by Jahmir Grant-Miller

The sound of the wind and the waves are clashing together. You can barely hear the voices of the people on the deck.

"Sarah, what do you think we'll find out here?'' said John.

"I didn't know this map would lead us here. If they want anything useful, they should give us more funds. Remember, John--we were sent out here cuz we failed to bring evidence that seismic activities were going on down here," Sarah replied.

"Josh said there was something here, so I said there was something here. He is one of the Brilliant Minds we have this year."

Sarah is the lead archeologist on the team. She has brown hair, ocean-blue eyes, and sunburnt from the hours above deck. Sarah feels confident despite how her peers look at her--all the things she speaks about--a missing element in the periodic table, ancient cities lost to the ages--make her seem like a nutcase. She gets plenty of attention from the men on her team that she leads; she doesn't see them in that way.

"Hey Sarah, want to hit the bar tonight? I hear they're doing a couples' karaoke, how about it?''

"Don't you have another girlfriend--oh, wait--was that the one from Wednesday or Monday. I can't keep track of how many girls you think like you. Are you ...''

"--ok, you don't have to--I get the hint. You can calm down."

Everyone likes John: he dates one girl Monday, another girl Wednesday. People don't say no to him very often. His black hair, silver eyes, only average intelligence, he's the team's master undersea geologist. He is always hitting on women in general and Sarah in particular.

No one likes Josh--they do listen, however. His brain is the reason for the operation's progress. He's the one that suggested that they should go and find the seismic activity that he thinks will be a wonderful discovery. He wasn't always popular with the ladies but if he wanted to get something, his brain could get him what he wants very fast. With his golden blonde hair, blue eyes, and the glasses that fix him up, it makes him look like an actual gentleman. John reaches for his walkie-talkie to call Josh and ask about the shaking.

"Josh--what's the problem?" says John.

"Yeah, I felt that. I felt it down here- I think we hit something hard-I think the drill is damaged. We will have to bring it up and go down and check it out. Okay?" John turns off the walkie-talkies.

"Do you hear that Sarah? I think it's time for us to go down. Josh may have found something or broken the drill ."

As John and Sarah put on their diving suits, they exchange an exasperated glance. They open up the elevator to go straight down to the bottom of the ocean, deeper than anybody has gone. As John and Sarah go to the location, they start to notice some strange lights they've never seen before. These lights were unusual; they changed to different types of colors. Before they got to the bottom of the ravine, the elevator started to shake. The wire was thin. Then all of a sudden, they heard the wire snap, and the elevator started to plummet. Everything was dark in the abyss. There was nothing to see except for the light. Sarah starts to stand up to get closer to the light. Before she gets even closer, she realizes John is not with her. She looks around, calling his name. No sound--just darkness. The abyss, where she stands.

Then she hears a voice getting closer and closer.

"It's John!" she shouts.

He walks closer to her.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, thanks"

Before she could finish, he said follow me. I found it. I think I found the drill he saw. Where the part of the drill was in a very unique rock. The rock was glowing. Before they could say anything, The Rock started to lash out, creating these tentacle-like rock formations before anyone could react. The tentacles struck John right in his chest….

[Voice box fizzles, then switches on…]

Jan 3, 2027, 1:41 am

[in a dark hospital room with a broken overhead light, propped up in bed, a young man in a dirty gown presses play on dusty recorder]

Hi, my name is Jahmir, I am 16, and I'm running for my life right now so I will make this quick; it's September 17, 2022, about [breathes heavy] 5 am.

It's the end of the world, and people are dying--but I am getting ahead of myself, so let's.

[recording breaks off suddenly]

The lights flickering makes my eyes hurt--the hum is almost louder than my voice on the recording. It is my voice. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. It's me. But different.

[The sound of static

recording comes back to life]

I'm back. It was a bright and calm morning, everybody. Everyone is relaxing, and out in the nice summer breeze. But all of a sudden, something was going on, No one knew what it was

they just heard it on the news.

People weren't nervous. They knew they heard it all before. They heard it was a head cold. Something not that severe. So people just brushed it off. But what they didn't know was that this head cold was something to be worried about. As the days continued, people just did what they did best. Relaxing

People found out that crazy creatures are just popping up out of nowhere, ripping people apart, killing people. The authorities did not know how to "address the situation." So the U.N. went to the Worldwide Global Catastrophe Unit on the job to find out what this was, to help the world buy time. Other people found out it was a little too late… attacking people, kids running for their lives, people don't know where the creatures are coming from.

All the people know now, it started with a bang!

[recording clicks off on its own]

January 3rd, 1:44 am

JAHMIR: Hi you may not know me, that's okay. Your name is Jahmir? Jahmir I'm sure. Let's go with Jahmir.

