Utopia

Chapter 1: A New Home

Alejandra's POV

My parents and I are currently waiting to board the last shuttle out of here and to our new home. Four hours have passed since we got here, yet it feels like a lifetime. All around us, the world is dying, and we have to stand still and wait in line. You'd think the fact that we're evacuating the planet would speed things up a bit, but it doesn't.

I look out the thick glass window and see the sky, once so blue and bright, a mix of gray and brown and black, casting a never-ending shadow over the earth and letting only broken shafts of sunlight pierce its veil. Raging fires that hungrily devour everything, they can light up the cities now, mostly as a result of kitchen appliances left on while the families they belonged to made their desperate attempts to get away. I see in the distance the vague outline of a mummified person, kneeling on the ground and shielding a child. Debris swirls by, carried on the air, telling tales of desperation and death just like this one.

A few weeks ago, natural disasters began occurring all over the planet. Whole cities were being washed away by tsunamis and hurricanes, drowned by the oceans, and buried under the soot and ash of volcanic eruptions. Luckily for us, scientists had recently discovered a planet just outside our solar system that could support human life. Every month since the first ship had departed Earth for the planet, the government had sent out ships loaded with crates that contained supplies to build houses and basic necessities, and other crates containing livestock for food.

"Alejandra Barsanti," exclaims a voice. "Hurry up!" I was so lost in thought, I hadn't realized the line had moved up.

Tearing my gaze from the window, I run to my mother and skid to a halt next to her. She gives me a stern glare, but before she can begin to lecture me on paying attention to my surroundings, I see my friends, who are just a few spaces in front of us, and take off toward them without a backwards glance. She could always lecture me on the shuttle later.

I slow down before I reach them and sneak towards my two best friends, Adrianna and Blanca. They are sisters, but if you didn't know them you wouldn't be able to tell. They have personalities as different as the sun and the moon or the North and South Pole. The only way you could even remotely guess they are related is by the way they look. Both have long, straight red hair and similar skin tones. The only noticeable differences between them is their eyes: Adrianna has rich brown eyes while Blanca's are as blue as the sky used to be before it was destroyed.

I sneak up behind them, then say rather loudly, "Hey, girls!"They stop mid-conversation with noises of surprise and turn to me almost simultaneously. When they see me, they smile and crush me in a hug.

"Can't... breathe," I choke out, and they release me. We all laugh as I try to catch my breath.

"So, what do you think this new planet is going to be like?" Adrianna asks me. From the look on her face, I can tell she is already conjuring up another one of her deranged and insane ideas.

"Don't listen to her," says Blanca. "Adri has this stupid idea that there are aliens on this planet." I look at Adri, arching my eyebrow at her.

"What?" she asks.

"Seriously?" I ask incredulously. "Honey, don't you think that if there was extra-terrestrial life on the planet the government's sending us to, they would've found them by now? And if they had, don't you also think they would've told us?"

"I'm just saying. More than half the area outside our solar system is still undiscovered. There might be a slight chance."

I rolled my eyes and, hearing running footsteps, turn to find my little brother Dante running towards me. Getting on my knees, I catch him and lift him up as he comes close. I grunt as his weight makes me stagger a little.