Contest Entries

1: And then there was One

For @Contests-Rants competition

Word Count: 1167

We thought we knew what the future was like. We hadn't anticipated this. Desolate land, stretching in every direction, with only a few dry clumps of bushes here and there. Burned trash, scattered everywhere. The heat of the sun was more intense than ever before.

In the year 2020, the time machine had been invented. Over the next five years, scientists have spent all their time trying to perfect it and make it safe. Human nature is naturally curious, and thus the world has decided to send a group of chosen individuals to the year 2150 to find out what the future held.

The first attempt was a failure. We did not know that in the future, Virus N-285 was spreading rapidly. Of now, only our generation had developed the proper immune system against it. Anyone over the age of twenty, after contracting the virus, would die in a few days.

So now, three people were here: me, Violet, a tall, dark-haired sixteen-year-old; my younger sister, age thirteen, Amelie; and lastly, Michael, the only other teen who had passed the tests, who was my age with blonde hair, blue eyes and a mischievous smile. (The idiot kept trying to flirt with me, but I ignored him.)

"I can't believe this," Amalie said. "No food, no water, no people, nothing." Her soft brown eyes were wide with shock.

We hadn't thought to bring any supplies, as we had thought that if we ran into any trouble we would just time-travel back to our year. However, someone had sabotaged the machine- its battery was supposed to be at 100%, but after a few minutes of our arrival, it had shut down. We would have to let it charge two days in the sun before we could go back.

"WHY?" I screamed at the machine, a tablet covered with various buttons and knobs. "WHY MUST THIS HAPPEN? WHY DID I EVEN VOLUNTEER FOR THIS STUPID PROJECT? NOW WE'RE PROBABLY GOING TO GET KILLED OUT HERE!"

"Relax, Vi," Michael said weakly. "We just need to wait two days, and hunt for food in the meantime. Shouldn't be hard."

"Oh yes," I said, sarcastically. "Shouldn't be hard." But I tried to believe his words. Soon we'd be back home. Safe. I would see my mother and father and the rest of my family...

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

"We hunt, I guess," Amalie replied.

...

Hunting was difficult. And tiring. And difficult. After hiking for a few hours, we found a small forest with a few plants and animals. Even though we'd been trained these skills for a year, it didn't mean it wasn't easy. We broke off branches and made spears with them as well as we could, then tried to catch rabbits or squirrels with them. Next, we made a fire and barbecued the poor animals, then ate them. It wasn't the best meal, but it was better than starvation.

At night, the light of our campfire cast long shadows on the ground. The three of us had gotten small logs and leaves as pillows to sleep on. Staring uneasily at the sky, I wondered what would happen tomorrow. It was going to be a long night...

...

The next day, the machine was at 53%. It needed to be at 100% for us to safely travel back home.

Day 2 started out roughly the same way as the first. We hunted until afternoon, then cooked our food and ate it... but we still felt hungry.

"Hey, look! Plants! They look just like the edible mushrooms from the past!" Michael exclaimed suddenly, pointing at a clump of toadstool-like plants.

We eagerly scrambled towards it. I picked it and threw it into the makeshift pot over the fire. Soon, Michael announced that since he was the one who found more food, he was the one who should taste it first.

He took a bite. I held my breath, waiting for something to happen. One. Two. Three...

A smile spread across his face. "It's delicious! Try it!"

We laughed, relieved. Just as we were about to hungrily devour the rest of the food, his face froze. He trembled, and fell onto the ground. In that moment, panicked thoughts ran through my head.

Food poisoning. The plant was deadly.

Amalie and I watched, helpless, as he fell onto the floor. His body twitched, and then he moved no more.

"No..." I whispered. Dead. Dead. Dead. He was dead. My friend was gone and never coming back.

I had a sleepless night, and was awakened by a piercing scream.

...

A small body lay on the ground. A lion stood behind it. Its lips and the body were covered with blood. I grabbed a burning log from the fire and charged towards it. It snarled, but it bounded away.
Then I ran towards the girl.

As I turned her over, the first thing I noticed was the gaping wound in her stomach. Then I lifted my gaze, and my blood ran cold.

It was Amalie.

Please not her, please not her. Don't take my little sister, she's too young. Memories flashed through my mind: Her fifth birthday, exclaiming in excitement at the bicycle that I had bought her; our trips to the woods, her telling me the names of animals she knew; her hugging her favourite stuffed toy. But that didn't seem real. What was real was that she was bleeding to death in front of me, and there was nothing I could do. Nothing, nothing, nothing. The word was like a taunt in my head.

"Vi," she said weakly. I listened intently. "You have to escape. Get out of here, and survive. I love you..."

"Shh." I took a deep breath and sang...(A/N All rights for the lyrics go to Taylor Swift)

"Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound..."

Her body turned limp and cold in my hands.

I looked up. The sun was rising. The battery was at 100%. It was time to go home.

...

The moment I was back in the lab, I collapsed. I heard panicked voices above me, talking about what had happened. They were so noisy. I wished they would stop. Stop, so I could lay my head on the floor, and go to sleep forever. Like Amalie and Michael.

...

The next few days, I refused to move. Just sat in my room, staring at the wall, eating very little. I could hear traces of voices outside my room: "Only a child..." "Very traumatizing..." "Hard experience..." I didn't care. All I cared was that my sister and Michael had gone where I could not follow them.

A few weeks later, they had caught the technician who had sabotaged the machine. He was supposed to be executed, but escaped. When I heard the news, I felt white hot rage trembling in me. His actions indirectly resulted in two deaths. He will die, and painfully. I grabbed the long knife from my drawer and stalked towards the door...