The Outside (#wattys2016)

The End

The ship followed us, but I didn't hear the bombs come any closer, so I figured we were okay. There was a little shelter, like a cave were we were. We hid behind the rock and I saw a glimpse of the thing coming closer. "We need to go!" I yelled over all the noise. James was looking around for a way to get in. The next thing I knew I saw a big black thing coming towards him. I pushed him back towards our little shelter as the thing blew up in our faces. James had black all over his face and I probably did too, but didn't really care, because after all, I was too scared. But I hid the fear well with determination. "The bombs are small." He said. "That means all we have to do is avoid being in about five feet of them." I noticed a small camera right above the door, but then and idea struck me. "Stay here!" I yelled to James and ran to the door before he could argue. The ship was still after him. I looked at the camera, about seven feet above the ground and I felt the smooth metal which felt like iron, impossible to climb, but I felt rocks underneath my bare feet. I picked a fairly large one and launched it at the camera, destroying it. Lucky hit? I guessed. Now I had the ship's attention. As soon as it launched the bomb at me I dashed out of the way, the bomb hitting the ground, destroying a little section of dirt underneath the wall. "James!" I yelled. "Over here!" He was running towards me. "Go!" He yelled. "I'm right behind you!" I slipped under the wall, into the hole, and saw the light on the other side. I crawled though, and then standing up on the Inside.

I saw it, the Inside. But this wasn't the first time. It was exactly like the dream. Thousands of the same skyscrapers, and the huge dome shaped building in the middle. It looked even bigger in person. Jame came up behind me. "Thank goodness your here." I said to him as tons of people came up to us. They all had a genuine look of concern on their face, but still, that didn't mean I trusted them so easily. A girl with pale skin and black hair came to me. She looked about my age, but wore all black. She said. "Are you, well, Outsiders?" She asked, sounding amazed. "Uh, yeah." I said. "We need to get you to an E-R immediately." She said. "E-R?" I asked. "Emergency room." She replied. "Closest one should be---" I cut her off: "Why would we need to go to an emergency room?" I asked. "Excuse me? Look at yourselves! Can somebody get me a mirror?" She screamed rudely at the crowd. James just stood there, taking it all in. "What's going on?" He whispered. "I don't know. Apparently they wanna help." I replied. It was good to know we were both confused, and in this together. After a couple minutes, someone passed up a full length mirror, standing up on wheels. The girl rolled it to me first, and for a split second I saw a face, my face, with no black ash, no scratches or scars. It was just like the dream. Then I saw my dull face, with black all over it, and my torn clothes, so dirty and disgusting from the trip. She was right, I thought, we really did look bad. She passed the mirror to James, and he had a minute to look at himself, but he had gotten more of a beating than me. She passed the mirror back to to crowd just as I saw people pushing though the crowd, all dressed in blue suits. Some looked like pilots and some like doctors. "They're here." The girl said. "I'm Adira. I'll see you again." It was the last thing I heard before being lifted by a team of four people onto a rolling bed. I looked over and saw James being lifted too. "If this is the end." I whispered to James, being rolled in his bed beside me. "I love you." Someone inserted a needle into me and I blacked out. But this was when I realized that this wasn't the end, it was only the beginning.