OBLIVION

Empty Dark Town

Will and the other student heads had announced to the students there, telling them of their predicament and that they should remain calm, which the students found hard to observe.

“How the hell do you want us to remain calm when we don’t even know where we are, dude?” Someone shouted and this was followed by jeers from the others.

“Remain calm, guys!” Ashley shouted for everyone to hear. “Let’s hear what they’re gonna say.”

Everyone kept quiet, waiting to see what Will wanted to say.Will sighed before speaking. “Well, we were gonna check out the town right behind us and return
with news for you guys but now that everyone knows, why don’t we all go check it out together and then regroup back in an hour?”With that, the students all divided into their various schools and entered the town.

Monty High took the suburban buildings. Darwin High took downtown while Milton Prep took the work buildings. The strange thing about the town was that the deeper they explored, the more the town was bigger than your average town, It had multiple skyscrapers and roads that extended for miles. It was like a city… but
with town buildings? It was empty so far from what they’d seen but electricity was still running…

“This is a town?” Ollie, the loudmouth guy from Milton Prep, asked in shock.

Kenny, his best friend, didn’t answer him, still looking around.

“It pretty much is like a city. But it’s not even on the totally strange map.”

“Damn it!”Someone among the Milton Prep group was cursing out and others were gathering him. The person had his phone on the floor, smashed to bits and pieces. Kenny and Ollie joined up with the others
around him.

“What’s going on, Elliot?” Kenny asked the person behind him. The person had white hair slick back and a dull look, with a pencil on his earlobe. He looked at Kenny like he wasn’t sure that he was talking to him.

“Huh? Oh, Mae got a reception and tried to call her parents but... what do you know? It didn’t go through and kept bouncing off different lines.” Elliot replied.

“Or maybe she’s just using some stupid old phone.” Ollie commented.

They heard Sheldon’s voice over a mike. He was standing on top of a car; his phone to his mouth, using a microphone app.

Claudia Gunderson, your average teacher’s pet and mean girl, stood beside the car. She was pretty in a way, vain, and had her hair packed up in two buns. She was also Sheldon’s assistant.

“Guys, we’ve gotta rendezvous back with the other schools. Anyone found anything interesting?”

Elliot, the guy with the dull look and white hair, raised his hand, itching to be picked as everyone looked at him.

Sheldon nodded at him. “Yes, Elliot?”

“Well, I…” He fished for a notebook inside his school sweater and pulled it out. “…managed to sketch the places we’ve checked out on our way here. This town manages to stretch so huge that it could just be called a city. I made a small storyboard of the map on it.”

Sheldon nodded. “Good discovery, Elliot.”

Someone put his hand around Elliot’s shoulder, surprising Elliot. “That’s my brainy artist.”

“Ok, any other discoveries before we join back with the others?”

***

Darwin Southside High students had checked out the area, laughing and having fun. Stefan tried to ignore the chatter of dialogue as Sara walked by his side.
“There are some pretty hot girls in those other schools, man.” Joel  was saying, talking to the others with him.