The R.A.C.E.

The Anathema

She heard ringing in her ears. Was she alive?

She heard noises.... Leaves rustling, sounds of living creatures moving. Who was there? Where was she?

Attempts at opening her eyes were failing, all she could see were blurs of green and sky blue, and the occasional white of a fluffy cloud. She could hear herself breathing... Or someone else's breath. Finally, she shifted into consciousness and sat up.

The world around her had changed. The air felt different as she took it into her lungs, and breathed it right back out. The sky was a bright, almost unbearable shade of blue, and there was no sun. Just light... Coming from particularly nowhere. The grass wasn't even green. It was a teal-green, the colour change highly visible to Meg. The girl arched her back, and stood. Was this the last place she's ever see before tumbling into oblivion?

The sound of a retching person disturbed her thoughts as she whipped around to see Carlos De la Vega vomiting behind a nearby bush.

"Oh dear," she said under her breath, not because she felt pity, but because she realized her last moments would be spent with this douche.

Pretending not to have noticed him, she turned back around, examining her surrounding. Being a farm girl, you think she'd love it. Truth was, although she had just arrived, she felt a deep hate for the surrounding she was in. It seemed as if they were in a clearing.

Suddenly, another person fizzled into life close by them. They were barely visible, their form flickering before them as they moved in and out of focus. Finally, she could see a head of short, electric green hair come to life. Closed eyes helped her see the pink eyeliner rimming her eyes, and the bright blue on her eyelashes. Her lips were tinted with a barely visible soft pink sheen. The girl had a small button like nose, and small features with high cheekbones. She seemed at peace, excluding the fact their bright surrounding was put to shame by her outfit. She wore bright orange tight jeans that were ripped at the knees, and a holographic silver t-shirt. There was a neon rainbow choker around her neck, and her arms were adorned with several bracelets. The only thing that dulled down the outfit was a grey and black striped jacket, and dark blue Converse.

"Hey.... Meg," Carlos said groggily as he leaned on a tree, "Ooh," he singsong-ed, "It's Kimchi!"

Everyone was already tired of his horrid nicknames for people. Some of them made you question why his existence had to be valid for the functioning of the universe.

"Ugh... Carlos is here?" she rolled over onto her stomach with a groan, "Hello Meg."

"Hi," the girl said, glancing back at him, fixing her two braids perfectly on her shoulders, and smoothing out her red flannel, "No one likes those names Carlos." She stated the obvious.

"Let me rephrase that," Hana said sitting up straight, "No one likes you, Carlos."

Meg attempted to hold back a laugh as Carlos looked at her, aghast, "How could you?"

The girl only smirked, looking around, "Shouldn't there be two more?"

Carlos shrugged finally standing, "Maybe we should scour these woods," he said, sweeping a hand across the greenery around us.

"Friendly reminder," Meg perked up, "We were sent here to die. We should set up a camp, and find a water source, and food source before dark. Shouldn't there be things to kill us in the woods anyways?"

The other two nodded, exchanging glances.

"How do you know so much about survival?" Carlos asked as they pushed through the shrubbery, picking up any loose pieces of wood and rock to make a fire.

"Basic human knowledge, Carlos," Hana mumbled as she picked up a heavy rock.

"Shouldn't there be remnants of life here? Surely we aren't the first persons to come here," Meg mumbled the last part to herself as she examined a berry hanging off a bush, before crushing it in her fingers, swiping the purple tint across the bark of the tree adjacent to her.

"Yes, there should," Carlos said, putting a 'serious face' on.

"Careful not to mess your pants there, Sherlock," Hana said sassily.

Her saltiness never seemed to waver whenever words came out of the young Latinos mouth.

After a while of walking, they finally came across the same clearing they were spawned in.

"Hey, weren't we-"

"Just here? Yes," the obvious question asked by yours truly was answered by Zena Ibrahimi, followed by a tall boy, not far from their age; but none of them had seen them before.

Dropping all the wood they had gathered in the clearing's centre, they all clustered around the newly formed pile.

"Aaah Zena!" Carlos said, with a smile, waving happily.

"The atmosphere has that affect on small minded people. It's... different here," the tall and dark boy said, looking down at the other two girls.

"So I'm stuck here with three girls and tall dark and mean," Carlos huffed and plopped down by a tree, seemingly upset.

Zena looked over and scoffed, "It's temporary, right?"

The boy nodded, before Hana asked them, "How long have you been searching for...."

"Water sources, place of shelter, food and provisions?" Meg finished, stealing glances up at the boy.

His demeanor was mysterious, the way his stride was to himself, how he stood, back straight, and gleaming chestnut brown eyes piercing into anything he looked at with interest, as if they were holding all the secrets to the universe, not him. His high, chiseled cheekbones were highlighted by the dim fire that Meg had managed to get with the help of Zena's lighter.

"Nope. We've managed to find none, but have always come back here," Zena said.

"That's odd," Meg stood, brushing off her hands.

"This must be one of their missions," Hana concluded, looking up at the dark blue sky, "Something we're to solve before a specific time."

"Or we die," the boy, Stephen, or simply, Steph, concluded, saying the words which the girls wished they'd never hear.

The silence was melancholy, making a shiver run down Meg's back.

"We'll wait until dawn," Hana mumbled, moving over to a patch of grass making it her own bed, (Carlos was her pillow, she could care less about his feelings), "Then we'll find our way."

"What should we call this place?" Carlos croaked, sanity coming back to him little by little.

Hana chuckled, using what knew would cover this place's definition, by using just one word, "Anathema."

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so first chapter its lit amirite hUEGH