365 Days

Day Zero - Insertion

The hovercraft has landed at a remote helipad surrounded by endless forest. We are all waiting to see what happens next.

"What's going on?" Tiana asks me, as one guard starts to select a few children. They stand up and accompany him out the door of the hovercraft.

"I don't know," I reply.

"Hey, if I never see you again," she begins, "I just want to say goodbye. And thanks."

"Thank you, and goodbye. Good luck!" I exclaim in an exaggeratedly happy tone as a guard walks up to her and taps her on the shoulder.

"Hey, let's go," he says in a gruff voice. "Got your pack?"

Tiana nods and stands up. "Bye!" She waves to me.

I wave back, and watch her disappear through the glass door.

Soon, me and four other children are left sitting in our seats. A tall guard, who looks like he might be in his forties or fifties, addresses us. "I guess you five are comin' with me and Officer Mallinson."

"I guess so too," retorts a boy with spiky black hair and a mean, mocking glint in his eye.

The officer shoots him a look that instantly silences, and motions for us to follow him outside.I pick up my pack, double-check that I haven't left anything behind, and step out of the hovercraft.

Waiting for us is an all-terrain vehicle with six seats. We all file in and sit quietly. The girl behind me is left to sit in the passenger front seat, beside the officer, and she looks at me worriedly. I smile gently, and she hops in.

Another officer walks up, and sits on the cargo box at the back. "Hold on," he says, as the vehicle starts up.

We travel on a bumpy, almost non-existent dirt road. The boy with the spiky black hair looks like he's about to throw up, and the girl in the passenger seat is holding on for dear life. There are two other boys and one other girl besides them; one boy with tousled, light-brown hair is threatening the other boy jokingly with his axe, and the other girl has bright green eyes and a slim build.

Soon, a small, ramshackle hut comes into view. Over the door is a sign that reads Cabin 5.

"What?" the boy with the spiky hair asks. "I thought we had our insertion today!"

The older officer rolls his eyes and mumbles something under his breath, while the other officer says, "You do."

They stop the small vehicle and everyone jumps out quickly. Officer Mallinson, the younger one, unlocks the door with a large key, and steps inside.

To say "don't judge a book by its cover" about this hut would be quite an understatement! The walls are made of spotless, sterling-silver metal, with no windows. Five hospital beds sit on the clean, concrete floor, and the older officer gestures for us to sit on one as Officer Mallinson walks over to a large cabinet.

I sit on the one in the very middle.

"Who wants to go first?" asks the older officer.

The girl with the bright green eyes looks at him and nods. She doesn't say a word, but a single tear escapes her jade-colored eye.

Officer Mallinson pulls a syringe filled with dark purple liquid out of the cabinet.

I've already had enough shots to last my whole lifetime - I certainly don't need another!

The girl tells him her name, "I'm Astrid, Astrid Viridis," as she lies on the hospital bed. The officer gently places the needle by her neck and she flinches, but she soon relaxes as he depresses the trigger. Tears fall silently onto the cold, hard floor as she closes her eyes and falls unconscious.

The older officer brings another syringe filled with the same liquid to the next bed, where the annoying boy with spiky black hair is sitting. He refuses to lay down, but voluntarily gives his name to the older man.

"Xane Shiloh." he mumbles.

I don't have time to watch him fall asleep. Officer Mallinson approaches me warily. "Hey," I tell him, "I'm Kara Sims."

He nods, and I rest my head on the hospital bed. "Do you want the truth?" he asks. "Because I could easily say that this won't hurt, and that you'll survive, and the world will be perfect when you emerge victorious from your Abandonment..." He trails off, and looks me straight in the eye.

I consider for a moment, and then reply.

"In any other day, I'd demand the truth. But today, spare me. I've already got enough to worry about," I say.

He was right. As I spoke, he had pushed the trigger on the needle, and the cold metal had inserted itself into my neck. I felt a strong surge of - I didn't exactly know what it was. Pain? Maybe, - flow into my bloodstream, and then the real agony hit me like a tsunami.

It was so powerful that I soon drowned and succumbed to the dark depths below...

___________________________________________________________________________

I awoke.

Or at least I think I did.

I'm not exactly sure.

I see white before me, and my body is sore all over. I try to move. I can move, but it hurts - it hurts so much.

I feel the ground beneath my hands. Damp, and squishy.

I shiver. I am definitely outside, that's for sure.

I touch my face, but the texture that greets me isn't skin. It is some sort of fabric. I tug at it, but it stays attached firmly to my face.

It wraps around the back of my head, too. I follow it with my fingers, and find a knot. It comes undone when I pull at it gently.

The blindfold slips off my face, revealing a seemingly endless forest in front of me.

I've just been Inserted, and Project 365 has begun.