I Am Infinite by Alexus Johnson (phonics reader .TXT) 📕

I like knowing what's going to happen. I like routines. I like to blend in. I wake up, I put on the same uniform as everyone else, I go to work in the kitchen, I spend my free time with my best friend Ryker and our friend Angie watching movies from the ground. Once a year I watch them alone while they go to the ground with my parents and the other Deciders, but they always come back and we always get back to our routine. Until they sentenced me to death.

The alarm going off in my pod was what woke me. My eyes opened to see the usually white walls looking orange due to the emergency lights flashing orange and then plunging my room back into darkness  before bringing it back to a orange hue. It took me a minute to realize that I wasn't dreaming and, in fact, what we had been told would never happen, was happening. We had lost power. Or, at least, my dorm had.

I grabbed my emergency pack and darted into the hallway. It was flooded with people my age in similar pajamas as me looking 50 shades of exhausted and panicked. It was difficult to maneuver due to the fact that we only had light for a few seconds before it was dark again and everyone was trying to get to the Hub at the same time. It took us about 15 minutes to get there. 

Like the rest of the ship, the hub was completely white like a hospital room. There were round tables filling the room and the room fit about 1,000 people. Enough for my age group. Each age group was on a separate ship. The ships were all connected by hallways and pods .The center pod was just big enough for about 20 people. Our leaders. We call them The Deciders. They are the ones that take the trip to the ground once a year to test the radiation levels. They're the ones that decide when we can go home. My parents are in the ranks as well as my best friend (and long time crush), Riker.

Riker was standing above us on the elevated stage-like surface with the 4 other Deciders in our age group. His face looked grim and he was looking anywhere but me. 

"Settle down, everyone. We have news," he said gesturing for Angie, one of the deciders next to him, to speak next. Angie was another friend of mine. She also liked Riker, but Riker has told me a few times now that he sees her as a sister. For some reason, I still felt jealous of her. Even at that time when I had so much more to worry about. 

"During our trip to the ground last year, we measured the radiation levels to be minimal to no radiation. This means we have been planning our return," this news caused murmurs to erupt all around me. I could tell that this would elevate. Why didn't they tell us sooner? And was this connected to the power going out?

"Quiet!" Riker shouted. He waited for everyone to settle again before continuing. "We can only send a few people at a time. Those people are going to live there for a month on their own with the limited supplies we can send them with. It won't be easy. Some, maybe all, will die. We will be sending twenty in the first group, and more with each of the other groups. Now, ten of the first group will be Deciders, but ten of them will be regular people. We thought we'd have more time to prepare, but we don't have as much oxygen on the ship as we thought."

This caused shocked gasps and angry 20-30 year olds to start shouting about sending more than 20 people.

"We have a plan that will save us, but we only have resources to send 20 at first!" Garrett, the oldest Decider of our age group, yelled over everyone. The Hub went silent before he continued, "20 people will push the oxygen for another month until we can send more. Then we have even more time to prepare for sending even more people. The people left on the ship after the first group leaves have the best chances. It's the ones who go to the ground first that we should all be worried about. In the ships, we have control over temperature, hygiene, and bacteria. On the ground, things will be much different. That's why we've chosen very carefully. Myself, Ryker, and Angie will be going to the ground as well as Harli Fischer and Quinn King. That leaves Peony and Diane as the Deciders left here to help keep things running." Garrett finishes and it feels as though all the air has left my lungs. 

Peony speaks up, but I only hear bits. I get the gist of it though. I'm leaving in 3 days. My friends, my best friends have volunteered me to basically go on a suicide mission. My friends have given me a death sentence.

Text: Alexus Johnson
Images: Google
Editing: Alexus Johnson
Publication Date: 11-04-2016

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