Youth World

Chapter 2 – Where Are the Adults?

Grant huffed and puffed, gasping for air. Then, after a brief moment of rest, he finally spoke.

"So, I was playing the new baseball game that came out, and then, just as I was about to log in and customize a new avatar, I felt like I had taken too many sedatives and I immediately passed out. As soon as I woke up, I found myself surrounded by trees and lying on a tree stump. I freaked out and looked everywhere for my mom and dad. But, after looking for an hour or two, I couldn't find them at all, so I ran this way looking for you."

"Say, have you seen any other people along the way?"

"Yeah. I saw some toddlers and infants, and maybe a teenager or two, but not that many. No ȧduŀts either. I mean, we do live in an area with a bunch of retired folks, so that may be why."

"Fair point. I haven't seen any kids either, but the trees did obstruct my view, and my side of the mountain has even more retired households than yours. Maybe we should search for people to join us while we look for the ȧduŀts, and maybe try to survive?"

"Well, I don't see what else we could do, so that leaves me no other choice. Count me in!"

"Great! Alright, here's my game plan," I began as I handed Grant a dagger, "First, we should probably head down to the place where our high school used to be, since a lot of kids might still be there. Both of us woke up in the same place we blanked out, right?"

"Yessir."

"I was home that day, and you were just skipping school, so that explains why we were both here. However, many of the other kids might have woken up where they were at that point in time, which would have been at school since it was near the end of the school day. If I'm right… oh god, what's going on down there? We have to hurry!"

"I agree. My little brother's down there. I sure hope nothing bad happened to him."

"Well, we certainly don't want your little bro to die. Let's go!"

I dragged Grant by his forearm, and we began sprinting down the hill.

"Grant," I panted as my legs felt like they were going to tear off from running too fast, "Keep an eye out for any ȧduŀts out there! We'll probably need them if we want to survive!"

We ran past the place where the middle school once was and headed straight down the course of the former road. There were trees absolutely everywhere, highly resembling the wilderness of Western Canada. I almost smacked my forehead against one as I was moving too fast through the dense flora to change directions in time. Luckily, I was extremely flexible, so I ducked forwards and nearly twisted my whole body sideways to avoid the obstacle.

Suddenly, I came up with a brilliant idea. I stopped right in my tracks, and Grant followed suit, after realizing the same thing as I did.

"You think we could maybe recruit some of the older kids at this school to join our cause? I mean, we both went to school here back in the day, and we were quite popular."

Using our knives to slash away at the shrubberies, and moving branches aside to accommodate our crossing, we had finally arrived at the middle school. To put it bluntly, it was utter chaos.

Children were screaming and running around like it was a battle royal. Many of them were nȧkėd, and others only had basic leaf coverings. I saw a boy completely demolish another kid with a tree branch, a bunch of girls slapping each other in the corner and a gang of kids trying to calm everything down.

"Everyone!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs. "Please calm down!"

Unexpectedly, all of the kids stopped doing what they were doing. They dropped their sticks and stones and turned around. Now, all was silent in the vast forest except the chirping of blue jays.

"Yo!" One of them, a short guy with a mohawk, exclaimed. "It's our boy Alex! It's the guy with the GT-R!"

"You really just remember me for that, huh?"

"Well yeah! You always give us rides in that thing! Remind us, how did you afford it again?"

"Well, I think I've told you guys this before, but I bought Bitcoin in 2014 as a joke, but it appreciated so much over these past few years that the few hundred bitcoins I owned became worth more than most people. I bought a GT-R with that money, but I was about to sell it before, uh, this happened. Anyways, what happened with you guys?"

The kids were standing there nervously, not knowing what to do. A tall, lanky kid, which I recognized as Herbert, walked up to us and began telling us his story.

"Are you serious!" I reprimanded the sullen kids. "You guys wake up in a dangerous forest, and you immediately start fighting! And over a pig! Where did it even go!"

Herbert nervously pointed towards a bloody pulp on the ground.

