• “Who’s there?” I asked.
    “Molo” a voice answered. I opened the door, and let Molo in. There was more news about the war. Molo came in, and spoke into my mind.
    “Hello Mikael” he said in my mind. Molo was a Rilian an extremely high tech race from the planet Rilia. He had 4 legs and more eyes then you could count. He reminded me of an octopus. He slithered around for a couple of seconds. Pacing.
    “Hello Molo” I answered back.
    “There is grave news from the war, your uncle, Ryan…”
    “What about Uncle Ryan”?
    “He, I am afraid has…”
    “What? What? What’s happened to him Molo?” I held my breath
    “He has fallen, in combat”. Molo said. I was crushed. Uncle Ryan the man who had always supported me, the man who raised me as a child, the man who had left to fight an impossible war. I started breathing hard.
    “How… did… it … happen.” I said painfully as my throat tightened up, making my breathing harder and harder by the second.
    “He sacrificed himself for the good of the world, the way any honorable person would’ve chosen to die. That comes to the other part of my business here. Mikael, the war, is over…” He faltered. A sudden thunk could be heard, Molo fell to the ground.
    “Molo? No sound. Molo? No answer Molo? “I approached his body, a dart stuck in the back of his neck, there was a note attached to it. It contained 5 words: THE WAR HAS JUST BEGUN!” I crumpled the note in my hand.
    My name is Mikael Warner. I am 14 years old. We live in a terrible time, people have been dropping dead lately. We may call the crisis we are in a war, since we are fighting the people who created the disease, but instead is an onslaught. Some people are going out to try to find the cause. People like my uncle. Earth has been turned into a wasteland; nothing exists now except for New York City and Paris. The rest of the planet has been turned into a desolate desert, with nothing but sand for miles around. No one knows what the disease does; we just know we never see the people who have been infected ever again. There are noble people, and there are terrible people. We’ve been in this state for over a year now. The people are starting to get even more worried. We lost our hope a year ago. The world has been taken over.
    10 years ago:
    “Daddy?” A 10 year old Molly Saunders asked. Her mother was in tears as they stood by his bed in the hospital. “Daddy?” Molly called out again. Her father was lying on the bed, not making a noise as he entered the operating room. The doctors went hard to work. “Daddy?!” Molly screamed. Her mother had to quiet her.
    “Your dad can’t hear you Molly.” Her mother said quietly. Molly Saunders life was crushed. Her father, who was run over brutally, was not doing well. After a couple of minutes of hard work, Mr. Saunders’ body went limp. The doctor threw down his glove. He walked out of the operating room, and whispered a few words into Mrs. Saunders’ ear, and walked away. Molly’s mother started sobbing hysterically.
    “Is Dad going to be all right Mom? Why are you crying?” Molly asked. Her mother was trying to hold back the tears, which were coming down rapidly on her face. She didn’t reply
    “Is…Is…Dad—“She stopped herself. Her mother sobbed.
    “Dad’s...” She finally figured out. Molly Saunders father was dead. Molly and her mom walked into the parking lot sobbing. They solemnly got into the car and drove off without a word to be said.
    10 years later
    Molly Saunders was a nurse. She was determined to save whoever she could. After the incident—she bit her lip. She wouldn’t talk about that. She entered the North Chester Hospital.
    “Molly!” yelled one of her co-workers.
    “Yes?”
    “A man checked in yesterday, a Ryan Warner.”
    “Yeah, I treated him yesterday, assisted Dr. Graystone.”
    “Well do you know what happened to him?”
    “No… I let Dr. Graystone discharge him from the hospital.”
    “Dr. Graystone isn’t here today, he called in sick. But according to our records… Ryan Warner, never left the hospital.”
    “I’ll contact Dr. Graystone, maybe he’ll know”. She picked up the phone and entered a number, no reply. She cursed under her breath.
    “Hey Molly” another co-worker called out.
    “Yeah?”
    “Another day of saving lives eh?”
    “Yeah.” She replied. Thoughts flashed in her mind. She could’ve used the skills she had now earlier twice, she remembers. “No” she tells herself, not ready to think about it.
    “Molly!” a doctor called out.
    “Yes?”
    “Surgery, now!” someone yelled. She quickly entered the E.R, and started assisting the surgeon. She watched as he cut open the patient with a scalpel. A scalpel… what a dangerous tool, so similar to the knife… that night, she thought.
    MIKAEL:
    I carried the note in my hand, as I strolled down my street towards the hospital. I went in anxiously and asked about Uncle Ryan. None of the hospitals in the city had any records. I had to find out. Afterwards, I headed towards the Emergency Outbreak Wing of the Hospital. It was restricted.
