Elite || Marhinki

•Chapter Six: Mari•

We followed Sarah into the strange vehicle.

It was small inside, with only six rows of two seats, three on each side, separated by a walkway. There were windows on the sides, and the roof was round, making me feel like we were in a cylinder-shaped vehicle.

"Sit wherever you like," She smiled at us. I was sick of her smiles. They were obviously fake.

David and I sat down in one of the rows. The seats were comfortable. In front of me, on the back of the seat, there was a foldable table and a screen which displayed a variety of movies, games, songs, and T.V shows. Sarah handed us two sticks of what felt like rubber.

"It's gum," She told us. "Your ears will hurt because of the increased hight elevation at a rapid pace. Chewing it helps. Don't swallow it."

"Did you just say 'increased hight elevation?'" David asked.

"Yes," She replied. "We're on a plane."

"What do planes do?" I asked her.

She gave me a dumbfounded look. "They fly. Didn't they teach you that in school?"

Neither of us answered her. I couldn't believe what she had just said. The vehicle we were sitting in; it was going to fly? They definitely hadn't taught us about that in school.

I instantly popped the gum into my mouth. It tasted sweet, and the flavor got more intense every time I chewed it, until the flavor just went away. It made me kind of angry, knowing that jewels invented food without the intention of eating it while we were starving.

"Put on your seatbelts," Sarah told us from her seat.

I did as she told me too. I had never actually put on a seatbelt before, but after some trial and error, I figured out I was supposed to clip the belt-like fabric into the buckle, making a tight belt around my waist that I felt wouldn't really protect me from anything.

"When will be able to see the sun?" I asked, remembering what she said earlier.

"You should be able to see it out your window, but you'll be able to get a better look at it once we land," She explained.

David and I looked at each other. We're going to see the sun. The thought made me feel excited, before I remembered what seeing it would cost me.

Suddenly, the plane moved. I instinctively clutched my armrest as David pulled the plastic sheet obstructing the window up. We both watched as the plane moved forwards, onto what looked like a runway.

Then it started to pick up speed, and the plane tilted. I realized with a start that we weren't on the ground anymore; we were in the air. David and I watched with wide eyes as the ground receded below us, before our vision was obstructed by the pollution in our air. I didn't know how whoever was driving this thing could see, as the entire sky was a smokey gray barrier. I realized that I had just taken the last look I would ever take of the Yellow Districts.

"Goodbye," I muttered. I knew David heard me, but he didn't say anything.

We flew through the smoke for a while. I had turned to the screen for entertainment, though it wasn't nearly as exciting as the hologram box had been. After about an hour, I heard a noise from outside the plane that sounded like sucking.

I looked out the window, and noticed that the smoke was getting thinner. Then, I saw the strangest sight I'd seen in my life.

It was a tall net, that started high in the sky and dropped below the smoke, and I assumed to the ground, and was holding onto a circular hold held up by a pole I saw in the distance. I assumed there were more poles supporting it. On the other side of it, there was no smoke in the sky.