June 27, 2075

1905 CDT

The Undead Forest, Between the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico City

Sonya Grey's Point of View

“Seina! Jake! Stand down!” My hostage yells out to his comrades, his voice echoing throughout the trees.

The Undead Forest, an overgrown forest that spans across the coast for miles and miles and is filled with countless amounts of undead. Moonlight is the only source of light in this dusky forest when the sun sets. Traveling on the ground is suicidal, so the smart thing to do is to use the disproportionate tree branches to get to where you need to go. These freakishly large and sturdy branches are like a vast spider web with the way they connect and intertwine with each other.

Seina and Jake are the names of my hostage’s cohorts. Seina must be the Hispanic redheaded girl with loosely braided hair, freckles, dark cloak, pistol, and an eyepatch just like my prisoner. Zero body expressions, but your facial expression says, “I don’t want to do this, but I will to survive.”

Jake, a bald Caucasian boy with a small circular-shaped device, sticking out of his throat. You’re equipped with an assault rifle, but you know better than to point it at me. No eyepatch, but they’re obviously in a group, so this confirms my suspicions even further. Your body expressions clearly make him the more nervous of the two.

You two seem oddly familiar.

“Dwayne! I-I can do it! It would only take a second!” Jake yells out.

“If you point that gun at me or hurt my friends, then you’ll get to see the insides of your friend’s throat,” I say. “From his minuscule tonsils down to his fucking trachea.”

“Dwyane?” Seina asks in concern.

“Listen, girly. I don’t feel like dyin’ anytime soon,” Dwayne says to me in slight apprehension.

“The terrifying thing about death is that you never know when it’s going to come for you,” I say to Dwayne. “Being born is just a death sentence, and unfortunately for you three, you just met your executioner.”

“I get it. I get it. You’re dead serious. Seina! Let them go!” Dwayne helplessly orders.

“What? I thought we were gonna…” Seina trails off.

“NOW, SEINA!” Dwyane shouts in fear.

“Yes sir,” Seina complies.

“Are you satisfied now?” Dwayne asks me.

“Almost,” I say to Dwayne. “Tell Jake to empty the clip in his rifle and throw the gun down below.”

“I would comply with that request if it wasn’t for all of those Scorpios slowly making their way up the trees,” Dwayne points out.

“You think I give a shit about that?” I ask.

“Indigo! We must go! Now!” General Farrington annoyingly reminds me.

“Fine!” I say as I cut his cloak. “But you’re not leaving my side, Dwayne. Don’t forget who I am.”

Huh, no wonder you’re so desperate. Upon removing your cloak, I can see that you have no weapons at all, only a black bulletproof vest.

*

10 Minutes Later

Billy Cooper’s Point of View

“I’m sorry,” Seina says as we slowly make our way from branch to branch.

“For what?” I ask.

“You know, for almost killin’ you” she admits.

“Oh.”

“What do you mean, oh?” She giggles as she brushes her hair.

“I’m sorry. I’m not very good with conversations.”

I can’t wait to go to sleep. Being in the middle of the group with General Farrington is boring. Sonya and Dwayne are on point, while Jake and Anna are covering our six.

The New World is something else, though! I’ve never seen trees this tall before in my life! We must be hundreds of meters off the ground. Gulp. It’s probably not a good idea to look down.

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“Hey, Billy. Don’t look down. There’s nothin’ down there except death and a few animals that you can hunt,” Seina explains. “Just ignore the muertos vivientes (living dead) and keep looking straight.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

“Sooo, you look to be around my age. How old are you if you don’t mind me askin’?” Seina asks with a smile.

“I’m eighteen. How old are you?”

“You’re not supposed to ask a lady about her age,” Seina chuckles.

“Oh. But you asked for my age, so it’s only right if I ask about your age too, OK?”

“Sigh. That’s true. I’m nineteen years old if you must know.”

“Nice to meet you, Seina.”

“Nice to meet you too, Billy. Sigh. I was just messin’ with you ‘bout the whole age situation. I think the norm between men and women is all silly. Men are expected to behave a certain way, and women are expected to do the same thing, but all of society’s rules don’t exist in The New World. Out here, everyone just behaves like wild animals, which makes sense because we are mammals. I like to think that The New World was created to, um, raise the curtain on humanity. Underneath all the smoke and mirrors that society creates, is this world! I believe that all of this chaos is humanity’s true form!” Seina says with an odd smile.

“That’s um…”

“I’m sorry if I’m comin’ on too strong. I just don’t get to meet new people often and when I do… um, forget it. Sorry. Jake and Dwayne are cool but hangin’ out with the same people every day can be exhaustin’. I was just so excited to see people my age, especially a boy,” she says.

“What happened to your eye, Seina?”

“Oh! Um! N-nothin’. Just an accident. A bad accident!” Seina says as she touches her eyepatch. “I don’t know much about you, but you do know about the unspoken rule, right?”

“Of course! I forgot for a second.”

