Extraction Complete (Fiction)

Author's note: One of my earlier works, and it shows. Still, it's nice to go back and compare it to my later stuff to see how far I've come as a writer.

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He woke up gasping for breath. Sweat drenched his bed sheets.

He looked around. Everything was where it should have been; a thick, wooden bookcase to his left, the ceiling fan spinning idly above him, movie posters lining the green-painted walls. He let out a deep breath. It wasn’t real, just a nightmare.

As he moved to get out of his bed, he finally noticed the weight on his lap. He looked down and saw a small, boxy device with a keyboard and screen; its only distinguishable features. His eyes widened as the events of his dream came back more vividly than any dream he'd experienced before..

A thousand voices rang out, devoid of emotion. “You are a Director. The entire world has auditioned for your play. Now you must choose who makes the cast.”

A timid voice echoed his own. “What play?”

“There is a War amongst the stars, that all must partake in. It does not matter to you who wins or loses. Only that you fight. You shall choose who shall join the Grand Theatre, the Final Destination, where glory and damnation are eternal.”

A pause. “Why me?” cried his own voice, like a child whining to an adult.

There was no reply, only a flash of white.

The dream ended. He looked down at the device, which reminded him of a PDA. Was that how he chose?

No! he thought, that never happened! It was just a dream!

But still there was a flicker of doubt in his mind. He picked it up and tapped one of the keys. The screen flickered on, and a single word came up.

NAME:

He stared at the screen for a while. After five minutes it turned blank. He pressed the key again.

NAME:

Curiosity overwhelming, he shrugged. He typed in the name of a celebrity, a washed-up actress who had wasted her life on drugs and parties and was now going to jail for the fifth time. After he finished the name, another word appeared.

ENTER?

He typed Y. The screen went blank for a moment, and then a message appeared.

EXTRACTION COMPLETE

He shrugged and set aside the PDA for now. He needed to get ready for school.

At school, his first class was in the computer lab, so he decided to check the news to see if anything had happened to the actress. As it turned out, something had. She had disappeared in the car that was escorting her, and the media was having a field day with it. Questions were asked, people were confused, and reporters were jumping on the bandwagon as quickly as they could. Where did she go?

He just stared at the computer with wide eyes. He hit Refresh. Still gone. Refresh. Still gone. Refresh. Still gone.

“You are a Director. The entire world has auditioned for your play. Now you must choose who makes the cast.”

He asked if he could go to the bathroom. He threw up in the stall for a while. Even after he stopped, he couldn’t get the sick, twisting feeling in his stomach out. He washed his face at the faucet and looked at his reflection.

He realized he was smiling.

That night, he stayed up all night thinking. He was digging through his yearbook, writing down names, categorizing them. When he was done, he had almost a hundred names, divided into two lists. 

One list consisted of people he knew would make good soldiers, or were already well on their way to becoming them. Strong, determined, and intelligent. Good people.

The other list consisted of people that he disliked, and he thought his life would be better without them. Bullies, boyfriends of ex’s, girls who had rejected him, egotistical self-absorbed assholes, anyone he considered a blight on his life.

For hours he stared at the lists, just thinking. Eventually, he decided to pick one from the first list. He was going to try to be the bigger man. And if it really was a war, he needed to send those he knew would be prepared.

He typed in the name of a man, an acquaintance that he felt he wouldn’t really miss.

ENTER?

Y

EXTRACTION COMPLETE

The next day, the news came out that the man had disappeared in front of his mother late last night. He only felt a little bad at the sight of the weeping mother. After a week though, the event had been mostly forgotten by those unaffected by it and life went on as usual.

At least, until he ran into one of the people on the second list. As they passed in the hallway, he saw those dark beady eyes, the cocky, ever-present smirk, and the swagger that was so sure that it was almost comedic. A rush of emotions hit him, all negative.

That night, he held the PDA, the name typed on the screen.

ENTER?

It would be a favor to everyone at the school. He was one of the most self-centered assholes ever to walk its halls. No one would really miss him.

Y

EXTRACTION COMPLETE

He ignored the newspapers for a while after that. After a few more days, he was ready to ask out a girl he’d liked for a long time. He was just about to when he found she had begun dating someone else. Before he knew it he was typing the name on the PDA. Hatred and jealously clouded his heart, and he couldn’t think straight.

ENTER?

He didn’t hesitate.

EXTRACTION COMPLETE

As he comforted her, he did his best to hide the horrible feeling deep in the pit of his stomach. Her boyfriend didn’t deserve her; he had tried to rationalize in his head. Only he truly deserved her. No matter what he thought though, it never worked.

