UNKNOWN Chapter One

Mr. Rapal was there. Then he wasn't.No flash of light. No explosion. He just disappeared. Sam, the unofficial class

leader, turned to his triplet brothers, me, Jack, a 'nerd' by the bullies' standards, and Ethan, a bully, and said,"You saw that, right?"

"I saw that," I said, "I am working on believing. What happened?" he said as the murmuring rose.

"It must be G-d. What else could it be? But why? Either G-d hates us, or it is a dream," Ethan said as he hit his head on the desk and fell unconscious. Suddenly the door opened, everybody hoping it was Mr. Rapal, explaining how he did that trick, then get back to talking about the Civil War in his excited, strained voice. Unfortunately, it was Isabel, a smart girl in their homeroom who was taking classes online.

She said,"Did you guys see my teacher, Ms. Birchwood? She disappeared, along with the other three kids in the room!" as a few people gasped. Everybody went out to the hall of their school and got their phones to call home. Bette, a girl in their class with AD/HD cried,"The phones don't work!"

A voice in the crowd cried,"Call 911!"Bette replied,"Who do you think I called?"None of the phones worked, and car alarms were apparent. They went outside-to

be greeted by a wail of children and car alarms growing ever louder.The group saw smoking buildings and gardens, a large car crash with a Hummer

and burning oil tanker, and a crumbling house. That was enough to make them run inside. Ethan woke up and started hobbling after them, and they all ran into the Multi Purpose Room. Sam, Ethan, and I ran up to the microphone and said,"Guys? The chaos isn't helping.”

"We need to prepare. For most of us, our parents have fed us, comforted us, and told us what to do. If all adults are really gone, then we need to be the ones to put food on our plate!" as Sam gave the mic to me.

"We need to hunt, gather and plant. We need to stop chaos, thirst, and starvation. We need to survive!" By now the crowd was already cheering. Ethan took the microphone and said,

"They are right, now we need to feed ourselves. We need to help ourselves to a taste of survival!" Sam went up and said,

"But really, none of us know what's out there. The adults could be all right outside the building or they could be......" He couldn't finish. "There could be monsters, or there could be candy. But for now, don't take the risk. Stay here, and we-we will survive and strive. Go out, and you could be gone in a heartbeat. As Thomas Jefferson said,''We must all hang together, or we shall indeed hang separately. Any suggestions to survive?" he said as he took a paper and pen.

The paper looked like this after the talk:LOW PRIORITY*Making a form of currency for trade*Making stores in the MPR(Multi Purpose Room)

MEDIUM PRIORITY*Patrollers*Getting supplies(food, water, weapons)inventoriedHIGH PRIORITY*Shelter, Food, and Water* Scouts and scavengers to search and scout around the school They sent Ethan, a boy named Albert, and a few others: Jim, Piers, and Isabel to scout food and water, and started to patrol and inventory food, weapons, and water.

Chapter TwoThe next day, they assigned Sam, Jack, and Ethan(who came back the night

before) to patrol. After an hour of boringness, Sam said, "Remember The Light?""No," Ethan said,"Not much."

Sam replied," Well, here's what it is, from what Jack and I can tell: A light, a faint glow, no strings, just hovering there. The Light was- no, is, translucent, and is no hotter than bathwater. Jack put his hand through it, and it went straight in. Do you think..... do you think it might've caused our.... our powers?"

"I don't know," I said as I sighed. "Now look out!" as a bullet whizzed by Sam's face. His neck trickled a small amount of blood, and he fell to the roof. Jack grabbed a crossbow and Ethan his slingshot and shot. They took down three of the black figures before the they retreated. Ethan flew(his power) Jack over to a fallen black figure, and I used my super strength(his power) to bring it back.

I examined it and said," It's a human, no doubt. Bones and skin are the same. Plus, the bullet that grazed Sam was from a .22 caliber rifle or shotgun," almost without even glancing at it. "Looks like you got him, it is a boy, pretty bad. There is a marble stuck in almost four inches into his chest!"

"Wow!" Ethan cried."C'mon, let's help Sam. Got any medical supplies?" he asked and was greeted by a trauma kit.

