Red Sky

Chapter 6- Will

Chapter 6

Will

Darla’s room was on the same floor as us, she was paired up with Jessica, John’s classmate. I bet John was happy to see Jessica, he was looking at her all throughout lunch. It must be nice to see a familiar face from home. I hadn’t seen anyone I recognized from my Zone yet, then again the likelihood of someone recognizing me is slim to none. I was a loner in school, no one wanted to hang out with me. I was really happy to start fresh here in the shuttle.

 I was happier than I had ever been in my life; I felt that for the first time in my 12 years of life, I was living. I finally had a purpose in my life; I wasn’t going to let anybody take this away from me. There was no bloody way I was going back to Zone III, I didn’t belong there. There is no one left for me there.  I reached into my pocket and got out the only thing in this world that I treasured. It was a photograph of my mother holding me as a baby.  I only knew her as a name, she died when I was a baby. I had no idea who my father was, I didn’t care either. He abandoned my mother, and I don’t think I’d be able to forgive him for that. All the other kids at the orphanage held on to the hope that their parents would one day come back for them. I had no such hope, I knew that if I wanted to get somewhere in life, I would have to leave behind those that didn’t care about me. The other kids weren’t close to my age, they were either too old or too young. There was a woman at the orphanage who was my only friend, she was our caretaker, and loved us like her own. Her name was Jean, she was very old and was like a mother to me. She always told me that I had to find my own path in life, and not wait around for my father to come back for me.

“Who’s that in the picture?” John’s voice crept from behind me. I hurriedly put the picture back into my pocket and wiped a tear from the corner of my eye before John could see. The rest were walking in front of us.

“Errr... It’s nothing, we should keep walking.”

“Is that your mom in the picture?” John asked, now leaning over my shoulder.

“I said it’s nothing John, just give it a rest will you.” I snapped, and threw John’s arms off my shoulder. I sped up to catch up with the rest before John could say anymore.

“Where should we start exploring?” Leo was asking Allen and Darla as I approached them.

 “It’s such a huge ship, I hope we don’t get lost.” Allen chimed in.

“Don’t worry, we have lots of time, we won’t get lost.” John said as he approached us. He was looking at me with a concerned look, his brows furrowed. I felt bad about snapping at him but he should have just minded his own business.

“Enough standing around, I saw some mysterious looking doors by the bathrooms which need exploring.” I quickly spoke and started to walk off, the rest followed excitedly.

We were very eager to properly start exploring the ship, we discovered there were four large metal elevators at the heart of each floor, near the bathrooms. These were the elevators we would have to use during our mission because the ones we use currently are part of the building and not the ship. These elevators were closed for the time being, I assume while we are on land we will continue to use the building elevators. We explored every floor that we had access to, they all seemed to be designed in the same format. We couldn’t figure out where the training area was, it must be in a restricted area. I hadn’t spoken to John at all since I snapped at him, he didn’t seem all that mad. He was talking to Allen behind me as we walked back to the cafeteria with our training bags. I had never told anyone about my past and how I didn’t have a family like the rest. They might treat me differently and the last thing I want is for them to feel sorry for me.

“Hey, Will” John’s voice suddenly came into my thoughts. I turned around to see him and Allen looking at me. “We’re trying establish who has the greatest superpower between Sand Girl and Oxy Man? Allen says it’s Sand Girl, but I disagree. What do you think?”

“Umm...I don’t know what that is.” I said quietly, surprised that John was acting so normal to me. It was as if he had forgotten that I had snapped at him earlier.

“YOU DON’T KNOW WHO THEY ARE?” Darla interrupted as she turned around to face us, she was walking in front of us next to Leo, which was an odd combination I thought. Her face was agape with shock and bewilderment. “How? Why- what? No! Impossible.”

            “Darla! You can solve this debate for us. You clearly know your comic book heroes.” John said.

            “Well, dimple face, it’s obviously neither Sand Girl nor Oxy Man. The best superhero is Atmos Man. I mean, have you read the issue when he makes the poisonous cloud turn to water? I mean COME ON, how cool is that?”

            “Yea, that’s cool and all, but did you see when Oxy Man took that pile of waste and turned it into breathable air?” John replied excitedly.

            I had no idea what they were talking about, I was utterly confused so I let Darla go past me to join John and Allen in their superhero talk. I couldn’t help but feel a bit left out, I was never really interested in comic books back at the orphanage.

            We had reached the elevators again now and were headed back to the cafeteria to begin training. I was very excited about this journey, to start a new life and a new beginning.