Our Gray World

Chapter 7

The landing

I somehow managed to land without hurting any of us in the process apart from the few bruises and scratches that came with the turbulence.
I'd found a place where the water was deep enough to submerge the entire vehicle so that it wouldn't be found later. Just before landing I took out the boat, and took all the food from the spaceship and put it in the backpacks we had.
Just before the ship completely sank I made Alessia and Zach sit on the boat and waded out and sat down myself. The first ray of sunlight hit me like a brick in the face. After being cooped up for so long, being outside was no less than heaven.

We row our way to the shore. We wear our oxygen masks and I check my satellite phone to see how far we were from the place my friend lived. Ever since people had known what Earth had be going through, they had started creating apps for navigation on other planets like Nedroj and Zarnia. I downloaded them when my sister forced me to. Now I'm grateful to her.

"Where will we be going?" asks Alessia.
"To my family" I say.
"Where are they?"
"I can't really say but we have to find them. They came here before me"
"Why didn't you go with them?" Zack asks.
I pause, contemplating my answer, "I wanted to keep trying," I say and keep going, not before holding their hands.

I search for 'The Life Project: 5" on  my phone. Luckily, it wasn't that far. It was a walking distance from the place we was at. It was 12 kilometers far, but I knew we could get there in 4 hours so we started right away.

Alessia, Zach and I keep walking for what seems like decades. We hide when there is security around and we start walking again. Soon, after a little over 4 hours we find the buildings for "The Live Project: 5", the place where my friends and family were staying. I pause, my hand hovering over the door. I didn't know what to expect.
I knock on the door and wait. My mom opens it and greets us with a smile I hadn't seen in so long.

  "Who are you?" she asks.

I almost burst into tears on the spot. I had always wondered if she made it alive and if I would ever get to see her again. And now here she was, standing in front of me.

I hug her tightly. She hugs me back, because that's just how nice my mom was, but I could tell she was confused. She repeats again "There, there sweetheart, Who are you? What happened?"

I take off my mask. "Mom, it's me, Zyla"

Her eyes widen and she hugs me again. She takes me inside the house. Alessia and Zach follow me confused.

There they were, everyone in front of my eyes, mom, dad, Ash, Maria. They all greeted me with shock, tears and hugs. We all catch up on things for a while.

"Who are these children though?" Maria asks, looking at Alessia and Zach.

"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce them." I say, looking at the two " This is Alessia and this is Zach, I found both of them in the earthquake which forced everyone to evacuate "

"Hello" say the both of them.
"Do you two want to eat something? We have some fruits in the fridge"
"Yes please" Zach says.
"Would you like some water too?"
"Yes I would!"
Maria passes them the fruits that were on the table. "Here you go!" she says.
"Thank you" and they gobble them up hungrily. I sit there watching them for once...calm. A feeling I seemed to have forgotten.

Hopefully, we'd be able to live a better life now..
If only I knew what was coming...