Artificial Selection

Assembling a Party

After a while I must've fallen asleep, but I was immediately up when the sound of a stampede jolted me awake. I looked out the window and saw a long passenger train passing by. It looked like it was heading in the same direction as us. The officer who was driving said a word that I shouldn't know but did anyway. "We're gonna be late." He muttered. "We can't afford to be late." And with that he slammed his foot on the engine and with a jolt we were sailing down the road, which was surprisingly empty. Thank goodness for that. Otherwise I had no doubts this guy would run someone over.

My back was pressed against the seat and I just closed my eyes and tried to pretend I was not in a car being driven by a crazy person. Something better, like a... A roller-coaster! Wait I hate those. Looked like I was just going to have to deal with it until we got to wherever we were going. Luckily it didn't take too long, which was likely only because we were breaking whatever speed limit this road had. Pretty soon he punched the breaks and I almost hit my head on the front seat. "We're here. Right on time, but we've got none to loose. Get out." I opened the door and was greeted by a train station. There was a loud whistle signaling that the train I'd seen had come to a halt. "What are you, stiff? Move! Unless you feel like waiting until tomorrow's train!" The officer barked, shoving my luggage towards me then stamping his foot impatiently as I picked it up off the floor. Then he started speed walking towards the building and I scrambled to keep up while dragging my bag along.

Inside the building it was pretty much your average train station, except there was only one train to go to. And that was where the officer was headed. On the loading dock he turned to me. "Wait for your name to be called." Then he just left without so much as a goodbye. Dang, and here I was thinking we had a bond going on. Oh well. I looked around the loading dock, seeing that the other passengers waiting for their name to be called were mostly around my age, give or take a few years. There were also some guards standing by the gates that I hadn't noticed before. What, had some kids tried to run? The only kids who were around those guards were the youngest ones, crying or clutching the adults' legs. I had to say I felt bad for them the most, being given up at such a young age. Although a few didn't really seem to realize what was going on, as a little girl with light brown hair and grey eyes walked right up to me with a bright smile on her face.

"Hiya! Why are you sad?" She must've noticed the somber look on my face. Even I didn't really notice it until she pointed it out. "I'm not, just.. I'm fine." The kid didn't look convinced, and gave me a pouty look. "That ain't true at all, Lily can tell. Come with me! My friends will cheer you up! I did cheer them up first, so now they'll help you too!" Her face was beaming. I sighed, not really wanting to follow this kid, but then again what else was I really doing? It wouldn't hurt, plus I supposed it was better than just standing around on my own. So I grabbed the handle on my suitcase as followed the little girl as she weaved her way through the rest of the kids and teenagers there. While she may have known where she was going, to me it just felt like serpentine style and for a moment I thought she was just pulling my leg until she squealed and waved to a small group sitting on a bench. She eagerly tugged my sleeve. "Come on!" The girl led me the rest of the way via dragging me by my shirt.

Once we were actually there I looked at each person in turn. There was another little girl who looked a lot like Lily, but a ghostly pale, a girl maybe a little older than me who I'm pretty sure was wearing orange pajamas, and a boy who looked roughly my age wearing a suit and tie like he was going to prom or something. What had I just gotten myself into? "So!" Lily exclaimed. "Thiis is my sister Rose! She's a little sick, but she's still super great!" Rose looked up at me and smiled a little. "Hello.." Then she broke into a coughing attack. "And she's Frarah!" Pajama girl waved. "Hey, there." I opened my mouth. "F, not 'ph'." She snorted. "Nerd." I folded my arms then looked over at Lily as she faked a coughing fit. Now knowing that she had my attention she continued. "And last but not least, this is Oliver! That's him! He can't talk!" The boy's face got red but he waved at me anyway. "So you're.. deaf?" He shook his head and pointed to his lips. "Not deaf, mute." Farah said. "Then how'd you tell them your name?" He pulled out his phone but then looked up as a name was called. Oliver Wick to the nearest officer for your ticket. He put the phone away and just smiled at me before hurrying off to a guard who gave him a small slip of paper and let him into a train car.

Lily squealed. "I can't wait to go on the train! Aren't you guys excited?!" Obviously her parents had kept her in the dark about what was really going on. I wasn't really the acting type. "Not rea- Ow!" I looked at Farah who had just stood up and jabbed me in the arm. She grabbed my ear and brought it towards her. "You can't do that to a little kid! Just let her think what she wants to." When she let go she was all smiles. "Yep! Super excited! And he said he's excited too, right?" I nodded dumbly and that was apparently good enough for Lily. "Yay!" We made small talk until I was called. Lucas Pitt to the nearest officer for your ticket. "Oooooh so that's your name!" Lily exclaimed. Guess I must've forgotten to mention it before. Farah saluted to me. "See you on the Reject Express, Lucas."