    “Hey”! I heard a few people yell, as I entered the elevator of near the E.O.W (the Emergency Outbreak Wing). I inserted a key into the elevator door and took it as far down as I could. I nearly cried, as I waited, imagining the face of Uncle Ryan, knowing that I would never see him again. I stepped out of the elevator a few moments later. I was standing in the secret base of the Resistance, the organization of rebellion against the leaders.
    As soon as stepped out, an alarm went off, INTRUDER ALERT INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT. I ignored the alarm and kept walking forward. When walking I suddenly fell into a pit, a trap tile in the floor. I looked up and guns were pointed at me.
    “Who are you” a man asked
    “How did you know where we are.” another man said. I freaked out. The next thing I knew I was stuck inside of a prison cell, no windows, no bed, nothing, not even a door. “Don’t hyperventilate” I said to myself. The prison was a gray plain room, the walls made of strengthened titanium alloy I was left in that prison for an entire day until someone, somehow got in. The man was carrying a polygraph. The man looked about 50 years old, his hair starting to go white.
    “We’re finally ready to question you.” He said. I cooperated.
    “Who are you”? The man asked. He was definitely British.
    “Mikael Warner”. I was hooked up to a polygraph, and he was carefully looking at the readings.
    “Who sent you”?
    “No one”. He glanced at the polygraph again.
    “Where did you get this key?” He held up the elevator key.
    “My uncle Ryan Warner, I think he worked for this division of the Resistance”. The man across from me spoke to his arm.
    “Search Agent Ryan Warner in the databases please, Agent Ryan Warner…What? No… Just do it! … What... fine. He evidently hung up, since he was no longer talking to his arm. We waited in silence for a couple of minutes, until a slight ring was heard. He spoke once again in his arm.
    “… died?... in charge of the purge mission?... oh.”
    “Son, I’m sorry that we had to capture you. I don’t know how to break this to you but, your uncle is d-“
    “Dead.” I finished his sentence. I gulped
    “Sir, Molo, is dead”. I said.
    “Molo? The Rilian? What?”
    “Molo was at my house, telling me that my uncle died doing some kind of important mission. He said the war was over. But after that he was shot in the back of the neck, with a poison dart. Attached was this.” I said handing over the note. The man read the note, with a worried look on his face. He talked into his arm again: “Come in here Johnson, get some tests on this note”.
    “Well? Do I get answers? Or will I have to wait?” I said in an insolent tone.
    “Be patient, Mikael. My name is Mr. Lisinger. If you need anything just ask for me. You will be living the private rooms of the Halawav Building.”
    “Wait, what?”
    “You will stay here, until we have the chance to discharge you. Since you want answers, you will have them tomorrow at the conference which should be in the building across from you, around 10:00. Now if you don’t mind, I need to be going, I have more important things to do.” He left the cell, and the entire thing disappeared. It was a hologram and a pretty good one to. I found myself in a busy office building, where lots of people in suits were walking around, looking agitated.
    “Excuse me”. I tried to say. No one was paying attention. “Excuse me” I said a little louder. A man of about 40 turned to me.
    “Yes?”
    “Could you guide me to the Halawav Building?
    “What? What Halawav Building?”
    “A Mr. Lisinger told me to stay there.”
    “Lisinger? I don’t know who he is?” I thanked the man. Well that was no help, I said to myself. I tried asking more people, but they all had the same answer. I finally gave up and went out of the building. The E.O.W branch of the Resistance was an underground town. It had everything that a normal town would have; only it contained a gigantic building, the Resistance HQ. I had to wander around for 3 hours, until I found the Halawav Building. No wonder no one in the HQ knew about this building, it was hidden in the corner of the town. It was just a tiny motel.
    “Um, a Mr. Lisinger, said that he would arrange me to stay in some private rooms here?”
    “Mr. Lisinger? Oh, here’s the keys to the private rooms the top floor. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay”. The receptionist said obviously very bored. I unlocked the door to my room. It was small with a nice TV a single bed, and a nice bathroom. I lay on the bed, and thought about the day. My uncle, the one that raised me was dead, my parents, were dead, I didn’t have anyone left. My uncle in some super-important mission, my parents right after I was born. I didn’t know them. I sighed and tried to watch some TV, to pass the time, I fell asleep. The next day when I woke up, I was anxious to get across the street. I got out of bed, dressed, and took a quick shower. It was 10:00. Then I ran across the street to the building. It was a gray bleak building, with no windows, and I walked inside. The instance I walked inside, I knew something was wrong. There was no one inside of the building, I checked all the rooms, including the one labeled conference room but no one was there. I was alone. Disappointed, I started to head towards the door, but I turned around because I heard a mechanical sound around. It was the wrong choice. The building was half destroyed by a gigantic wrecking ball.
