have a generator. The main power grid is down.”

“And yet here you are, typing up reports like it’s a normal day in the office.”

“I’ve already used my vacation days,” Loreen said, her voice completely serious.

“We don’t get apocalypse leave?” I joked. “Ah, well. Apart from this report, what do you have to get done today?” If she wouldn’t stop of her own account, maybe I could guilt her into leaving to do something else. We shared the computer because neither of us were technically office workers. I used it for inventory and ordering, while she used it for typing up long, dull reports like the one she was currently halfway through.

“Just a lot of reports today. I wasn’t expecting you to be in.”

“I’m not here officially, just wanted to check a couple things before tomorrow.” I needed that computer. How else to distract her? “So, what’s been up while I’ve been gone?” I asked the question as casually as I could. Perhaps getting her gossiping would work?

“Ben got eaten by one of those apcocalypse portal things, so … about what you’d expect.”

I gave the joke an obligatory pity laugh, expecting her to turn to me with that smug grin she always got when she thought she’d said something particularly clever, but she didn’t.

Instead she continued with the joke entirely straight-faced. “Ethan quit and Jarad hasn’t been in for three days, so the internet is still down.”

Only the last part of that sentence really registered. The internet’s down. “Really? Here too?” I leaned closer to the screen and groaned. She was right, the icon for ‘no connections available’ sat in plain sight. “It went out at my house a few days ago—“

“Yeah. That would be when the aliens invaded and half the population disappeared through portals to another world.” There was a bitter tone instead of her usual affability. I thought she’d been okay with my impromptu decision to take a week of vacation time, but the way she was acting it clearly bothered her more than she let on at the time.

“Rough week?” I sighed, wearily. I didn’t have time for a long discussion if I was going to find somewhere else with open wifi in the next few hours, but Loreen and I were close enough I wasn’t going to run off without at least clearing the air a bit.

“You… haven’t heard?”

“See item A: I have been on vacation. Reading. Many many books. I actually read a few about apocalypses, too. I can give you some good recommendations. But right now, I’ve got about three hours left before the deadline, and a whole stack of reviews to submit, so…”

“Yes, it has been a rough week!” Loreen was almost shouting by now, clearly stressed about something. She took a shuddering breath, pulling herself together, then shook her head. “You picked a really crappy week to take off. I’ve been losing my mind here. I’m glad you’re safe, it’s good to have you back. I was worried when you didn’t answer your phone.”

“Oh, I turned it off. Couldn’t afford any distractions.”

“Right, that book contest thing. Did you win?”

I felt the flash drive in my pocket, the weight of potential victory or sure defeat. “Not sure. I haven’t been able to get online. Seriously, though, apart from the apocalypse thing, where is everyone? The main office was empty when I came through.”

Loreen spun to face me. “There is no ‘apart from the apocalypse thing’! There is a literal, magical, apocalypse happening right now, and if you weren’t so wrapped up in your fantasy novels you’d see that!”

“O…kay, I’ll go check with Ben.” Maybe he’d know when the internet would be repaired.

Ben wasn’t in his office. The light was out, the door locked.

I checked the employee calendar in the main office, but no one was marked to be off today except me.

Jarad’s office was empty too, though there was a note on his desk from Kanson, his trainee intern. ‘Trying to fix water line, pls help when u get in’.

Jarad was never late. I pulled out my phone, which was still turned off from my self-imposed isolation. I held the button to turn it back on, then waited impatiently through the bootup sequence.

Several missed calls, but no one important. A flood of texts between my mom and sister in the shared family group chat which I didn’t bother to read. I called Jarad, intending to ask if the internet would be back up this morning or if I should go elsewhere, but it went to voicemail.

I returned to Loreen, poking my head into the office. “You know where Jarad is?”

“No one’s seen him since the portals started appearing. There’s an office pool on whether he’s hiding in that bunker of his, fell through one of the portals, or went off to fight the aliens with—“

“Enough with the stupid apocalypse joke, okay! I don’t have time for it right now. I need to find some way to get online before it’s too late.”

“There is no internet any more!” Loreen screamed, throwing the mouse against the wall, flipping the keyboard into the monitor, and jumping to her feet. “The world is ending and I’m typing this stupid useless report because I don’t know what else to do. Since our boss went missing there’s no one around to clear extra time off and I’ve already used my vacation days and I really need this job! What, do I think that if I pretend hard enough everything will go back to normal? Is that it? Is that why instead of trying to find my missing brother or vanished niece, I’m sitting here as though not losing my job is the most important thing in the world?”

Manic energy exhausted, she abruptly collapsed against me, sobbing into my shoulder.

I’d never seen her break down like this. She’d always been focused, determined, and self-sufficient to an almost intimidating degree. To see this vulnerable, normal side of her was jarring.

Missing brother? Vanished niece? When had this happened? No wonder she was having a mental break, if her brother had run off with… my forehead scrunched up as I tried to place ‘niece’.

“Would that be Erica?”

“Jasmine,” she mumbled, voice muffled by my shirt. “Katrina has Erica with her, Bethel is a complete wreck.”

“I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?” The words weren’t empty. Loreen and I had been working together for eight years. Buqlovr9 could enjoy his stupid star a while longer; if Loreen was in the middle of a family crisis, this was more important.

“I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do. With so many—“

Before she could finish, there was a crackle like breaking ice, then a sizzling hiss, then a portal sliced the office in half, swallowing the desk and office chair whole.

I stared, completely unable to parse what I was seeing even as the portal closed in, like a giant mouth ready to slurp us down.

Loreen looked over her shoulder, hiccuped a weak laugh. “I did tell you there was a magic apocalypse."