Escapade

Chapter 1 (First Draft)

I was daydreaming about the message that the alien guy just sent to us when someone tapped my shoulder.

"Hey."

I turned and found my brother crouching next to me, pushing himself to a sitting position next to me. His wavy blond hair reflected the sunlight and his dark blue eyes were stormy, like the ocean in a thunderstorm. He must be stressed, I mused, being in such a situation now.

"What now?" I continued to feel that oddly sense of calmness, and to me it seemed like this was told to all of us way beforehand and we just accepted it and all that. Didn't seem like something announced to us by outer terrestrial people just five seconds before.

I stared at him, waiting for his reply. He stared back, taking in my features, even though he had been looking at me for the last seventeen years. We didn't look alike, we could have passed for strangers without anyone being suspicious. Sometimes it's useful, sometimes, not so much.

A few seconds passed before he broke eye contact and start speaking again, "I think you should go back."

Go back? Where? Home? In the middle of this mess? I stood up irritatingly, glaring at him, "I can take care of myself."

He imitated me, learning my tone, "You need to tell the others what happened. Nat, seriously, you have to do something."

"Okay I get it, Dylan! I'm going!" And with that note I jumped off the cliff and walked towards our home. Or what used to be our home.

---

Perhaps I wasn't getting the truth until I got up and trekked along the streets. They've destroyed everything. Buildings, houses, network cables, electricity... you name it. Basically they've bought us back to the beginning of the human race and wiped out of our technology. Great. At least they didn't kill anyone—not that I know of, at least.

And suddenly I've arrived back home. Just a couple of chairs and tables here and there. That's all there is left. My mother and father were there, staring at me with shock, as if they don't recognize me.

"Natasha, what happened?" My mother's hands were trembling and her face was pale. I move forward to steady her and briefly explained what happened all the way from the fight to the explosion.

I tried to keep myself poised and from shuddering at my mother's carcass of my skin, my face, everywhere. I didn't like body contact, and I was a little scared that she'd find out about the scars on my wrist. One thing I've learnt from these seventeen years was that you keep your secrets hidden yourself and everyone will treat you normal. If you cry or blubber or even show that tiny bit of depression, you get sent to the social worker for some treatment. Yippee.

My father walked over and took Evelyn (my mother's name, I like to call them by their first name) into his embrace and asked, "Did you see the news yet?"

I had to admit I was a little shock by his words. I didn't know that there was still a television here.

"No, not the tele, there is this huge hologram that projected those muffins and they gave us a message."

Muffins? Bet it meant the alien guys. The situation is getting more than peculiar. Maybe they're here to rescue us, or simply to direct us back to the right path of a society.

I shook my head but before he starts speaking, the hologram was there, waiting for us.

"Greeting again, everyone," this time it's a different person, or muffin speaking, "we're here to inform you that your race to going into the last phrase, and those who want to survive are required live in the only remaining city on Earth for three months. That's all. However, there'll be some rules:

1) Only children from 12-20 are eligible to join.

2) If you are children of the above age, you must join.

More details will be provided later. See you in Zone 46 in five minutes!"

And it's over.

I knew it, somehow, that it wasn't going to that easy. Zone 46 was one of the most peaceful places there were on earth, even before that freaking explosion. I didn't want to go, I rather stay and die nobly, helping the rest of the world. Or cowardly, to hide yourself, a voice inside my head whispered.

"Shut up, me," I said aloud and got a few remaining things I had left. I considered saying something to my parents and maybe trigger and never-ending speech of tips to survive. I looked up into the sky for answers, like I usually do for habit. I saw a countdown timer and it read: 4:10, 4:09... Of course. Five minutes to get to Zone 46. That must be the first elimination. It's impossible. I was halfway across the world, in Zone 4. I didn't look back and ran.

Instead, I ran for Dylan, who apparently had no idea about the entire situation. The clock's ticking fast, and I searched the crowd, fear rising like bile in my mouth. Where is he, where is he, where? I might not care about myself but he had to go. He had to.

A blond head popped up from the crowd and I grabbed his arm.

"Zone 46, can you take us?" I rushed, panicking. There's a serum we're injected with to allow teleportation, and I just hope that it's still there, or we'll be doomed. He nodded. We ran, concentrating and jumped into the darkness.

"What the hell was that?" Dylan said over the wind that was transporting us.

"Elimination race. Alien muffin guy. Escape," I huffed, but he seemed to get the message.

We arrived with no time to spare. The world alarm rang, we covered our ears and a wall rose from the earth, blocking the late kids from arriving.

Still, there were a million of us here. A tall dude, probably one of those muffins raised his hand and everyone fell silent. We glanced and one another, bewildered, lost, wondering what was going to happen next.

"Well, you're here. Now you're taking a test to determine your fate," he said. He wasn't loud, wasn't yelling, but we were all immersed into his voice.

"Line up, and let the Escapade begin."

M֪