You're going to Earth

In time, we will all return to the Earth. We float out here on this new-found home. We used to call this place Mars, but the name was changed when more people began to live here. It is now called Alexandria, after the place on Earth. Many scouts have been sent to Earth to report on its status. The Dark Illness made the planet uninhabitable for humans. My family will not allow me to be a scout but it's all I want to do. I train and study every day in hopes that they'll realize how safe it really is. They believe the rumors about the missing team. My instructor assures us that they simply got lost out there, not eaten or slain. The plant life on Earth has taken the planet back as its own, and landmarks are difficult to recognize, according to him. Today we are running emergency drills in the Earth-simulator arena. I wait impatiently for my turn. We don't get to watch the other students practice, so my remaining classmates and I stufdy procedures together in the waiting room. My name is called after half of the class is gone, and I follow the hallway into the large room. Trees and grass flood my vision, and rain pours from above. Lightning strikes in the distance, and I walk further into the trees. I wonder what the other students went through in their tests. I find a lake in a clearing. A cave is directly across it from wehre I stand. I run around the lake with the rain stabbing my fave, and duck into the cave. I hug my knees and wait for the storm to end. The front of the cave is muddy from the wind blowing the rain inside it. Rocks begin to tumble from above the opening of the cave. The rocks get larger as they continue to fall. I watch them for a few more seconds before exiting the cave. The rain is louder outside, and the forest is seemingly endless. Going into unknown territory is probably the worst thing I could do, but what other option do I have? The cave is collapsing, and there is no other shelter around. I begin walking back into the trees. The sound of rain echoes throughout the forest as I walk. I pass the clearing with the cave and lake three times before I sit down on the ground and stare at it.

"Good job!" a voice says over the intercom. "You pass. Congratulations, you're going to Earth!"

The rain stops and the scenery fades into a large, dark room. I smile and wave at my instructor through a large window high up. The exit sign's light comes on as he waves back, and I obey the sign's demand for goodbye. After days of arguing with my family, I ask my training instructor to come talk to them. He agrees and we set a day for him to come over. My parents grill him until he is well done about the safety of a trip to Earth. [note: pun cheesy yet intended] They still aren't convinced by the time he leaves, so I find someone who was on Earth last week: my brother. They haven't spoken to him since he told them that he wanted to be a scout. It's from him that I get an idea. If I live with him, he can sign for me to go to Earth. I present this to him with newfound hope, and he agrees that it would be the easiest way. I pack several weeks of clothes, some of my other belongings, and my school supplies, and announce  that I'm moving out as I go therough the door. My brother sings my waiver to be a scout, and I return it and my other paperword to my instructor. Three days later, he tells me that I passed and that I'm going to Earth. My mother yells down the corridor behind me that I can't leave. I open my eyes and stare into the water of the lake. My teammates try to find food or a way of signaling a ship. We bury the dead. We watch the dying. In time, we will all return to the Earth. Our ship crashes down and lights flash around us. Alarms deafen me to the sound of rain as I walk toward the lake. My teammates scream and try to radio in our location as we fall. I step into the water and mud swirls around me. I walk further into it until the water reaches my chin. I watch the rain splash against the surface of the water. I watch leaves blow in the wind. I wait for the dying to become the dead so they can be buried, so they can return to the earth.