The Dead's People

Chapter 1

A knock on the door interrupts my favorite part of the movie- the epic battle between the vampires and werewolves.

I pause it and push myself up from the couch, setting my popcorn bowl on the coffee table. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" I shout, agitated, as they knock again.

I wretch open the door. "Wha-." I stop my rude sentence, seeing the 3 buff guys in suits and really dark, dark shades. They even had wire coils from their ears. "May I help you?" I ask nervously.

"Are you Dexter Simones?" one of the guys ask.

"Yes?" I answer, getting more nervous by the second.

"Will you please come with us?" He says it more like a demand than a request.

"Umm.... my mom will be home soon."

"Don't worry about your mom. She'll be fine."

I stand there for a second, thinking. "How long will I be gone?"

"A few hours, days, weeks. Months,  maybe."

I wait more. Finally, I ask, "Can I pack?"

"You have 15 minutes."

I race upstairs, not bothering to shut the door. I grab a duffel bag and throw in clothes, a couple books and movies, and my iPod and headphones. I stuff my phone in my pocket and dig through my closet. I finally find what I'm looking for- an old shoebox. I open the lid. Inside it was a picture, and an old hat.

The picture was of a boy. He had brown hair, and big, gray eyes. He was wearing geeky glasses and a hat too big for him. He had a huge grin plastered on his face. Crouching next to him was a man. He had black hair. His eyes were gray around the pupil and started turning green the close it was to the edges. Other than that, the two looked exactly the same.

I smile sadly. "I miss you, Dad," I whisper, stroking the face of my dad on the picture. I put the picture back and carefully put the box in my duffel bag. I went to the bathroom and shove my toothbrush and toothpaste. My mom and I preferred different toothpastes.

I zip it up and race back down the stairs. "Ready," I tell the men.

They nod and start walking towards a black SUV. I couldn't see inside it, because the windows were tinted too darkly. I shut the front door and lock it, replacing the key on my lanyard and my lanyard on my neck.

I follow the dudes into the SUV. Two go in the front seat. One goes into the backseat, with me.

"So," I say, to start up a conversation. "where we goin'?"

"That's classified information."

I lean back in my seat and buckle up.

I play games on my phone for a few minutes. Then I look up. "Am I allowed to text?"

The three guys exchanged looks. "If you don't tell anybody about this," one answers. It was hard to tell them apart.

"I doubt anyone'd believe me if I did," I retort, scrolling through my contacts list. I finally select one labeled 'Danny Maleno'.

'Hey dude! Wassup?!' I type in.

'Hey man! Wanna cum over for some D n D l8r? Alex and Lance r cumin ovr'

'I cnt. :( Busy.'

'I thut u dnt wrk 2day?'

'Going 2 vsit fam.'

'O. Hv fun. Tc.'

'Thx. U 2.'

I go to 'Home' and click on Minecraft. It was dark out and I was far away from my house. I turn to the direction I thought it was in and cry out- there was a zombie. I look up. They were staring at me.

"What?" I demand before returning to my game.

I get my sword and kill the zombie. I look around for any more then get out a torch so I can see better. I start marching. After a while, I notice the forest I had planted on the beach. My mines were directly opposite. Knowing that it'd take a long time for me to get home, I open the gate to my mines, enter, then close the gate.

I make my way down. "We're here," the guy next to me said.

"We're where?" I say, looking up and shoving my phone in my pocket.

"Here," he says gruffly.

"Where's 'here'?"

He ignores me and ties a bandanna around my eyes. "What's this for?"

"So you can't see."

"It's doing a very good job," I inform.

One of the guys chuckles. The air was hot. I was very thirsty. I could tell from the feel of my feet touching the ground that I was walking on sand. All of a sudden it got cool. My footsteps echoed, making me thinking we were in a tunnel or large cave of some sort.

We stopped walking. I heard a whirring sound, like and elevator. We were on it for a few seconds, in awkward silence. Then we started walking again. We took so many twists and turns, I lost track. I think we even circled a couple of times. I think it was so I was lost.

Finally, I was unblindfolded and shoved into a room. There was one huge table, surrounded by a couple dozen of chairs. The one at the head of the table on the other side of the room turns.

"Hello, Dexter."