[Bathroom; look into the mirror. Wearing a dirty hospital gown]

[In the mirror, looks at the scars on his face, following the lines with his fingers, realizing scars could have been made by a human hand]

[Looks down at his hands, looking at this scar

[Leaves the bathroom]

[Sees black bag, opens: combat boots, black button-up, black jeans, black trench coat, fingerless gloves; holds up small silver rectangular locket on a silver chain]

[puts on all of the clothes in a bag, hesitantly; puts medallion on last]

=

If you do not remember, the flashback is faint so it does not take into perspective the end of the recording he was listening to. Here's the location of the next recording {a Hut in the middle of the town} he walks out of the bathroom Looks at the chair and sees a pair of clothes puts them on, grabs the recorder and walks out the front door.

As Jahmir pushed open the door to the alley on the west side of the hospital building, a bright light flashed in his eyes. Letting his eyes adjust, he smells a smell that he can't understand. He takes one step outside the door--his eyes focus on bodies lying on the ground: heaps covered by white sheets, bodies burnt in cars, crashed cars flipped over, buildings burning. Staggering, he keeps moving forward, looking around frantically for these creatures he told himself about: he does not know what is going on. He hesitates with every step away from the hospital, saying "Should I be afraid? Should I be curious?" He stops at a pile of bodies, removes the cover to see a decomposing person. He stares at the body, for a minute, hour, not moving, not crying, not turning away--wondering at his lack of reaction to the mound of guts and rotten skin: "What is this--no tears? Who is this person not showing any signs of sadness or remorse for the deceased?" He realizes he can't recall feeling any emotions at all since he woke up--other than something he guesses might be fear, the feeling that causes his feet to hesitate. He's all over the place, looking around, seeing the scorching sun, feeling the heat as it goes across his face, listening for the creatures he heard about in the recording. He walks along the gravel road here in the crush under his feet. The air still smells, smells that he can't explain that get worse as he walks further along the road.

The slope up from the pit of the parking garage hid the destruction from his view, but the stale parking structure stink gave way to the griminess of the air. It is hard to miss--the smell of old flesh, oil, and metal.

As Jahmir walks through a clear path towards the street and starts making his way towards buildings, still curious, looking around to see the house is on fire, smoke in the air a random smell that lingers. It's a block. It's empty. He sees a small house. It was a hot and wrinkly Hut the kid walked into, remembering the recording said, to find where I left the second recording, you have to find the sign of the kid walking in not knowing where to look to go outside. Then he saw a sign and under it a very interesting box and he found the recording. He picked it up and played the recording and said "Hey Jamir, if you're hearing this you must have made it to the second recording. Good. I'm only here to tell you where the third recording is located. Listen closely and listen here - the third recording is at a mall. You're already in the location of the mall. now find the mall. the third one is a very tall room. I may be speaking in rhymes right now but hey let's see if you get the hint". Jahmir starts to look around, he starts to focus and goes back to the things inside the hut. As he does, the recording starts to fade but not completely you can still hear most of it. He doesn't know why but a sniper rifle and a compound bow just caught his eye. He stares at it and starts thinking those look familiar. He just focuses on it. All of a sudden he has a flashback, remembering certain skills of tracking, hunting, and hiding in plain sight from creatures that he's never seen before, creatures he's not sure are even human. He is displeased about what he just saw. He starts to feel a tingling pain going up his spine and through his hands, around his entire body, the sensation of the rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins. After he stands up, he picks up the sniper and the bow and arrows. Here's the last recording: go to the mall, go to the mall. I lay in a tower. The recording stopped and the kid paused, taking one last glance around. Before he knew it he was already back outside. He started walking into a block, rows and rows of houses going straight down. At the edge of that block was a large building. He wasn't sure if that was the mall or not. Jahmir started walking down there. Before he could make it though, he saw a grayish man just standing there. He was surprised that anyone was there in the rundown street. Jahmir starts walking towards him shouting Hey sir can you help me? I don't know where I am. Sir, are you okay can you hear me? Sir? The grayish man is coming closer and closer. The man turned around. Jahmir saw it turn around and he looked at the face of the man scratched up and falling apart. There was no feeling to be afraid or worried. They were staring at each other. Jahmir "Sir are you alright sir I'm lost can you help me" he repeats. Sir sir, are you okay? Jahmir and the man got closer to each other. Before Jahmir could react he heard a loud shot and then saw the man fall to the ground. Jahmir still didn't know what to feel. Are you alright sir? I'm freaking out. four kids approached the boy and said get away from it are you stupid or something do you even know what's going on here kid? He replied no I'm lost can you help me I don't know what I'm doing here I don't know what's going on. the kids look at him shocked to see another kid out here all by himself. As soon as he looked up at the kids, they freak out, they saw his face, it had one scar right across it and a five-finger mark and they weren't sure what to do. {the Screen goes blank….. to be continued}