Valentine's Day

Chapter 2

The moment I walked into my Language Arts class, was the moment things started feeling off. Maybe it was because my twin brother wasn't here with me today, but today wasn't the first day he was ever sick, and this was a different kind of off.

I placed my blue backpack on the ground,and soaked into my seat.

"Monday Blues?" A voice asked from behind me. I stirred around and saw Kai. She had long thick, dark brown hair, with dark chocolate eyes,a tan, and stood at only 5'3". Kai was the class athlete. She was a wrestler, softball player, and a track runner/thrower. She also seemed to not care for Valentine's Day, as she was wearing a pair of grey sweat pants,and her wrestling jacket. Her hair was left down, and went all the way to her bellybutton. She was the type of person you wanted to be stuck in the apocalypse with.

"Oh hey Kai! Ya, another long week to survive through." I said as I dumped my head on my desk.

"I feel ya. I get the privilage to stay after school until 6 pm everyday!" She said sarcastically as she placed her hand into her pocket.

"Why's that?" I asked

"Practice." She responded as she took a seat at her desk, which was right infront if mine.

"Oh you see, I'm a lazy potato, and don't do any physical activity whatsoever." I responded as I gestured to my stomach.

"Really? I think you'd be a pretty good runner." Kai said as she began to eat a protein bar she had stored in her pocket.

"Ya, if you want our school's track team to stay the way they are, I think it's best I stear away." I responded, as I sat back in my seat,and closed my eyes.

We both had a good laugh, and then I realised something that feed into my feeling that something was off. The teacher wasn't in class yet.

"Hey Kai...where's Mrs. Skaufer?" I asked as I looked around the classroom. All the students were here, but the teacher wasn't.

"Now that you mention it... none of the teachers were here before school either." Kai said as her gaze followed mine.

"That's... pretty bizarre." I said as I stood up to look down the school hallway. Empty.

Its been about 20 minutes,and not one single teacher was here.

The voice of the school intercom broke the silence that was lingering in the classroom.

"Attention. All students of NorthernHeights Highschool...You are one of all the schools in the United States taking part in the Generation Cleanse"

Instantly I could feel a rush of anxiety flow through my body. This wasn't the ordinary voice we had everyday. This was the voice of a man in his mid-40's. It wasn't a hype voice either. It was very deep, and sounded painfully sinister. What did he mean by, a generation cleanse?

Kai turned to make eye contact with me,and we both looked equally confused. Then, it continued.

"The World is struggling. Many people are poor, uneducated, weak,and the world is overpopulated. The United States government has decided to take action, and start what we call a Generation cleansing. Why not get rid of the weak and useless as young as we can,and start the your generation, with the strongwilled,and the smart?"

As soon as he said that, my face turned pale.

"What the fuck, this has to be some kind of joke." A boy on the front of the classroom said. His blonde hair was messed up,and his face was as pale in fear as mine.
But he wasn't quite done yet.

"There are 3 simple rules:

1. Never disregard the government's orders, or you will die
2. Don't even try to escape, or you will die
3. You must take part in killing one student everyday...or I think you get the pattern

But don't worry. You still have a chance of survival... The last 3 people alive in the entire school will be set free."

The class projector automatically turned itself on, shinning the number '4,500' onto the projector screen.

"You can all see that number right in front of you. That is the number of students currently in NorthernHeights HighSchool. Everytime someone dies, the number will go down, this count keeps number of how many people are alive."

There was a moment of silence until the man said his last few words.

"This is a test of the wits, and strength. Best of luck to the future generation." You could hear the cut off of the overcom. And the whole classroom was so quiet,  I could hear Kai's breathing.

I quickly pulled out my phone,and turned it on.

"What're you doing?" She asked as she put her hand on my phone.

I instinctively pulled it away."I've gotta call Trinity, make sure she's o-"
 
"Aria, there's no service, all lines are cut off, you can't call or text..."

At this point, kids were starting to panic, nobody could call anyone, and the fact there was no adult present made things even worse.

We looked at the number 4,500. It didnt budge... but then it did. The number 4,500, slowly changed to 4,499...

My stomach churned,and I felt light headed"Oh my fucken god Kai, I don't think this is fake..."