Stellar

Chapter 3

After a dinner of fruit loops and an apple, I went to sit in the U shaped couches. Beau sat down next to me, his snake resting on his shoulders.

I had remembered the names of all of my teammates. There was Me, Beau, Mary, Tate, Leo, Grace, David, Jane, Parker, and Michael. Lettins were everywhere; my tiger, an orangutan, a goat, a snake, an otter, a boxer, a parrot, grizzly bear, a wolf, and a raccoon. They were all fairly nice, but very protective over their owners.

Day 3 came all too soon. When it was time to line up for the race, I eyed Beau. We had talked earlier about him not leaving my side.

"Attention contenders. It is now time to line up to begin the conpetition. If you will please line up at the metal doors present in your bunk room."

We walked to the door. I looked over at David and he nodded, indicating that I shouldn't worry. I knew I could trust him.

The steel door opened by itself, fog rolling out the bottom. Grace, a 20ish year old redhead, was the first to walk through. Her parrot was perched on her shoulder.

We all followed suit, walking through the door. Inside was a small room, black and sleek like the rest of the ship. The room was rectangular shaped and fairly cramped. Five seats rested on either sides of the room, and the ceiling was a window that looked straight into outer space.

I sat in one of the chairs, with Beau and Mary on either side of me. When everyone was seated, a figure covered in a cloak appeared out of thin air. It was holding a metallic tray with 10 syringes on it. I couldn't tell what was in the syringes, but I wasn't too excited to find out.

The odd creature went down the line of seats, first injecting Grace. After that, it was Jane, then Leo. Mary went next, then it was my turn.

Am I able to go through with this? If I did happen to win this stupid game, I wouldn't have any choices where my future was concerned. I was only sixteen, and a sixteen year old wasn't supposed to do stuff like this. I should be sitting on the couch eating Peanut butter by the jar and reading Seventeen magazine while watching the housewives.

I wonder how they're doing.

Oh yeah, they're all dead now.

I reluctantly held my arm out to the alien, ready for the injection. I felt the needle break through the sensitive skin of the crook of my arm, wincing in response.

Once I was done, it was Beau's turn. He squeezed my hand hard until the needle was a was gone.

I suddenly felt very sleepy. It felt like at the dentist when they loop you up with silly gas. My brain got so foggy, I found that I couldn't hold my head up very well. I gave Beau and Mary's hands a squeeze before feeling myself fall into darkness.
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I woke up in a very muggy ecosystem. The air was balmy and sticky, and I could already feel myself starting to sweat. I knew we were somewhere near the Amazon or in a dense Indian jungle. A flock of suki birds flew above my head: birds native to India.

Yep: we're in India.

I discovered they had dressed us while we were gone. I was now wearing a tight green and brown bodysuit- they fit me like some lulu lemon yoga pants. Wow! I would have joined this thing willingly if I knew the outfit would fit better than some lulu lemons.

The women all wore the same thing as I did, but the boys all wore a tight spandex shirt and tight green man leggings. Call them what you will, but they don't look right.

I was the third one to wake up. David and Leo were already up, their Lettins sitting next to them. I pressed my hand to Sunil's side, grateful that they got him here safely. I stood up and walked over to the boys that were awake.

"Erika." Leo said,"Erika Larrika Fo Ferrika." his singsong voice matched the suki birds almost exactly. Of course, the birds didn't tweet 'Larrika Fo Farrika'.... but the screeching pitch was spot on.

I punched him in the shoulder and met David's gaze. His eyes looked even more brilliant in the sunlight. They almost matched Sunil's.

Leo fell dramatically to the ground when I punched his arm. I erupted into giggles, waking up Jane and her boxer.

Once everyone was awake, we huddled in a circle like in a football game. Game plan, stay the eff alive. If that doesn't work..... you're screwed. Or something like that.

David fit easily into the leader role. He was extremely trustable, and seemed to have every survival tip memorized.

Throw away every encyclopedia in sight, because the great knows everything David is here to save us!

I made sure to keep Beau in arms reach at all times. Beau's snake kept perched on his shoulders, which made me incredibly tense. With that snake on him, he looked like a toothpick with a marshmallow on top.

After walking for about an hour, we found a large sparkling waterfall. Turquoise water roared down a pumice gray stone cliff twenty feet up. Small gray rocks popped down the waterfall, bouncing down with the water. Considering the situation, it was the most beautiful thing I've seen all week.

Almost immediately, I could hear something whizz past my head. I looked back and gasped. An Asian looking woman had a small backpack strapped to her shoulders-and she was throwing knives at me. How nice.

HOLD UP.

SHES THROWING FREAKING KNIVES AT MY FREAKING FACE!

I called out to everyone and lunged at the woman. She was slightly smaller, but fast. What I had just realized was that, weaponless, I was running towards a woman who looked fully capable with those knives.

God I'm an idiot.

I was around forty feet behind everyone now, giving my looking at the waterfall. People were running towards me, but Beau and David were much faster than them, right along with Mary. Beau had always excelled in track.

A sense of gratefulness swarmed through me. They were coming to save me!

I kicked the woman in the chest swiftly, making her thin body fall to the ground. I grabbed her fallen bag from the ground and started beating her with it.

Never mess with a girl with a purse.

I managed to keep her down until David and Beau got there. I let David take over while I pulled Beau away from the crazy woman. I slung the black and white backpack over my shoulder and pulled out a knife, handing it to David. He plunged the blade into her back. She didn't get up. Sunil walked over to me, a worried expression on his face. I scratched the scruff behind his ears and told him I was okay.

"There's more coming," David said,"We need to keep moving. Fast."

"Guys," Tate said, "Look at the sky."
We all looked up and gasped, all accept for David. A green comet streaked across the sky. There had been about 100 of those today that I've seen, but I didn't know what they stood for.

"What do you think that means?" I asked.

"Mabye when people die?" Jane said.

"I think that's our best bet." David said flatly.

After walking for another hour or so, the sun started to set. We kept finding weapons stowed away in odd places; tree trunks, under rocks. We also found supplies like matches or ropes hidden in the same places as the weapons. We decided to set a small camp for the night.

"Is it safe to light a fire?" I asked.

"I wouldn't," said Parker, his blonde hair shifting in the slight breeze, "Fire means smoke."

"Yes, but fire also means cooking," Grace said, "And I am starving." She had a slight southern accent, making me wonder where she was from.

"I don't know about you guys," Leo said, "But I could use some of my moms homemade tarot tot hot dish."

We all groaned in response. I would kill for my grandmas cheesy baked bashbrowns. With bacon bit crumble and montary cheddar on top.... ahh.

This wasn't going to be a fast game.