The blocky numbers on the black watch around Casey’s wrist silently counted down. There were about six minutes left.
Casey’s
hand was shaking aggressively, in fact, her whole body was shivering. She held
her hands tightly together, trying her best to stop the uncontrollable and
embarrassing movement. When she could no longer keep her teeth from chattering
either, her knees popped and she tumbled to the dirt floor.
Both
Acacia and Lenny turned to her. Acacia pulled Casey up and sighed.
“There’s
no use standing around here,” Acacia finally said. She looked around the
surroundings. “Other people have already started moving. They might be trying
to explore, or find any means of survival.”
Lenny
nodded in agreement. “Speaking of means of survival, there should be some safe
houses evenly spread out in here. It would be a good thing to locate a few of
them so you know exactly where you can count on staying alive.”
“Ah,”
Acacia beamed. “We should go search around for some right?” She grabbed Casey’s
wrist and watched the numbers change from thirty at five minutes. “Five and a
half, Len, Case, what do you think?”
Casey
nodded. “We should do that. It’ll be best, right? Where should we meet up
again?” She glanced at Lenny automatically.
* * * * *
Every single time Casey looked at the
watch, she felt time was doubling decrease speed. Time was very important but
with every tick, Casey’s heart sped twice as fast. Her heart beat so loud and
speedily, the nearby people could almost hear her.
She slowed to a stopped to catch her
breath. For a few seconds she wondered exactly why she was running so quickly.
Her legs wobbled and she fell to a
crouch. Her fingers were wet with sweat, and hands red from clenching into
fists once in a while.
She breathed heavily and struggled to
her feet again to continue her way.
As of now, nothing but immense, thick
and thin, leafed and bare trees stood around her. The spaces between the trees
were irregular. Some grew side by side, almost as if their roots were entwined.
Other trees stood so far and looked so indifferent; it was like they were
aliens to each other.
Casey’s hand went across her forehead.
The heat and pressure build up was creating a volcano in her brain. Any moment
now it was going to explode and generate a huge eruption, destroying a chunk of
area around her.
The words from Lenny earlier caused a
stir in her heart. The image of his exhausted and heartbroken facial expression
glued to Casey’s mind. His voice sounded loud and clearly, repeating
constantly.
“We might not meet up again.”
Something hot and prickly touched
Casey’s cheek. It glided like a slug strolling across a tree stump, leaving its
sticky and grubby goo behind. Her finger wiped it away and came off wet. She
realized it was a tear.
Finally Casey breathed loudly again
and fell down to her knees. Her hands went into tight fists again as her head
faced downwards. The variety of brown and green leaves moved at every tear that
fell from her eyes.
Casey brought herself together again.
She sat up cross-legged and stared up at as far as her vision carried her. The
trees grew so tall it was quite hard to see anything around. She shut her eyes
and used her ears.
Humming was heard. It was not any hum
from birds or insects lurking around. The sound was familiar. Without sight,
Casey felt like she was at home surrounded by nature and the gift of Mother
Nature. Then it became clear to her. The sound was like the light bulbs fizzing
during the silent night.
Her eyes shot open again. It was an
instant transportation. The feeling of being home, being safe was gone. She
felt more tears fall down. The image of her smiling father disappeared. The
warmth of his hand was gone.
“Why…?” Casey heard herself whisper.
“Why is the first time I’m out of my house the day I may never see the world
again…? Why…?”
She stretched out her legs and pulled
her backpack off and pushed it beside her waist. With a sigh, she fell
backwards onto the ground. The leaves shuffled loudly next to her ears. She
shut her eyes again, wishing she were back home bored, yet safe.
She rolled to her side and heard a
hollow noise. Confused, she quickly stood up again. This time she moved so
quickly, she toppled forwards and slammed into something hard.
Her voice was loud in a squeal of pain
but no one heard her since no one was around. Her hands grabbed her head,
trying to relieve the pain. Her eyes opened and she found herself ten
centimeters away from a brown board.
Losing her balance again, she fell
sideways. But rapidly she sat up and stared at the board. Her fingers touched
it. It felt slippery and dry. Then with her palm, she hit the board. It made a
bam noise that did not echo.
Casey brushed the board. There was no
end to it.
Her mouth opened wide. In an instant
she grabbed her backpack, put it on and started running with her arms open,
fingers gliding on the board.
“It’s a wall!” Casey sang loudly with
a smile.
It’s a wall. This wall must be the one
surrounding the arena. If I run along here, maybe I’ll find a door, or
something along the way that might start something. I’m curious to know… Len
may have been correct about the first few years but this time… Dinosaurs may be
released from behind this wall…
She kept up her pace and dodged
branches, roots, or even strange trees that lowered their branches all the way
to the ground.
Then she saw someone in front, in the
distance. The person had long dark and wavy hair.
Casey felt like shouting out but had
nothing to say. She was too far away to catch up now. The person walked around
some trees and disappeared into the darkness. Casey’s running slowed down.
For a moment, for a long while
actually, she felt like time had slowed down for her. She glanced at the watch
around her wrist. It slid, as it was a bit big for her. She leaned against the
wall and watched the last twenty seconds go down.
All the hairs on her arms stood up.
She felt goose bumps even under all the layers of clothing she wore. She looked
down at her pants. They were muddy and had grass and leaves stuck to them like
they were sewed there on purpose.
Casey held her arms in front of her
and stared into the distance.
There were trees and trees only.
Finally, she brought her arms back in.
She held up her left.
Five.
Her shoulders dropped.
Four.
Her slight smile faded away.
Three.
Her heart was beating hysterically
hasty without a single hesitation.
Two.
Casey’s breathing grew louder and
faster with every remaining millisecond.
One.
A loud bell echoed throughout the
entire arena. It chimed five times, all equally strident and stinging with
rage.
In Casey’s ears, a scream was heard.
She looked up from the watch but saw everything begin to swirl.
She began falling backwards. Her legs
bent and her arms supported her weight. Her eyes grew enormous, still staring
in front of her. The same strange trees stood in front, unmoving. But something
was different.
The wall that was behind her had
vanished just like that.
Casey whirled around. The shock was
bigger than any previous. Her nose plugged up from sniffing and huffing too
much. Her eyes enlarged until they could no longer open.
A huge gust of wind rushed forward.
Casey’s eyes narrowed. Her brown hair flew into her mouth and tickled her nose.
A new scene filled sight. A new sound
filled the air. A new feeling was in existence.
There was a new never ending line of
trees.
Shrubs and various strange berries
grew on bushes nearby. The ground stretch on for miles with the same tiles of
hard dirt, soft bunkers, prickly needles, rolling pines and acorns, and half dying
grass.
A bee buzzed by. Casey looked up and
squinted. There was a blazing light up above. Fluffy and blurry grey bundles
taped to the sky. A flock of silhouettes arced over the tall trees.
Casey jumped up, filled with shivers
once again. Her hands squeezed her jacket arms. Her eyes were shut tight, not
wanting to see anything. But she knew she had to keep her eyes peeled and her
ears opened.
Just then, a distant roar sounded.
Automatically her eyes popped open.
Her heart skipped a beat as quickly as a startled kitten. Her wet hands touched
her dry and red cheeks. They were held into fists again.
She felt the other chain around her neck.
Her long fingers shakily followed the smooth white gold chain and touched a
round pendant. Tears began rolling down her cheeks again.
“You have to man up…”
Casey coughed when she heard the voice
at the back of her head. She nodded once and used her sleeve to wipe the tears
away. She wiped her soaked bangs off her sticky forehead and breathed in and
out, repetitively.
“It’s begun…”