    Molly:
    Molly was deep inside dream world. She was approaching a man… who was it? It was him, she didn’t know his name, his identity, just a mission. She… had to kill him. She approached the man, and slowly pulled out a knife, 10 inches of bright steel in her hand. She creeped forward, afraid of making a sound. She put the knife around the man’s neck and slowly pulled. He fell to the ground, it was her father. “What?” she screamed. A man stood in the corner. “Ah, haha you have passed your test”. She sat sobbing on the floor for who knows how long.
    Mikael:
    The next thing I remembered was debris falling on my head, being in pain, and seeing a creepy mask (at least I thought so) staring at me. It had blood running down its face and had four eyes, it was pale white, and looked like a human the rest, besides the 2 tails sticking out of its back. I regained consciousness again and woke up. I found myself in a small cell… again. But instead of being stuck in the cell again, I could go through the walls; I went through, big mistake. I found myself surrounded by the creepy mask people, in the middle of the desert, I ran back into the cell. I thought they would come in and kill, me but no one did. All I heard were some yells and sounds. I spent a few more minutes in the cell, but ended up sticking my head out of the cell. The creepy mask people were all lying on the sand, bite marks all over them. What happened? I wondered. Then I noticed a creepy mask man running in the distance. The creepy mask people, were cannibals? That’s when I heard a giant explosion sound. I covered my ears. I found that the dead creepy mask people had blown up and turned into sand.
    “W-W-What?” I said worriedly. Then I realized it, I knew what had formed the desert. I had to get the info back to the Resistance, but first, I had to get out of this desert. The disease that infected the people, I knew how it worked. The disease infects them somehow, they turn pale, creepily pale, then they find others while they still have their wits, they live together until their minds become insane, the bite each other to death to create more sand. But why sand, and how did it infect people? Those were things I still had to figure out.
    I was walking for over 3 days, I couldn’t walk anymore; I fell down into the sand, struggled to get up. I got up and spat out the sand in my mouth. A sharp pain hit my back, I hunched over, screaming in pain, I fell unconscious… again. I woke up in the same place I fainted (thank goodness). But I felt different, like I wasn’t in my body. When I tried to speak, all there was was a faint clicking sound. But somehow I felt re-energized. I felt I could run as far as I could today. I ran for more than I ever thought I could run, it must have been over 10 miles, in less than 2 hours. I finally reached a familiar city, New York. I approached the gate, where 2 heavily armed guards were waiting, one with his family. The guard’s wife screamed, and covered her children’s eyes. The guards raised their weapons, and fired. I fell unconscious, again.
    When I woke up, I started to wonder how many times I would be knocked out and sent to prison. Sure enough when I opened my eyes, prison, was where I was. I sighed, or tried to sigh, the clicking sound came again. I was so confused. What was wrong, why couldn’t I get in the city? What was wrong with my voice? I went over to the sink and started to wash my face, until I looked at the mirror. I screamed. I was one of the creepy mask 2 tail people.
    “AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” I screamed in my mind. But it just came out “click, click, click, click, click!” Nothing was right, and nothing would ever be right again. A whoosh sound came as the door opened. A person that I thought I would never see again came in with a smug smile on his lips; his familiar face looking like it enjoyed my desperate position. It was Uncle Ryan. “Uncle Ryan?” I said not believing my eyes. Of course the words didn’t sound though, the familiar clicking replaced it.
    “Oh yes, it’s me all right, Mikael. I didn’t want you to know.” Somehow he could understand me.
    “But you work for the good guys.” I clicked.
    “Ha, I never did, fool”, A maniacs rant.
    “But-but- the stories, an-an-and you raised me.”
    “Oh, the Uncle Ryan part of me did, but not my other part”.
    “Your other part?” I wondered.
    “Oh, you don’t know? Well meet my other half… Mr. Lisinger. “He suddenly became another person. His features transformed, and his voice, even his clothes. “Well hello Mikael. My name is Teagon Lisinger. I know I didn’t finish you off the first time, well this way is… better. Your time has almost come; your thoughts in just a couple of days will be clouded, with different things, for example uh, cannibalism.”
    “You? Disease?”
    “Ah, yes, me the creator of the destructive, and wonderful disease. You know, I created it in a day, finished right before tea time. It was ingenious hiding the spores inside of the leftover sand.”
