Chapter 3: Our Generation Rules The Population
Zack had barely made it inside before some of the boys rushed to the door, eager to hear how he avoided death. They flooded him with obvious questions like: was it scary, did you see anything scary, and... actually questions concerning the level of horror were all that were asked.
"Ok!" he started. "I will be answering questions about my great, and terrifying, adventure later," he added in the most humble of ways. True, there wasn't really much to tell but he was enjoying the attention. "But first!" he exclaimed. "Who wants to see where Miss Rosh went?!" Zack tried to make this sound like great fun, but his showmanship failed him.
"Not really..." Tony muttered, voicing the others opinions as he fidgeted with what appeared to be a can of something. "We could hold an auction for this fine woman's hairspray. You know you want some Tim--I saw that yearning look."
"Fine. Five dollars. Final offer."
"No Tim... it's an auction.... You don't get a final offer."
"Ok, then--"
Zack sighed. Why did everyone have to act like they had attention disorders? "Seriously guys? No one wants to know?"
"Know what?" Bob asked obliviously. He was half heartedly trying to wrestle Tim for his 5 dollars.
"Someone just bring me a computer," Zack sighed. Sheep. Half of the boys were nothing more than sheep just going with the rest of the flock. But who could blame them, it's how they were raised. Forced into submission, and soon military training.
"Thanks Derrick," Tony started, grabbing a laptop from Derrick, before the boy could drop it, as he stumbled into the room, tripping on the doorway. "No I don't care where you got it."
"But---" Derrick started.... Being around the age of twelve Bob and Derrick were always trying to gain the older guys' respect, to no avail. That and they were both notorious class clowns.
"Stop. If you tell me then I have to act like I'm impressed, but I won't be impressed, so just don't--Here you go Zack." With those words of divulgence Tony casually tossed the laptop to Zack.
After a little bit of hacking Zack was able to get the computer up and running. Yes, he is good at something. Sure he couldn't control water, or fly on a broom wearing monogrammed sweaters, he couldn't even find a magic wardrobe or ring, but he still had to be good at something. Then again what constituted 'hacking' was really just Zack punching in the laptop's very original password of BACON1234.
"Should we really be doing this outside?" Peter muttered. Since receiving the computer Zack had taken it outside, and was currently sitting on the front steps, with the boys surrounding him--waiting for the flashdrive to load. True, this probably wasn't the smartest of ideas--for even on a Saturday kids were generally frowned upon for being outside without a genuine purpose, but today Zack didn't care. Perhaps it was because his adrenaline was still rushing from his near death escape from Feebie, or maybe he had just had enough of cowering from the adults. That or it was because there was no one else in sight.
"Who cares. There's no one around!" a boy around Zack's age voiced. The boy was just walking up to the front of the house, with his gang of a few other boys Zack really didn't care for. The boy went by the name of Bones. Although Miss Rosh refused to call him that. She called him Phillip, a name he resented. Bones lived at the group home just the same as the rest of the boys that sat on the front steps that day, he wore old hand-me-down clothes all the same, but for some reason he acted like he was so much better than the others. Zack hadn't seen them around the kitchen that morning so he assumed that they were off to no good, their stupid half grins confirmed his suspicions.
Zack paid them no attention, it wasn't worth it. Besides the flash drive was done loading, time for his hard work to pay off.... YIKES! Looks like there were cameras everywhere. They watched as Miss Rosh shut all the room's lights off, slammed some, carelessly left open, doors shut in her usual cranky manner. This was followed by her finishing her nightly routine by shouting curses out at the passing troops, and asking why they didn't take one of the older boys with them. She then finished with leaving the group home's door unlocked and hanging a sign on the outside, with a kidnapping promotion. Zack honestly wondered why the government hadn't arrested her yet....
Then again she did terrify all the boys, into subordination, and it's not like any kidnapper would ever dare show their face anywhere where the fearsome hag even stepped foot.
