1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5 days gone… I think, sighing, as I stare at the 5 smoke rings fading into the sky. The boys and I had been talking at lunch, and I couldn’t help but agree with something… something Raven had said. Being as outspoken and stubborn as I was, I had voiced against, but I had to admit to myself now that he was right. This was just too easy.

5 Days. 25 more days to go. We had already found all 4 of the chosen survivors within our continent. The scary part was that Raven, doing some research, had discovered that the Survival Gamers - specifically Myrror - were still alive because they had never lost before. But how have they won every game if it’s just so easy…? I think.

I don’t want to know the answer. If the Survival Gamers have won every game of every planet they’ve been to so far, then there is a real challenge coming, and I don’t want to know what it is. I let my tails fly around with the breeze as I sit on top of my “house.” I suddenly find myself thinking of Mary Kate as I watch my middle tail, with it’s brilliant lion’s tuft at the end, whirl around in unison with the wind.

Grabbing the end of it in my hand, I pull it close to my face and examine it, thinking. Thinking hard. Most humans would not consider that something to be proud of. Her slimy, girly voice echoes in my head. I release a low growl, trying to drown out her soft voice bouncing around inside my thoughts, but her voice only grows louder. Finally, having had enough of this nonsense, I jump up from my spot on the roof, gritting my teeth, clenching my fists so tight my hands feel numb.

“Ah!” I scream, kicking at a loose piece of debris sitting on my rooftop and watching it fly over the horizon. “I don’t care what you think!” I scream at MK, from far away, and I know she cannot hear me… and part of me wishes she could. “I don’t care about you at all! You mean nothing to me! I hate you! I hate you, Mary Kate!” For a long while I scream. And scream. And scream. Finally, satisfying myself, I relax my shoulders and stand there. Watching the stars get brighter, and the moon higher. Watching the small changes that will turn into big changes, into bigger changes, into massive changes.

Watching the wind blow a paper bag, but soon that same wind will blow a trash bag, then a whole trashcan, then a garbage truck, then one of those big old boats that transport garbage to the landfills, and then-- I stop myself, realizing I’ve upset myself once more. Taking a deep sigh, I let myself fall back, lying in a starfish position on my rooftop once more.

There’s a wind blowing… a very rotten wind! I think. And she! She started it! That… that witch! Myrror! She started everything! Oh, I wish I’d never saw her that night! I wish she was dead! I wish she was never born! I wish she and all her heartless gamers would just fall dead!

I sit up, telling myself that “wishing” will do me no good. And it was true… the wind has blown. There’s no stopping it now. I could suddenly feel my anger ebbing into doubt… from doubt to anxiety… from anxiety to fear… The wind has blown… and I have no idea where it’s headed, nor what changes it will bring. Unable to trouble myself with the thought any longer, I hug my knees and cry.

******

“Hey! Hey you!”

I wake up to the sound of someone yelling. Ugh! Who could be up at this hour! I think, then I realize I’m not in my house. Looking around frantically, it only takes me a couple seconds to realize I’m on my roof! Then a couple minutes to recall the events of last night. Oh boy… I must’ve fell asleep up here. I think in irritation.

“Hel-lo…?” The voice calls up again. I peek over the edge of my roof, and the figure - a… frog? - looks up at me. I immediately identified her as a Tailer, with the two green fox tails.

“You looking for me?” I ask, rubbing my tired eyes.

“What the featherballs are you doing up there?” The Tailer smirks.

“That’s my business. What do you want?”

“You Klere?”

“Who’s asking?”

“Are you Klere?!” The Tailer raises her voice. My eyes widen. Good grief! This girl had me impressed when she could talk at normal volume, and now she can yell at me! Ha! What kind of Tailer is this? I think, half-jokingly.

“Yes…?” I answer hesitantly.

“Good. Then get your butt down here and let’s get moving.” She replies casually and begins walking down to the front of the camp.

“What the-- hey! Who do you think you are? Just-- hang on there! What?”

“Come on, stargazer, we ain’t got all day!” The Tailer calls back over her shoulder. I roll my eyes. Creep… I think, jumping off the roof and following her down the row of alien houses. For nearly two hours we just walk. Through the camp complex. Through the city. For all I know, this bouncing bundle of joy is just taking me in circles… I mutter inwardly.

“Here we are!” The Tailer exclaims, turning around to face me. I raise an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah… um… about that… where are we?” I snap sarcastically.

“In a sense… you could say… the ‘airport.’ Except, we’re not as totally ‘high-flying’ as humans…” the Tailer begins explaining while leading me inside a fenced off area. A very ghost-like, vacant fenced off area…

“You see humans try way too hard to make a convenient transportation system to get to different places on their planet.” She yaps on. “Hang on. Stop right there.” She halts me, walking off to the side and reappearing again with a large barrel, twice my size. I stare at it as she rolls it to a grey platform.

“Get in.” she commands, pointing at the barrel. Walking over hestitantly, I stare into the barrel through a large hole cut in the side. There were two cushioned seats laid nicely in a row inside. Sweetest barrel I’ve ever seen… I think sarcastically. Climbing inside, I position myself in the back seat. I just know I’m going to regret this. I think ruefully.

