Chapter Two!

Chapter Two

The people in the helicopter were flat out weird. As far as Serenity was concerned, they had some problems. If they were the only people left in the world, Serenity was going to have a few issues. Yes, she was too relieved to see living beings that she couldn’t express it in words, but these people acted like she was a test subject. Like a test subject that they needed information on before they experimented on it. That wasn’t the case, but Serenity wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to stick needles in her, and make her drink vials. If things got weirder than this, there was no doubt in her mind that she’d grab a parachute and make her getaway. There were only about 15 males and 10 females on the helicopter, so hopefully she wasn’t looking at the rest of civilization. But what if she was? The thought of it struck her, and she gasped before she could stop herself.

At that moment, a man walked up to Serenity. He was the man that offered his hand to her and pulled her into the copter. She assumed he would be the one in charge of this helicopter; the copter went silent as he approached her, “I’m sure you’ve been bombarded with questions for the entire flight, so I’ll save my breath. The only question I will require an answer to is quite basic. I am James Seror, but what would your name be?” Serenity stared at the man for a second before realizing he spoke. She heard the words, but didn’t think about what he had been saying, so now her mind scrambled to piece together his words, “M-my name?” Serenity was nervous, all of the sudden, “It’s… Serenity. Serenity Johnson?” She became conscious of the fact that she sounded unsure of her answer, so she corrected herself, “My name is Serenity Johnson, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Seror.” Serenity stood up, holding out her hand. The man quirked his eyebrow, “A full sentence and a handshake? You’ve progressed! And please, it’s just James.” He grinned, shaking Serenity’s hand.

Serenity didn’t smile back. Now that she wasn’t being caught by surprise, she continued to hide her emotions, “Um, yeah. Thanks…. James.” Calling people by their first names, if at all, wasn’t really something she liked to do. She usually tried to stick with minimum contact, and she knew it was going to be impossible to stay silent. James started to turn away, but Serenity still had a million questions, “Excuse me? Would you mind telling me where this copter is headed to?” James turned around, walking backwards, “Yes, actually, I would. It’s kind of top-secret and all that. You’ll figure it out soon enough.” Serenity threw her hands in the air exasperatedly. Great; not only was she stuck on a helicopter with two dozen strangers, but she still didn’t even know where she was going!

Serenity took this as an excuse to examine everybody. There were mostly middle aged people and teenagers, but there were a couple smaller children and a few other people who looked about mid-forties. She thought back to the guy in charge, James. His sandy hair and blue eyes seemed almost alien after always seeing the black hair and green eyes of her family. They had a few similarities though: Slim, secretive, a little nervous but still staying proud. The rest of the passengers were a mixture of normal colors to her. Their hair was brown, black, or somewhere in between and their eyes were brown, green, or hazel. None of them were anything different then what she normally saw each day.

There was only one other passenger besides James that had light hair and blue eyes. He was sort of like Serenity. He was sitting in the corner of the helicopter quietly, keeping to himself. His white-blond hair and icy eyes made him stand out from everyone else. Aside from their looks, he seemed to have more in common with Serenity than anyone else on this helicopter. Serenity wouldn’t be surprised if they had crowded him when he got on, like they did with her. His eyes roamed the room, and then made contact with Serenity’s and she held it, waiting for him to look away first, but he didn’t. He locked eyes with her and a slight smile cut across his face, revealing deep dimples that seemed out of place on his steely, angular face. She felt a light smile playing across her own face, then James started speaking and her eyes snapped over to him, her smiling fading quickly.

James wasn’t smiling now, “Hello everyone! For those of you who don’t know, I’m James Seror. I own this helicopter. While I know a lot of these questions are probably running through your heads: ‘Where are we going?’ and maybe, ‘Why did those bombs go off?’ and possibly even, ‘What’s going to happen to us?’ and probably, ‘Where is everyone else?’ my answer to every one of these, with the exceptions of the first question, is ‘I don’t know.’ I don’t have any answers to provide for you. We’re going to someplace safe that has been provided for us. I only know where it is, not what it is, and there’s going to be some things we’re going to have to do that you might not want to do. Any questions that I didn’t already state I don’t know the answer to?” He scanned the room of scared, slightly shocked faces; apparently nobody had any questions, “Well, if anyone comes up with any questions they can ask me. For now I’ll have my associates showing you all to your temporary rooms. There will be about 5 people per room because there aren’t very many rooms, but it will have to do. Does anyone have any questions now?” Still, no one spoke, so James gestured to a small group of about 4 people. There were two men and two women. One of the boys was the one she met eyes with. They started to gather groups of 5 people and began showing them to the rooms.

