Blue Through the Grey

Have you ever wanted to scream so loud that the whole world could hear it? I did it in my sleep last night, waking the 12 dorms on our hall. I screamed because the nightmares I have are too much for my brain to handle. Evan jumps to my rescue and taps my shoulders, trying to tell me everything will be alright, but I know nothing is alright anymore. A girl barges into our room and stares at me.
“Can you keep it down?” She asks, attitude through the roof.
“She had a nightmare” Evan says.
“We all do. Some more violent than others” She looks at me and rolls her eyes.
“Wait” I stop her as she turns away. “How do you deal with them?”
“I scream on the inside” She’s such a badass and I don’t need to know her to see that. One side of her hair is black and the other side is pink, some strands curly and some braided, it flows down to her elbows, she has a nose ring which makes her look even more badass. “Name’s Melanie” She gives me a half smile and walks out.

My alarm clock rings and that means it’s training time. I need to get my strength back up, today is also the day I can see the sunlight. I slip into the shower, wash, put on my clothing, and head towards the elevator. This place is a lot nicer and cleaner than the last, it also has a pleasant smell, pine. I haven’t seen anyone from ‘Ghost’ maybe they didn’t make it out. I haven’t even seen Marlene or David since the helicopter. The doors slide open and a man with a gun directs me inside. He smiles and presses a button. The elevator takes off with a jolt, I grab onto the railing, my knuckles turning white. I’m not sure why I’m afraid to go above ground, probably because last time we were almost killed off. The ground splits open and the elevator comes to a halt. The sunlight is blinding, but it’s like I’m seeing it through glass. I look up, there’s something in the sky, like a grid. I follow the grid down to the ground. It’s a dome.
“Why the dome? We’re safe underground” I ask.
“So we can actually see the sunlight. The dome cloaks us, we can see out but no one can see in”
“I used something like that once, hiding in a house” Now I’m talking to myself because he’s waving bye as he slides back underground.
“Hey there stranger” A girl says, it’s Melanie. “Wanna shoot?” Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail and she’s dressed in a uniform. Yep, she’s definitely badass, her nametag says ‘Sharpshooter’
“Sure” I say, smiling as the wind picks up and touches my bare skin. I missed this feeling. I’ve been tucked inside the earth for so long, I forgot what fresh air was like.

She aims her rifle at a cardboard ghoul, in less than a second of aiming, she fires. She smiles, knowing she hit her target.
“Where’d you learn to shoot like that?” I ask.
“When the world ends and people are trying to kill you, you quickly learn”
“What happened to you?” I hit a sore subject. The rifle shifts on her shoulder and she looks back through the sights.
“What happened to all of us, Jennifer? We changed, adapted to death, to heartache. To the end”
She fires again. “Does that answer your question?” She slightly smiles.
“Yes” I say. “It did”
I shoot, I’m not as great as her but I’m pretty good. We walk to the target and examine the shots. Her’s are out of this world, she’s like...like an alien.
“Your skills are amazing” I say, pointing them out. “Are you…?”
“An alien?” She laughs. “Pure human. Have and alien friend. Are you racist?”
“No!” I can feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment. “That’s not it at all. I have one too. He was...captured”
“The Noah kid?” Her smile fades. “I’m sorry. You guys together?”
“No. But there was another boy too. I guess we’re kinda together”
“Heard about him. David’s son. It’s all they’re talking about” She shoulders the rifle and turns around.

There’s a sudden flash of light and then the dome slowly starts to fall apart. It sparks as pieces fall to earth and explode. Drones swarm into the small field area and blast people to shreds. Melanie grabs my hand and we both take off towards the elevator which is now in lockdown mode. They’re leaving us out here to die. I can see the fear in Melanie’s eyes as the doors finally slide shut. We have nowhere to go and in a few seconds, we’ll be burned to a crisp. The dome is half intact so we can’t get out of the sides and there’s no way for us to fly out of here. A drone shoots a giant green laser at us, it smashes into the dirt and sends us flying in opposite directions. My head smacks against the elevator doors, temporarily making my vision blurry.
“Jennifer, get your ass up!” Melanie screams as she pulls me off of the ground. “They’re gonna take-” She doesn’t even get the words out before we’re lifted up by some cord and tossed into the back of a helicopter type thing. As soon as we stop rolling around, a green fog leaks from the ceiling and then we’re out cold.

I awake in a room, my hands and feet strapped to a chair. The light flickers to life and a man stands in front of me, arms folded.
“Where am I?” I ask.
“I’ll be asking the questions from now on” He says, his voice deep and threatening. “Who do you work for?”
And like magic, it flows out. “Ghost. I work for a placed called Ghost. I’m not even sure what they do, but I seen them murder innocent people. Like they were on the other side. Then their stronghold got attacked and...oh god. Oh my god” My mind is racing.
He signals people to let me out of the restraints. “Precaution, sorry”
I stand up and look around, running my fingers through my hair. “Ghost...Fuck...Ghost is the enemy. Ghost killed innocent people because they’re...them. Aren’t they?”
He shakes his head. “Yes, they are”
“Why were you using drones? Why were you shooting people?”
“We made it seem like we were lost aliens, attacking a bunch of people. The lasers are beams to put you into the carrier”
“So wait...Reilly, Noah. Do you know them” I ask, frantically running around, looking for a way out. “Where are we?”
“We are miles above the clouds. In a helicarrier”
“How aren’t they seeing us, shooting us down?”
“Cloak” He says, like I’m stupid.
The door slides open and in walks Reilly. I pull him into a tight hug and cry on his shoulder. “I thought you were dead”
“I’m so sorry, Jenn” He kisses my forehead.
“Is Jessica okay? They couldn’t go back for her” Noah asks.
“Last time I seen her, she was okay” I say, walking over to Noah and hugging him.
“We’re going into battle soon” The man says, I believe he’s the leader.
“Emily, Jessica, Marlene, David, Evan. They won’t know what’s going on. They’ll tell them that we’re the bad guys, that we’ve been murdered and filled with aliens” I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel. The last month has been hell for us, we can’t catch a break. I hear a girl yelling down the hall and then she’s pushed into our room.
“Melanie!” I leap into her arms. “I’m so glad you’re okay”
“Can you believe this shit, Jennifer?” She wipes a tear from her eye. “Ghost, a traitor. They took me in”
“Let’s win this battle” I say. “Let’s take back our home”