The Post-World

Chapter Five

The time soon came and me, along with my comrades ventured to the final gathering. Our parents were also allowed to go. This left everyone with a very tight space, as most of them wanted to attend. Most of them wept and held their offspring before it started but soon we were to go to our spots and wait for a speaker.

Then one came that we hadn't seen before behind the podium and we were quiet.

"Dear children... I am honored to stand and speak to all of you. I am personally very proud of all of you here today. And I am filled with sadness that these are your final moments with your families." He paused and looked around the huge room. I almost felt like he glanced at every individual face, even my own, before he continued. "I have probably never been introduced in your lifetimes but maybe once when you were all too young to remember. I am Arvid. For longer than any of you have been alive I have been one of the coordinators and organizers of the skyships. I address you now to hopefully inspire you to greater successes for humanity. You are our only hope for a future outside again. I warn that it will not be easy to forge a future. But, if you are successful you will have been capable to being compared to the myths you have been told." He went on like this for a long time that I even began to drift away from what he was saying often. I understood what we were to do already so I felt like he rambled for a long time. But he finally stopped with a finishing statement. "Like the men and women of old you will light the world again!" Everyone cheered and clapped it seemed. Except for my dad... Whenever I looked over my shoulder I could see him in the back with no expression. I knew it had to be hard for him. But I could not fret about my father's discomfort for long. We were then told to go to the bottom floor until we were addressed again. While I headed there in a large line with the other youths my dad caught me and pulled me aside.

"Hey..." My dad said as he looked at me.

"Yeah dad?" I said.

He looked very sad and nervous. "I'm really gonna miss you."

"I know dad. I'll miss you too." I hugged him for a second.

He still looked nervous. "I want you to have something."

I looked at him confused. "Umm dad you already gave me the knife. I don't need anything else."

"I think you do." He sighed. "I'll meet you down there. Ok?"

"Yeah. Sure." When I finished talking dad hugged me tight.

"I'm really going to miss you son."

"I'll miss you too dad." We finished hugging. "I'll see you down there. Love you."

"I love you too." He patted my shoulder and left me so I could catch up with my group.

It was a really weird walk. I had seen the halls so many times and never thought of them. But, this was more unique than before. The metal walls seemed more comforting than they had been. These did not feel like walls of a hall but part of my home. It was as if I had lived in the whole ship instead of just my room... I was sad to think I'd be leaving so soon from everything I ever known... I could see my comrades were looking around more than usual when we walked through. It was like they were soaking in all our pasts. I understood them and I felt connected to them through our uniform silence. The walls almost looked personified for the first time I could remember. They always looked so cold and bland before but now they were soft and maybe inviting. I was going to miss this place...

The bottom floor came soon and we were all shepherded along by officials and some volunteers. They got us all into two file lines that concluded at one of many booths. I couldn't see what was going on in front but the line moved quickly. Soon it was my turn.

Two older women stood in the booth. Clearly sisters.

"What's your number?" She asked.

I still did not know what the meaning behind them all were but I told her. "21805." She typed it in then, through a large tube in the ceiling a backpack landed on the table in front of the booth.

"Go pick up the bag and move along to the opposite side of the room. Thank you." She gestured for me to leave with the bag so I did. The other side of the room was full of other youths looking through their bags. I was about to unzip mine before I saw the parents enter and dad ran towards me. The speaker system blared in the ceiling. "You are permitted to make final statements to your parents now. You have 5 minutes then all parents are to report back to their homes. Thank you and good luck." It signed off.

Dad looked at my bag then at me. We were very quiet and it was now that I really took notice of our similarities. I was taller and better built but I took after him in many ways. We both had deep set, brown eyes. My hair was black but you could see that apart from how he needed to straighten his hair, unlike me that it was very close. It was like I was a young mirror of him. If it wasn't for his olive completion I think we would have looked more close to brothers than father and son. But then I came back to reality when he talked to me.

"I really need you to have this..." He took off his long, black, trench coat and handed it to me. He was just looking at the old coat and wouldn't meet my gaze. "It'll keep you warmer in the fall and early winter..." I took it and folded it up into a part of my bag.

"Thanks dad..." We both looked at the bag. "I'm going to be fine you know."

He didn't look at me. "I know."

The speakers blared again. "A reminder to parents. You have 30 seconds to finish your farewells. Then you must report to your homes." Neither of us could believe this! It did not feel like anymore than just a few seconds before the last one blared at us! We both just hugged each other tight when we heard.

"It's too soon!" Dad said while he held me. "This shouldn't be now!"

"I'm sorry dad... I'll be back again someday though. Don't worry."

"That's a stupid thing to tell me to do. I love you son." I felt his tears soak into my shoulder. "You don't get hurt. Just don't get hurt..."

"I love you too. I won't." I hugged his back and sighed. This would be the last time I saw my dad for at least a very long time... If not forever... Before much longer we were torn apart from the chaos of the crowds and I stood alone, with my bag.

"Please proceed towards the red line but do not pass it. We are preparing for our unloading sequence." We all listened to the speakers and stood behind the line. It was very cramped and I stood as close as I could get to the line. I clenched to my back pack. Lights and sirens went off and incredibly bright light shot throw a growing crack in front of us. I shut my eyes and looked down. I could feel the ship lower and a door open. It was like we crashed into something huge. "It is advised that you all looked at the floor until your eyes are better adjusted." The speakers were barely heard from all of the noise around us.

Before I was ready to move though I felt people from behind start to blindly push us forward. I couldn't see where we were going but I felt like we were walking down something. A few screams even escaped the crowd in front of me. I was even considering it as a rational option and I pushed in front of me with my eyes closed. Pure chaos went on and I started to get adjusted to a new angle of travel and we were no longer going down hill. The floor had become softer and not as smooth as before. Then, with a huge bang almost all of us fell onto each other and this foreign ground. I clawed the ground for leverage and pulled out something wet. My worst fear was that I had pulled on wet hair but that was not the case. I tried to open my eyes but I could only see other bodies scrambling around. I looked up and was nearly blinded by the bright blue and all that was clearly visible was a metal ship in the sky going higher and higher. Pounding at the ground I gripped my mind away from the confusion and lifted myself into a stance. I was standing...