A Tainted Victory

A Tainted Victory, chapter 1

    Flashback

An ear shattering wail, a zigzag of lightning across the otherwise dark cloudy sky, and the utter feel of hopelessness. The black hummer roared down the road as if threatening anyone who got in its path. People were everywhere, some were staring at nothing, others were staring at us as we drifted a tight turn and powered onto the highway. Individuals I had known all my life were left behind in a sea of multicoloured faces. Kennedy space centre pulled into view, the Argo was waiting as silent as a killer yet loud enough to attract the attention of everyone living near. The hummer pushed past other cars, everyone was heading to the same place. I thought I could just hear gunshots over the barrage of sound that emanated from all around. A rock flew at the hummer, narrowly missing the window and hitting the door. Another rock, this time impacting on the passenger window and cracking it. The driver sped up, finding cover behind a row of squat apartments. I leaned towards the window, expectant of my mother waiting in our house. The driver pulled off the highway, another flash of lightning accompanied by more screams. My mom was there, waiting with tears streaming down her face.

The driver turned to me with urgency in his voice, "hurry up, you have 5 minutes then we need to be heading to the Argo." I didn't even give the man a yes, but instead jumped down from the hummer and sprinted the few steps to my mom. I threw my arms around her in a last desperate attempt to forget everything that was happening, I sobbed into her shoulder, she hugged me back, speaking to me through both of our tears, "your going to be just fine now, you go and give this everything you have and think of it like a long vacation, and when you get back we can all throw a celebration. And no matter what happens never forget that we are always here for you, to love you and to guide you." she broke off and shook with tears.

Someone started shouting, most likely the driver. "Your times up. We need to go right now!" I looked at my mother and gazed into her dark brown eyes. Then I was grabbed and being hauled back to the car by the driver. I called out as loud as I could to be heard over the noise of thunder and screams. "I LOVE YOU!". Then I was in the car and driving down street after street towards Kennedy Space Centre.

The next few details of the drive I didn't pay attention to all that much, but I know that the hummer went through a series of security stations and tunnels. When we finally stopped we were in a tunnel beside a blank metal door. I absently stared at it, wondering with slight curiosity at how thick the door could be. Presently the driver got out of the car and walked over to where my door was.

He spoke with a very shaky voice, "This is as far as I take you. You and whats beyond that door is the future of our entire human species, don't disappoint us".

He walked over to the metal door and pulled a set of keys out of his pocket. After sifting through them for a few seconds he slid one of the larger keys into the corresponding lock attached to the door. It swung open creaking all the while. The driver stepped back and ushered me through the door into a white hallway about 10 feet long. A high pitched voice spoke up over hidden speakers. "Disinfection will now begin". Immediately following I was sprayed down with some sort of chemical. After a few seconds the floor turned a bright red and began to heat up, the chemical began to fall from my shoulders and torso onto the still bright red floor. As I stared in wonder at this process I completely forgot about my current situation. I would have stayed like this for some while had the same voice not piped up, "Disinfection is now complete, no signs of illnesses or health problems. Please move to the identification area."

The identification area was a rectangular box, around 100 feet in length and 70 feet in width with white walls and ceilings along with a brown floor. At the far end opposite of where I came in was another metal door. Besides the door was a grey booth with a young woman who looked to be in her twenties and was staring at her phone. In the centre of the room were rows of wooden seats and a table set out with food. Dotted around the room were the very kids that for the last 2 and a half years I had diligently trained with. I spotted James, James was the kind of kid that never took work seriously and could turn even the darkest times into one big joke. He was a dark haired lean boy with light green eyes.Standing around James were Molly and Elizabeth. Molly is many descriptions all at once. But the best one would be that she is a hyperactive but sad and slightly depressed person all at once. She is also tall and lean like James but has dark brown eyes and walks with a slouch. Elizabeth is a much easier person to describe, she is the perfect example of an always optimistic and cheerful person. Everywhere she walks she makes people smile. She is of a very average height and slightly more plump than everyone else, she has light brown eyes and holds everyones opinion above her own. They were all wearing the specially designed blue suits and were standing near the back left row of chairs. The other 4 groups were standing in other places around the room with their own specially designed suits.

