Young Writers Society

Annabelle: The Void

FWOOSH.

Suddenly a wall of air slammed into me, and I went from free falling to tumbling in the air, limbs flailing about. I lost hold of the dog, who bayed horribly, until by chance a hand landed on him and I yanked him closer by the collar. I still don't know why I wanted to save the dog, but I did, I guess.

I managed to get a good look down and for a moment I was frozen. I saw something - I didn't quite register what it was, some sort of flying thing - right below me, issuing the wind at me. But what somehow startled me even more was land. I mean, lots of people nursed a tiny suspicion, maybe even a hope, that there was life in the Void. But to actually see land - to see green ground, trees, below me - was way different than hearing whispered rumors and suspicions from kids and friends.

Then I realized how high up I must be and started being scared again. I clutched the dog, who was losing his mind at this point, closer, as if he could protect me somehow.

Some hatch opened up in the thing flying below me and I fell in before I had time to fully realize what was going on. I did manage to flip onto my back, though, and there was a massive impact, jarring like nothing I'd felt before. The dog yelped, I yelped, and a voice called something.

I looked up and froze at the sight of people - lots of them. Most were wearing these odd green and gray suits, kind of like the military guard suits from the City, but with more things on them. And guns - that was what I noticed most. They had guns, almost every one of them. And most of those guns were pointed at me: that was what made me freeze.

Somebody yelled something I didn't understand. I realized he were talking at me, and panicking tried to figure out who he was and what he wanted. Then I felt someone grab my arm so hard it hurt and haul me to my feet, still clutching the dog.

"Leave me alone!" I wailed, thrashing a little, but he just slapped me on the head and I stopped because there was no breaking that iron grip. I looked around, desperate for some clue that would tell me what was going on and what to do. I was in what looked like a landing area. There were helicopters and such stationed around me - the weird people must have been their pilots.

Then I was gone, and there were a bunch of people with guns pushing me down a hallway. A door opened, and I was shoved in. I hugged the dog as they shut the door on me, but another was opened and some more people came in. One more gun-bearing man walked in and sat in a chair, and then there was darkness.

The dog whimpered. I petted his head, wanting to cry but too shocked to do so. There were mutterings, curses. I thought I saw deeper shadows within the shadows, moving vaguely. People. I thought I heard bits of English, too. Maybe they knew something.

"Hello?"I tried, aware of how high my voice came out.

There was silence, but I sensed a lessening of movement.

I swallowed a lump in my throat. "What's going on?" I asked.

Max | The Void | Eastern Coast of North America

The starship had landed a few hours ago and had let the prisoners out. A man, possibly the commander, judging by how the enemy soldiers looked at him, had spoken to the prisoners. He had told them with his heavy foreign accent that they would be letting out the prisoners one last time while they fueled the ship and cleaned its insides. It was the last stop they would do before going over the toxic wastelands that had once been a huge expanse of water (an Ocean, the man had called it) and reaching the African continent were they would be held in a camp.

Max did not understand why the man was telling them so much information, didn't understand what it could possibly give to the commander for the prisoners to have that knowledge. Max looked around. The few prisoners there were, about two dozens, both from the Floating City and others that had been captured even since before the raid, were encircled by a row of soldiers, unmoving. The prisoners could not see their faces, for they were covered by a mask and a dark visor.

The prisoners stood around in small groups, and Max was with Grace and Kashmir. He had started to like those two, even though their characters may well be shady, but he thought he had a better chance of survival with them than with the others from the ship. He didn't know either how much time he had spent as a captive. It could've been just a couple of days, but maybe it had been the whole week.

He had spoken more with Kash and Grace, and they had told him more about the war and about the past world. Before, the continents were divided into smaller, individual parts that were called countries. Then wars had started bursting everywhere and the countries had had to unite with the rest of their continent. Most had done that, anyway.

They stood, and no one talked. Maybe they all knew that it was one of the last breaths they may ever take of real, open air, so nobody spoke. Then the sky started getting darker, and some dark things rolled up in the sky. Max forced his brain to remember what those were called. He knew he'd been told in one of his classes. Before there was any climate control and every day became sunny, there had been these things that now covered the sunlight. Clouds. That was their name. And there was something else that came with clouds. It was rain. Max's face lit up. He had heard a lot about rain, mostly from stories of the Elders, but now he might actually get to be in the rain.

As if reading his thoughts, Kash grunted. "It seems like it's going to rain," he said, annoyed.

"Yes," agreed Grace, "We should probably take cover somewhere."

"Take cover?" Asked Max, incredulous, "I've never seen rain in my life before, I want to feel it running down my skin!"

Grace laughed at that. Max didn't know why they found that so ridiculous, so he asked them.

"Rain isn't like it used to be before," explained Kashmir, "With all the pollution there is, rain is no longer something you want running down your skin. It's become toxic, and you never know what it may do to you. So yes, we should get inside."

Reluctantly, Max followed. Then he stopped short in his tracks. He heard a low humming sound, so low it was barely audible. He motioned to Grace and Kashmir. They nodded. They were hearing it too. Then out of nowhere, another starship flew towards them, shooting at the enemy soldiers. The starship was marked on the side of it. Max squinted his eyes and read the letters that marked a single word.

Dragon.

Naa / floating city


My eyes immediately widened as a hand lighlty slapped down onto my head and ruffled my hair. It was Zue. It had to be, I turned my face slightly to see her smiling as though nothing between us happened.

"Are't we?" She asked.
"Huh?"
"Boy, someones gone deaf. I said were friends and so you got to stop giving me that look. "
I shook her hand off my head and stepped back stating at her with disbelief. Was she serious? Everything that last happened flashed before my site, from the torture to the troops and more. I remembered it as though it happened a few days ago and I found myself hurling myself at her, fists curled and all.
"You traitor! " was all I could say.


She stands still as I pound my fists into her stomach but the grabs me and knees my stomach. That smile if hers was now stretched out in a weird was as though she was enhoying my pain. She crushed my fingers with her boats the kicked me in the face.

I get up to attack again but then she ran away . I turn back to see some sort of ship shaped as a star,a star ship, approach from behind me. She looked back to smile again as though we were always and forever were going to be friends. But that chapter in my life was gone. People ran out from the starship chasing Zue. One of them tells me that I'm safe and I could get into the starship. I dont argue.I was outnumbered so fighting would be useless.

"Don't worry, were your friends . " he said. I fell slightly eased. On my day in, I noticed the sign in the ship 'Dragons'. They were weird for sure.