Day 1 12:29 pm
Just like everyone else Mark watched the timer tick down towards zero. There were only 50 seconds left and everyone had grown quiet in anticipation. The room had been so loud as everyone tried to be heard talking to their friends in the sea of voices but once the clock passed the minute mark everyone quieted down making sure they didn’t miss anything.
“I’ve got five dollars down with Samuel that it Aliens but he’s saying it’s a CIA experiment. What do think is causing all this.” It was the fifth time John had asked the question and it was starting to get tedious.
“No idea, stop asking.” Mark barked back. It was a fair question that had probably been asked a couple of thousand times as the students waited for something to happen.
“All right then. Keep your secrets.” John replied slyly as he amused himself with dumb jokes. At least there was one person in this room in good spirits. Mark couldn’t be upset at him for being optimistic, but he did wish he take this a little more seriously.
“Hey John, I just had an idea.” Grace came forth out of a relatively small group of female wrestlers to whisper something in his ear. Mark could tell from the surprised look then the wide smile on John’s face that something incredibly dumb was about to happen.
“Yeah, I can do that.” John seemed excited to be a part of whatever was about to happen as he looked down at the timer. Mark needed to stop him before he did something stupid.
“Whatever your thinking about doing Don’t. Please just Don’t.”
“What do you mean it’s just a little counting.” As soon as he finished John sucked in a massive breath of air while looking at the timer on his wrist intently.
“20” The number was heard across the entire room and the sea of people shifted to look at the wrestling team in the corner.
“19” Mark was right this was incredibly stupid but at least he wasn’t pretending to have a heart attack and causing a panic.
“18” Grace and the other eight female wrestlers who concocted this plan joined in on the counting.
“17” Almost the entire room looked on in confusion but those on the wrestling team realized what was happening.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“16” A start of practice during stretches John would lead them in a deafeningly loud count of 10 for each individual stretch.
“15” Not able to abandon the time-honored tradition most of the team joined in on the counting.
“14” With the addition of about 50 new voices the loud counting grew into an unstoppable chant.
“13” A couple of others outside of the team realized the counting matched the timer and joined in but to Mark’s relief not as enthusiastically.
“12” The counting gained momentum as more people joined in.
“11” Mark saw Patter and made eye contact with him, he looked like a disappointed parent.
“10” The counting reached a new high as those who hadn’t joined yet realized that 10 was a nice round number to start at.
“9” Mark raised his hands and sighed at Patter to signal he had no idea how this had started or how to stop it.
“8” He turned to look at his brother who was turning red from yelling so loud, somehow that dumbass was older than him even if it was only by eight minutes.
“7” Still Mark felt a strange bit in pride for his brother.
“6” All of the 2000 students of Altim had been on the verge of panic for the past 30 minutes as they waited for something to happen. Although not had really change, aside from them hurting their eardrums, the school wasn’t nervous anymore.
“5” Mark joined the chorus of counting students glad they were no longer acting lambs waiting for the slaughter.
“4” They might still all be marked for death but at least they a brief respite from the doom and gloom they had moments earlier.
“3” Time was running out so mark took a moment to ensure he was prepared for whatever happened next.
“2” Mark looked about to check on his precious siblings. John was still next to him while Grace was among her friends, he would have preferred her to be closer, but she was safe amongst the wrestling team.
“1” The last count was the loudest of yet and room became deadly quiet as students waited with bated breath.
The silence continued for another heartbeat before an audible click of the school’s PA system turning on sent rustles through the crowd. A woman's voice spoke over the intercom but it sounded more like what a computer though a human sounded like that an actual flesh and blood person. “Thank you for your patience Homo Sapiens of Earth, we apologies for the inconvenience. The orientation we begin shortly.”
No one dared speak as they listened to the message desperate to not miss anything. But there was one voice that rose loud and clear about the timid crowd, “Sammy, where the hell are you, I want my five dollars.”