As I walked up to James, the woman in the booth spoke into a microphone that played out into speakers along the ceiling. "As everyone is here we will begin boarding process. Please leave any food or drinks and line up in your groups beside this booth" No words were spoken but the look all of my friends gave me spoke of sheer sadness. I started walking the others falling into line behind me not having said any greetings yet, the other groups also fell into line. I stopped directly beside the booth, staring at the woman as she checked off a few things on a clipboard. She turned to me and spoke, "Henry Jackson, James Walker, Molly Moore, and Elizabeth Miller. You will now head through this door into the Argo, from there you will proceed to the bridge and await launch." She looked at us for a few more seconds then pointed to the door and spoke one word, "Go". I directed myself to the door and walked up to it, my group was following shortly behind me. There was a pop and loud hiss as air was let out from somewhere in the door, then the entire door slid to the side like it was on wheels. Behind the door was a short hallway ending with yellow x's all around the hallway walls and ceiling along with a red switch at the end on the left. I spoke for the first time to my group, "well...this is it...I guess we should just make the most of what were given." Everything was silent as this realisation sunk in, even the voice of the woman was not able to be heard through our own thoughts.

I turned expectant of my group to follow, and walked to the end of the hallway where another more solid looking metal door was waiting. As I stopped and waited on my group to approach I couldn't help but notice that the floor ended just before the door and had about an inch of open air, in the open air there was a drop, far enough that it ended in grey fog. My vision then shifted to the door, I glanced at the wall to my left and the big red handle that was embedded into it. Above the handle were the words "OPEN DOOR" in big red letters. I quickly glanced back onto the now long line of waiting groups and pulled the switch as far as it could go. The door made another pop and hiss and swung outward as if on a pendulum. Beyond it was one long hallway extending to about 300 feet. All along the hallway were doors with signs on them. At the end of the hallway was a ladder and an elevator. I knew the ladder was for emergencies. In between these was another sign that read "LEVEL 2". I stood there for a few seconds then forced my feet to move, more shuffling then walking. As I passed each door I read it out to myself, "Engine room", "Artificial Gravity Room", "Cryogenic Chamber Room", and "Equipment Room". I kept walking through the hallway. Passing more familiar doors and finally stoping at the elevator. I once again forced my hand to push the up arrow on the right side of the elevator. There was a ding and the doors slid open to reveal a blank white elevator. I walked through letting James in followed by Elizabeth and Molly. I then let the elevator close as there was not enough room for anyone else. I read through the buttons eventually selecting "Bridge" and pushing it so it lit up. The elevator hummed and started up the shaft carrying with it 4 unnerved and anxious kids. The anxiety increased as the elevator sped up the shaft. Finally it stopped having seemed like it took forever. I pushed James and Molly out then pulled Elizabeth out before the door closed. We were all daydreaming wishing it was any day other than this one, but everyone gave a deep sigh and continued onwards. Outside the elevator was large pyramid like room with a hallway besides the elevator and one large window in the front of the pyramid. In the centre were rows and rows of large plush and soft looking chairs. On the back of each chair was a group number and a persons name. We walked up to the front left seats and fell into them, wearily buckling ourselves into the seats.

We waited as the rest of the groups filtered through the elevator one at a time, all with the same blank looks and stiff walk. As everyone took seats a voice blared over the speaker in the front of the room at the very complicated looking set of control panels. "Now that everyone is basically seated we will begin the takeoff process. Please know that once you leave the earths atmosphere you will not be able to radio us anymore." The voice went silent, it sounded like the it was crying slightly. "Takeoff process is initiating in 20 seconds, be ready. And once again all of humanity warns you, never ever come back to earth". The voice went silent for the last time. An automated voice started up from the same speakers as the other mans voice, 10 seconds until launch, 8, 7, 6, I looked at my friends sad at only having these last few seconds on earth. 2, 1, Launch initiated.

Hows the first chapter? anything confusing or weird going on? Let me know in the comments and you can attempt a guess on whats going to happen next!