PAST

8-The Ugly Jump

"READY?" Lucas asked, not smiling anymore. He was messing with wires, hooking them up to my chair. "Today during the simulation, you will be a s-"

"A soldier. I know." I close my eyes and lay back. Alvin's plan bounces in my head, and I feel sick; just like on the roller coaster. What was he planning? Why was I involved? Does anybody else know that I was leaving the simulation early?

"I won't be next to you like yesterday. I wish I could, but rules won't allow me." Lucas glances at me with apologetic eyes for a split second, then resumes fumbling with the wires. "I'll be in a training room the whole time; exercise actually calms me."

My breathing became heavy, and the world became blurred just to form a new world already lived. My thoughts were random and scattered when the pictures started to form. Sound came in, and it was deafening.

I was perched on the floor of a plane, and we were flying with the doors open. I inched forward to the open doors, and below us, Six Flags. The same six flags that me and Lucas went to just yesterday. I felt sick.

"Cadet! We need you to jump out over Atlanta, Georgia!" A stocky soldier was pointing a stubby finger at me. "Look around for the lost fifty soldiers! Reach us with your communicator when you find them!" Even though the soldier was yelling, the wind gushing in from the open doors muted it to a whisper.

"NOW!" he yelled at me, face red. A plan forms in my head. Not grabbing a parachute, I hop out. I can hear the furious scream of the soldier for a split second before gravity takes a firm grip on my body.

As wind whistles by my ears, I take a good view of the city I'm about to crash into. Atlanta was almost completely destroyed, fire from bombs blasting up in yellow/orange mushroom clouds. Screaming that will haunt me forever came from all over the city, like a miniature hell.

I was temporarily paralyzed by the sight, but I soon regained my continence. Would It hurt when I smashed into the Earth in a several seconds? I tumbled faster and faster, and soon it was just like the roller coaster. The ground was rushing up at a unbelievable speed.

SMASH!

Like on my first day, I was out of breath. I rolled off the simulation chair, and smacked onto the floor. It was time. But the images of Atlanta were still in my head, no promise of leaving.