Klaus and I eventually convince the people to help us in anyway. I say I'll protect them and build a better country. A few didn't agree. But the ones who did probably would've not gone with it either, but what other option do they have now?
One of them manages to get a helicopter to come help us. Everyone on our building clambers into it and I make sure to tell the pilot, "Send more." He raises his eyebrows at me. "You can afford all of this?" I don't answer.
We fly over all the chaos and I mostly talk to the people in the helicopter.
"Do earthquakes happen like this often?" I ask them. "We haven't had one this bad in decades!" One says. "I guess it was just getting ready then…"
It slowly becomes night and we're still flying, trying to get to the east side of the country. New York, to ask the politicians about my idea, a new country. I'm scared to go to sleep. Thinking that when I wake up I'll have another problem and have to watch more people die.
I sit and stare out the window while everyone sleeps soundly. I should stay away too because the pilot has to also. The sky is pretty, but down below it's all destroyed.
"You should sleep Emilie." I turn for a moment to see Klaus behind me. "No, I enjoy staying up." I simply say. "Then I'll stay up with you." He looks out the window with me.
"Remember when in History class they taught us about 2012?" He suddenly says. "Everyone thought the economy was going to collapse and the world was going to end." I nod. "They were a few hundred years off." I say, and then laugh a little. There were a few moments of silence then.
Then suddenly Klaus broke the silence, "I have parachutes." This surprised me. "What, where?" Then he turned to me and smiled. "Have you ever gone sky-diving?"
"No I do not plan to." I tell him matter-of-factly. "C'mon we're over Colorado right now! It's the last state not desperate for help." I look over the window and see lots of trees. "So we'll go into the trees and be attacked by wild animals. Klaus leaned over to see past the trees. "We'll be heading into clear land soon." He says, it's almost like he's desperate.
"I just don't think it's a great idea. We could just ask the pilot to land." I bit my lip, hoping he'll give in. "Well, that'll work too. Denver is safer then New York City."
I ask the captain to land once we're by clear land. I hear him sigh, I feel like a needy child, asking for so much.
And I finally go to sleep for a few minutes. It's better then nothing.
"I hate to do this to you again Emilie…" I feel a hand on my forehead. "I'm up…" I quietly say. "We're on ground now and the sun is just coming up. I also told the pilot to tell the other pilots to land here." Klaus tells me.
Everyone hops out after us. They all look happy to be on solid ground and not in water. I look around the place. It appears to be some sort of street. "I guess we could take the bus…" I tell Klaus. He turns around and then turns back to me, "what about all these people?" He says. He has a good point. "Well I guess we… can't take them with us. Maybe give them breakfast?" I suggest. "That's a lot of money Emilie; we have a few dozen people on our hands. And more are coming." I sigh. "Debt, debt, debt… whatever." I just pull out my wallet and count my money in a good way. "It'll be enough."
I tell everyone to get in line because I'm giving them free money. They immediately form a single file line and every person gets $5. After the line is over I quickly head with Klaus to find a bus station.
"This will work." Klaus finally found a bus and it looks like it'll be arriving any minute. And when it does he gets overly excited.
"The bus! The bus!" He chants over and over.
"Yes! A bus! A bus!" I mimic.
The bus let's us on and we find a seat. The bus is fairly empty but could be fuller; the bus appears to be at least 3 buses long.
"What are we going to say? 'We'd like to form a new country' or 'give us all your money!'?" I roll my eyes. "I'll start by saying how America is collapsing and how a good new start would be better." I say.
"Well if you say so."
The route from the suburban to urban is a long one. But soon tall buildings start to come into view.
"City!" Klaus calls out. I bite my lips out of nervousness. Maybe this isn't a good idea.
After getting off and asking around we find our way to the capitol building. "As gold as ever…" Klaus says while we walk up the stairs. He stares at the gold roof, almost tripping up the steps. "Stupid steps!" He exclaims. For some reason I feel that Klaus is acting weirder then usual.
