Children of the Plague [NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE]

“Wake up. Aidren, wake up.” The words echoed in my head.

An alarm claxon blared, its siren pulsing rhythmically and I awoke with a jerk. The lights were bright and my hands restrained by padded shackles. However, as I woke I could see that I wasn’t the only one. There were five other people in the room other than me. At second glance, I noticed that like me, they were young. The other kids were sitting up, at least sitting up as much as they could since they were restrained like me. I wondered if I looked as confused and scared as they did.

We were in a circular room with the beds lining the wall. The floor and walls were white, and there were small metal desks next to each bed. Two sinks in the room were right next to each and one bed over from me. On the other side of the circular room, opposite the sinks was the door. It was grey and menacing with no window and no visible door handle.

I glanced around at the other kids who were in the same situation as me. There were three on the other side of the room; I could see clearly that they were two boys and a girl. The girl was directly across from me with a tangled mess of reddish-brown hair, her skin was fair, and freckles marked her face. To the right was a boy with skin the color of milk chocolate, short black hair, and small wire glasses that adorned his face. To the left was another boy with skin in between the first boy and my own. He had more hair on his head, but his eyes were closed and his teeth clenched as he struggled against the restraints. All three of them looked around my age, but I wasn’t sure.

In the bed to my right was another girl, she was obviously a few years younger. She had shoulder-length blond hair, with some shimmers of strawberry highlights. She was wailing louder than the sirens. On the bed to my left was another boy, he was light-skinned with fiery red hair. As I looked at him, he turned towards me, and I could see the panic in his blue eyes. It didn’t last long since he was frantically looking around the room, his head swiveling all over in between pauses, reminding me of a prairie dog looking for danger.

All at once, the alarm stopped, and the restraints holding my arms and legs to the bed released, popping open with a click and faint hiss of air. My arms seemed to sigh with relief as I lifted them and rubbed the indentations from the restraints, which had begun to chafe. The room became instantly silent, even the girl to my right ceased her wail to see what was going on. The restraints on the others lifted at the same time as mine, and we all looked at each in confusion.

“What-” The girl across from me was interrupted as the door opened and a soldier walked into the room.

I’m not sure whom I expected to walk in, a doctor or maybe a nurse, but definitely not a soldier. He had a short haircut with only a small amount of dark brown hair visible on the top of his head. He wore a uniform with dark green and brown camouflage pattern with black boots that glinted in the light. He walked purposefully into the room a few feet then stopped and looked around at everyone in turn.

He was silent as he slowly scanned the room, his eyes resting on each of us for a couple of seconds before moving on to the next. When he got to me, I noticed his eyes were an intense dark green, which is not a color I’m used to seeing and they reminded me of a snake. His face was clean-shaven with a few freckles scattered around in no specific order. Even with his distance from me in the room, I could smell his musky aftershave. He looked to be in his late twenties, but I had a feeling he might be older, and I had this feeling because of his eyes.

His eyes had dark circles under them that were puffed up as if he was in desperate need of sleep. As he looked at me in turn, he also looked past me, or maybe through me? He had a look like my dad would sometimes get when he remembered the war and his time in the military. His presence was so intimidating that none of us dared to speak and the girl to my right who had been uncontrollably crying just sniffled and didn’t dare to start again.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why you’re here, why you were all locked up and who I am.” He eventually spoke up, his voice a deep monotone. “Well, I’m Sergeant Michel, and I promise to answer all your questions, but first I would like to apologize for how you were woken up. Usually, we like to do it in much calmer circumstances and usually one at a time. Unfortunately and obviously, that isn’t the case here. I need you all to come with me. Since you are all awake, instead of moving you to another location, we would also like to go through our usual initiation routine. This involves giving you all some new clothes, a quick tour, and showing you where you will be staying.” He said the last part with an air of finality and expulsion of breath.

“No.” The words came out of my mouth instantly, and it even shocked me. I just found myself getting angry while he was talking.

The soldier, Sgt. Michel stared at me for a moment. “It wasn’t actually a request. Either you come with me voluntarily, or I make you.” I could tell that he wasn’t expecting my outburst, I wasn’t even expecting it, but he also wasn’t fazed by it either.

I was so confused and scared that I couldn’t think straight. I just kept thinking that my Mom should be here. I saw red, and everything started to shimmer slightly. I jumped out of bed and growled as menacingly as a thirteen-year-old can, “Then make me.”

I rushed at him, with no idea what I was doing, or why. I was ready to tackle him and then run out of the room. I suddenly woke up on the floor to the left of Sergeant Michel and the left side of my face throbbing in pain.

Sergeant Michel’s had a quizzical look on his face. “Do you want to try that again?′ He asked, calmly. “You are in here because you are all sick. Now come with me, and I will explain everything.”

Without giving anyone a second look, he turned and walked out of the white room, leaving the door open. All the other kids quickly got out of their beds and followed, there was a little grumbling and a little yelling from a few of the others, but I didn’t say anything, I learned my lesson and just trailed behind everyone. I had no idea what came over me, I couldn’t ever remember getting into a fight in my life. I never even argued with my parents.

That thought made me once again consider where my parents were. My head started throbbing as I tried to think, and I could feel my anger spike again. I tried to focus and recall what I knew, but we were being led at a swift pace, and with the throbbing in my head and the twisting tunnels, I was having trouble concentrating. Even though he gave us a little bit of information by telling us we were sick, I felt uneasy, like there was something on the edge of my thoughts and scraping against my consciousness. I pushed it aside as my response to being hit by Sergeant Michel.