By the nighttime, Sam had recovered from the shot, and Ethan and three other boys were helping patrol(I was helping Sam). Unfortunately, Sam could not remember those last few hours, including the talk about The Light and the powers(Sam shot burning light out of his hands, apparently). I was reminding Sam what they talked about when they heard a rumble then crash. We jumped up like most Californians(they live there) would do, and ran outside-or tried to.

Near the door, we were thrown back into the wall by an invisible force. Sam blacked out again, and I pounded on the spot we were thrown back. Again I was thrown back, but ducked and fell to the floor this time. With the crowd of children coming this way from the hall, I punched the wall down and ran out, leaving them gaping.

I saw a boy, about my age(around thirteen, almost fourteen), holding back the group of kids and facing me.

"Jack," he said,"I've been waiting for this day. I will destroy you!""Who are you? How do you know my name?" I cried as I ran towards him with

Ethan flying down from the roof."Why do you care? Anyway, I am Caine..." he said. That was all I heard before I

blacked out.

Chapter ThreeI woke up with Sam and Ethan in a dark metal room with a security camera and quite a few dents next to a dazed Ethan. Sam was still out cold. I stood up, punched the door and felt a shock like I was electrocuted. I fell to the floor and laid there, dazed. Ethan said,"That's what happened to me, too. We need Sam to burn through,"

"No, I have an idea," I replied.Ethan flew up to the security camera and pulled it out, grabbing a small

aluminum pole lined with plastic. "Good, now see that lock there? Use the pole as a lockpick and open the door,"

"Already on it!' he exclaimed as he went up. I turned to face Sam, and heard a grunt and electric shock.

"Ethan?" I asked to the direction of the noise as Sam grunted and sat up."Ungh," Sam and Ethan said in unison."Sam, burn through!" I exclaimed. He burnt through, and we ran to the hole. Sam

went in, I went through, and Ethan fell through when he burnt his pant leg on some melted steel. Sam and I laughed at him as we ran back to the camp. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When we got there, it was empty-except for a note that said:

Dear Sam, Ethan, and Jack:We have left to go fight Caine. We have left some supplies for you on the roof for you to follow us to CheeChee Hills in the east. Come quick, please, be(cannot understand) From, The other kids

The note had a large burn mark, so we couldn't read the rest. It didn't seem to matter, so we grabbed the packs and went off.

We could see tents in the distance when Ethan fell. I turned around and saw a blond by, about thirteen, who had a red, foot-long snakelike arm. He slashed his whip at me, but I grabbed it before he could draw blood. I cried,"Who are you?"

He replied,"Drake. I am on a mission to kill you-from Caine."At that I punched at him, but Sam caught my fist. "Let me handle him. I have a

long history, rivals, whatever. Now GO!" At that I ran to the tents ahead.I ran to the tents-to find them ablaze! I ran in, yelling,"Hello? The camp is

burning, evacuate!" amid the chaos. Kids running and fire burning can really contain chaos. Most people had weapons, so an idea came into mind. "Let's get Caine!" I yelled, and a group formed around me. We ran at Caine, behind a rock, ready to kill.

Chapter FourMy army charged as they were thrown backwards and impaled by air. By the five-

minute mark there were hardly ten standing out of the hundred fifty at the start. The last made a last defense at a nearby boulder to shoot at him, but the bullets were thrown into their chests and fell into the blood-stained cliff nearby. "Me versus you, hmm?" he taunted.

I ran at him as he pushed me into the cliff. I hung on by my hands as he walked over calmly. He said,"Now it's my-" as a green-tinged streak hit his chest.

"Sam!" I said as he and Ethan ran over. Caine stood up and 'impaled' Ethan. He sunk, and Sam dodged. I pulled myself up and did the finishing punch. Caine blocked, and shot me. I punched, and fell the the cliff below. I closed my eyes as I hit the sides of the abyss.

"It smelled like fried chicken," a voice said. I sat up and said,"What?" Then I realized I was back at the school, in a party. "I'm... I'm alive?""Yeah," Sam said. "Barely, though. Your leg is in a cast," as I looked at my leg. "Better not move for a while. A least you can still party!""Why?""We defeated Caine, of course!"And we partied all night long, then rebuilt our base in search of the adults.

THE END