Prototype ( Part I )

It was dark in the room, but I could see a little light, though faint, shining under my feet. I walked slowly, with my arms spread out in front of me. Although I couldn't see much, my eyes flickered shut in anticipation of colliding with something. I walked carefully, feeling my way around with my hands and feet. I heard my own heart beating loud and intensely. My breathing was short and mute. Needless to say, I was horrified. I had awakened in this place and did not know how I had arrived here. I only could imagine what had happened. I only went to sleep in my bed as I usually do, but the day had been a strange one, indeed.

I got up and went to school as I usually did. Tenth grade sucks. As I rode my bike down the hill to school, my eyes scanned for friends who may talk me out of going to class. Unfortunately, I found no such friend. I did almost forget to stop at the stop sign at the bottom of the street. That would've taken me straight into an ambulance. It actually even sounds cool--no History period for ME that morning. The American Revolution is cool in movies, but reading about it bored me to death.

I arrive at school early, for a change. That was the beginning of my strange day...I never get to school early. I set my alarm and hit the snooze button enough times to keep me in bed until I absolutely must get up. I do a lot of math before I even get up. It's like one math problem after another. First I try to remember how long it really takes me to brush my teeth and get dressed. Especially if I am just dressing simple, like Jeans and a shirt. Sometimes, I want the guy I have a crush on to notice me for some reason, like the mood I woke up on, and then I search endlessly for that special outfit. Then I decide whether I even need breakfast, well, that would be cereal, or cookies and chocolate milk. It goes like that for a few seconds until I decide to stay with the nine minute snooze, or ignore the snooze altogether and just get up.

When I entered my class, Ethan was already there. Okay, now that was also strange. Ethan skips the class twice a week and today was Friday--a definite skip day. He must have seen the confusion on my face, because he gave me an "I Know" smirk. I sat next to him and was just about to ask him about his attendance when the door shut loudly. Everyone in the classroom was suddenly quiet. Mr. Rooke had a strange look on his face, like he had something in his pants that was pinching him. Well, something like that anyway.
"Uhmm...okay everyone," He timidly stated, "Let's just listen up now. I don't have time to say this twice. Homework for the week includes your reading chapters six, seven...and well, read through chapter nine." The class agonized out loud. "C'mon now. Listen up. The school is closing until further notice but you must go home where your parents are waiting for you." The class was pretty stunned. Did he say the school was closed 'till whenever? "Okay, get your stuff and go home."
He just left, opened the door, and the noise from the halls was deafening. Lots of laughter and running from other students, it was more than the last day of school before spring break.
"Wanna go somewhere?" Ethan casually asked.
"Sure," I smiled. "Let's find Chloe and them."
"Yeah, okay."
We were walking out to our usual hangout past the parking lot when I got smacked behind the head by Josh.
"Hey!" I yelled.
"What's up?" Josh laughed. "Isn't this cool? Where are we gonna go? Let's go see a movie..."
My day got stranger. As Josh, Ethan and I were walking to the theater, we noticed a lot of traffic and impatient drivers. Most drivers had their radios on, but they weren't listening to music. They were listening to the news or something. Everyone seemed angry and in a hurry. I looked at my friends to see if it was just me noticing all of this. Ethan looked around with a perplexed look on his face...probably, about the same look as I had on my own face. But Josh just searched his pockets and finally pulled out bubble gum. He didn't seem to notice anything other than that.

To a screeching halt the brakes on the car almost hurt my ears. I turned to my left and saw the front end of a Sedan with an angry middle-aged woman behind the steering wheel. She stared at me disillusioned. 'What?!' I thought. I didn't even know where she came from. She just came from nowhere to almost hit me, that's all. No big deal for me, it's not like it was the first time someone in a car almost hit me. I kept walking after that short pause. I met Ethan and Josh at the corner of the sidewalk and they were giggling.
"What are you, stoned?" Josh asked jokingly.
"Shut up, will you?" I replied, attempting to disguise my embarrassment.

We kept walking, for a few short blocks until we got to Gino's Pizza. As we walked inside we noticed others from school there. They all looked worried and spoke seriously about something. They kept saying something about what the news was saying and what it wasn't saying. Josh went straight to the pool tables. Ethan and I seemed to both be noticing the same thing. The expression of worry, or fear, that everyone seemed to have.
"JD!" I heard a girl call me.
I turned to look behind me and saw Chloe.
"Did you hear what's going on?" She said as she walked up to me and Ethan.
"No...what?"
"None of the phones are working and no one can get in or out!" She exclaimed frightened.
"In and out of where?" I asked.
"Of the city. And the cable and satellites are out. Cell phones don't work. Only the local news is on, on every channel! And they don't know what's going on."
"But why can't we get out of the city?" Ethan asked.
"All the roads and freeway exits and entrances are blocked by people with white jumpsuits that say they are from the government..."
"The FBI?" I asked.
"No, Special Unit."
I looked at Ethan and as I did I noticed Josh was approaching us.
"Are we playing or what?"

(Part II Coming Soon!)