Underground Darkness: Book 1 of the Powers Children Series

Chapter 2

Director Harvalres was lucky to have gotten out alive. His guards didn't hesitate in swooping him up and running off the stage. Teenage boys pushed and shoved, climbing on the stage in rage. Others cowered and ran for exits, a few unlucky ones being grabbed and pulled back. The females balcony was a bit calmer, people moving toward the exits. Ay was the first of our group out, Sarah chasing her to be sure that she didn't do anything brash. I sat forward in my chair, my eyes shut in distress.

For 22 years, there's been a nuclear war murdering thousands on the land above us. At 18, you are forced the go and fight for the country above us, part of the Allied forces of World War Three. All my life, we've been taught about and shown the horrors of dead soldiers on the plains.

Most of the new recruits don't last a month. I have to go in two years, and now there are people who are excused from the horror.

Ella and Bella won't die on a battlefield. But I will.

I slowly, sluggishly made my way back to my floor, about to step out of the elevator when I noticed guards standing outside of my door. We made eye contact and I never stepped off of the elevator.

"Come with us," one of the them simply says. We zoom down to the first floor, where several people still wandered around. They take me down a separate hallway, behind a door to what I thought was a supply closet. A large room ends the twists and turns they had ushered me through. It looked like one of the large training rooms I'd seen 17-year-olds do War Training in. Over 40 people were already here, and there was an uncanny, well, similarity. Majority of them also had hair dye, dark clothes, mysterious auras. As someone with blonde and blue hair and a liking for Fall Out Boy, the last thing I felt here was out of place. On top of it all, we were all Purples.

In front of the room, three guards stood over everyone, surveying the crowd. After a few minutes of me standing alone in the corner, one pulled of his helmet, revealing beady black eyes and a standard military shave.

"When I call your number, follow my partner out the door," the gruff soldier commanded. A group of thirty was escorted out by a female guard and one of the other leaders. And then, another 20 left, leaving me and 18 other people. The lead soldier comes down to the floor and walkes around.

"I'm Commander Jars. I'm here to explain more in detail your color and the importance of it. There are so few Purple's because you...well, not gonna sugarcoat it... have magical powers. They haven't been harnessed yet, but something in your blood due to genetics has caught our attention. Most of you can control fire, water, earth, electricity, air, magic, things like that. But, we just have to get it out of you, using a chemical injection,"

The man explained this all very calmly, despite the palpable tension in the air. He shakes his head, as if just now realizing that he's crazy and we're a lost cause.

"Please. Make two lines in front of me," commands the man. We become living statues as he brings a syringe to a trembling girl with bleach blonde hair at the front of the other line. A clear liquid sloshes around, and he jabs it into her arm with little hesitation. All of it flushes into her bloodstream, and when he pulls the plunger back, blue liquid follows.

Literally? Blue blood.

Her knees buckle, and she quietly hits the ground. Everyone in the room scatters away, completely disregarding each other. I cower against the nearby wall, not as hectic as some, but still very scared.

"The power to control water. Not create it, just control it. Observe," Jars leans down, snaps in front of the girl's face and her eyes fly open, swimming with confusion. She stands up, and in seconds, Jars suddenly has a bucket, tipping it over her. She squealed, threw her arms up...