“Remember when the world was… Normal…?” I asked my companions as I stared at the horizon.

“Well, that depends on what you mean by normal,” one of them chuckled as it emphasized its last word.

“Well… Before any of this,” I replied.

“Yeah... I wonder how many of your kind are out there,” it said, looking at the pale moonlight.

“Yeah… I wonder…” I said as I look back through my, “given,” memories.

*Years ago*

“MOVE MOVE MOVE!” The soldier to my right said.

Panic, fear, and safety; those were the words which rang through my small teenage head as I ran through the rubbles and ashes.

“QUICK GET TO THE BUNKER!” Another soldier shouted from behind.

I wonder how I always get involved in things bigger than me, I always seem to be dragged into them like a puppet on its strings.

“MAKE A SINGLE FILE PEOPLE!” A soldier holding a megaphone shouted, trying to control the chaos.

I kept running along with the crowd of people, I was separated from my family just moments ago, the only good thing that can possibly happen to me is to be reunited with my family. "Where's my family...?

I soon reached a large crowd of people standing in front of a large structure with an equally large steel door.

I was still trying to make sense of the events happening around me, one minute ago I was just lazing about on my bed and the next… Well… All of this… Chaos. My father only told the family that we’re going to somewhere safe. “Safe from what?” I asked. But he never answered, now I’m getting pushed and squeezed at the same time between people.

The people around me were crying, screaming or too scared to even make a noise.

I still don’t understand, why? Why am I here? I’m just a kid with nothing but a few change and a phone in my pocket hoping that I’ll be fine.

Through the loud screaming, I called for my family hoping for a response, but none came but more shouting. The crowd around me dragged my body into the building like a helpless child in a raging river.

“Where’s my family?” I asked myself again as I was dragged into the darkness they call, “safety.”

The large entrance which led underground now stood behind me as the lights from the outside were being blocked by a large steel gate. I turned and watched as the door closed leaving other people to desperately reach for where I’m standing.

“I want to go home with my family…”

For the first time in my life, I felt truly alone even though I was surrounded by people facing the same problem as I am. I don’t know if my family is here with me, but what I know is that I cannot stop believing in them.

I was led through the large and dark hallway lit up with bright neon lights. It was musty, the smell of sweat and fear filled the tunnel.

“Alright, all of you! Today this will be where you’ll be staying until this is over! No if’s no but’s or what’s! More information will be given out soon,” An announcer said over the speaker.

The crowd now moved down towards a large platform with yellow markings and lines on the floor.

“The world out there is now unsafe to be in!” The announcer spoke once more as the platform began to descend down deeper into the bunker.

I kept walking along with the flow of people until I was split off into different single file lines.

The other line consisted of people of different ages from elderly to an infant being held close by their mothers. “Is this all a dream? It feels… Too real. Where’s ma? Pa? Little bro? I want to go back to them,” I thought to myself, still wishing for them to be here with me. I am terrified of what might happen next.

I was led into a changing room where I was told to change into a white uniform of some sorts and leave behind my old clothing in a tray. This included the money I held and the only form of contact I had with me.

The man supervising the change rooms told me that I must leave everything behind.

Arguing with him was pointless as he only repeated the same exact line. Growing more impatient with my arguing.

The uniform consisted of a white long sleeve shirt with a square badge with a scatter of black pixels on the left chest, long pants with black lines running through each sleeve, white socks and a simple pair of white shoes.

After changing into my new outfit, I was again led into another large room. This time, people were lined up in front of a large stage.

People were lined up like fishes in a tuna can. The only space available was the space between me and other people was only the room for me to breath.

The lights in the room began to dim and soon became dark, a spotlight appeared on a tall stage, luring our attention onto the stage. Standing there, was an elderly man with a white lab coat and a gold striped blue tie, neatly tucked under his coat.

“Today all of you will now live here until further notice, I know you have questions, but those will be answered soon. The world outside is now nothing more than a war zone, as you all know, with the increasing cost of many products and resources are caused by the increased level of their scarcity.” The elderly man announced.

An eruption of murmurs and whispers arrived after the statement.

“Seven days ago, the world’s superpowers have declared war on each other. We received messages and multiple warnings telling us that we must retreat to the recently built self-sustaining bunkers underground, to safety." The man spoke before he switched the paper he was reading off from and clearing his throat, "I know many of you have been separated from family members due to the chaos which happened outside. Have no fear, we will notify you of your relocation sooner or later. But for now, you shall all live and work here to maintain the bunker,” the man took a deep breath before continuing.

I stood there, listening as closely as I can as the old man explained that we will be guided to our rooms for the first night and will be given more information on the situation soon.

We were soon led to separate rooms for the night by guards.

