7th Grade Writing

The Draft

There used to be six of us... now I'm alone. So alone that I could scream and there would be no response at all. So alone that I could die and no one would know. Where had we all gone? It started with twenty, then six, no one. Unfortunatley, I happened to be the last one standing. 

...

Before this, over fifty of us had been held at the "Draft". We were all standing in a small crowd before "them", the people who picked us. Out of the group, they called out twenty names. With every name, a cry and mourn was heard. Some of us had family there, and getting picked with them was the worst. The worst name was mine though. 

"Alex Tamris!" I heard. It was all over. But instead, no one cried or mourned for my loss. I was a nobody to the crowd, no one knew me or shared any relationships with me. All I could do was put my hands over my mouth and blink tears back myself. 

It would have been easier to deal with if all twenty of us were prepared, but not all of us were. Within the first few days people started dying of hunger, fatigue, and heat stroke. Only six of us made it. 

Out of the six of us, it was me, Malcom, Hailey, Dillian, Justin, and Bailey. But Bailey had been bitten by some poisonous snake earlier on, so we knew she wouldn't make it. We put her out of her misery. Justin stayed back and wept for her, the rest of us left. There really was not any time for us to sit around and weep for lost ones. No matter how much it hurt. 

...

We made it through the next two sections of the "Draft" before anyone else got hurt. I assumed Justin died earlier when we left him, oh well. 

We encounters some sort of poisonous flower along the way too, right at the end. Dillian was the only one stupid enough to touch it. We all watched him die, blood trickling down his mouth and then... then his heart explode from his chest. Poor guy fell straight to the ground, lifeless and limp as ever. Nevertheless, the rest of us made it, barely living off our remaining rations. 

...

The next thing I remember is walking back into our province from the walls we were contained in. The walls that told us death was at every corner. Death that only three of us overcame. Three out of twenty survived, three young people with no family to run to, three who were hopeless. 

...

Once six, and now... three. Three measly teenagers who were probably fated for death on this island. 

The other two were asleep; I had only just woke up and was honestly afraid of even peeking my head out of the safety of my shipment box. Yes. The world had been reduced to shipping people. Great. 

It was silent in the area around me, aside from the occasional sound of water washing up onto land. We must have been dropped on an island beach. 

Slowly, I came to terms with my gut and peeked outside. It was dark, extremely dark. No red eyes in the shadows though, great. I climbed out of my box and looked around for the others. Their boxes werent too far away now so I started walking cautiously towards them. This wasnt the best time to be alone. 

Quickly, I made it to them and knocked on one of the boxes. I heard movement inside of it; at least she was not killed. I walked over to the second box and knocked. No response. I banged on the box and recieved a response. The box burst open and I jumped back. I did not expect Malcom to react so fast. Malcom was a tall, broad shouldered black teenager. His eyes were so intimidating that they seemed to pierce right through you. 

He stepped out of his box, walked over to the remaining box, and opened it. A petite, white hand reached out. Malcom grabbed it and pulled a brown-haired teenager from the box. How was she not dead?

"Is everyone alright?" I asked after a moment. I know falling from a plane isn't so pleasant. 

"Yeah, I think at least," the brunette, Hailey, responded, letting go of Malcom. He just shrugged. 

"Alright then...," at least they were breathing. Besides, worrying about them was probably a waste of time. I turned around, my back facing the ocean, and looked out. We would be trapped here until death. Malcom and Hailey joined. I started to walk, not wanting to waste time. I walked over to my box and tore it apart. We could the materials later. Malcom did the same to his, Hailey didn't bother. I ended up tearing hers apart. After, I had Malcom pick up the materials and we made our way away from the beach, out of the eyes of whoever had trapped us here. 

...

There was a clearing just beyond the brush of trees. I guess it was not as much as a forest as I thought. At least it was away from the water. 

"Why do you think they brought us here?" Hailey asked, leaning against a tree. 

"It's the only piece of land they didn't have in territory I guess," Malcom responded. I only shrugged, I didn't like about "them". The Draft was hard enough to deal with. The government was only an addition to the problem. 

Hailey and Malcom walked over and explored the other side of the clearing, leaving me to deal with how we were going to get food. They always did this, when Hailey wandered Malcom was sure to follow. Almost one hundred percent of the time, this is what happened. When it did not, Malcom was trying to pick an argument. 

Out of the three of us, I was the oldest. Hailey was the youngest. That might be why she is so full of herself. 

After a few minutes, I decided to go after them. I glanced over and did not see them in the clearing, so I walked over to the last place I saw them. No sign of them was visible. 

"Where'd they go?" I whispered to myself, walking further past the clearing to find them. 

...

The last thing I heard before finally finding them was Hailey scream. It was the most sickening kind of scream possible, one that seemed to blow out your eardrums and make your heart halt with fear. No... Yes... She was dead. I could not stop myself from imagining every way possible that she could have died as I began to run towards the source of the scream.

I finally got there, only to stop and stare in complete and utter fear. I saw Malcom, on the ground, with the biggest hole through his chest. His body and limp and bare, his eyes barely open. His chest wasn't moving up or down, showing that he was not breathing. Hailey was gone; I could not find any traces of her besides a single shoe. 

It was horrifying, the fact that I was alone. I may have seemed strong in the beginning, but now I wished I were still curled up in my small little crate. wishing for everything to be over. My eyes were wide with fear, but my breath shaky as I began to step back, not wanting to go any nearer to the rotting corpse of my fellow ex-survivor. Hailey was gone, and I had no way of finding her, so she is considered an "ex" too. Quickly, I turned with tears now streaming down my face and ran as fast as I could back to where we had set up camp. Maybe Hailey had gone back looking for me. Maybe she WAS still alive. 

But no. Instead, there was nothing. Not a single person in sight. Although the camp I set up had been wrecked. I searched to find anything I needed: rations, water, a little woods, and something to fight with. I did not realize it was already too late, though. 

From behind me I heard a growl, one that was almost as sickening as Hailey's scream. I slowly turned around, holding my flimsy weapon close. I was met to face to face with some big, scary creature. But I couldn't see what it was, for everything suddenly went...

BLACK.