"T-That… is what you guys were fighting over! Where did the pig go! There's not even any bones left! All I see are flies and blood!"

"We were so hungry that we just dug into the pig with our bȧrė hands and began chowing away."

"Ugh." I spat. "That explains the blood on Sarah's hands."

The little girl looked at me with puppy dog eyes, clearly very ashamed of what she did. That doesn't really work well when you look like a vampire with all that blood, now does it?

"Yeah, so we're kind of in a mess. Say, since you're the oldest one here, what do you think we should do?"

I began stroking my inexistent beard with my right hand. Then, I pretended to come to an epiphany.

"I think that you guys should follow me for the time being. Grant and I were both eagle scouts, so we know a thing or two about surviving in the wilderness. Besides, if we all go together, it'll be much safer. Along the way, I'll tell you guys everything I know so far, and what I think is going on."

"You really think we should listen to that guy? I mean, he's the only one who has proper clothes on."

"I'm not sure, but he's the oldest one and he seems to know what he's talking about."

"Well, let's just follow him for the time being. We can always leave later."

"Wait, but he doesn't even go to our school? You all sure about this?"

"Not really, no. Maybe we should split up and head elsewhere."

Damn. This wasn't going that well for me. Having a larger group would be better for survival unless we were in a death game, so I needed all hands on deck.

Luckily, my prayer wouldn't go unanswered. One of the scouts that I had practically raised by hand stood up for me, towering over the others at six feet in height.

"Wait, you guys! Before you come to a conclusion, hear me out!"

"Sure, Darryl, take your time."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm sure. When I broke my arm, Alexander's the one who fixed it."

"You're telling the truth?"

"Sure am."

"Well, that sure changes things. This Alexander seems pretty reliable."

"He sure is."

"Well, we don't have many other options, now do we?"

"We should probably go with him. I don't wanna die."

"Me neither."

"We'll follow you for now."

"Darryl," one of the kids whispered under his breath, "You better not be wrong about this."

"Good! Now, we should head to the high school. There, we can gather more people for our cause and begin hunting."

Just as I began to gather the kids and depart, a group of a few dozen decided to head the other way, their leader being one of the girls that had refused to stand up earlier.

"Hey! Where are you guys going!" Darryl exclaimed.

"We don't want any part in this. We like Naomi better, and we're going to follow her to the end! Screw you!"

Honestly, they weren't that vital to our efforts, so they could be expended.

"Well, do whatever, I guess. Best of luck out there."

Gathering my group of around a thousand, the long line of kids being able to be seen for miles, we marched towards the former location of the high school. I walked at the front of the group, while Grant walked near the back to keep order.

"Everyone!" I began to announce. "This is what we have figured out so far. There are no ȧduŀts anywhere, the world has gone back to how it was before humanity's existence, and we are still in Bellevue. Thus, only one thing is possible. Something has killed or gotten rid of all the ȧduŀts around here, destroyed all traces of human existence, and knocked us out."

"That's awful!"

"What do we do?"

"Yeah! I'm scared."

"Order, order! Since I know that we're all in Washington State, and in the same places that we were before, we should gather up most of the high schoolers, and then hunt and gather to get food for everybody. Some of you will get water, and others will get food. Then, we'll all build a makeshift camp somewhere and then discuss any further course of action at that point."

"What you said sounds pretty complicated, but we're in!"

"Oh, I have one other thing to tell you guys. Maybe y'all should pick up some sticks and stones, just in case something really bad goes down."

Upon hearing this, all the kids scurried around and picked up whatever large blunt objects they could find.

The walk to the high school didn't take that long. The two educational facilities were only a 20-minute walk before the apocalypse, so it only took twice that long for us. We had to walk around a fallen tree or two and hop over some big rocks, but soon we found ourselves in the location of the former commercial district where the high school once stood.

Oh god. This looked like an ant farm.. If you thought what went down at the middle school was bad, this was on a whole new level.