Alpha Paradise: Book 1

Traumatised And Caffeine Deprived: The Story Of A Survivor

The wind whistled through her ears. The ground was strewn with sharp pebbles and gravel, and each time her foot landed on them, she wanted to yelp out. Her feet moved so fast that steps turned into leaps. Her heart was beating furiously to supply precious oxygen. Atalanta was sprinting faster than she ever had. She wanted to get away from this mess, and yet, some part of her wanted to stay and fix everything.

But there was no fixing now. It was all broken. Shattered into a million tiny pieces.

Behind her, she could hear gunshots, people yelling for help, crying children and babies whose parents had been murdered in front of them.

And to think, it had all been so peaceful just half an hour ago.

It was a day like any other. Atalanta was on her way to school, skipping along the path. Today was testing day, and unlike her classmates, she absolutely loved it. The thought of scoring high and making her parents and teachers proud was simply too appealing. She dreamt of being the first child from her village to get accepted into a major university and study astrophysics, and by God would she work for it.

The classroom was as noisy as usual, as children paced about- some asking their friends to help them revise, some furiously trying to memorise their topics, some letting out cries of frustration when they had had enough- and she happily sat on her bench, pulled out her books and calmly read through her notes. Panic never helped anyone.

Five minutes later, their examiner arrived. She instructed everybody to put their reading materials away and gave them a blank paper to write their answers on. After everyone received their question sheets, she stood in the front of the classroom and started instructing them on the exam's rules and regulations.

Then, in the middle of her lecture, something rolled inside the class- and nobody except Atalanta had noticed it. The colour started draining from her face. This was something she had seen in various storybooks, but never did she even dream of witnessing it in real life.

"GRENADE! EVERYBODY RUN!" Atalanta screamed, pointing at it. Within seconds everybody started shouting and screaming along with her, and everyone tried to rush out of the classroom all at once. Children were trampled carelessly, and some even tried pushing others away by poking them with the tip of their sharpened pencils. But almost no one got out fast enough. The grenade exploded with a boom, which made Atalanta's ears ring with pain. The pillars broke which led the roof to cave in. Soon, everyone found themselves crushed underneath. Many were dead already.

Atalanta was lucky enough to be thin and nimble enough to wiggle and squirm her way out. She was bruised and battered, and there was a deep gash on her forehead. She tried to find her teacher- but was shocked when she found her mutilated body a few feet away from the room. She must have been blown off in the explosion. Atalanta desperately tried to wake her up- but gave up the attempt when she tried to listen to her heartbeat. She had no pulse.

Abandoning the corpse, the young girl tried to help her classmates now. She managed to pull out a few- but they collapsed out of shock and exhaustion as soon as they were free from the smoke filled burning air. She needed the help of an adult. But the village was still a twenty minute journey away. So, she did the only thing she could think of then- she ran.

Even at seven years, Atalanta was extremely fast for her age. She didn't stop for anything- not even to catch her breath. Perspiration made her hair cling to her neck and back. Her lungs felt like they were filled with fire. Her fair cheeks reddened from the rapid circulation of blood. And along with the red liquid, determination coursed through her veins and arteries.