The Phobia Chronicles: Part One

Prologue

     We walked down the road. People cheered around us, but we were dying inside. This, for us, was not a celebration, this was torture. We stopped near a podium. Draped over the top was a cloth, covered in gold detailing, but was vastly blue, the color of GeoLith. Simon Kingsworth, a man who had trained us, up to this point, stood prepared to speak once we got there.

"People of Nebula Seven! These seven people from amongst you, have been chosen to travel to Earth. They have but one goal, to spend two weeks on the planet. I, Simon Kingsworth, have trained them, taught them, and encouraged them. Now all we can do is pray that they will come home safely, with news that the air on Earth is once again safe to breath."

The people cheered louder, the air reverberating with the noise.

"Could we just slip through the crowd and run into the forest?" Kait asked from beside me.

A smirk crossed my face, "I'm afraid the governments would find us before we'd even know where we were."

That got a quiet, but strained, laugh from her. Simon began to speak again as the crowd's yelling died down.

"These seven people before you, will from here on be remembered as heroes. I will now list their names. Kaitlyn Spades, A Geologist from GeoLith; Samson Yaeger, A well-known pitfighter; Bryan Nemesis, A Photographer and History Teacher; Nathan Lockwood; Lila Heinz, a school teacher; and Dr. Derek Holland, a zoologist for GeoLith. These people have fought to be standing where they are today, and within the coming days they will board the Juno 5 and take off to Earth. We hope they will return safely. Now a word from Director Thomas."

Kingsworth handed the microphone to a middle-aged man standing to his left, "Hello! You seven here are talented and smarter than many that I've seen in this generation. I know this is a heavy task you carry, but do not take it as we don't need you. See it as a gift. We chose you because only you can do it. I thank you all for your help in restoring Earth to mankind. Like Kingsworth said, 'We hope you return safely.' But we also wish that you succeed."

This received yet another uproar from the crowd. "You are all dismissed. You have two days to spend with loved ones." Thomas said before walking off the stage and into a black SUV. The SUV rolled off, a cloud of dust trailing behind it.

---

I sat on my bed, staring blankly at the television. Kait sat beside me, her elbows resting on her knees. The TV announcer was ranting about the local weather phenomenon. I huffed and muted the TV.

Kait looked at me, "So... Tomorrow we endure horrors that few have ever seen?"

"Yeah. Pretty much..." I responded.

Kait was around my age, and we had known each other since kindergarten. Once we hit college, we began dating. The two of us are inseparable from each other. She was a geologist, I was a Zoologist. Both of us fit well with the other.

She had dark brown eyes and slightly tanned skin. She wore a cropped t-shirt that we had cut together with a pair of kitchen scissors. A pair of grey sweatpants covered her legs, her head was looking down, her glasses falling off her face.

"Hey, babe. It'll be okay. They chose us because they knew we'd survive." I said, getting up and walking in front of her. I got on my knees looking up at her. I pushed her glasses all the way up before continuing my sentence, "We've got this... All of us will make it."

Just as the words left my mouth, I got a text from Samson. "Sam's asking if we can all talk before we possibly all die... Literally what he said." I said.

She wiped her eyes, "Okay, let's go."

"Hey, hey. It'll be okay." I reassured her, I pulled her into a hug, before going to get into our car.

I opened the door for her, and we got in, backed out, then sped off down the road. Samson's house was only a mile away from ours and was even on the very same street as ours. He lived alone, where he mostly just worked out and slept.

We pulled into the driveway, beside Sam's truck. I got out and walked to the porch, Samson was sitting in a chair next to Lila and Richard. "Ayy, look it's our scientists!" Richard exclaimed before we had even gotten to the stairs.

"What do you need?" I asked, looking at Samson.

"He wants to wait on Nemesis..." Lockwood said, walking through the door with a glass of a questionable beverage in his hand. He downed half the glass before sitting back in his chair.

I heard tires screech to a stop in front of the house. Bryan slammed his doorless jeep into park, causing the whole vehicle to lurch. Maps and photographs fell onto the ground, along with one of his cameras. He hopped out, quickly picking up his camera and throwing the strap over his shoulder.

Bryan had long slightly ginger hair, a slight goatee, and green eyes. He was well known for taking photos for people's weddings, birthdays, and other random events or activities.

"Ok... Ok... I'm here." He said, picking up the rest of the papers that had fallen from the jeep.

"What I wanted to talk about was... Our game plan." Samson said.

"Well, we survive, obviously..." Lockwood responded, sarcasm lacing every syllable of his sentence.

"Oh, shut up... I know that. I'm saying do we just hide for two weeks or wander?" Samson said.

"Wandering could lead to predators tracking us easily while hiding in a hole for two weeks is just a buffet sitting there for any predator to have an all-you-can-eat. So it's a lose-lose on both scenarios." I answered.

"So our game plan is non-existant." Kait said.

"Essentially..."

"Well, then we fight... If something tries to eat our face we eat it's face first... Figuratively speaking of course." Richard said.

"I feel that that is our only option..." I said, turning to Richard.

---

I lay in bed, Kait fast asleep beside me. As I was fading into sleep there was a knock at my door. I quietly got up and threw on a button-up shirt. I made it to my door, a slab of wood painted brown, and opened it.

"Simon?" I said, shocked.

"Shh... I need you to take this. I've taken it from GeoLith's Director's place," He placed a thick book into my hands, "Do not read it until you get to Earth. GeoLith isn't wanting to---" He stopped speaking when a car drove by slowly. "I have to go. You'll find out more when you get back. I'm counting on you kid. You and your girl will make things right."