After the World's End

Max, his friends, and what must have been the entire village were gathered in the village center. Even with so many people here, it wasn't nearly as hectic as one would have thought. Max and his friends were seated in the middle of a small arena. The arena had an ominous feeling to it, although Max had to admit that the situation he and his friends were in certainly didn't help matters.

Max was seated between Arden and Caroline feeling like he was facing the firing squad. He might as well have been. He was growing more and more afraid to even hope he'd be allowed to stay despite the old woman and her apprentices' assurances. Max hardly dared to even look at his friend with so many eyes watching him and wandered again why he was forced to sit there and be examined by everyone in the village. It made him extremely self conscious and judging by the way Arden was fidgeting, Max wasn't the only one who was nervous.

Suddenly, the murmurings of the crowd went silent. Max raised his eyes for the first time, feeling brave enough to look at the crowd. Max couldn't really pick out the individual faces- There were so many of them; it was overwhelming- but, somehow he knew that they were all looking at the group of people in a line in front of them.

The village was a democracy, but it was already so big that they needed people to keep the order. The old woman had explained it to them. She said they chose 20 people randomly for each meeting: 1 responsible for about 50 people each.

They were all seated at a long table in a row, just like the friends were. It gave Max a kind of "Us vs. Them" feeling and Max didn't like the odds. As Max watched, they all stood up. A woman, the elected head of the council for this meeting, began speaking, but Max couldn't focus for more than a few words of what she was saying. Everything was blending in to make an incoherent babble. Max heard a rushing sound in his ears and he thought he was going to be sick.

"Max, you're turning green," Arden whispered, elbowing Max which efectively drew him back to Earth. "Stop worrying. Whatever happens will happen. We'll deal with it."

Max, not trusting himself to speak, just nodded. Again, he tried to listen and he was just in time to here the woman call for a preliminary vote. Originally, it was extremely uncommon for there to be anything more than a preliminary vote. According to the old doctor, everyone had been much more trusting in the past. They'd been able to remember what it had been like before they'd come here and had wanted to help others who were in the same situation. The old woman had even suggested that it might do the villagers good to be reminded of their own pasts. Max didn't want the people to have to have seen what he had, but he couldn't help agreeing with the sentiment.

Max hoped they would be one of the increasingly unusual cases, but he wasn't going to get his hopes entirely up for nothing. The worst part was that the suspense wouldn’t go away; there was no real answer as people's votes were counted. Max didn't know how they could possibly change people's minds. What were the well being of strangers to the fears these people had for their own families?

As the last few votes were being taken, a small boy ran into the floor level of the arena where the votes were being counted. He ran right up to where the council leaders were taking votes and slid to a stop. From the disapproving mutterings of the crowd, this was breaking a major rule.

"There are people outside the gates!" the child shouted, his voice small and almost unnatural sounding against the silence of the crowd. The child didn't appear bothered by the hostile feel of the crowd, instead waiting to see the reaction of the council to his words.

If he had been looking at Max, the child definitely would have seen a gratifying reaction. Max knew living alone for most of his life had made him unusually anxious, but he didn't think this was one of those times where his nerves took over. He had a feeling the new worry in the pit of his stomach was justified and even more so that everyone in the arena- in the village, even- were in a lot of danger. Max dared a glance first at Arden and then at the rest of his friends and saw his alarm mirrored in their faces.

Their concern wasn't shared by the villagers. Max watched a man he thought seemed kind of old- though Max thought anyone who had ceased to be a teenager had a made a great accomplishment and was deserving of that title- remarked in a dry voice, "Well, surely you recognize them. There's no reason to keep them waiting. Let them in."

There was a scattering of laughter at the man's words. Max and his friends didn't share their desire to laugh at all. He was growing more and more sure with each passing moment that his fears were correct. There was something in the child's expression and voice that told him there was more to it and made his blood run cold.

"But, I don't know them," the child whispered in the same frightened voice.

The laughter of the villagers cut off abruptly.

"Show us," the young woman, also on the council , said. Unfortunately, she didn't specify who the "us" was, so over half of the villagers decided to include themselves. It was clear to Max that this huge crowd would be intimidating to a child, but no one else was worrying about that.

The child led the way to the gates, followed by an enormous crowd.

The friends remained in the arena with the rest of the villagers. They were a bit unsure about what they were supposed to do. They hadn't really been given permission to leave, but it definitely looked like the meeting was over and it wasn't really serving any purpose for them to be there.

Alexander was the one who made the decision for them. "Let's go wait at the house. It's not doing any good for us to be sitting around here and there's already more than enough people at the gates. Maybe someone will come by and tell us what's going on later," he said.

The rest of the group nodded with a smile as their leader made the decision for them. It reminded them of old times and in a strange way it also made them feel safe.

They made their way to the hospital again. The friends should have felt safe in the house, but even being away from the council meeting wouldn't settle their nerves. They were all still worried and curious about what was happening, but they knew they wouldn't be of any use standing around at the gate.

It was strange how silent the village was. Usually, Max could always hear people leading animals, talking, laughing, and the hundred of other sounds people were making in the village. Now, it sounded like a ghost town. It sent a shiver down Max's spine reminding him of the city he'd grown up in.

Alexander was just sitting in the chair with his head in his hands, appearing to be trying to block out the silence with his own thoughts while everyone else just paced. He was the only one who could sit down for more than a few minutes.

Just as suddenly as it was quiet, it was like a dam burst and they could hear people again. It didn't sound anything like the normal noises the villagers were making. There was a nervous rumbling as people walked through the village, presumably discussing what they'd seen…and from the sound of it, something terrible was happening.