After Ridge and I had read the note dad had left on the door and we talked about what it could mean for a short while I went up to my room to pack. I wasn't exactly sure on what to pack. I mean, how do you pack for this kind of thing without knowing where you're going?
I ended up packing half of my wardrobe, all of my pictures, keepsakes, knickknacks, books, my favorite stuffed animals that I kept on my reading chair, some decorations, my iPod, camera, and my laptop. I grabbed all of my charger cords from my drawer and headed downstairs.
We 'watched' some TV and grabbed some more items from around the house. When my parents arrived home my mother looked horrible and my dad had that look of sorrow, like when something terrible had happened or was about to.
After Ridge and I packed our bags into our mom's car, dad, Ridge, and I got into my dad's car and mom drove hers. Dad wouldn't tell me where we were going only that we would be there soon. There were many cars getting checked very thoroughly when we arrived, wherever we were but we just got to go right through.
Dad sent Ridge to get some carts from off over somewhere I wasn't going to pay much attention to because I was too busy looking around. There were so many people here, most of them looked superficial like my dad. I figured most or all of them were government families like us.
There was a range of different ages of children there too. There were babies, toddlers, younger children, teenagers, and some younger adults that obviously still lived with their parents. I helped load the bags into the carts and followed as we pushed them farther inside the building. I thought I saw something or someone come from around my mom's car.
"Did you see that?" I asked.
"See what Allie?"
"Never mind."
We gave the carts to a man who I assumed was taking them to safe keeping. He pushed them down a hallway that was sloping downwards and I just stared and wondered why he would be taking them farther down underground.
I followed my mom and dad to a large room that reminded me of a high school auditorium. I became sort of sad remembering that I would probably never again see or walk through the halls of the school, would never again come home and lounge around in comfy clothes and lay in my bed, or snuggle up with a good book in my reading chair.
I glanced over at Ridge and he seemed to be taking it all in. Our dad motioned for us to go to the front to sit down.
The president came in and she started talking about the one child law and how it wasn't meant for what we thought it was. At first I was lost and trying to understand why she was telling us this and how it would make sense to do it for any other reason. Then she started talking about Ruski and I was done trying to figure out anything else and I was listening like my life depended on it. That's when she said the unthinkable.
"He placed bombs around the world and no one has any idea how he did this and what help he had."
She went on about they worked and then she said, "If these bombs come in contact with even a small amount of oxygen they will explode."
She started to explain many other things but I wasn't listening. All I'd ever known was just going to come to an end and I could do absolutely nothing about it.
"I cannot believe this!" I whispered to myself so low that no one else heard me.
"Ruski is slowly, very, very slowly dying and there is nothing the machines can do about it." The president said. I heard a gasp go over the crowd. I looked over at Ridge and I could tell what he was thinking. I knew he was wrong. I knew he was thinking that we were going to hide for enough time in the Earth that the bombs wouldn't affect us but I knew they would no matter how far we went down. We would have to leave Earth to survive Ruski's bombs.
"That was discovered about seventy-five years ago, when the one child law came into effect. They knew Ruski would last a long time, maybe even a couple hundred years, but they knew the end was inevitable. They designed ships, huge spaceships that would take us to an Earth-like planet about 8 months of traveling away. One ship is here and you'll be leaving for Novelta today. There are about 1,000 of you here, all a part of the American government in some way. Other ships are being made, a lot larger than this one, able to hold hundreds of thousands."
The president continued on but I still wasn't listening. A million things were running through my head.
"You'll have more information on the ship. You're leaving now, so goodbye and good luck." The president said the last words that count as a parting note on planet Earth. The crowd went into a roar of yelling and I just sat there still taking it all in. I felt a tear fall down my cheek.
"Are you okay Allie?" Ridge asked, his voice full of concern. I couldn't talk or answer him so I just shook my head no. He came over and hugged me.
"We need to go." said my dad. I grabbed Ridge's arm and we all walked down the large hallway with many other people. We came to an opening and when we walked in there was a massive ship and many people around me gasped. I watched as the automatic doors opened and the people started filing in family by family. When we all walked in the doors I witnessed the most amazing, astonishing thing I'd ever seen.
The inside looked twice the size of the outside and the first thing I noticed was a map of the ship, it had all the floors and what those floors had on them. The first floor- which we were on- was the main floor where you checked in and got your room number and things. There were many floors to the ship but I was only interested in one, the one I would be staying on and who we would be next to.
I noticed my friend Rory standing in another line waiting for her information. I nudged Ridge and pointed in her direction and waved. She looked over, smiled, and waved to us. I also noticed a guy standing with who I assumed to be his father, he looked kind of sad like he had to leave something he cherished.
We were rather far back in the line so I told my dad I would be right back. I walked over and he looked up as I got closer.
"Hi, I'm Allie Waters."
"Hey, I'm Surge." he replied.
"You look sad... what's the matter?"
"Well I had to leave behind my sheep I had for ten years now." he told me.
"Oh... I'm sorry... I've never had any pets so I guess I've never had to worry about that..." I replied somewhat sadly. He looked at me and it looked like he was trying to hold back a reaction. I felt so very bad for him but my family was getting closer to the front.
"Well my family is getting closer to the front of the line so I have to go now but hopefully I'll see you some other time."
"Bye." he said and smiled. I smiled back and walked away to my family. Ridge just gave me a weird look and I just shrugged at him.
