The Finding Project

"All hail Mother Earth. For she is the bringer of all life and the keeper of all souls, to her and only to her, we pray. And now, we pray, that our sacrifice of this young boy will appease her weighty appetite."

From behind the carved stone wall, I heard the high priest unsheath the knife, its jagged edge scraping across the metal of the hilt. My knuckles were white as I stared in terror at the cold steel edge, hovering inches above Cal, who was screaming and struggling wildly.

"HAIL EARTH DIVINE!" The cult chanted, before the deadly serrated knife plunged through the air.

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Plot Summary:
At first, it was small. Animals started to disappear. Birds, plucked out of the air and sent plummeting to the ground by a stray wind. Dogs, falling through weak patches in the dusty ground by accident. No one thought anything of it.
Then, the first human disappeared. They said it was a sinkhole, a crack in the earth that ripped through the ground in a split second. Mrs. Baker, my third grade teacher, was the first to go. Edwin Jones from school was next. All over town, the sinkholes popped up, swallowing screaming people whole as they plummeted towards the ground.
Something had to have caused this. I was always invested in science, I knew this wasn't just a freak of nature. I knew.
The only problem was, other people knew too.