Serenity was dumbfounded. These people didn’t know the helicopter crew, and yet they were willingly going with them. Were they crazy? If somebody came up to her, she was sure she would refuse to go with them. She would have willed herself not to go with them if it hadn’t been the icy boy who came up to her, motioning that she should come with him, “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.” He had a mixture of emotions on his face. Shyness, sadness, and curiosity were all evident on his sharp face. For a few seconds, Serenity didn’t move. She looked at him, studying him, until he spoke again, “Hello?” He dragged out the ‘o’, “Are you coming or not?” Serenity blinked and shook her head slightly, but stood up, “I guess so.” She shrugged, annoyed at herself for not refusing, but still followed him. He stopped a few times along the way and coaxed a few more women to come to a room.

They arrived at a door, and he opened it, waving his arm toward the room, “Ladies.” They all walked in, cautiously, looking around the room. It was a small room, having only enough room for 3 bunk beds, five dressers, and another door that she found later led to a bathroom. The only happiness in the enter room was the colorful painting on the wall, and the handmade rug that covered half the floor. The boy looked at the room, resting his eyes on the ceiling. He sighed and began to walk out of the room, “Well, ladies, if you have any questions just come ask them.” The women murmured their thanks as they took seats on the bunks, sadly examining their new home. He flashed a forced smile and eased the door closed.

Serenity took her long-forgotten backpack of school books off her aching back, wondering how the bag didn’t fall off during her Run of Terror. She leaned against the closed door and slid to the ground and covered her eyes with her hand. Now that she had time to rest, she noticed just how tired she really was. The other women were talking quietly, making plans, comforting each other. One of the women tried to get Serenity to join them, but this she did refuse. She stayed sitting against the door until there was a knock on it. Serenity jerked her hand away from her face and stood up, glancing around the room before opening the door, “Yes?” When she opened the door, she was greeted by a stack of clothing. The pile turned to reveal the boy again, struggling under the mountain of clothes, “Uh, yeah, I brought you all some clothes to wear.” Serenity took half of the clothes out his arms, trying not to laugh, “Thank you.”

“No problem. James sent me with them, said you might need them.”

“We do, so thank you.”

“Yeah.” He set down his stack on one of the bunks, “Nobody really introduced me, so, yeah, I’m Jared. James’s little brother; the only other light haired person here.” He looked solemn and Serenity thought he was actually concerned about the only-other-light-haired-person concept, but then he broke into a lopsided grin and Serenity found herself smiling too, “Well, I’m Serenity. Not the only other black-haired person here. Just in case you didn’t know.” Jared tilted his head, pretending to be thinking hard, and Serenity scoffed, jokingly, “What?” Jared pretended to be solemn again, “It’s going to be tricky finding a nickname for that.” The women were talking louder now, sounding worried, and everything that had happened in the past day came back to Serenity. Her smile dissolved faster than Jared’s, “I don’t really like nicknames, but good luck anyway.” Jared nodded slowly, saying with sincere worry this time, “Yeah, thank you. I’m going to go give people more clothes now. Nice meeting you though.” Serenity waved her fingers as he turned to leave the room again, “You too.” She managed a slight smile.

The women glanced at Serenity, they were mostly young women. They were probably all in their twenties, except one who looked to still be in her mid- to late teens. The teenager spoke, “Did you say your name was Serenity?” Serenity glanced at the other women, but answered, “Yes, why?” The girl looked flustered, “No reason. I just think it’s a beautiful name. My name is Amy.” Amy rose to her feet and stretched out her hand. Serenity shook Amy’s hand, “It’s nice to meet you, Amy.” Serenity managed an unforced smile, “I think you have a pretty name. It’s simple, yet attractive.” For a moment, Amy looked disbelieving, but then she realized Serenity was being serious, “Thank you!” Serenity was about to tell Amy she was welcome, but then there was a hurried knock on the door, and the person opened the door before anyone had a chance to act. James stuck his head in, “I thought I’d let you all know. We’re here.”