+-+ The Day of the Sending +-+
I did not get much sleep last night, which was not a good thing. I could not stop thinking about what was going to happen on the ground. When I got out of bed, I went to my locker to get some clothes out, but they were all gone. Instead there were two set of clothes neatly folded on a bedside table. One had the name Jett Zachary written on a piece of paper, and the other had Bastien Waters. I took the piece of paper off and got changed into the clothes.
I pulled on the black pair of track pants, a black tight-fitting t-shirt, a black jacket, black socks, black boots and for some reason, a black belt. I saw that all of the other guys in the dorm also had the same clothes as I did. I guess that this is what we are going to be wearing when we get sent to Earth. The clothes were pretty comfortable, and easy to move in. I'm guessing that the jacket will keep out the cold and keep in the warmth during the cold nights.
I wait for Jett to get out of bed and get changed so that we can go to breakfast and wait for the others. I don't know why we don't walk to breakfast with Uriah and Asher, even though we are in the same dorm. I guess they just leave before we do, or don't call out for us to wait for them. When we get to the dining hall, we see Jess, Amelia and Zoe already sitting at our table with their breakfast. Jett and I go get ours and sit down with them. When Uriah and Asher get here, we are all eating in silence. It's not just us though, not many people are talking and if they are talking, they are whispering so that they aren't heard by everyone.
When we finished breakfast, we are told to meet in the training room. When we get there, all of the melee weapons, guns and training mats are gone, and in it's place is heaps of tablets on podiums. Above each of the tablets is a name, and I'm guessing that we have to find our name and go to the tablet. We go and search for our names and once we found them, we found a spot to sit and wait for someone to tell us to go to our tablets to chose what we want in our crates. It's not long before everyone is here and the Commander is telling us to go to our tablets. When we are all standing in front of our tablets, the Commander decides to give us a small speech.
"Hello Chosen. The tablets in front of you are the tablets where you will be choosing what items you want in your crate. Remember, most of the items in your crate will be in a backpack, everything else that cannot fit will just be in the crate itself, so make sure to pack enough things for your backpack. The melee weapons and guns that you pick will come in your crate as well as something to hold your chosen weapons. For whatever you pick to be in your backpack, it will ask you how many days worth of food and water you want in your backpack, the rest if the space will be filled with the other things you chose. Remember, what you chose now will be your final choice and you will not be able to change anything. You may begin." and with that, everyone looks at their screens and starts choosing what they want in their crates.
I look down at my screen and there are three main choices. Backpack, Melee and Gun. I decide to start with the Backpack option. On the screen, three boxes pop up, the box on the right has how much space is left in my backpack, on the top left is how many days worth of food and water I want, and on the bottom left is a list of things that I am able to put in my backpack. I look at the section of how much food and water I want. I select that and five options show up, 0 days, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days and 4 days. I select the 3 days worth of food and water and see that my backpack is 75% full. With three days worth of food, my bag is going to be heavy on the first day.
I look at the list of options and I read through them. One clean clothes, two clean clothes, 1 meter rope, 2 meter rope, 3 meter rope, water purifier, 1 empty water bottle, 2 empty water bottles and the list goes on. I see that some people have finished choosing their options and are being shuffled out of the room. I read through the list again while deciding to pick everything based that I have to pick the right items to help at least my sister and I. I chose the rope, a pocketknife, a medium sized first aid kit, matches and fire starters. When I have finished choosing my items, I see that my pack is now 94% full. I select the confirm button after double checking that I have everything I want in my bag. I don't bother with the spare change of clothes because it will take up too much space that I could use for other more important things.
I look up and see that more people have finished, including Uriah and Asher. They went through that quickly. After I clicked the confirm button, it went back to the main screen, but this time it was just Melee and Gun. I select the melee button and two boxes pop up, on the left is a list of all the melee weapons, and on the right is what the melee weapon looks like. I scroll through the melee weapons until I reach Bow and Arrows. When I select the bow and arrows, another box pops up and asks me how many arrows I want. The amount I can chose ranges from 1-12, but anything after that will be sent down in the crate but I would have to carry them around with me. I select 12 arrows because that's the most that I can have without having to carry any that wont be in the quiver.
As my finger hovers over the confirm button, I start to rethink my decision. I think that using a bow and arrow would be useless once I lose all of my arrows and who knows how long they will last. I scroll through all of the options again and decide to go for the throwing knives. Even though they are still a limited amount, it will be something I can use in hand to hand combat. Even if I have one knife left, I know that I can still protect myself with it, unlike if I had one arrow left. I select the throwing knives instead and another box pops up saying how many knives I want. It ranges from 1-6, any more knives and I wont be able to carry them in, what it says underneath the image of the knives, a customized jacket to hold the knives. I think of all of the places that I can carry knives outside of my jacket and think of only two spots to hold two more knives. I can place a knife on each side tucked into my belt. I type in that I would like 8 knives into the customize box. I rethink over my decision and decide to click on the confirm button.
