school wars
The day was dark, and my eyes grew huge. This was it. The beginning. We all sat in the gym, tenth through thirteenth years. No one was here except us.
"Hey sin-sin, how did we get here?" i asked my friend. He looked at me as if he just noticed where we were.
"Huh? oh! When did you get here ken? I fell asleep like usual last night. And it was as if i was in a daze just now.... why are we in the gym?"
I looked around as sin rubbed his eyes. Others were waking up around us, looking everywhere. The chatter grew. I felt a tug on my sleeve. "Ken, look. There's a flat screen t.v. over there on the wall. It didn't use to be there, did it?" sin asked.
I looked back at my one friend. Only i knew his secret. "No, it didn't. I'm going to check it out. This is just too weird." i told him.
I tried to stand, but my muscles throbbed and ached. I flopped back on the bleachers. Sin placed a hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright ken?"
I managed to nod, despite the pain of moving. What was wrong with me? Was i sick? No, it couldn't happen here, anywhere but here. I had to stop, and that meant moving. I used all of my will to not fall as i stood again. I noticed everyone else was okay. Every step to the stairs along the aile hurt. I turned and walked down the metal steps, my combat boots clunking; and my chains clinking against each other. A lot of people watched me as i made my way to the tiled floor.
I could hear sin's voice in my head, "Are you really okay ken? it looked like you were having another episode." I pictured his worried face and felt a twinge of guilt.
"I'm sorry sin. You don't need to worry, I'm fine. The pain faded already. I'm just going to see about this t.v." I sent my thought out to him. I felt his 'okay' in my head as I reached the t.v.
Just what was it doing here? I searched it over until i found a switch. I flicked it, and the t.v. sent out a hologram. It was the president of region 19.
The electronic voice droned, "Hello, elder graders of the second region 19 school. You are all in your gym right now, waking from your sleeping life. The reason being, that you all have been submitted to participate in the new military program. All of the graders from tenth to seventeenth years in the world are here. The legals from eighteenth to infinity years are all up in space, orbiting in a space station at this moment. You will fight each other for survival. You have your identification patches in the compartment under this hologram t.v. The last ones standing after the four to five year trial will lead the world into the new age. If you are injured, the wound will heal due to an experimental gas we have released into the air. The best advice to give is to stick together as you try to make it to oasis location. It is somewhere in the Rockies. Whichever groups get there first will be treated and pampered, and be acknowledged as the winners. Along with the i.d's, you will find weapons of all sorts.There is enough for each of you, so keep them safe." The hologram darkened, and disappeared back into the t.v.
I was okay with this surprise. It might sound evil, or cruel. But the truth is, that's the way the new earth had become after hundreds of years of over development. Old earth had eventually became overpopulated, and people from every continent left to live on mars. That included my cousin and his family. The trouble was over for now, but there was a repercussion for letting the population overgrow for so long. To survive, a lot of people went savage, not in the literal sense, such as being a caveman again, but more where society became much colder and harsher for everyone. Our thinking process just adapted to the tougher world. Me and my family were third generation people of new earth, so we still thought that way. But I've noticed that as i get older, these thoughts have been fading, hardly occurring now. I still took this as no surprise, it was for survival, and we really didn't have a choice.
"Ken, what's happening?" sin asked telepathically, interrupting my thoughts."I know you heard sin. We have to face the others living on new earth. This will be hard."
I flashed my scanner ring on the symbol, and then a secret door slid open. Vests flew out, along with spiked symbols of our school. One of each flew to me, and the rest went to the people on the bleachers. The symbol lodged itself in my left wrist, puncturing the skin.
A few moments later, i heard sin in my head, "Ouch! This thing went into my wrist ken! Are these the i.d's the region 19 president talked about?" "Yeah, and i think we have to wear these thin vests." I sent.
The vest attached itself to my torso, overlapping my black camo tank top. A felt a prin picking along my spine. I figured it was the vest intertwining into my nervous system. The other graders were having the vests attached as well. The president of thirteenth year stood up. The rest of the grade years followed suite, and the all got down to the floor. The grade president approached me as the others were chattering and inspecting the new equipment.
"Hello, Juno." I greeted the president. "Hey ken. Thanks for taking action first. So what are we going to do? I think we should stick together, and do our best to survive." he said. i nodded in agreement.
As the pres left, sin trotted up. "Ken, how do these work?" he asked out loud.
I shrugged, and thought of having a pistol. If i was correct, the vest would respond. It went down my right arm, and a pistol formed in my hand. Sin gasped as the vest retreated.
"That's so cool ken! So it responds to our thoughts?" Sin's vest made a bow, and an arrow. "Whoa! I just thought of having this!" he said. I put the safety on my pistol, and pocketed it. "Lets leave sin. We should start heading out if we want to escape the war." I said.
Me and him walked ahead of the crowd, and out the side doors. Everyone followed. We spotted the guys before they noticed us. They were from the 3rd school of region 19, And they were carrying rifles. This war was already off to a bad start. Lightning flashed and it started to rain. The 3rd scholars had stopped and were looking at us now, anticipating, waiting to see what we were going to do. Make the first move or the last. My fingers brushed against the pistol in my pocket. I noticed every movement they made from across the street that was littered with abandoned cars. A sudden pain flashed through my body. The throbbing and aching from before returned in waves. Oh crap. It was coming again, another episode. I couldn't have it happen in front of everyone. I hated this curse. The pain increased, almost as if it responded to my hatred for it. It was to much to bear. I fell to my knees on the sidewalk.
"Ken! are you okay?! Your having an episode, aren't you! You shouldn't have gone on, idiot!" I heard sin screaming in my head. I vaguely heard the voices of everyone around me. My breathing became labored.This was the worst possible time for this to happen.
I glanced sideways at sin. "I'm sorry ken." he whispered.
I knew what was coming next. He took the arrow and made a slice all the way from my shoulder to my wrist. Blood soon dripped off my arm, and mixed with water around me. Here it comes. The intense focus and energy from escaping an episode. It was like an adrenaline rush. It still had its side effects, but they were usually good. I saw the world in super slow motion when i brought my head up. We were charging each other, sin was kneeling next to me, holding the bloody arrow. I stood up, and ran over to the other group, where i made rope from my vest. Once they were all tied up and on the ground, i ran back to the spot where i fell. As soon as i went back to my knees, the intense slow motion ended, and the world went back to normal. The front line of our group stopped, and stared at the struggling 3rd scholars on the ground. Sin helped me to stand.
"Sorry i had to cut you. But at least you fixed it ken." he said in my mind. "Lets run while we can guys!" i shouted into the frigid air. Me and sin took off up the sidewalk along with everyone else. This was okay after all.
( there might be a second part, or chapter. if any one's interested...? please review!)
