My legs feel like jelly and my eyes burn from all my crying, as the jeep jerks to a stop. I tare my gaze away from the view outside my window and look to the window opposite me.
"Wow..." I whisper under my breath. A tall luminous sleek silver ship rests about a kilometer away from where the jeep sits. Surrounding the gigantic ship is solid white tents and military personnel patrolling the perimeter of a long chain link fence. This must be the launch pad.
With my nerves and anxiety amplified, I never really let my thoughts drift to the actual aliens themselves. In my eyes aliens were little green men who had ray guns and such advanced technology from us , but only about a year ago I began to dwell on the idea that maybe the aliens weren't so different from us. Maybe, we're more alike than all those science fiction movies and novels that our society had depicted into our imaginations although, they have deep black eyes.
The soldiers guide me in through the sea of military men and women, who stop to watch me pass and some of them pause to say: "We thank you". I try to ignore all of the people but I begin to relize I'll never escape being noticed.
As we approach closer and closer to the luminous ship, it starts to look more futuristic and more alien like. It's beginning to give me goosebumps at just the thought of boarding it. I shake away the cold shiver crawling down my spine, as I'm escorted into a tent with a red cross. Inside the tent, the smell of latex gloves and hand sanitizer toggles my nose and the sight of just one single hospital gurney gives me a hunch that it's the hospital tent.
"Miss. Carter please follow me," instructs a nurse with almond skin and deep black hair. The soldiers wait behind a counter as I follow the nurse to where the single gurney waits. "Hop on the bed and then I'll tell you what we're going to be doing."
I regard her request by hopping onto the crinkly paper that lines the gurney. My feet dangle over the edge as I can feel a swarm of butterflies begin to tickle my stomach. The fear and anxiety of leaving is finally starting to catch up to me, and without Alexa I feel totally vulnerable to my nerves.
"Miss did you hear me?" I shake out of my thoughts to look at the nurse.
"What?" I ask in a raspy voice then clear my throat.
"Can you roll up your sleeve please?"
I slide my sweater's sleeve up to my shoulder and decide to ask questions that seem to suddenly enter my train of thoughts. "Where are the other NEW EARTH LEADERS?"
The nurse gives me a weak grin,"There are other ships that landed close to each NEW EARTH LEADERS hometown, so they won't be riding with you."
A long syringe filled with a clear liquid rests on a metal tray as the nurse snaps on latex gloves. "My name is Chanelle and I'll be giving you your vaccinations. There will be three different vaccines that will go into your muscles and two others that will be injected into your veins. Do you have any last questions before we begin?"
When she asked me, "Do you have any last questions before we begin?", I try to come up with something else to ask only trying to stall a while longer, and that's when I get one.
"How come they're helping us, and how did they get here so fast?" I don't really care if she answers them or not, but to my own curiosity it would be nice to know.
Chanelle flicks the syringe then dabs my arm with an antiseptic wipe before she says,"Miss. no one really knows why anyone out worldly would want to save us, but I do know that -sorry I actually don't know it's just a rumor. At least I think... Anyway, folks that work along side our government have heard that the reason that The Others came to our aid so fast is that they were already here."
I stare at her blankly,"Already here? What does that mean?"
She sits down on a wheelie chair and holds my wrist as she injects the needle into my upper arm. "I'm not suppose to be telling you this. It's against regulation." Chanelle sticks a cotton ball onto my right arm. I want to know more about my SAVIORS, and especially if I'm... if I'm going to live on their... planet, but way deep down I guess I'm scared to know the truth.
After the nurse gives me the vaccinations, she guides me to a round table across the tent. She pulls out a chair for me then seats herself beside me. Chanelle pulls out a yellow notepad and a blue inked pen, then turns to face me.
"Can I ask you few questions Miss. Carter?" She kindly asks.
"Yes."
"Ok then. First off I want you too tell me your favorite extra curricular activity, either outside of school or in a school club." Really? She's asking me what my favorite activities are? Why?
"The Others gave us these questions," she quickly adds.
"Oh, ok... my favorite activity in school was the soccer team. I played goalie, but I started playing as defense this year," I say folding my hands in my lap. Soccer had been in my life since I was four and now it's practically non-existent in my world.
She scribbles words onto the pad then says,"Cool. Now what's your favorite genre of music?"
"I didn't really listen to music before this year, but I enjoy pop."
"Also, could you... could please watch out for my nephew? He's from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil."
"Of course." I try a smile but fail miserably.
More pen to paper noises as she continues to give me questions like: what's my favorite color, do I have a favorite type of animal, what kind of food I prefer, etc. After she finishes, she pats my thigh then straightens to a full stand. She holds out her palm as if waiting for a handshake from me and boldly says," We thank you."
I begin to wonder if people are having a hard time speaking to me, because the words "We thank you", just seems forced. Deep down inside people I fill as if they wish to be in my position and well, I would trade places in a heartbeat if anyone asked.
I take nurse Chanelle's hand in mine and then follow her outside the tent, towards the group of soldiers who drove me here, and than I wheel Alexa's suitcase closer to the ship. The ground beneath my feet feels shaky and my pulse feels as if it's about to take flight. Actually... it is about to take flight to a far, far away alien world. Isn't that ironic?
"Now, as soon as we're close enough The Others will lowery the door and from there they will take care of you. Ok?" The bald soldier tells me, looking back at me as we continue to walk. My only response is a nod. If I say a word right now I don't know if I could stop myself from breaking apart. If only, if only Alexa were here.
Military personnel watch us stand in front of a humongous metal door that's attached to the ship as the winter wind blows in my face. We wait patiently for The Others to accept me as a NEW EARTH LEADER. I clutch Alexa's suitcase tighter in my hand as I fight the urge to take off running back home to Alexa, but the problem is Alexa wants me to go and I don't want to hurt her anymore then she already is.
Slowly, but surely the door unfolds to ramp revealing two men in tight black suits that remind me of the man who gave that announcement that night. Their faces are covered in a dark mask with bug eyes disguising their appearances. I feel the air around me stiffen as not only me, but the entire area filled with people stare at the sight of The Others. The soldiers that stand beside me glance at me as if waiting for my wave goodbye, but I just freeze up as a storm of emotions begin to build up inside me. This is way to much for me to handle.
"Miss, you ready?" The solider asks me. I look down at the snowy ground trying to memorize the cool feeling and white pristine glaze the snow brings to the earth, as I take slow deep breaths in and out trying to tame the storm. Breath... breath... breath...
Placing one foot in front of the other I make my way towards the ramp. I keep my head down not wanting to make eye contact with The Others, at least for as long as possible. From behind me I can feel everyone in the crowd stare at my back and that's when a low chant of words faintly reaches my ears. "We thank you", is what they say. My heart begins to drag as I'm pushed towards my new life as a NEW EARTH LEADER. For once since the whole world started dying I'm actually terrified, and you would think I should be glad I'm the one that gets to live. To get a second chance.
YOU ARE READING
Another Way
Science FictionEvery living thing is dying on earth. Organisms, plants, insects, birds, man and, everything else that's a living thing, is dead or dying. An ancient disease has waken in our bodies that has been around since the beginning of earth. Anything that br...
