A Road To The Next Universe

Leaders

I had never been a deep sleeper and even the slightest noises woke me. So, when I heard the creak of my door opening and several sets of footsteps (as quiet as they were), I was immediately awoken to find five men wearing guard's uniform standing at the foot of my bed.

My first instinct was to scream but I'd barely even had the thought when one of the guards rushed to my side and clamped his hand over my mouth. "Stand up," he hissed. I did as he said but kept an eye on him and all of the rest of them as I did so. I straightened my spine and felt something cool and hard being pressed into my lower back. "Walk," the same voice commanded and I felt the gun nudging me forward. I took small, slow steps as I progressed, wary of the five men closely following behind me. One of which was ushering me along with the muzzle of his gun pressed against the bare skin of my back, exposed by my too small pyjamas.

I walked downstairs, my heart hammering in my chest but I didn't show any signs of fear on my face. I kept a stony expression just like the one I wear almost every day when confronting other human beings. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, I turned my head to look at the guard directly behind me, unsure of where to go. He inclined his head towards where the front door had previously been. There was now only an empty doorframe. The door itself was lying on the floor outside. I stepped through.

I was greeted by the cool night air as I walked outside. It was hard to see where I was going and I tripped a few times because it was pitch black. The lampposts were turned off so the only source of light was the pale moon resting high up in the night sky. As I stumbled my way through the dark I became aware of voices coming from somewhere not too far ahead.

This was obviously very well planed and was certainly not an average kidnapping. My head was full of fantasies from reading too many books. Was I going to wake up in a maze with amnesia? Was I going to be transported to an arena then forced to fight to the death with twenty-three other teenagers? Or maybe I would be taken to a city and then put in a specific group based on my personality all for an experiment? All I could think about were zombies and diseases and corrupt governments. I was brought back to Earth when I sighted a man, in his late twenties, I guessed, standing in the middle of the path holding a clipboard and looking down at me over his hooked nose. But this was not what surprised me; nor was the helicopter standing in the middle of the abandoned road but it was the line of eleven other thirteen year olds stationed beside the towering vehicle in their nightwear. Some had expressions of confusion and fear on their faces whereas others showed curiosity in the way they looked around; peering at each of the other children in turn.

"Please state your name," the man with the hooked nose said in a bored voice.

I hesitated for a second. What would this information provide them? I considered giving them a fake name but I decided against it remembering the gun pressing into my back; it was more gentle now but refused to be ignored. "Electra Pier," I said calmly. If I were to get through this I would need to keep my cool and show that I will not be fazed by the situation. He ticked something off on his clipboard and muttered, "Very well. Would you please take a place in the line between Aston Decaro, number 4, and Pheobie Christofi, number 6. You are number 5." He handed me a badge that read 'Number 5'. I spent no time dwelling on what it could mean and placed myself between the fourth and sixth children.

I was freezing in my pyjamas and I hugged my arms close to my body, trying to warm myself. "Okay," one of the guards called out, "everybody in." He gestured his gun in the general direction of the helicopter that was sitting patiently in the middle of the road. It loomed over the crowd, showing off its size. If any cars were to come down this road, which I highly doubted at this time of night, they would find their path blocked.

We all piled in one behind the other into the small space. It may have looked huge from the outside but now that I was in it, especially with about twenty other people, it seemed like everyone had been crammed into somewhere much smaller. A single guard followed us inside and sat behind us all. Then the helicopter took off.