The building inside, is huge. I stare at the precious mineral covering the stairs as we enter further. If you walk in more there's a balcony and numerous offices are lined up at the side, and a few people are walking around. Then I realize we need to keep our identities safe. The politicians probably know a lot about the president.
"My name is Jennifer Brown. And I am on a school trip, trying to find my group." I tell Klaus abruptly. He puts on a confused look. "If you say so."
We look around at the offices' and as I recognize names I find one very recognizable.
"Ian Armstrong." I whisper to myself. I met him a few years ago and he was good friends with my father. So I decide to knock on the office door. He hears me and tells me to enter.
"I need help." I immediately say to him. He recognizes me too. "Emilie! Nice to see you!" He says. "Have you seen America lately?" I say. He then puts on a sad look. "Yes. I have. It's going to get worse. Have you noticed the lack of people?" I think back to the bus. "Yes, I have." He then says through clenched teeth, "Everyone is gone. They're going." I feel overwhelmed.
"What? Who's going? When! How?" He puts a hand up to stop me.
"Let me explain. Yesterday was hectic. We got a letter in the mail from Washington." I nod him on. "They're rebelling. They're taking all our food resources. They hacked our systems." This stuns me. "Then people are leaving to attack the people in Washington?"
"We're sending them to Washington."
I face palm, "this is horrible." But Ian only shakes his head. "No it's not—"
"Yes, it is! You can't send your own people against eachother! This will be a living hell soon!" I yell at him. I feel like slapping him for sending people to fight eachother.
"I am higher authority then you Emilie, I know best, your father is not here and neither is Jamison. Not even the rest of the authority. I am the next person he trusts." I don't have anything to say to him.
"We're going to Washington Klaus." I grab him and try to head towards the door.
"You won't be leaving!" Ian yells in his loudest voice and comes over and prevents us from leaving. "We knew you'd do this so we've taken precaution." I give him an intense stare.
"Don't make me bite you." I say plainly. He looks a bit withdrawn now. I hear Klaus chuckle a bit behind me.
"Like you'd bite me, I'm not your cous—" too late.
"Damn girl!" He exclaims while holding his hand up to his mouth trying to sooth it and curses at me. While he does this Klaus and I manage to escape.
I have this strange history of biting my cousins because they always picked on me. So I bit them because children bite. Nobody ever complained. (Mostly because I threatened to bite them again if they told.) But I'm pretty good at it.
"Pfft, I remember that, funny!" Klaus says while we run to the exit. It seems Ian was wrong, there's nothing set up to stop me, except him, of course.
Once we get to the exit I'm out of breath. But we have to keep going. We run and catch a bus right as it arrived. I then slump in my seat, exhausted.
"Washington. We need a plane." Now Klaus face palms. "We'll say we're going to help fight." I say, forming a plan in my head.
The ride is once again long and now it's even longer because we have to go to the airport. We've decided DIA. Denver International Airport. Along the way Klaus mentions something.
"Did you know that the lady we asked when we were trying to find our way to the capitol said we… looked like a cute couple after we left?" I raise my eyebrows. "Really? Why didn't I hear?" I ask. "You were too focused on getting to the building…" I agreed, I was way too focused on navigating.
"What if we were a couple?" Klaus asks.
"Uhm, I dunno…" I had truthfully never though about it. Love was not something I thought of daily.
"I guess politicians don't have romance?" He says, I claw at him.
"Yes they do!" Then we laugh playfully together.
After more talk we get to DIA.
It is packed. There is no getting anywhere but Washington. It's mostly foreigners talking angrily on the phone saying they're stuck. I scramble my way through them to find a random gate.
I tell the flight attendant, "I'm going to Washington." She immediately let's us in. I then whisper over to Klaus, "This is crazy." He gives a slight nod. The plane is packed too. Full of people from Colorado. We make ourselves cozy and find a seat. Then decide to sleep, because we haven't had any for a day.
Have any of you noticed the over abundance of 'SYOT' or '?th Hunger Games' type of stories? Do you like them? Or do think there are too many? I think people should be a bit more creative sometimes... but that's just me.