    “You caused all of this?”
    “Mmm, yes, I did. I will now leave you to your little; he struggled with the right words, transformation.
    “Wait!” I exclaimed
    “Yes?”
    “What was Purge?”
    “Purge, now where did you hear that?”
    “From you, you mentioned it during our first meeting.” I clicked.
    “Ah, I gave away too much. Mm, might as well tell you, it’s not as you’re going to see many more days. He paused for a little. Purge, was the mission that the Resistance had, to (as the title suggests) purge the disease from the world. Many scientists had already figured it out. The found a certain counter to the disease. They tried it, on the desert, and it worked too well. I was forced to destroy the cure, as it was interfering with my plans. The Purge was a failure; I made a cover story to restore false hope to the Resistance, My other half falling valiantly at the scene of the Purge, saving the day. But of course, you had to get in the picture, not dying when you were supposed too! It ruined my timeframe”.
    “But, why?”
    “Because, I believe that the world was meant to be destroyed, and then recreated in a different fashion. An alternate way of living, and I believe I am the messenger to the world, of this new plan. My followers agree.” I breathed hard. I couldn’t believe it.
    “Who shot Molo?”
    “Mm, that I don’t know, I believe it was probably one of my followers. It was oddly convenient though. I’ve bored you enough. I’ll leave you to your peace and quiet. Goodbye”. At that moment, I believed I was going to die. What happened in my mind next was a little hazy, as I got knocked out again afterwards. It went something like this, an explosion, a man or woman dressed in black dragging me out of the cell, something else blew up, and I was knocked out.
    I woke up, in a hospital, the one down my street. My thoughts were starting to change rapidly. “Meat… Meat” My mind was telling me. Resist I tried to tell myself. A woman in a lab coat walked into the room.
    “We took some DNA samples from you. What happened to you?” I tried to tell her about the disease, but once again the clicking sound.
    “MEAT…MEAT!” My mind told me. My will was starting to falter.
    “Run.” I clicked to the lady. She didn’t understand me.
    “RUN!” I tried again. Then my thoughts took my body over. I ran over on all fours like a wolf. I used my powerful two tails to sweep the woman down, and took a bite. She screamed in pain. Then her back hunched over, she screamed again, and she fell unconscious. As I tried to find a way out of the cell, I didn’t notice what was happening to the woman. When I felt like I couldn’t find a way out. I sat in the corner and checked on the woman. She was still lying there, but she looked deformed. I turned her over and looked at her face. I gasped. She was starting to turn pale; another eye on her face was appearing. I felt sick. It took another couple hours until her transformation was complete. Now I was a crazy werewolf.
    Maybe we could communicate now that we were the same, I thought. “Who are you?” I clicked
    “Molly Saunders”.
    “Do you feel increased in strength?”
    “Yes.”
    “Try to break the bars”. She ran to the iron door and rammed it, it broke off.
    “Okay, let’s go”. We started running; we were inside a sort of containment center, where many Creeps (as I had decided to call them) were held. They clicked at us as we ran by.
    “Where are we?” I asked Molly.
    “We’re in the disease containment center. We were trying to recreate, the purge injection. ”
    “Where?”
    “Down the hall to the left, we have to go down the stairs to the basement.” We started running down the hall, but when we reached the stairs, there were armed guards.
    “Escaped!” One yelled. They pointed their guns at us. We were stopped, near our salvation. I started to get angry. I ran over super fast and punched one in the face. I grabbed the gun and pointed it at the other guard. But before he could shoot, Molly knocked him into the wall.
    “My plan would’ve been better” She said.
    “Yeah, and what was that?” I clicked.
    “To show them my pass”. She held up her pass, her face, and name was clearly stated.
    “Oh, well too late for that”. I replied. We ran down the stairs into the basement. It was full of syringes in different containers, strewn all over the place. My meat thoughts came back.
    “Hurry!” I clicked. I was about to bite Molly another time.
    “We never got it right!” she screamed. I had to force my teeth together.
    “Try, them all”. I clicked hurriedly
    “But you might die of an overdose!”
    “It… doesn’t… matter!” I clicked loudly. She grabbed some tape and taped my mouth.
    “This should help”. She took 3 syringes from a nearby box and injected me, more pain. I started shaking violently. She tried a different box, no effect. She hurriedly grabbed more boxes of syringes and started injecting me with them. Nothing worked. She grabbed the last box and injected all 3 at the same time. At this point I was in so much pain I couldn’t move.
    “…Don’t…touch… the sand!” I screamed. These were my final words. I died, just as she had found the cure. My body turned back to normal and I wouldn’t exist any longer.
