The Saviors

Chapter 4(Part 1 - The US, 2050)

"Hey!" Winston says picking up on the third ring.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, but we are in lockdown right now. The riots are much worse here, but everything's fine though, so don't worry. I think the school is coming up with a plan to get all the students safely off campus. How about you? What are you doing?"

"Packing. My school is letting everyone leave, but since our last name starts with a W, I am going to be one of the last students to leave."

"At least you get to leave. My school is still unsure of what they are going to do."

"I'm sure they will figure out something soon. Just please promise me that you will stay safe."

"Of course. I'm not planning on leaving campus anytime soon, and as soon as I am allowed to, I'm going to head straight to Brookes house."

"Okay, I'm just worried. I don't know what's happening."

"Does anyone? Well, I have to go, but I'll try to call you tomorrow."

"Bye. Stay safe."

⠒

Over the next week, all my fellow students have been frantically packing and almost everyone has left. Many stores and restaurants have shut down. There are new restrictions on food and water. Most people have freaked out resulting in many dangerous riots. People are only supposed to be able to buy certain amounts of food for their families because the government says that it is the best way to prevent food shortages. Currently, all of the grocery stores are in shambles. Some people have broken into stores to steal whatever food and water they can find. A lot of the rich people stocked up on food, and then hopped on their boats to hide out in the middle of the ocean while they wait for things to die down. The government has gone into shutdown and all the important people have locked themselves in the capital. Instead of trying to stop the riots, the important politicians have locked themselves in an underground bunker. After making the food regulations, the government members disappeared.

I have tried numerous times to get in contact with Winston, but he hasn't picked up. I am worried that something might have happened to him because he is near the center of the riots. With the current mess the United states is in, it would be no surprise if something did happen and I don't know about it. Brooke, Robbie and I finished packing a few days ago and are now just waiting for our day to leave. In my attempt to hide my worries for Winston and ignore my budding boredom, Brooke and I have been playing extreme games of truth or dare. For example, I dared Brooke to build a "ladder" out of clothes and climb out of our second story window. In return, Brooke dared me to jump off the balcony into our school's pool. The school is so busy with having to close that none of the teachers have noticed anything. Besides Brooke and I's games of truth or dare, nothing interesting has happened. Harry left at the beginning of the week, and Robbie just sits in his dorm playing video games. Our school still has a bunch of food, so while we're here, we don't have to worry about food shortages.

"Hey Alex!" Brooke suddenly exclaims from her corner of the room with a giant smirk on her face.

"Ugh, no," I respond knowing perfectly well that she's about to dare me to do something incredibly stupid.

"I dare you to go to Robbies room wearing only a towel and take a picture with him."

"Can't we leave Robbie out of this?" I ask trying to come up with an excuse to not have to do the dare.

"You have to do it," Brooke forcefully repeats.

"Yeah, yeah. I will," I give in to her demands, knowing I have nothing better to do. I get up from my desk and grab a towel. I quickly get ready wrapping the towel around myself and grabbing my phone. I sprint out the door as fast as I can. I just want to get this dare over with as soon as possible. Luckily, on my way to his room, I don't pass anyone in the hallway. As I arrive at Robbies room, I turn my phone on and get ready to take a picture. I knock on the door and hear footsteps as Robbie approaches.

"Hey, what's..." He begins to say looking down at the towel I'm wearing. Then, comes the loud click of my camera as Robbie yells "What are you doing?" Before I can answer, I sprint back down the hallway. As I'm running away, I get this amazing feeling of freedom and am excited that I easily accomplished this task. Until, my hand begins to lose its grip on the towel, and my foot gets caught up in the bottom.

"Aaaah!" I yell as I go tumbling down. The towel falls off leaving me completely bare directly in front of Robbie. If only I had had a better grip on the towel or had gotten farther from Robbies room. I quickly grab the towel and cover myself, turning around to see Robbies reaction. I would have expected him to be annoyed, but instead he is howling with laughter. He's laughing so much that there are tears in his eyes and his face is almost as red as mine is from embarrassment. Humiliated, I begin my walk of shame back to my dorm.

"So, how'd it go?" Brooke asks as soon as I get back.

"I don't wanna talk about it," I embarrassingly responded.

"Come on. What's the worst that could've happened?" She says. "Maybe your towel could fall down, but I doubt that's it..." When I don't respond Brooke adds. "Wait, is that what happened?" Brooke bursts into laughter. "You klutz."

"Leave me alone," I ashamedly whisper. I sit down, trying to not catch Brooke's eye. As I am looking awkwardly around the room, I notice my phone buzzing on my desk. I assume that it's Robbie calling to ask me about what just happened, so I ignore my ringing phone. When the phone doesn't stop ringing, I grab it to double check that it's Robbie calling.

"It's Winston!" I cheer forgetting all about the fiasco with Robbie. "Hello," I say, picking up the phone.

"Hey," he responds.

"What took you so long to call me back?" I ask sternly. "Are you okay?" I add as an afterthought remembering the awful situation we're in.

"I'm fine, it's just very chaotic here."

"What's happening?"

"Well, everyone's just packing. The school announced that we can start leaving. Most people weren't able to get in touch with their parents because of the chaos here in DC, so they still haven't left. That's why I was only now able to call you back. Things are clearing up a little here, so I am going to be leaving the city tonight. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get in touch with you, but I'll meet you at Brookes house."

"Okay, but please try to call me."

"I will. I just don't know if I will have cell coverage, so I don't want you to worry if I don't answer."

"Okay, I'll try not to."

"Alex I have to go, but I love you. Please be safe."

"Wait, Winston! What..." Before I can say anything else Winston hangs up.

"What did he say?" Brooke asks as soon as I'm off the phone. "Anything about me?"

"Really? Now's not the time for this," I say, my voice cracking with fear for my brother.

"Your right. I'm sorry," Brooke replies, trying to calm me down. "But what did he say?"

"Just that he's leaving soon and will meet us at your house."

"It's a good thing that we are finally leaving tomorrow," Brooke says. "We'll probably get to my house around the same time as Winston."

At Brookes reminder of our departure, I look around our room taking in the familiar surroundings and making sure that I have packed everything.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," I say once I have confirmed that I have packed everything. "I'm so excited to see my brother, and even though I'm going to miss this place over the summer, I can't wait for a change in scenery." When Brooke doesn't say anything, I look over to her side of the room to find her passed out on her bed.

"Goodnight, I guess."