It's Time To Start Our End

2: Dr. K

"That's interesting," I responded as Pa pulled up to a massive park surrounded by huge crowds. He glanced over at me, "It looks like our town wasn't the only one with ten names called." He then parked the car, and we both got out. Toward the end of this crowd was a bright blue glow which only appeared as they shifted around. It extended all the way to the cemented walls that seemed to be a few kilometers away.

Pa grabbed my arm and we entered the crowd. The crowds got more intense as we went deeper in. After a while, my arm was beginning to hurt. "Pa, I can walk." He ignored me and kept dragging me through the crowd. "Pa." He only increased his speed, which increased the intensifying pressure on my arm, "It's too dangerous to have you walk on your own. You may not be a kid anymore, but you're also not the biggest guy here. We're almost there anyway." My legs were occasionally kicked while everyone stumbled behind me.

And in an instant, the dragging stopped. A few dozen guards stood at a gate. Each one had a suit that resembled a bee. Rifle stocks protruded over their shoulders like wings. Their helmets were all ­­­­rounded in a similar fashion, and nightsticks sat where the middle two legs on a bee would be. Every one of these guards was occupied with someone yelling in their face. An older, agitated, man caught my attention.

'What do you mean I can't go beyond here? That was my wife and daughter.'

'Your name wasn't called sir.'

'To h-ll with that! What are you doing in there?'

'Sir, behind me you will see a bunch of rockets. The rest is classified. I'm to have to urge you to leave now sir. There are others waiting behind you.'

'As if I'm going to-' The corresponding guard grabbed him and lifted him upward by the neck.

'Sir, you are going to leave.' They then tossed the man to the ground.

Pa tapped my shoulder. "Hey, Devis." I looked up at him. "I'm sorry about dragging you like that. Now, I want you to promise that if you don't come back that you'll contact us. Me, Ma, Dina, and Henry."

"Yeah, of course, but what if they won't let me."

"Well, then there isn't much you can do about it. Go up to the guard and tell him your name." I nodded and continued forward. The guard looked around their current occupant and down at me. 'Excuse me for a moment. What's your name sir?'

"It's... Devis. My name is Devis Minoka." The guard reached into their pocket and took a tiny blue leaf out. 'Here.' They tossed it upward, but it fluttered in place before slowly shifting from side to side as it fell downward. About a foot off the ground a gust of wind blew it up toward me. It flipped and spun right into my mouth. The guard spoke again, 'Make sure that you swallow it. Once you've done that you can pass me. From there go to rocket 17.' I looked back to get Pa's approval, but he was gone.

Beyond the guard was a huge open field sprinkled with trees, rockets, and occasionally a patch of high grass.

"Okay, so these are rockets seven and eight. Where's... Nine," I whispered to myself.

It honestly would have been nice an escort was given to the rockets, but the way to a specific one wasn't too hard to find. The rockets themselves were about as big as an Airbus that stood upright. If anything, that's what they were, but with the wings extending down toward their bases. Large red numbers were painted right above each entrance.

"Eleven... thirteen... fifteen, sixteen-" A strangely squeaky voice creeped out of the next rocket, "Seventeen, but which one is this one..." A taller man skulked out of its entrance. He was skinny and looked like the average creeper. "Minoka! I'm so glad you're here for the party. We couldn't do this without you, or the trillions of others." His comb-over didn't help either. The guy continued rambling on, "But mostly you, I think... Nope mostly you." I gave him a dumb look. "Oh, you don't know me. Sorry about that. You can call me Dr. K."

"Nice to meet you... What is going on here?"

"The situation is a little more than complicated, but I'll explain." My expression turned blank.

"So there is a really huge rock-" he quickly looked around, "Or asteroid, whichever works for you-" his comb-over hopped on his scalp as he frantically turned his head every which way, "that is coming to destroy our galaxy. When it hits, the earth will be destroyed within Milliseconds! With that knowledge, How much do you think it'll hurt in that short time? If possible, try to rate it." An asteroid is coming to destroy the galaxy... I quickly spouted out, "When- Where is it?" Dr. K gave me a smirk, "Turn around."

Seven people were carrying a huge clock that seemed to be counting down. The clock read 40:09:54. I spun around to the guy, "In forty hours! That's barely enough time to get anywhere!" The guy giggled a little, "Due to the mass of that space rock there have been a lot of Wormholes." My head turned to the rockets, then back to him. "No! You're not going to just leave all these people to die."

"We don't really have a choice! There were not enough resources to send every human off the planet." My fear turned to anger, "Who gave any of you the right to choose who lives and dies!" He gave an amused look, "No one. We grabbed as many people as we possibly could. Every person selected was chosen based off their likelihood to survive in the selected world beyond a specific wormhole."

"You lost me for a second there." Dr. K's smirk fell off his face, and he gave a creepy smile. He looked behind me, "Milarkey, I'm so glad you could make it." A girlish voice came from behind me. "Charles? You're here?"

"It's Dr. K actually." I turned around to see a girl around my age. "I wasn't talking to you," she said while waving her hand at the creep. "I thought you weren't picked, but you're here! You actually drove all the way here..." Her eyes were a silver-blue mix, and her hair was a light brown. Her tan was also a bit lighter than mine. Her eyes began to get all watery. Tears were building up in her tear-ducts and slowly streamed down along her nose and cheeks. "When they didn't call your name I- I couldn't go to you. I didn't want to see you." She slid her arms under my own and wrapped them around my back. "I couldn't see you, so I just..." she buried her face in my shoulder, "I'm sorry." I didn't know this girl or this Charles. I had to let her know that she had me mixed up with the wrong person. She smelled nice though... Oh, oh my.

"How'd you get past the guard?" she said with a muffled voice. I tried to push her from me slightly before responding. She only held on tighter. "Well, actually. I'm not Charles." Her slight whimpering ended.

"What?" Two new voices came from behind the girl. "It's not him Noska, Charles doesn't wear sweatshirts. Especially in hot weather." She lifted her head from my shoulder and looked at my apparel. Her smell faded away after she stepped away from me. The first new voice came from another girl. Her hair was dyed bright red, making her dark green eyes stand out. She saluted with two fingers pointing up, "The name's Ashley. The girl in front of you is Noska, and to my right is Audrey York." Audrey had dirty blonde hair. It was braided and folded over her shoulder. Pointing to Dr. K she asked, "So who's the combover." I shrugged. He wasn't amused.

"I am Dr. K and the head scientist of this task. All of you need to get on the rocket for further information and instructions," he shifted his head to look at me. "Minoka, you need to stay for a second." One by one, the three girls disappeared into the dark hull of the rocket. "All of this is highly classified. Not even the world leaders know about this, alright? On every rocket, there is a Cleft virtual intelligence. And with each virtual intelligence comes a certain program that, ugh..." He fell to his feet and motioned his hand onto his stomach, "That is made from-" Blood spewed from his mouth. *cough* "Humph, that hurts like nothing else." He fell over. "The program," blood started to spew again, *cough* "Human DNA..." his voice trailed off as any sign of animation left his body.