Number Two

chapter two of Live.

A battle for survival... not the type of TV show I prefer to be on, but, okay. The plane is dead silent except for the sounds of the younger kids crying.

“Emma, I'm scared.” There's a thirteen year old sitting next to me, she looks no more than ten though.

“Don't worry, Candy, it'll be all right, I promise.” We wait out the rest of the plane ride in silence. Finally, wherever we are, it's sunset. The intercom beeps again.

“Now, for your first test, you must survive skydiving to your location, there will be people below to give you the one thing you get, also, there may be a limited number of parachutes.”

I hear seat belts unbuckling frantically and I'm up before everyone else. I run to the front of the isle and get two, I walk by Shae's seat, she holds out her hand expectantly, her seat belt has stuck, she can't get up. I continue and hand it to Candy she gratefully puts it on. The flight attendants usher us into alphabetical order by last name, Candy's last name is Anderson. She's so scared, she's shaking, I feel horrible, if only we could go at the same time...

“Um, I think that's a typo, my last name isn't Paronson, it's actually Aaronson, you know, with two A's?” I say to one of the flight attendants.

“Oh, okay, up to the front then.” I go stand in front of Candy. She looks at me wide eyed, and awed.

“Thank you.” She whispers.

“No problem.” I smile at her.

No problem? No PROBLEM? Am I crazy?! I'm shaking. Oh my god, I can't do this, I can't jump out of a freaking plane!

They open the door, “On the count of three, jump, if you don't, you'll be pushed. One, two... three!” Before the “th” sound leaves the man's mouth I bend my legs, close my eyes, take possibly my last breath, and jump. The wind hits me with more force than I though air could have. A scream rips it's way out of my throat, the howling of the wind in my ears blending with it. I open one eye, and then the other. I nearly puke. Below me is an island with lush green trees and blue lakes. It's terrifying. I pull open my parachute and it jerks me upward. I float gently and I hear more screams above me, more kids jumping out of planes.

I hope Shae's doesn't open.

Ugh! What am I saying? Shae used to be my best friend! I don't want her to DIE! Right...? I land in a clearing in the woods, I'm the first to land. I hear a scream above me and I look up. A sixteen year old Mexican boy is flailing above me, he frantically pulls at his parachute. It won't open. I turn away and hear the sickening splat. Tears roll down my cheeks in grief for the lost boy, and relief that it wasn't me. I can't look, but I saw other people that way. I take a deep breath and open my eyes.

“Don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look don't look...” I mutter under my breath, but of course, I see a puddle of... something. More tears leak out as I rush into the trees.

~

The sky is going dark as I land, my parachute billowing out behind me as it settles. Near me is a pool of something red and awful smelling, flies buzz around it. Someone didn't make it. I walk into another clearing where kids of all colors and shapes and ages sit on the grass. Men and women in pristine white suits stand around the perimeter, holding what looks like supplies. We wait for the last few kids to drop and settle into the clearing. The voice from the airplane speaks, she is a woman dressed in tight leather pants with tight leather stiletto boot and a black camisole, her slicked back, white-blonde hair is in a bun and she has a sharp voice.

“Those of you who do not speak English were informed of this on the plane, I speak now for the English speakers.” Why weren't we just told on the plane? Whatever. “You will be split by country, as I have told you, and given one thing that will help you to survive when I call your country, go to the corresponding number to receive your supplies, I suggest you get started surviving as soon as you can, now, America?” All the Americans stand up and go to One. I happen to be in the front of the group and I receive a bundle of small, smooth grey stones.

“What are these?” I ask the woman who handed them to me.

“I can't tell you, it's part of survival. I'm sorry for any of you who die, I'm regretting my decision to take this job.” She looks downcast.

“Thank you... Belle.” I say, looking at her name tag, and my group walks off. There's six of us in the group, four guys, six girls.

“So, um, does anyone know what this is?”

“No, but shouldn't we find a place for camp before other groups take them?” One guy pipes up.

“Yeah, that's a good idea, sorry, I'm a little disoriented.”

“Who made you leader?” Emma says loudly..

“Um, I don't know, does anyone want to be leader?” I say, batting away a mosquito. A big, tan guy steps up. He has ridiculous amounts of muscles and cropped, blond hair, his ice blue eyes look at me as he takes the bundle of rocks from me in a look that says, you can go now, hun. I scurry into the group and see Emma already fawning over him. Ugh. I could see her pushing out her b***s and running her fingers through her straight, blonde hair. Again I say, ugh. The girl standing next to her is about our age, she has perfectly straight red hair as well and grey eyes circled with black eyeliner, they were a perfect match. On her other side is a little girl, looking terrified and lost.

Emma catches me looking at her and she sneers. It went from being “buddy- buddy” to full on hatred in a matter of hours. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

“So, I'm Al, your new leader.” A soft murmur of indecision flows through us, stopping at me. He looks strong. Confident, everything I think a leader needs. “And to start off, I think these rocks,” he gestures to the net bag, “are flint, for making fire, so, after we find a place for shelter, lets see if we can get them to work, 'kay? So, let's see if we can find a suitable place for sleeping.”

The ten of us disperse into the surrounding area. I don't know what to look for, maybe a ton of intertwining tree branches which we could lay big leaves across, like orangutans. Nothing of the sort. I hear a river bubbling up ahead, and I know enough that if I can find a shelter with water near it, that'd be great. I come to the river and to my left is a cave. It's about six feet tall and eight feet wide, near perfect. I peer in, there's no smell of animals and nothing to tell me that it's unsafe, so I tentatively take a step in. To see how big it is, I say, “Hello?” Not really to see if there's anything in there, but to see if it echoes. It does, for a long time afterward. Farther in the cave I hear the trickle of water, maybe a branch of the river. There's also a column of light, near the trickling, and I see the flow of water.

“Are you willing to fight for this cave?” An English accent says behind me.

I turn around, “Um... no? I was here first.” I say.

“Well, I don't think finder's keepers works here.” He says. He has a messy head of black hair, he stands outside the cave in the sunlight. His eyes are a deep, dark, forest green, like the leaves behind him. And he's English. No... I chide myself, he's trying to steal your cave, that was an odd sentence. My god he's hot. Ugh, no, don't stoop to Emma's level with boys, you're trying to survive here!

“It does for me.” I retort.

“Sorry for this, you're cute.” I feel something come up behind me. I spin around and push out with both hands before the club can come down on my head. I hear a thud and Hot Guy comes up behind me and pulls my hair back. I'm sure this is being filmed.

“Screw you!” I yell, unable to hit him. The other guy gets up and pushes me to the ground, he leans over me, taking my head in both hands. I feel his arms tense up, ready to snap my neck. I will not die on my first day here. Shouldn't we still be rational right now?

I grunt with the effort it takes to not get away, tears well up in my eyes at what I have to do. I was never particularly strong, nor do I think I am now, but adrenaline pumps through my veins, and my will to live is stronger than theirs to kill me. I rip my hand out of Hot Guy's grasp and whisper, “Sorry.” To the buff guy holding me down. He looks confused and after I push the heel of my palm into his jaw and the light fades from his eyes, he still wears the expression.

I will never forget the sound his spine just made.

Nor the angle of his neck.

Or he vacant look in his eyes.

Or the fact that I just killed someone.

Author's Note

reviews please!

Reviews

[Tegon Maus]

I question why you use hot guy, or cute as identifiers... instead of taking the time to show us what they actually look like. It takes away from your story and slows it down.

[Abbie]

Love this chapter! It is soooooo good. Right now this is turning out to be a great book!

[Sylvana]

I like this book so far. Can't wait for more.