The Zeroes

Scarlette woke to a voice booming over the intercom, "Please climb the steps to the top. Doors will be opening in five minutes." She sat up in bed with everyone else.

They're letting us out! She wondered.

She got out of bed and looked up the stairwell. The voice echoed as people rushed to get to the top. As Scarlette called for her parents she got swept up by the current of people and her words were soon lost in the commotion.

Scarlette went up the stairs. She forced herself to put her legs in front of her, one after the other. The sound of feet pounding against the heavy metal made Scarlette jump. She had become used to the silence that came with being underground for a year, so the new sound that filled her ears came as a shock, reminding her of gunshots from war.
"Mom! Dad!" she cried.

Scarlette, where are you?" her father yelled. She could hear the panic in his voice. What's happening? she wondered.

"Dad, I'm up here," Scarlette whimpered. She tried stopping gripping the cold metal rail to hold herself up, but the flow of people soon forced herself to start climbing the steps again.

She tried to find familiar faces, like a friend she had made or an adult her parents talked to, but there was no one. Only men seemed to surround her, their faces showed fierce anger.

... Another minute went by and then another, and finally the voice from the intercom said, "Climb the steps to the top. Doors will be opening in sixty seconds. Everyone stopped. She waited still and silent as the voice over the intercom counted down. "...forty-three, forty-two, forty- one..." The voice echoed loudly through the stairwell.

... "...Twenty-one, twenty, nineteen..."

... "...Five, four, three..."

... Scarlette stopped.

... "...Two, one, Doors are opening."

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

I DO NOT HAVE A DESCRIPTION FOR THE STORY YET, SO I HAVE USES MANY DIFFERENT PIECES OF A PASSAGE FROM THIS STORY.