“But you’ll soon see,” the Tailer continues, going back to the airport conversation, “that the humans attempts are not so convenient as they seem.” She says, positioning herself in the front seat, and toying with some objects hidden in the shadows at the front of the barrel. “In fact, we’ve managed to make a way far more convenient, but hardly had to try at all.”

“Oh?” I choke, trying to sound interested.

“Yes.” the Tailer answers. “Humans’ machines are far too complicated and are really not that convenient at all. Way too much work. But me?” She looks back at me over her shoulder, smiling mischievously, and holding up two wires: one red, one… purple? “I live for the simple things.” She says softly, then, without waiting for a response, she crosses the wires.

Everything happens in an instant. A glass covering suddenly comes over my head, concealing us in the barrel. I watch, eyes widening, as the floor disappears out from under us. Oh cra-- I haven’t time to finish my thought before we’re plummeting down into an endless dark hole.

“Ahhh! Who are you?” I scream at the Tailer as we fall downwards, but she doesn’t answer. Down. Down. Down. Nothing but black everywhere! It couldn’t have been more than a 30 second fall, however, before everything starts changing. I hear the roar of an engine, the barrel starts vibrating rapidly, and I feel a large thrust forward. Suddenly, to my surprise, I can see. We’re in a tunnel of some sort… passing by a set of flashing lights every 2 seconds or so. But even that only lasts around a minute or so before the tunnel suddenly becomes crystal clear - like glass, almost - and I stare outside at the pools of lava, and dark rock forming a spherical ceiling. And far to the left of us was a big, bright light sphere. Looked like some huge creature got really annoyed of some star, and shoved it down here to get it out of his way.

I stare at it as we fly past it in our… “flying barrel.” I suddenly frown, reality returning to me. I am literally riding… next to the center of the earth… in a flying barrel. Tailer, if you live after this, I will kill you. We disappear back into another black tunnel with the flashing lights and suddenly we come to a complete halt, throwing me forward so that my head is knocked against the front seat.

“Ugh…” I groan, “can we go back for my stomach?” I mutter sarcastically.

“I doubt that’s one of your vital organs.” The Tailer retorts humorously.

I open my mouth to respond, but trail off as I see lights come on outside the barrel. There is, once again, a silvery-grey platform beneath us, which immediately starts rising quickly towards surface. I grit my teeth, grabbing my ears as they protest against the quick pressure change.

The platform stops abruptly, and the glass covering disappears.

“Welcome to Asia!” the Tailer says cheerily, stepping out of the barrel. I step out after her, half-consciously, trying to process all that had just happened in the last fives minutes. Standing on the firm ground, a wave of dizziness swept over me. I clutch my stomach, and the room suddenly starts to spin. I can feel myself swaying with it. Turning around, the Tailer sees me and laughs.

“First time’s a little rough, don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” she says, wrapping her arm around my shoulders to stabilize me as we make our way to... wherever.

“You’re just lucky I haven’t eaten breakfast or you’d be bathing in it right now!” I snap.

“You got quite a sharp tongue, have you? Just when we think we’ve had enough of the witty ones.” the Tailer jokes to herself.

“‘We?’” I question.

“Yes, ‘we.’ We’ve found everyone except for you. You four were the last ones.” she answers.

“Wait, do you mean--”

“Save it. It’s not safe to talk out here.” the Tailer murmurs, her smile fading, and her voice turned grave and serious. We continue walking, and I almost can’t help but look around. It would seem we’ve landed in a large city, and being a country person, I have to take some peeks.

“Would you quit wandering around and come on?” The Tailer snaps, partially amused.

“Hey, come on, I’ve wanted to see one of these places for years, let me have a good look, will you?” I retort.

“Oh sure, have a good look! Before it explodes… come on! Keep up!” I roll my eyes. No sense arguing, I suppose…

We walk. And walk. And walk. It really does seem like the only thing this girl likes to do is walk! We walk passed the tall buildings, the markets, the streets, to a quiet mountain place. We walk between the mountains, weaving through trees and rocks, until finally, she stops, placing her hands on her hips.

“Here it is!” She exclaims. I look out, shielding the sun from my eyes.

“It looks like a haunted mansion…” I comment sarcastically. She laughs.

“You’re hilarious. No! It’s an old school! And it’s where you and your adorable friends will be staying.” She retorts.

“‘Adorable?’”

“Yes, I find that young Mirken friend of yours quite charming! And quite hilarious, too!”

“I really hate you right now.” I state bluntly, my face so straight, that the most twisted man on earth couldn’t curve it. Having satisfied our jabs at each other, we quietly proceed towards the haunted school. I call it this because I believe my judgement of it to be a haunted mansion was totally accurate!

As we approach the school, the emptiness of it pulls at me, and I feel the fur on my neck beginning to bristle. We walk through a long, dark hallway. Everything almost looks frozen into place, like it cannot move. Even if it tried. Except the elevator, which appeared out of place. It looked like someone had literally polished the doors yesterday! Even the floor in front of the elevator looked recently cleaned! But what really put it out of place was that it was functioning. I could hear it moving throughout the building, and watched the red numbers above the elevator’s doors climb.