“You’re smart,” she says with a soft smile. “And cute”

“Thank you again, Seina. I think you’re bea-”

“Despite how I feel about this world, I can’t stop myself from imaginin’ all of the magical things I could’ve done in the previous world! Back then, you only needed a shit ton of money to have a good life, but nowadays, you need a certain… something for safety. Anyway, what would you have done for a career back then, assuming you were stuck with one job for life?” she continues to say.

“Um, probably the same thing I do… did now, ok?”

“Hmm. Interestin’. I would’ve been a famous, world-class, breath-taking magician! Thank you for asking, by the way. I would’ve blown the crowd’s minds away with my incredible tricks. People would’ve paid hundreds of dollars to watch me perform. My cash would’ve been as high as the tree branches we’re walking on. But most importantly, like how all magicians were, I would’ve never revealed my tricks; not for free at least,” she says smiling.

“Magicians, huh? Magic is pretty cool.”

“Somethin’ tells me that fate will decide if you’ll get to see me perform one day, Billy,” she says as she walks closer to me.

“Anything’s possible, Seina.”

“Soooo, Billy. Do you have a, ummm you know, a girlfriend?”

*

Anna Robinson’s Point of View

“No, I don’t have a boyfriend, Jake,” I say to Jake.

“Want one?” Jake asks.

“No.”

“Oh. Ok.”

Why is everyone on Earth so annoying?

“I wish I had a girlfriend,” Jake blurts out.

“I don’t care.”

“Seina doesn’t like b-bald guys.”

“How dreadful.”

“I asked her why,” he continues.

“Oh.”

“She said because sunlight reflects off of my h-head and hurts her e-eye.”

“Uproarious.”

“But I’m a s-survivor. I can’t help that I’m fighting two wars.”

“Survivor?”

“Yeah, this device in my t-throat helps me b-breathe. They called it tracheostomy.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what? It’s not your fault. I had an accident.”

I don’t know what to say. As far as I’m concerned, you’re not an enemy or a friend, but I don’t know much about life out here other than what they taught us in our training. The best thing I can do is follow General Farrington and Sonya’s… Indigo’s lead. Billy has the medicine and is being very friendly to the Seina girl. Sigh. I wanted to talk to the girl. Boys are so gross and smelly.

“Whatcha thinking about, Anna?” Jake asks as he digs into his nose.

“About how bad I need a show… I mean, wash.”

“Oh. I don’t like washing, but I try to clean my teeth whenever and however I can. It compliments my hairless h-head,” he says proudly.

“… Ok.”

“But I don’t wanna bother you too much. I just wanted to express my love of sports cars to someone who wasn’t Dwayne or Seina. Dwayne never has any reactions, and Seina just tells me to wear a hat whenever I try to tell her how good of a racer I would’ve been. So, it was a nice change of pace to meet someone who understands my love of cars as much as me. Thank you, Anna. I’ll never forget you,” Jake says as he flicks his booger into the darkness below.

I don’t know whether to be pleased, angered, or terrified right now.

“You’re welcome, Jake.”

“Indigo, we need to stop,” General Farrington quietly orders.

“Indigo? How ironic. Is that what you’re going by now, or is that some kind of codename?” Dwayne whispers to Sonya.

“Shut it,” Sonya calmly shouts at Dwayne.

“Oh, come on. Who could forget those bright brown eyes of the one and only Sonya Grey?” Dwayne laughs.

You know her identity?! Then that must mean they’re…

“So, my suspicions were correct,” Sonya responds to Dwayne.

“We’re not affiliated with the Black Scorpions anymore though, whether that makes a difference or not,” Dwayne says as he slowly reveals his Black Scorpion shoulder tattoo. “And uh… about...”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Dwayne,” Sonya quickly interrupts.

“Fair enough,” Dwayne says with a disappointed head nod. “Jake! Seina! It’s time to rest!”

“You three aren’t doing shit!” Sonya says in a serious tone.

“Sonya, your friends are exhausted. It’s clear to me that y’all have been awake for days. Trouble in paradise, I’m assuming. Anyway, you might be able to stay up another night, but your new Olympian friends aren’t as reliable as you,” Dwayne explains.

“Sonya, it’s ok,” General Farrington says as he gives us a hand motion to stop walking.

“I can stay up another night, which is why I’ll keep watch,” Sonya warns as she kneels beside a tree.

I suppose we’ll have to use our cloaks as blankets. How atrocious.

“Goodnight, Anna,” Jake says as he suddenly appears in front of me.

“Don’t just pop up from out of nowhere, Jake!” I say. “Hmph! I’m sleeping by Billy!”

“Oh,” Jake says in a sad tone. “Sorry, I just thought we were friends.”

“Stop being so clingy, Jake. Buenas noches (good night) my number one fan, Billy,” Seina says as she walks towards Jake.

“We’re splitting up the moment the sun rises, Dwayne,” Sonya explains as she gives Dwayne a frightening glare.

“Goodnight, Sonya Grey,” Dwayne snickers in a chilling tone.