    1 week later
    Molly Saunders stood at the funeral; she was back to normal and sobbing, “It was my fault”. Mikael’s friends were standing solemnly by the coffin, as it was lowered into the ground. Molly spoke: “Even though I only knew Mikael for an hour, I believe he was a brave hearted individual. He gave his life to find the cure. He was the bravest I have ever met. May he rest in peace. The covered Mikael in dirt, and left. They had more important things to do. The Purge was back.
    Molly walked with some of Mikael’s friends, asking them about him. What kind of person he was and how they knew him. From what she heard Mikael was just an ordinary 16 year old kid. She would avenge him, well. She got in her car, and turned the key. A voice rang out: “Well hello Molly.” She froze.
    “Huh, you thought no one knew about it did you”. A British voice.
    “Lisinger.” She whispered.
    “Yes, it’s me. Oh Molly, why ever did you have to change sides? What was it? Was it the guilt from shooting Molo? Or was it the kid?”
    “How did you know, I changed?” Molly whispered.
    “I have connections everywhere. I know you have the cure; I know that you are planning another Purge mission. All I need, is simply, where is the cure?”
    “How did you get in my car?”
    “Simple, it was unlocked.” Mr. Lisinger held a gun up to Molly’s head. “Keep on subject Molly”.
    “You wouldn’t!” she whispered.
    “Yes, yes I would.” He turned the safety on the gun off.
    “I won’t tell you!” He cocked the gun.
    “Tell me Molly.” She started to breath hard.
    “Fine!” she exclaimed.
    “Yes, give me my information”.
    “It’s in Paris”.
    “What? Paris? Prepost-“. Molly jammed her foot into his chest. He dropped the gun. She then pinched a nerve in his shoulder and tossed him out of the car. She threw an object onto him, on his coat. Time to go she told herself. She drove about 30 miles to the edge of the city. She then entered an underground cave. Some people were already there.
    “Molly? What took so long?”
    “Lisinger.” The name shut the rest of the people up. No one asked. The group included Molly, two guards from the border, a man from Paris, and a woman who lived in Manhattan.
    “We are ready to purge this disease from the land” the man from Paris said. With those words the group started walking out to the desert.
    “This is for Mikael”. Molly said. She turned a nozzle next to the desert. Underground water lines laced with the cure were being pumped out using a hose, the same plan as the first Purge. The sand was disappearing. They turned on more hoses, which had been strategically placed throughout the desert. The sand was going away, or at least the sand near the city. All the volunteers of the cause, celebrated. But it wasn’t over yet, Lisinger was still around. It was up to Molly to find him and hunt him down.
    The next day she woke up, and got ready. Today would be a big day, she told herself. The thing she planted on Lisinger was a small tracking device. She checked it, as it blipped slowly.
    “Fallon St.” She said quietly. It was the place where she grew up. She despised it. Fallon Street was the only place in New York that was covered in sand, a horrible place that people tended to avoid, if they were walking along the streets. When she was growing up, people used to throw things at her as she went to school. She had bad memories of Fallon Street. She told herself she wouldn’t go back, but now she had too. She jumped in her car and headed off—back to Fallon Street.
    She arrived after a couple minutes, wearing a gas mask. We don’t need another Creep running around she told herself. She walked gingerly through the sand into her old house. It looked the same except that a man was sitting on a chair covered in sand.
    “Hello Molly” a voice called out. The man turned around. It was a person Molly never thought she would see ever again. It was her father.
    “Dad?!” Molly cried out.
    “Molly, I’m so glad to see you”.
    “W-W-We thought you were dead!”
    “I somehow survived. It was a miracle; they have forbidden me from seeing you or Lisa”.
    “Lisa? Who didn’t let you see us? I’ll… I’ll… hunt them down.”
    “I mean your mother, sorry, I am so confused. I have been through so much.”
    “Dad, I can’t believe you’re alive!
    “I can’t believe I’m alive either Molly. As for them, they are the other side; they faked my death, and took away to one of their awful camps, full of Creeps. But enough about what happened to me… What have you been doing when I have been gone?”
    “Dad, I—I’ve helped to find a cure, to the awful disease!” She ran up and embraced him.
    “Oh Molly, I love you.”
    “I love you too dad.” Molly replied. A demented look came onto Jack Saunders’s face, one that should have never been there. If you listened you would have heard a slight noise, ever so slightly, of a knife being pulled out of a scabbard.
    “I love you more.” Teagon Lisinger said. All you could hear was the scream, and then nothing.