SHIFT: Book One: HORIZONS

Four: Michael

THIRTEEN HOURS TO RELEASE

THEY WERE AT the pool, a small pond-like body of water that had formed close to the western part of the lake. It wasn't far from the entrance to the bunker either. In fact, from where he sat, Michael Collins could still see the field at which the huge lead doors lay covered and camouflaged in the grass that would rise and open for thirty minutes every twelve hours at exactly six o'clock in the morning and evening to allow the subjects to exit for the day to return at night. 

That's what they were calling them. They were not called children. They were not called teenagers. They were barely even referred to by their names anymore. They were subjects. 

Three hundred, twelve years ago, there was a war. Something happened in a place once known as Europe, something about an unknown, extremely powerful enemy attacking and overtaking multiple European countries. The world had no warning, or if they did they easily overlooked it, and the continent was falling rapidly. There was nothing anyone could do, and it was clear that the apocalypse had arrived. 

One European nation called Switzerland wasn't going down without a fight however, and was willing to do anything physically possible to bring this enemy down with them. They did something terrible, something that sent the rest of the world into a more chaotic state of panic than it was already in. 

They activated a machine so powerful, so dangerous, so godlike... 

Michael was brought back from his thoughts by a loud splash in the water in front of him. He blinked a few times. A voice came from behind him. 

"You know, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were depressed or something," Alexa said. Michael smiled and turned his head slightly left toward her. It's true. He wasn't depressed. He wasn't even close to depressed. He was something completely different. 

"What do you want?" he asked, pretending to be annoyed. He looked forward again. 

Alexa sat on the ground beside him. "I was joking," she said. "I know you're not too happy about this whole thing tomorrow. Nobody is." She fingered a blade of grass between them. 

He sighed. It's hard to hide anything from someone who's known you and shared your life with you since their creation. She knew him better than anyone else, and vice-versa. He was only a year older than her, and the beginnings of their memories took place at about the same time. They had taken care of each other since their mother died of radiation poisoning when they were ages eight and nine. Their father was seldom available, for he was a scientist constantly at work in the laboratories. He barely had time for anything outside of those rooms. 

He looked over the area. There were nine of them out here; himself and Alexa, brothers Xavier and Quantre King, Drake Sage, Shawn Blake, Mia Avery, Sarah Clementine and Julia Cassidy. Quantre, Shawn and Sarah were in the water. Xavier and Julia lie beside each other on the sand across the lake, quietly speaking and laughing together. Drake carved at a piece of oak while he sat in the split of a large tree that grew huge and strong and hung like a canopy over a piece of the water, casting it in cool shade. Mia tanned alone on the left side of the lake, farthest away from the field where the entrance to the bunker would be opening in little over half-an-hour. Michael looked at his sister. 

"They act as if nothing is going to happen," he said calmly. He let his words hang in the air. Soon Alexa responded. 

"They do not want to acknowledge it in fear of having to deal with it faster," she said. "They're in denial." She picked up a small flat rock that lie between them and skipped it across the water's surface. It sank a few inches from Sarah after three skips. 

"Ahh!" Sarah screamed, startled. "What was that?" 

Drake looked up from his project for a second and grinned. "Be careful, Sarah," he advised. "It might've been one of X's two headed snakes!" 

There was laughter, and Xavier responded in his own defense, "C'mon guys. I swear it was a moccasin with two heads, and gills, too." He had to yell to be fully heard. 

"Uh, huh, and I saw a six foot tall lizard in the bathroom this morning," Drake countered sarcastically. Mia sat up a bit. 

"I believe you. Mirrors can be scary," she attacked playfully, grinning. More laughter. 

Drake smiled in defeat, but responded with, "Girl, stay over there in your little beauty salon. You need it." He returned to carving. Somebody whispered "Look who's talking." 

The only people who didn't laugh were Michael and Alexa. They still sat together on a small hill by Drake's tree. He shook his head, and she sighed. 

"Look, I know how you're feeling. I know what you're scared of, really," Alexa claimed. She picked a piece of grass off of her brother's shoulder. "No fifteen year old kid should have to go through any of this." 

Michael bit his lip, a nervous habit. He looked out at the others, who were all having a good old time here at the lake when he personally thought that they should all at least be allowed to spend this last day saying goodbye to their older family members. Most of them still had family. Many of them would have a sibling or two leaving the bunkers tomorrow with them. Some were an only child, having no one to follow or to be with after the Release. 

Michael feared that those people would be the first to fall. 

Sarah was laughing with Shawn. Quantre called to Michael, "Yo, Mike, what are you waiting for? Are you scared of the water? Get in here." 

"Yeah, you can swim right?" Sarah teased. Shawn mouthed, "No," to Michael from behind her, and made a joking cut-throat gesture. 

"What's the matter, Shawny-boy? You scared 'cause my man Michael can steal your girl any day he likes?" Drake picked. Sarah tugged on a vine hanging from his nest and, to her pleasure, almost caused him to fall twenty feet to the water below, starting the next round of playful insults. Michael grinned. 

"Go," Alexa said. "Take a break. Don't be so hard on yourself," she said. He sighed and stood up. He removed his shoes and shirt and walked barefoot toward the lake. He had a few minutes to enjoy himself. He wasn't scared of the water. He wasn't scared too much even about who would be the first to die after the Release. Not even the Release itself was scary to him. 

But he was terrified of what was to follow it.