It goes back to the main screen and only the Gun button is left. I select that and the same thing as the melee weapon pops up. On the left is a list of all of the guns, and on the right is what the guns look like. I scroll through the list and find that dual pistols would be my best choice. When I click on the dual pistols, two boxes pop up. One box is asking me how many ammunition cases I want, and the other box is asking me if I would like to have gun holders that can clip onto my belt, or if I want it apart of a new belt. I do the ammunition one first and select 6 clips. Two of the clips are going to be in the guns themselves, and I have enough room in my pack to put the remaining four clips in. I then go to the gun holder one and I select the clip on ones. There is also a customize box underneath it and I think before typing: One throwing knife holder on the side of each gun holder.
When I click on the confirm button, my screen goes white and someone comes over and collects me. My sister wasn't at the tablet next to me so I assumed that she had finished before me. We walk through a door and there are a whole lot of rows of seats and a stage in front of them. On the stage sits the Commander and the General. I manage to see the heads of all the others, I must have been the last one to finish so I go and sit next to Amelia. When I sit down she grabs my hand and holds it and I give her a reassuring squeeze. Still everyone is sitting in silence. The only things you can hear is your breathing and the occasional cough, sneeze, sniff, clearing of the throat or someone tapping their foot on the ground. It's around ten more minutes until the last person is sat down and the Commander comes up to the front of the stage where a microphone sits and begins speaking.
"Hello Chosen. Your crates are being packed this very moment, but since it will take a few hours, you are to all stay in here and wait until the crates are packed, and it is time to be sent to the ground. Everything should be ready by twelve o'clock and it is half past ten now. The crates will be sent down before you, so they will be on the ground when you land. We will give a final speech when you are about to be sent to the ground. Thank you." the Commander says before going and sitting back in their seat. A quiet chatter flows through the room, I can see out of the corner of my eye that the rest of the group are all holding hands of the person next to them.
It was a long wait until we were finally being ushered out of the room. None of us let go of the each others hands, too afraid that if we let go that we would never see them again. I look around at everyone who is being ushered through and my eyes fall on Jacob. I see him glaring daggers at me. I had completely forgotten that he was going to try to kill me. That's when I got extremely scared and nervous. I was nervous because who knew what was going to happen when we got to the ground and I was scared because I already knew that something other than everything already on the ground was out to kill me.
We were being lead into the shuttle that we will be going down in. It was lucky that we were all holding hands because if we weren't we would have been sat next to other people, and who knows what could happen once we have landed. Will people in the shuttle start attacking each other. Will there be people from different Clans looking for people to go with them back to their Clan for an initiation. Will there be people who have been effected by the radiation and attack us once we are down. Once I am sat down in my seat, I buckle myself in making sure that all of the straps are tight. I am sitting on an edge seat so I can easily get out once we have landed. Once all of the commotion of people getting into seats has died down, the doctor comes over to where I am.
"Since your nose and eye are bruised the pressure will build up because of the altitude dropping quickly. It will probably hurt." and with that, he left to get off the shuttle, or to go and talk to someone else.
"Well that's reassuring." I mutter.
Someone else is coming down the rows of seats and is handing out oxygen masks. Since we will be free falling for a while, we will all need them, some of us may even pass out, which I hope happens to none of us. When they hand us the masks, we put them on and sit back in our chairs. There are two levels to the shuttle, so some people are above us, and the rest of us are on the first level. There is a television that is in front of everyone, attached to the wall that everyone is facing, above the door that we will all be leaving through. The TV turns on and we can see the Commander standing on a stage in front of everyone who isn't being sent down today.
"Hello citizens of the Ark. We are truly sorry that we are sending the Chosen down today when they have only had four days of preparation, instead of the seven like they normally have, but they will all have a better chance of surviving with having four days instead of the one. We are hoping that we will never have to give this punishment again, so hopefully the next group that is Chosen will remember what happened and decide to follow the rules. Remember, we are sending them down for a good cause. We are sending them down so that one day, we will all be able to go down to Earth and humanity can rebuild itself. Do not forget that they are able to come back after two years of being on Earth, so do not worry, you will see your children again. We wish all the best to the Chosen. Good luck, never give up and may you survive on Earth." She finishes
"May you survive on Earth." We hear everyone repeat.
The General comes up the microphone as the Commander goes and sits back down.
"The Sending will begin in,"
10
9
8
I grip the seat belts and take a deep breath
7
6
5
I look at Amelia who is sitting next to me and I take her hand and give it a squeeze.
4
3
2
1
May you survive on Earth
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
A/N: Whaat! I wrote this chapter in the same day as I posted the one before it! That's very unheard of! Anyway... I hope you like the small cliff hanger, but just think, you will find out what happens when they first land on the ground in the next chapter! Exciting right! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!
Remember to vote if you like my story, and comment things that I could improve on or things that you liked! Follow me if you want to get updates for the story whenever I post a new chapter and hopefully I will be posting more during the next two months or so!
-FlatMatesForLife