“It’s time to begin……it’s time…..”
He woke up with a bang, slamming his skull into the roof above him. “Ow!” He rubbed his head as he surveyed his surroundings. He was in a face down position in a small cage, the cool metal pressed against his cheek. The roof was only about a foot above his head, keeping him trapped on his stomach. But that wasn’t the weirdest part. Who am I? he thought. He could remember nothing besides his name, which he was sure was Drew.
He was interrupted from his thoughts when a loud, very monotone voice above his head stated: “T-minus ten seconds until launch.”
Drew gave up on reason and panicked. Launch? What was that? He obviously had no time to figure out what it was before it happened. He resorted to banging on his cage, trying to alert anyone nearby to help. Nothing but his panting could be heard.
The monotone then came back on, stating the simple but terrifying fact: “T-minus five seconds to launch.”
“HELP!” Drew screamed, terrified of the unknown of this supposed launch. But he was not heard by anybody except himself. Perspiration ran down his neck, even though it was cold inside his cage. All hope left him.
“3…2…1..Fire.”
The roof above him fell away and he was sucked out by the wind. His white shirt and jeans clung to him as he realized that he was in a free fall. His fair blond hair was everywhere, and absolute terror filled his body. The world was spinning, but he could barely make out the ground about three thousand feet below. Drew closed his eyes with defeat and fear and realized the inevitable. The wind howled on, faster, and faster as he entered terminal velocity. He was closer to the ground, but he didn’t know how much, with his eyes tightly shut. Spinning and spinning, he felt like throwing up.
And then, everything stopped.
The wind ceased its howling, and Drew was face up, but he felt no ground beneath him. He slowly opened his eyes to take in the view before him. He could see trees, could see their trunks and branches clear as day. But he was not among them. “What is happening?” Drew thought aloud as he realized that he was floating about fifty feet above the tops of the trees. “What-“ he started to say and then fell.
“Augh!” Drew yelled as he continued his drastic descent. Branches whipped his face as he crashed through the canopy. He smacked down on many branches on the way down, but his energy was spent from the adrenaline of the fall. Drew fell, hit something hard, losing consciousness.
He woke to something shaking his shoulder. He sat up and immediately felt light headed and fell back to the ground. Drew moaned as he rubbed his back, which took the most out of his fall.
“Whoa, there big guy. You just had one heck of a fall,” a voice said, surprisingly feminine and gentle.
He opened his eyes. He saw a brown-haired girl, about his age, looking at him with her deep blue eyes. Her face looked intelligent and wise. She looked kind and loving, but Drew sensed that there was something more vicious inside her as well. She wore a blue shirt and jeans. Their outfits were surprisingly similar, even though her personality seemed much different than his.
“Are you alright?” She asked.
Drew continued to rub his back while asking his question.
“Who are you?”
The girl stared at him for a minute.
“If you’re asking for my name, it’s Abigail, but if you’re asking about where I came from, and who I am, then I couldn’t tell you. Who are you?”
“Drew,” he replied as he worked to stand up. His back throbbed with the effort, but he tried to mask it as best he could. “I can’t remember who I am either.” How interesting, he thought, that two people in the same place wearing almost identical clothing have both lost their memories.
“You took the fall pretty hard,” Abigail told him, snapping him out of his thoughts.
“Wait…you fell too?” He replied.
“Yeah, I got dropped out of a cage too. I could see you while we fell.” She stated, as if reminding herself that was what really happened. Drew took a moment to glance around. It looked like they were in a jungle, with vines hanging from the trees and lush greenery everywhere.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Abigail replied. “I can’t think of the names of any place I’ve been, if I have been anywhere.”
Suddenly, a loud crash sounded out of the bushes. Drew froze. It sounded big.
“Get down!” he told Abigail as he jumped to the forest floor. Abigail was already down when he said it. She must have heard the noise too. Drew, while laying as silently as he could, searched the ground for a weapon, in case it got ugly. He spotted a decent size stick next to him and was able to grab it without making too much noise. But the reality was, if the thing that was in the bushes had a weapon, a stick probably wasn’t going to stop him. Still, he felt better with his fist closed around it. Abigail ceased to make a sound, but he could see she clutched a stick as well.
The crashing came closer. Drew held his breath, determined not to make a sound and give away their presence.
Abigail then turned her head very slowly to look at him. She fixed him a ready look, and suddenly Drew knew what she was about to do. He nodded, ever so slightly. If they were going to beat this thing, surprise was their best advantage.
She nodded back and mouthed, “One…Two…Three!” On three, they leaped from their hiding place and tackled something.
“Ow! Jeez! What the-“a young man said about their age as Abigail and Drew took their sticks and pointed them at him. He wore a green shirt and jeans as well. He was also well tanned; he had been out in the sun for most of his previous life. His eyes saw the sticks and concern filled his eyes.
“Listen…” he said, “I don’t want any trouble. I’m just looking for the two kids who fell out of the plane with me.” He hesitated and looked at them, as if solving a puzzle. “Wait, are you guys them?”
“Who’s asking?” Drew asked him in return. The teen smiled at him broadly.
“You know,” he said. “I wish I could remember. My name is Terry, if that does you any good however. That’s the only thing I can remember.” Drew and Abigail exchanged a look.
What are the odds of this? Drew thought as he looked up into the sky. Three suspicious teens thrown out of a plane onto a deserted island. What are the odds?
“Pretty low odds of that happening,” Abigail said aloud, and Drew looked at her in surprise.
“I think I know a little more than you guys,” Terry said, “But not anything about me.”
“Do you know why we’re here?” Drew asked.
“We did something wrong,” Terry replied. “I don’t know what, but whoever they are who put us here, they didn’t like it. Not one bit.”
“What do you know?” Abigail asked Terry.
“I don’t know much. I saw a bunch of them having a meeting together, discussing something about kids with powers.”
Drew stopped. He looked Terry straight in the eyes and said,
“What sort of powers?”
“I’m not sure,” Terry replied, “but when I was falling, I was somehow able to survive the drop. It felt like something had cushioned me with twigs and leaves.”
“Something happened to me too,” Abigail said. “I was falling, and right when I was about to hit the trees, fire shot out of my palms and stopped me just enough to survive the fall.”
“I hovered for a few seconds before I hit the trees too.” Drew added.
“Was there fire?” asked Terry.
“No, but I felt something pushing me up.”
“This is all so weird,” Abigail said. “We all come to the same island, all wearing jeans and t-shirts, and all have powers.”
“Maybe we can somehow develop them,” Drew said.
“HOLY CRAP!” Terry screamed as he pointed to something behind them.
Drew and Abigail turned around to look at what Terry had pointed at. Their mouths dropped in fear and terror.
“Tha- That’s not…” Abigail stammered.
“Run,” Drew exclaimed. “RUN!!”
