The Survivors

Jacob opened the door and we both got in the house. He shut the blinds and locked the door.

"What are you doing?" I asked him as he shut another blind closed.

"We can rig the test," said Jacob solemnly.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We just have to answer the questions exactly like the other person. They can't separate us," he responded.

"We don't know what the test even is..." I told him and he looked at thoughtfully.

"True. What if before we go into the test, we tell each other what to expect."

"It's never going to work, it's no use," I said.

"Stop being so negative, Enise. We can get out of this," he said hopefully.

"I know, we will write the tests and then if we get separated we will try and find each other," I said.

"They will shoot us...I got it! We can-" just then his sentence was cut short by the knocking on the door.

"Open up!" said the voice on the other side of the door.

Jacob opened the door and immediately they grabbed his arms and dragged him out.

"Wait! what were you going to say!" I shouted after him, but the army men pulled his head down so he could not talk to me. I watched as they took my brother to a tent, which I have not seen before, but it was heavily guarded. I shut the door, what was he going to tell me? I paced the house and then it was my turn, they knocked on the door and they dragged me out of the house the same way. I was in the tent but I did not see any paper or pencil instead there was a chair like the kind they had in the dentists office.

"Sit down!" an army man commanded me and I did. They strapped in my arms down to the chair making it hard to move.

"What is this?" I asked and a man dressed in a lab coat approached me with a large needle. "What's that?" I asked as he drew closer to me.

"Name?" asked the lab coat.

"Enise Mathers," I replied.

"I am going to inject you with a hallucinogen and you will see a test in front of you," he said and before I could ask anything else the needle slid into my arm. Everything went black.

When I woke up, I was surrounded by mirrors, I touched one, but I felt nothing. This must be the test to get out...I looked around it was all mirrors. I formed a fist and punched the wall in front of me and it shook. I pulled down my sleeve and formed a fist this time, I gave my all and the mirror shattered. The image faded and it was black again. I was now in a big field the sky was blue, it has been a while since I had seen a blue sky. Then, I noticed something in stripes was approaching me, it was a tiger. I panicked and started looking around for a weapon. The tiger was low to the ground, its shoulders protruding. I saw a stick in the grass and I took hold of it after I grabbed the stick a large scythe appeared in its place. I picked up the scythe and a sword appeared in its place. I grabbed the sword, the tiger was coming closer and closer at me. A piece of meat appeared in place of the sword. I grabbed the meat and threw it at the tiger, it looked shocked and then started to eat and I carefully approached it and with the sword raised I dove for the neck, but the image shifted now. The tiger was no longer there. Instead, there was a cage with clear glass standing in front of me, in the box was my brother.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Help me!" he shouted banging on the glass. Water from the bottom started to fill up. I ran at the clear glass cage and punched it, but it did no use. The water was filling up quickly.

"Help me!" yelled my brother in desperation. It would help if I had a pickaxe or something and I suddenly felt something heavy in my hand. I looked down and surely enough there was a pickaxe. It was exactly what I wanted the water was now up to his waist. I swung the ax at the glass and it caused a crack. I swung it again this time with more power and the crack became a large gash and it let out the water and it pushed me down. Now, I could not breathe, I now was the one drowning. I opened my eyes and I saw a hatch at the bottom of the room, I swam towards it and I tried pulling it open, it did not budge. I looked around to see there was something else I could use to get out. I noticed a light without a second thought I swam towards it, I was almost out of the air, but I pushed myself forward. I kicked hard and I came to the surface. I got out and coughed up some water. My hair even felt wet. I was in a dark cave, there was a computer in the corner and it was blinking. I came closer to it and numbers had appeared on the screen. The numbers were 786754657243. The numbers grew and then shrunk, then the screen went black and a sentence appeared on the screen. What were the numbers? it asked. I started to type 7867...what was after that?654? no, that does not look right. 4657...there was a two in there... forty-three was the last numbers, so the two had to go before them. I type it in and pressed enter. At first, nothing happened, but then a wall slid open. I stepped inside and then I was awake.

I was in the chair. There were five people standing over me.

"Take her to the train, right away," said the lab coat.

"Are you sure? we only do that if they are a special case, sir," answered a man in green army clothes.

"She is a special case, take her to the government!"

"Can I grab some of my things?" I asked the men.

"No, you don't have time!" he shouted and I was grabbed by the arms again. I did not see my brother, they dragged me out of the tent and headed for the train station. "Can't I see my brother?" I asked, but I shoved into the train compartment and the door was shut on me.

I looked around the compartment. There was a handsome oak table with piles of food, there was turkey, chicken, potatoes, rice, asparagus, green beans, pork, cooked carrots, grapes, pineapple, grapefruit, peaches and so much more. There was a whole jug filled with juice and sparkling water. Where did this all come from? Why was there so much food? Was I allowed to eat it? The train lurched forward and I was thrown off my feet and I landed on the floor of the train. I got up and sat down on a chair near the table. The door opened and a very tall dark woman stepped in, she wore gold make-up with gold nail polish, she wore a gold dress and on her head was a gold chain.

"Hello, Enise. Please eat, you must be starving," she said and I looked at her skeptically. "it's not poisoned." she said reading my mind.

"I'm Clara Prince. You are very special Enise, you are the only one that made it to the end of the test," she said and she poured herself a glass of wine. I bite into the chicken and it was delicious. I could not remember when food tasted so good.

"Your brother is safe by the way," she said.

"Where are you taking me then?" I asked with a mouthful of chicken and cranberry sauce.

"You are the answer to all of our questions," she said.

"I don't understand," I told her and she smiled.

"You will tomorrow, for now, eat and then I will take you to your room," she said and she sipped her wine. I finished eating and then, she took me to another train compartment, which was my room. The bed was a queen size and there were large windows on the ceiling and wall of the train. I had a bedside lamp and the sheets were satin and smooth. There was a pair of pajamas on the bed, they felt flannel. There was a bath in the corner of the room and it had jets.

"Feel free to bathe," she said and she walked away. I started the taps and the water was warm, I could not remember the last time I had warm water. I waited for the tub to fill and I slipped out of my clothes and into the bathtub. It was comforting. I laid in the tub until my fingers got wrinkly. I wondered where my brother could be as I got out of the warm water. He would be reveling in this and he deserved to. The lady told me he was safe, so he must be.