After the guys fast-forwarded through the boring stuff, like Miss Rosh sleeping for the next three hours, they noticed at exactly 1:06 A. M. she just vanished. They watched this a few more times to confirm that at 1:05 she was there and at 1:06 she just was gone.
They flipped to the next camera to see if the older boys that were missing that day were also gone, and sure enough at exactly 1:06 in every single room all the older boys vanished. This news of course sent everyone into a panic. What would happen if Miss Rosh never did return? Sure, she was an evil witch, but that didn't change the fact that she paid the bills, or at least made sure the government did.... Also it wasn't the first time she had attempted to frame them for murder.
Knowing that they should report this, they quickly called the police, but the line was dead. This caused Zack to wonder if all the grownups vanished. Like all the kids in the group home Zack did not have parents-- yes he's aware everyone has parents, but the group home boy's parents were either dead and/or just bad people that decided to ditch their kids with an old hag. Anyway, Zack didn't really like any adults, as they were all hardened and cruel from the years of war that also ruined their childhoods. There was just one problem, If the grownups were gone who would fight the Ralams, a few other kids must have thought of this as well as a bunch of muddled whispering filled the room. Muddled whispering which quickly turned to panic.
"Guys!" Zack shouted, getting everybody to pipe down, Bones and his group aside, who were still sniggering stupidly over something. "Let me just hack into some other security cameras." True, this probably should have been harder than Zack made it sound but, thanks to all the runaways the group home had, Rosh had seized access to certain city cameras.
"But won't that just get us into more trouble?" asked a particularly unintelligent kid.
"Yeah, once the adults find out Miss Rosh is missing they will blame us," suggested another boy. "Remember how they sent Carlos's brother to military boarding school, just because Miss Rosh claimed he stole her cheap earrings."
"But guys, we called the cops," Zack said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. No response. "THE COPS ARE ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO ANSWER! Something is obviously wrong."
Thanks to Zack's words of wisdom, A. K. A. common sense most of the kids agreed that just a little checking would be ok. He quickly signed into the police station with Rosh's password (Bacon1234 again) giving him access to all the security cameras within the next sixty miles.
Why Rosh needed sixty miles of surveillance Zack didn't quite know. In all honesty any dude that made it sixty miles from the group home was most likely dead, dying, or never coming back. This was of no current concern to Zack though. What the surveillance cameras now showed was something much more unsettling than a delinquent tween.
It didn't matter which camera he looked at. He quickly flipped through dozens as the group of guys surrounded him, watching the screen in eerie silence. They watched as every single adult figure they could see--whether it was a troop of marching soldiers, or the occasional gang of garbage marauders--disappeared at exactly 1:06.
Zack flipped through a few more screens. Sure enough; at 1:05 a small squad of sparsely armored militia was torching out a Dramlak nest on Harrison Street and at 1:06 the Dramlak's ran out into the street to find nothing but a few flamethrowers, their owners having disappeared into thin air.
The boys sat in silence for a moment as the hideous forms of melting Dramlaks continued to flee from their burning nest on the small cracked computer screen.
Zack's chest felt heavy, his throat drying up as if all the water in the world burnt up with the Dramlak nest.
"...So, are all the grownups gone now?" Peter finally asked, his voice betraying his fear.
Zack was about to reason that they could have only disappeared around them--maybe only along that sixty miles--due to a Ralam attack or another odd phenomenon, but Bones beat him to it.
"Don't be such a baby. The grownups never liked us anyway. Without all the adults we're free to do whatever we want!" This caused a few kids to cheer in agreement, despite the foolishness. "Now who wants to join my gang and help me take over this city?!" He shouted, subtly adjusted his flop of badly cut red hair that everyone knew he hated. Miss Rosh had cut it especially bad on purpose as a punishment for something he did wrong. It served as a reminder to everyone else that he was no good. Obviously it didn't work.
There was another chorus of cheers, mostly from Bones' gang, though a few others looked hooked as well.