As the months went by, more and more people began to disappear. People began moving away, and the town was avoided more and more. His family had wanted to move, but ultimately decided to stay. This was their home, and they wouldn’t be bullied by some mysterious kidnapper.

Never once did he think about where exactly he was sending them. He went through life with happiness only insanity could bring. He felt like a God, deigning who had the right to stay on Earth and who didn’t. Life was perfect for him. At least, until the unthinkable occurred.

A meteor, heading straight for Earth. It was too massive to destroy, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

His heart nearly stopped when he heard the news. The world as he knew was about to end. As those around him cried and comforted each other in their last moments, he ran to his room and slammed the door shut. He took the PDA from its hiding place and opened the screen.

He knew what he had to do. After all, a likely death was better than an inevitable death. At least in war you had a chance of survival.

He typed his family in first. Then his extended family, first his mother’s side, then his father’s. Next was his girlfriend. He was devoid of emotion as he typed in each name. He had no time for such things; if he was going to save everyone on the planet, he needed to show no hesitation. His friends were next, and then he looked through the yearbooks and typed in every name that he hadn’t already sent away. Teachers, janitors, students, all were typed in.

Next he looked at every book in the house, typing the names of every author, even if they were just pen names.

After a day of typing these names in, he hit the Internet.

He had a week until the meteor was scheduled to hit. He never slept, ate, or drank the entire time. His face was glued to the screens, all of his attentions focused solely on the names at the cost of his personal health.

He had to save them all. He had to atone.

On the seventh day, just hours before the meteor was about to hit, he collapsed to the ground. By sheer force of will he crawled to the sink and drank from the warm water. After finding the strength to stand, he made his way to the pantry and ate some crackers.

Outside, the sky was turning red.

He walked outside. No one was there. They were all gone, off to fight a war they knew nothing about. It was getting really hot out.

He could see a blazing orb, brighter than the sun, screaming through the atmosphere. Any minute now.

With an odd calmness he looked at the PDA. The device gave him the delusion of godhood, and all of the gifts that had implied. The curses, too.

Did he deserve to live? He manipulated, lied, destroyed, and ruined. He had gone mad with power.

But he had just saved millions of lives. Was it millions? He lost track the second day. Still didn’t feel like enough.

NAME:

He looked up at the sky. It was falling down. He looked back at the PDA. He needed to know if anyone was still alive. If he had really sent them to a horrific death at the hands of cosmic beings.

He typed his own name in.

ENTER?

So be it.

Y

EXTRACTION COMPLETE

Suddenly the red world was gone, replaced by the inky void. He felt his insides ripped and torn out, and he screamed in agony as every bone in his body was broken and repaired a thousand times within seconds.

And as soon as it began, it was over.

He was in a seat. He could make no detail of what was around him only that it was small and metal. It was trembling violently and he shook in his seat. A cargo bay door opened ahead of him, and he gasped at the sight that lay before him.

Stars. Billions of them, stretching on for eternity. In the distance he could make out vast, monolithic shapes in the distance, emerald fire flashing between them like a fireworks display. He heard the sound of metal groaning, and suddenly was falling.

He screamed as gravity took its hold on him, falling so quickly that the stars blurred around him. He hit something hard and he cried out in pain as he collided with something made of wood. For a moment he laid there, breathing slowly as he recovered. Eventually he found the courage to look up, and he didn’t like what he saw one bit.

The closest a human being could come to describing it would be the spawn of an unholy union between a beetle, a dragon, and a motorcycle. Carrying itself on six thin legs, its bulbous body was lined with metal pipes that spewed fire and scales that gleamed in the moonlight. Its head was reptilian, but the mouth was a series of twitching mandibles that drooled a viscous green liquid. Two pairs of wings hung along the back, one pair as leathery as a bat’s, and the other like a membranous insect’s. It had a tail like a scorpion’s, but in place of a stinger was a six-barreled launcher of some sort that was smoking from the tip.

The beast roared, a sound not unlike the odd mix of a cricket, a dinosaur, and an airline jet, and he very nearly lost his bowel movements. He probably would have, if he had anything to release in the first place.

So he was going to die. So be it.

A blast of red suddenly tore at the beast’s face, and it recoiled in pain. More blasts shot out, and the beast cried out and retreated into the distance. Figures made their way towards him, speaking in hush tones. He looked to his saviors, and he suddenly wanted the beast to come back and finish the job.

It was the boyfriend. When he saw the look of genuine concern on the man’s face, he wept.

This was truly hell.