The Game

The Compound

        The plane shot up for a few minutes. "We have now reached cruising altitude." the pilot spoke with a voice that was not male or female, but strangely electronic. Once the initial shock wore off, Drew high fived Ben and said quite loudly, "That was totally awesome! But where are we going?" "To camp." was the simple reply from the pilot who could apparently hear what they were saying and respond. The kids didn't really feel the need for dialogue after that.

        After a few hours of flying, the plane dropped out of the sky as suddenly as it had taken off. Grace was afraid that the engines had failed and they were plummeting to their death, but a split second before they hit the ground, the plane stopped and touched down gently. "You may undo your seat belts and exit the plane," the pilot said, "thank you for flying with us." Grace decided to go with the rest of the group and leave the plane. They clambered off the steps and onto a lush green grass. Sometime when they were flying, someone must have re-painted the plane because it was the same color of the grass.

        "Follow me." this simple command came from the tallest man in black. The kids followed obediently even though they didn't know where they were going. They hiked and hiked up and down mountains, over a river, beneath trees, and they even had to canoe across a large lake. Finally they had made it to a building. They followed the man into the large warehouse-like building and saw twelve chairs in rows of six facing a stage up front. The man motioned to the chairs and everyone hastily sat down.

        What was going on? Grace wondered. Why are we here? What has my mom signed me up for? Why is there a stage? What are we going to have to do? These thoughts raced around and around her brain each one wanting her to pay attention to it. She looked nervously at her fellow classmates, they all looked scared too. This comforted her, but only a little.