"Oh, stop being ridiculous, we don't even know if the adults are actually gone!" Zack replied, glad to see that both Bob and Derrick stopped their nonsensical cheering at his order. "No one needs to take over any city, are you forgetting that even if the grownups--and maybe even the Ralams--are gone, there are still beasts and stuff that would love to eat us. Not to mention that RipJaw's mating season is starting soon, remember what happened to Larry?"
Zack withheld a shiver at the thought of Larry. During the RipJaw's mating season the savage creatures' already gluttonous appetite doubles, leading to them generally closing in around larger towns and cities, where prepackaged meat could conveniently be found in large groups.
One of the survivors from Larry's gruesome attack said it gave a whole new meaning to sausage run. Unfortunately that boy--Zack believed his name was Norbert--was taken the following RipJaw mating season, or sausage run.
"I'm not scared of them. NOW WHO'S WITH ME!" Bones arrogantly shouted rallying a few more boys.
Zack probably could have said something else. Maybe if had, a few of those boys that went off with Bones that day, would have stayed. Or maybe not.... Either way he didn't say anything as those nine boys walked away, why should he have anyway? None of them were his friends. In fact half of them Zack actually didn't like, it wasn't his responsibility to make sure any one of those boys survived. Sure he was the one who got the flashdrive. And maybe he did enjoy the attention he received when charging into the group-home with it in hand--if only just a little. But he had done his part, what happened next wasn't his fault, regardless of what it may have been.
Those boys were being really... really stupid. But really, who could blame them? Up until that morning they all had pretty sucky lives, what with their parents abandoning them, or flat out dying, and then having to endure Miss Rosh. According to the 2040 English dictionary the antonyms for her name were happiness, and all the other good things in the world. But anything that had happened to Bones' and his group happened to the rest of the guys that were there too. The eight that left were just being stupid, and Bones himself? Well Bones was just bad. If he wasn't then what was he? Zack stayed responsibly, and Bones left. Someone had to be bad, how could they both be good? How could Zack have been bad?
Zack was the one that got the flashdrive. Zack was the one that earned the attention when he charged into the group home with it in hand. Bones was just off, up to no good. So Bones was bad and Zack was good. Simple as that. Bones was the bad guy, and Zack was the responsible hero. Zack knew this wasn't fair, or right, or true. Zack could have changed this. Should have changed this. Bones was a bully. An arrogant bully. But was anyone really bad? Did anyone deserve to be labeled as strictly bad? Either way Zack learned to regret not stopping Bones that first day.
It didn't matter what's done was done, and Zack couldn't change it. "Well, they're dead!" Zack declared, as he watched the nine go. Probably best just to forget they ever existed.
Someone shouted at the army of the nine teenage boys, "Not nice knowing ya... at least if the RipJaws eat you they might not be as hungry for us!" And that was the end of it.
"I guess that's settled," Zack stated to the eleven boys that stayed. Looking around he noticed a lot of nervous faces. What came next probably wouldn't be easy, nor--despite what Bones seemed to think--would most of it be fun. They needed a leader--if only just at first--and no one else seemed too eager to step up. "Should we pack up and go get some supplies while it's still early then?"
Zack knew that they couldn't stay in the tiny group home and that they needed a bigger hideout where they could survive and stay away from the chaos that would surely start in a few days, once everyone figured out what happened, and/or ran out of food. He also knew that Bones was a bully, regardless, and that he would surely try to take the city by force, wasting no time before raiding shops. Not to mention that having something productive to do sometimes helped keep away fear and worry. Knowing this Zack assigned all the older boys with a younger one, had them pack up any wanted belongings or food--which wasn't really much since the boys ate most of the food that morning, and didn't really own anything--into their school backpacks.
Once that was done he suited anyone over eleven, which was a good chunk of them, with the gardening weapons--And with that they were off to explore their new world, leaving the old creepy house behind forever.
Thank you for reading!