I, Nathan Williams, am a normal 17 year old boy. I go to school, have friends and worry about my future just like everyone else. I was the highest scoring student in the endurance tests that everyone has to take in gym once or twice a year. I was chosen, with a select few, by this mysterious man wearing a long, brown trench coat from some remote part of the government. I was taken away from my family and friends with no warning.
I’m still very confused about where I am or for that matter if I am even conscious. There is no way that any of this could really happen. I don’t believe it. They hooked wires up to us and tested our IQ’s, physical fitness and body types. I haven’t even been able to get a good look at anyone’s face since the beginning of this whole ordeal. They made us change out of our clothes into these off-white jumpsuits that zipped from our ankles to our necks. I only had a chance to barely glimpse the other three students with me before I was thrown into a stark white, 10ft by 8ft room, smelling of antiseptic and filled with only a cot, chair, a desk with few pens and a notebook and a padded door fitted with a…..what is that a mail slot?
I first tried yelling and screaming for help but it quickly became apparent that no one could hear me or I was just being ignored. I don’t know exactly how long I’ve been here now, but judging by the very dry, crumbly pancakes that I received a while ago and the mayonnaise deprived turkey sandwich that just arrived, I’m guessing that its lunch time. I draw to keep myself busy but, I don’t understand why I’m doodling strange shapes. So I traded in my pens for the cot – I’m so amazingly tired!
A little after I had finished my chicken dinner the lights went out. I figured that it probably just means that it’s time to go back to sleep. I feel like I had just fallen asleep when the next thing I know I’m being violently woken and thrown up and out of the cell. I can’t see so my guess is that they blindfolded me while I was still asleep.
We walk for a while and then I am set down on my feet. I hear a door close behind me and the crackle from a loud speaker kicks in.
“You can now remove your blindfolds.” said a robotic voice.
I looked around, relieved to have the itchy thing off of my face, and see the others with me. We’re in this room about the size of a school cafeteria. Besides me there are two girls, one with dark brown hair and the other with a lighter shade, and another boy with dark brown hair. They all look to be about my age and in good enough health. No one moves from their spots, I break the ice.
“My name is Nathan Williams, Nate for short,”
“I’m Mckayla Webster” said the girl with the really long brown hair while waving. From here I see that she is a little less than 5’4” and wears glasses. I am a little far from the other two so I move a little closer so I can hear them better.
“My name is Robin Cahill and I’m an alcoholic. Nah, I’m kidding. I just wanted to see the looks on your faces!” she said while laughing. I don’t know how she could be so relaxed at a time like this. She is kind of short, wears glasses and has short, light brown hair.
“My name’s Sebastian, but you can call me Seb.” said the boy with the dark brown, almost black hair. He is a little taller than my 6 feet 2 inches.
“Well I’m from Maine, where are all you guys from?” I said.
“Washington, the state, not where the president lives.” said Mckayla.
“California” said Seb.
“I live in Florida.” said Robin.
We didn’t have a chance to get much else out before we were all ushered back into our cells. Later that day I got taken out of my cell and put into a room with nothing but a clock, desk and a chair on either side of it. I sit in one chair and wait for I don’t know what, so I count the ticks of the clock. After 27 ticks the man with the trench coat walks in. I notice the trench coat appears to have a glow coming from the underside of it. I wonder why? We don’t say anything, even after the clock ticks off another three minutes. All we do is sit and study each other with an unblinking gaze. I can’t see his face all the way, but it looks to have the same glow that was emanating out from underneath his trench coat.
“What do you want with all of us?” I ask, finally getting bored. He looks up and for the first time I see his eyes. They‘re a glowing navy blue with sharp accents of bright green. They are so bright that I have to look anywhere but at them.
We sit like that for a while me still rubbing and blinking my eyes and him in the exact same position from a moment before. I am too busy with my watering eyes to count the clock but I finally hear him shift and, for the second time, I look up. He tries to say something but I can’t understand him. It takes a few tries before I make it out.
“We need you.” he says. Then he looks back down at his lap.
I don’t know whether to believe him or not. My mind is racing trying to find a way out of here and back to my family. I don’t even know where “here” is. If I’m fast enough maybe I can hit him and run before he can follow me. I make enough noise that he hears me and looks up. I swing and have just enough time to see his shocked expression before my fist collides with his face. The impact sends him flying back against the wall. I didn’t think that I hit him that hard? I run. As soon as I open the door an alarm sounds, but I ignore it and keep running. I plow through anything in the way of my escape, desks chairs trash cans. I hear more than one alarm and after a few seconds the others join me and we run together.
This building is a maze. We search corridor after corridor, hallway after hallway and door after door. After a few minutes of scrambling around to get away from the people chasing us, I finally spot a door and motion the other three to it. I know that the door leads to the outside or at least a stairwell because it’s marked ‘Emergency Exit’. We all piled through to meet a freedom that we suspect wouldn’t last very long.