To my surprise, and eternal horror, I follow the Tailer to the elevator, and she gives the downwards arrow a good mash, and I watch as the rim of the button glows a bright red in response. Down. Perfect. Maybe because this whole stupid thing is dragging me down! I think sarcastically. The elevator gives a high ding as it reaches our floor, the doors smoothly sliding open. The Tailer glances back at me, nodding towards the small space inside.

“Get in.” she coaxes.

“I’m starting to become annoyed by your croaking voice!” I mutter under my breath, following her into the elevator.

“Frog jokes. Hilarious.” She responds, indifferent. As the doors close, she mashes a button labeled B1. I stare at it for a moment, raising an eyebrow.

“B1?”

“B1.”

“What the world is B1?”

“It means Basement 1… it’s an Asian thing.” She explains.

“Why B ONE, why not just B?” I ask.

“Maybe there’s a B2?”

“Why the world would they make a B2!?” I exclaim.

“Some of these places have a B2! I’ve been in a building that has a B3.”

“B THREE? This is ridiculous!”

“Hey, come on, it’s not like they sting.”

“You’re not funny.”

“Oh no?”

“No.”

“Not even a little?”

“No.”

The elevator dings, and a small recording plays. I hear a woman’s voice start speaking, but I cannot understand what she’s saying at first. Finally I hear a clearly pronounced “B1.”

“Is that British?”

“You bet! This place was once owned by Britain for a short time, so most of the people here know at least a bit of English… but British English.”

“I hate it. I hate her voice, do you hear how ber-freaking annoying--I hate your voice!” I call back at the recording.

“Do you just consider it fun to get angry at everything?” The Tailer questions me.

“You got a problem with that?” I retort. The Tailer pauses, considering this for a moment.

“Huh. No, actually, I guess I don’t.” She smirks. I follow her down yet another dark hall, but this hall wasn’t so dark as it seemed. At the very end there was a square of light, coming out the window of a classroom door to the left. This is why we walked the whole day for hours? And flew in big barrels through glass tubes? Just to get to this pathetic old schoolhouse so we can visit one classroom in the basement with the lights on?! I think, growing more frustrated as we approach the lit classroom.

Standing in front of the door, the Tailer turns around, giving me a smug grin.

“M’lady Klere,” she addresses me, partially sarcastic, “welcome to headquarters!” And with that, she opens the door, gesturing for me to enter. The first thing I notice, to my eternal relief, is that they’re all aliens. Just a bunch of aliens… sitting in a classroom… in a circle of chairs… in an abandoned school building between a couple of mountains. The old chalkboard at the front of the classroom is full to the brim with notes, numbers, calculations, plans… and the alien, a Mirken, was standing tall and well-postured in front of it, turning a piece of chalk in her right hand. When she sees me, the Mirken smiles, walking over to the entrance to greet me face to face.

“You must be Klere,” she holds out her hand, “I am Vienna, a great pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Klere.” I give her a wary look, but shake her hand, nonetheless.

“How do you know who I am?” I ask cautiously.

“We’ve been on the look for you. The last four survivors somewhere in North America. It’s a long story, but just know that you’re safe here with the rest of us. We’re all on the same boat now.” Vienna reassures me.

“I see...who are you?” I ask.

“I am, you could say, the director of our team. We’ve been making plans and connections for five days, almost six now, while at the same time looking for our remaining survivors out there. But now that we’ve found everyone, we can focus on completing our task.” She explains. Seeing I have nothing else to say, she steps aside, indicating for me to come inside.

“Please, have a seat.” She invites. I look in the circle of strange faces, finding my “friends” among them - Jack, Daxter, and Raven, already seated at the other side. I find a place in-between Raven and Jack, leaning over to whisper in Raven’s ear.

“When did you guys get here?”

“Sometime this afternoon.” Raven whispers back. “I was beginning to think they weren’t able to find you.” He admits.

“Who? Her? It’s easy. Just listen for the sound of angry screaming and follow it.” Jack retorts. I roll my eyes. Hysterical. I think.

“Keep the status quo, at least for the next 25 days.” Raven reminds us. “We still have to complete the task, whatever it may be.”

“Or try, at least. If we fail, I’m out of here. It’s going to be a whole lot of fun watching these humans die!” I think aloud.

“Wait what?” Jack glares at me. Raven massages the place between his eyes.

“Oh brother…” he mutters under his breath.

“Don’t ‘what’ me,” I snap, “I said I’d try, but if this doesn’t work, I’m gone.”

“What is she talking about?” Jack demands, looking at Raven. Raven sighs, refusing to look up.

“I made her a deal, that she could use… a project I’m working on to escape the planet if we still hadn’t completed the task by the 30th day.” Raven admits.

“Why would you do that?!” Jack exclaims.

“Because if I didn’t she wouldn’t have helped at all!” Jack considers this for a moment.

“Well, we’ll just have to make sure that we get it done.” He finally responds.