The room wasn’t small, but neither it is big. The walls were painted white; The room held simple things, a single size bed, a table with a chair and a cupboard.

I laid down on the bed, taking my shoes off.

My mind was empty and fatigued. What happened today, happened too fast. I was only playing my games before a loud continuous siren echoed through the neighbourhood.

“I hope my family’s alright...”

A loud bang woke me from my sleep, the loud bang was then followed by a series of footsteps and muffled shouts through the door. Still half awake and groggy as I slowly shoved my feet into my shoes before walking to the door to listen to the ruckus outside.

*BANG!!

”NO… STAY AWA-HHIIich...

Suddenly, a cold chill ran up my spine as I heard another loud bang and a possible murder. I leaned my ears against my door in an attempt to make sense of the events happening outside my room, “what’s happening?”

Without any form of warning, the door to my room opened letting gravity take my body as I stumbled and fall into a pair of black-gloved hands which caught and dragged me outside.

I only had a split second glance up to see a man with a black visor helmet and riot gear. Acting on pure instincts, I panicked and struggled against the hands only to have myself forcefully pushed and spun around into a solid choke hold, now my instincts are telling me to cease my struggling and let whoever is killing me spin the wheel of fate.

As I was being led through multiple hallways, I noticed that I wasn’t the only victim. Multiple people were either still struggling against their own perpetrator, obeying them, or walking along with them with a hand on their shoulders in case of an escape attempt.

Before I knew it, I was dragged into a large room filled with glass chambers and other machinery organized into neat lines.

My body was dragged around like a stuffed doll by the arms that hold my fate. I was dragged deeper into a room before stopping near an open glass pod with two scientists fiddling with the equipment within the glass chamber.

The chamber has a cylindrical structure, the top and bottom ends of the glass cylinder was capped with bulky hardware with unknown purposes to me. Inside the glass chamber, stood a luxurious chair bolted to the bottom of the pod, while a set of translucent flexible tubes hung from the ceiling of the pod.

The two scientist then noticed me and simply stepped aside, letting the arms to drag me into the pod.

I was shaking with fear as the man led me up and into the pod, he first let me down softly on the chair before I made an attempt to escape by slipping past him. This did not go along as planned however as a heavy fist slammed into my cheek, leaving me dazed and disoriented as he grabbed my collar and slammed my body onto the chair.

“You know, we had a syringe ready if he tried to escape,” the scientist on the left spoke.

“Plus, we were going to make him sleep not you,” the other spoke waiting for the man to walk out of the pod and walking away, leaving me with the two scientists.

Both of them stepped into the pod and strapped my torso down to the chair. The scientist on my left reaching up and grabbing the set of tubes while the other injected me with the cold liquid in the syringe. Whatever it was, I can feel the intended effects of the liquid working as my body stopped responding to my command and simply fell limp.

My vision began to blur as my hearing decide to make everything an echo while I felt the scientist shove the multiple tubes into my nose and mouth. Completing their work in by strapping a black mask onto my face. The tubes held my face up as my body laid on the chair, unmoving. I panicked once more as not only my ability to move was simply ripped away from me but I was violated with the uncomfortable sensation of the tubes restricting my ability to breath.

“Now now, everything’s going to alright,” the scientist who injected me spoke as he pressed a button on a remote, this caused a hum to resonate from the machinery sitting beneath me and above the metal ceiling. I was also soon relieved of my ability to breath returned.

“We’ll see you on the other side…” Both of them turned and left the pod as the glass gate slowly shut itself close leaving me inside and unmoving.

The noises from the outside were effectively muffled through the glass. Through my fogged vision, I can roughly see colours and shapes of other people being put into their own respective chamber before being left in there. ”Wha... What's is happening?! Why are we being put in here? I thought they put us here to live, not to imprison us. Wha-” My thoughts were cut short when I feel a cold and wet sensation at the tip of my toes, it was water, and it is rising fast.

Within five seconds the water rose and filled the entire pod, submerging my body in the liquid like a human pickle jar.

As I breathe uncomfortably through the tube I can feel the edges of my vision darken, and my mind slowly sinking to sleep.

“Scanning…

Scan complete, hello subject #EBF-21-8-14. Do not worry, we will take good care of you…” A synthetic voice spoke as I shut my heavy eyes...

Author's Note

So uh... How did I do?

Sorry about the grammar and the rushed ending.

On one note, no, I don't think that if fossil fuels were to run out a war would erupt, by that point I believe a new form of fuel has been found long before fossil fuel were to run out. All will be revealed soon, hopefully, if I get that far in writing this story.

Edit: thanks to sevenofeleven for pointing out the mistakes of the story.

I changed some things in the story, but it will not affect the plot of the story. It was simple grammatical changes, nothing big.