Earth is Dying

2 Days before the Experiment - Layla's POV

My roommate told me I have 2 days. Everyone else inside of this dump has either had months or years to prepare, but me and Atlas got pulled in 2 days before the experiment. It's like whoever's behind us, whoever's organizing this whole thing deliberately planned to have us be pulled in late so we would fail and lose. It's just another disadvantage, a theme that seems to be rampant in my life, to be a step behind everyone else in the world. Sometimes I feel like all I do is pray, but none of my prayers ever get answered. I know I have a purpose, I know I'm here for a reason, but when everything continues to go bad in my life it's so hard to understand why I even exist. But I don't have time to sulk and pity myself anymore, if I want to survive this "experiment" or this simulation that I still barely know anything about I have to prepare myself. No one has ever taken the time to prepare me for the dangers of life, but then again, how are you able to prepare for anything if life is unpredictable. I have to overcome what ive been through, I have to understand that what has happened to me isn't my fault, and the only thing I can have control over in life is myself, and my mindset. I need to stop waiting for my life to get stable, for things to be less hard, because the reality is that life only becomes less hard once you realize it will never be easy. Even though I know nothing about this experiment, I know that ill be able to adapt no matter what happens, because all of my life ive been forced to go through changes, and you never know what those changes will be. As I take a deep breath, and enter passed the metal doors into what I've been told is the "training room", I brace myself and tell myself ill be okay no matter what happens. When I enter the door, I see people of all ages as young as 5 and as old as maybe 80 whose whole bodies are covered with virtual reality gear. They're each standing on a circular pad, which almost acts as a treadmill of some sort, allowing them to run or walk while they use their headsets to look at their surroundings, whatever that may be. There are cords on the sides of the pads that attach to a person's hips, allowing them to stay in place and prevents them from falling or getting hurt. It almost looks like a scene from Wall-e, except that instead of it being fat people stuck in a chair, its people of all sizes and ages, and most of the people are running like their lives depend on it. I see an old woman, fully connected to all of the gear, she's running, but not as fast as everyone else. All of a sudden she starts screaming, "HELP ME, HELP ME" in the most frantic, piercing voice. The sound of her screaming, like she's in dire need of help scares me and I turn to the woman on my left, one of the people not connected to the gear and someone who's in charge of organizing the experiment. She doesn't do anything to help the old lady. "IM BURNING ALIVE. SOMEONE HELP ME," The lady continues screaming, and I hear fast paced beeping coming from the monitor connected to her chest. Finally, a man walks over to her and disconnects her from the VR, she falls over.