Five people. I was able to save five fucking people! Leah. JD. Jet. Nate. Kali. But what of the others? What of the ones who were trapped in the school, with no one to save them? What of the god damn innocents that were murdered?
I was too weak to save them. I didn't know what I was capable of. Those innocent kids, killed in cold blood-I didn't know how to save them. Not then.
But now I do.
And now I grow.
****
Leah Ray. My best friend. The girl that I was madly in love with. It was her who I stared at from two rows away. We were at a basketball game, but I had no clue who was winning. All I could think about were her sweet, honeyed lips on mine. If only I could make my fantasy a reality.
She turned her chocolate eyes in my direction, and I felt my heart melt. I tried to turn away, but my muscles froze in place. I was captivated, held hostage in my own body. Every part of me screamed to turn around and run, but I couldn't. I could feel the pounding of my own heart, and I was surprised no one else could.
A ref's whistle snapped me out of my trance. I hurried and looked away, pretending that nothing had happened. I could just imagine her gossiping to all of her friends about that moment. I could already hear the laughter that would follow me in the halls. With a flick of my wrist, I threw my hood over my head, hoping to disappear into the roaring crowd.
There was something wrong. I don't know how I knew, but I did. There was a tickling sensation at the back of my mind. It's the feeling you get when you feel like someone's watching you, but on a larger scale. I felt an overwhelming panic growing in my chest. We had to get out.
I flipped out my phone. I started texting JD. 'Grab Kali, Jet, and Nate. Meet me in the commons area.'
I looked over at Leah. I had to get her out as well. I pushed up off of the bleachers-almost flying into the screaming bastards in front of me-and walked over to her. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her down the bleacher stairs, going as fast as I dared with the mobs to either side of me.
"Where are we going?" she yelled above the noise. Even now, I still get butterflies when I hear her voice.
"To the commons," I said, almost screaming. As soon as I hit the hardwood floor, I took off with a sprint, pulling Leah with me.
"Let go of me, I can run by myself," she said as soon as we got out of the gym. I released her hand, not breaking stride. We sprinted to the commons, Leah, surprisingly, keeping pace with me. As we closed the final distance to the wide, open area, I saw that the others were already there.
"Good, you're all here." I noticed Kali giving JD the eye, and I had to suppress a grin. I knew she liked him, but this was serious. For some reason, I felt like we were all going to die, in just a few minutes. "Something bad is about to happen. I don't know what, but we are all going to die. I want you all to know that I was with you until the end." I ignored their shocked and befuddled faces and turned to Leah. "Before we die, I want you to know that I love you."
With that, I kissed her. I suddenly had a ferocity inside me, one which I had never felt before. To my surprise, she kissed back with equal power. We sat there, kissing, until we finally pulled away.
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear that," she whispered in my ear.
I looked at them all. "Goodbye, everyone."
I heard a high-pitched whistling, and I felt myself fading into darkness. I knew I wasn't dying, but fainting. My last thought was, 'This is a mandatory game. Everyone who goes to this school is here, along with those from the rival school.'
With that, I fell unconscious.
--------------
"Wake up."
"No, Mr. Guinea Pig, I don't want to."
"Gavin, WAKE UP!"
I felt a stinging pain on my right cheek as my eyes flitted open. I was looking up into Leah's chocolate eyes. Strange enough, I didn't feel the paralysis that I did earlier.
Wait. How long ago was that?
"Ugh, what time is it? What happened?" Everything was so blurry. What day was it? What year?
"You passed out. We've been trying to wake you up for an hour. Look around. What the FUCK is going on?" Leah was in tears, which were falling onto my cheek.
I sat up and looked around. What I saw was not good. It looked like hell had broken loose, atom bombed the school, then up and left. There was debris everywhere, and everything was on fire. Not a single part of the room was spared, and I imagined it was the same in the rest of the school. Or what was left of it.
"What happened?" I had a horrible migraine coming on.
Jet answered this time. "When you passed out, some kind of blue-shield-thing came out of your body and protected us, or something. Then some huge red blast destroyed the rest of the school, but we were left untouched."
"Are there any other survivors?"
"JD is scouting ou the school right now."
The migraine hit in full force. But this wasn't a regular migraine.
'Gavin.'
I jumped about a foot. "What the hell was that? Did you guys hear it?"
Jet was looking at me crazy. "I didn't hear anything."
'Gavin.'
'Wait, I recognize that voice. Dad?'
'Very good, son. Now, I need you to-'
'What the fuck, Dad? How the hell is this happening? I thought you were dead!'
'God dammit Gavin, listen to me! You are one of the Chosen.'
'The Chosen?'
'An elite group of humans that Gundaarr chose to protect humanity. You select few have the ability to manifest your energy into the mortal plane. You can bend this energy to your will. With this, you can destroy, or create. However, there is a group known as the Saviors who are bent on the total annihalation of the Chosen.'
'Is that who attacked today?'
'Yes. Now, you and your friends need to get out of there. They'll soon realize that they didn't kill you and come searching for you. Good luck, son.'
"Dad, come back!" Suddenly, I was screaming to the sky. Leah, Jet, and Kali were giving me weird looks, but I didn't give a damn. "DAD!"
"Calm down, buddy. Whatever just happened, I'm sure that there's a good reason for it. I don't know what just happened. Mind explaining?" I turned around to see JD walking in.
"Any survivors?" I asked, ignoring his question.
"None."
That's when I realized who we were missing. "Hey, where's Nate?"
Kali was the first to speak. "He's looking for food and water. From what we've seen outside of the school, we're not sure if any of the town survived."
****
"Gah!" I cried out in pain and clutched my head. These memories were unbearable. I couldn't take it. But I had to. If I wanted to escape, I needed to review my memories.
But I will escape.
And I'll kill the motherfuckers who imprisoned me.
