Bubble

Chapter 8: "Home"

Emma

I blinked rapidly, trying to shake the blindness that enveloped me. Foggy shapes were starting to come into view, and I could begin to see the outline of…trees? I squinted to try and get a better look, but suddenly my breath hitched in my throat, and I struggled to get air. The air was so thick and humid, it was like trying to breathe underwater. I began to cough rapidly as my lungs attempted to digest the foreign atmosphere. I clutched my stomach as I struggled to breathe, wheezing feebly in between coughs and unable to see.

I felt strong arms wrap around me and lift me off the ground. I opened my eyes for a moment, squinting against the sun, and caught sight of an electric pair of blue irises looking down at me. Then, my vision was swallowed once again by darkness.

- - - - -

I only blacked out for a few of seconds, but when I awoke, I found I could breathe again. A mask was secured around my face; I figured it was some sort of filter to dilute the air. Sitting up off the ground, I looked around as my vision finally came back.

My jaw dropped open.

I was in the middle of a clearing in what could only be described as a jungle. I had seen pictures of places similar to this, but never this beautiful or lush. There were tropical trees and plants everywhere you looked, some extending over fifty feet in the air. Walls of green vegetation rose up around me, speckled with vibrant colored flowers. I looked upwards and shielded my eyes from bright light; the planet’s sun. I could feel warmth radiating from its rays, and I was shocked at how much brighter it was than her expectation. It was actually possible to see it; it wasn’t hidden behind anything, and it wasn’t a dim, faded circle. It was radiant. And the sky! It was so blue, with a few clouds painted across it. I almost didn’t recognize what they were; I’d never seen white clouds before.

“Emma!” I turned to find my mum running towards me, with the rest of her family in tow. I realized that I must have looked crazy and dazed, staring at the sky with puppy dog eyes and a breathing filter upon my face. I got up and brushed the dirt off of myself, my head spinning a little as I did so.

“Are you okay?” my dad questioned.

I nodded, and looked around at all of the other colonists that had come through. There were nurses running around placing masks on people, and soldiers were helped people up and guiding them to different areas of the clearing. I remembered someone picking me up before I had blacked out; it must have been one of the soldiers.

Those eyes…

“E, you okay?” Austin asked, noticing the quizzical expression on my face.

“Yeah...” I replied, shaking the thought from my mind.

One of the soldiers walked into the middle of the clearing, and began telling everyone to follow him towards the Eos camp, which was about a klick away. Everyone began to gather in the center of the cleaning as they regained their bearings, and once all of them were accounted for, we started off towards the colony. Austin leaned over to me as we began walking.

“What’s a klick?” he whispered in my ear.

I rolled my eyes, automatically snapping into brainiac mode. “We aren’t in America anymore, doofus. It’s a unit of measurement, the nickname for one kilometer. Its commonly used in the military and—”

Austin cut me off before I could spew any more useless information. “Okay, I get it.”

The rest of the walk to camp wasn’t too bad. The jungle was thick and dense, except for a cleared dirt road that cut through it. Small olive-color and camo painted armored vehicles led our convoy, and armed soldiers walked along either side of the mass of people in between. What was so dangerous out here that called for all this?