Law Of Last Day

Chapter 2: Project Cube

A rectangular blue light brought the panicked screams to silence.

There was nothing else it could come from but the beam projector. It flickered into a softer hue of blue and put enough brightness for Alexey to see the room.

Knocked-out chairs were on the floor with a few abandoned belongings, including her backpack. After collecting her bag, she went to the very corner of the room, where fewer gathered.

Everyone started to check their mobile phones.

“What’s happening?” Rosie, an old classmate with the greenest of hair, asked as she put her phone to her ear.

Alexey shook her head. But she could not be oblivious this was nothing. She took her phone and called her mother's number.

"The number you have dialed is not in service. Please try—" she ended the call and stared at the screen. The signal bar was empty. She tapped the messaging app and typed in a message.

Mom if you get this call me asap

We're at school they locked us up but we're safe

I hope u r safe. I love u

She bit her lip and opened another chatroom.

Pete are you still at ur school?

Idk what is happening

Pls get to Mom

She typed another message.

Emmi, where r u?

Call me asap

Each of her messages failed to deliver. She sighed. As she tried to resend them, a text from an unregistered number popped up on her screen.

Do not trust anyone

“No reception," Alexey almost jumped when Rosie spoke beside her. "Everyone else, too,” she used her phone to point around before she started to type and press on her screen. “How about you?” she asked, not looking up.

Alexey quit the messaging app and slid her phone into her pocket. “Me, too,” she sighed. Some of her classmates stood at the tables to get a reception.

Was it Pete? Or Emmi? No way. They would have sent the text with their number. How did the person even manage to send her a message if there was hardly a reception?

Kurt was walking to the window in the midst of it all. He tried to peel the steel plate from the window. Some came to his help.

“That won’t work,” everyone turned to one of those who still sat—one of the transferees Mrs. Fern had entered. He was wearing round glasses, with hair neatly combed to the back. There was a patch on his sleeve; the flag of Spain. He was leaning on his seat with arms crossed. “You didn’t see? That’s thick. Good luck with that.”

Alexey noticed other transferees having flag patches on their clothes—Thailand, Belgium, Brazil, South Korea, Canada, and others she could not recognize. Kurt, along with other transferees, did not have any. Only transferees from other countries had it.

“What idea do you suggest?” One of them asked.

“We all calm down and save our energy as we wait.”

She started to pick at her finger. I need to get to Emmi. But being stuck in the room with no other way out would take a delay, and she could not take much.

They looked in the direction of the door and found Francine and her friends pounding the steel plate. “Let me out of here!” She continued to dial on her phone. "Just wait and see when my Dad knows about this!"

A long beep stopped everyone. The square light turned blue, then started as a rolling film, followed by a generic robotic voice. “Students of the world, greetings. We apologize for the shock caused,” random photographs of places of the world started to appear—landmarks, buildings, fields.

“Get us out of here!” Francine yelled.

“I, Dave, will be the one to guide you from now on. This is Project Cube,”

An animated logo of a cube appeared.

Alexey had seen it on the news. The announcement videos from many schools used the same logo as their background. If this was happening in their school, so as the rest of the world.

“For two years, we meticulously planned Project Cube in preparation for the incoming event of today,” another video played a scenery of sky and land. Alexey could see small white dots distanced from one another. The domes. There were at least ten on the screen.

“This is a live feed. Any moment, artifacts from space called the cube will hit the face of the Earth. These cubes could create realistic projections. Disarming it is urgent and crucial. The dome will provide any necessities throughout the project. Students, good luck. The world depends on you.”

The last sentence echoed in her head. All she could see in the room were people around her age, meant to graduate tomorrow, pursue college, and other challenges of adulthood. Like her, they dream, too.

But now, they were locked up, only to be put to the role of saving the world. It was always like that.

Older adults love to pass the younger the weight they should not carry. And then it would become a lonely pressuring fight of the young to fix the mess the older had created.

“Why does it have to be us?” Garry, the class representative, asked.

“To get rid of us. Pawns to sacrifice,” Danielle answered.

"Why would they even do that?" The Canadian transferee interrupted.

Ivan, a blond buff, laughed. “You guys believe this bullshit? It's just a trick of the school.”

Alexey hoped it was. But would the school go beyond the extent of moving to a new place for a mere, childish prank? And it was not just their school; their school was just amongst the hundreds of thousands that announced their moving.

"Sure, Ivan. Believe that this is just a sick trick." Francine rolled her eyes and continued to attempt a call.

“Hey,” Kurt nudged Alexey's arm. “You okay?”

She nodded.

"I'm sorry about your friend."

"Thanks," she bit her lip. It would have had been better if Kaye was still alive. Suffering in worry for someone was better than them being gone.

Francine shrieked as she pointed at the screen.

Everyone gathered close to the whiteboard. On the live feed, something glistened in the sky. One became two until it became thousands, like a starry night in daylight.

"Aren't those too many?" Garry asked.

Suddenly, there was a whirring on one of the walls. Everyone leaned against it, left in a panic.

A part of the wall emerged and turned with a gritting whir, revealing weapons adequate to equip everyone in the room. Alexey gulped.

The beam projector retracted to the ceiling with a click.

“The doors and windows will open within five minutes. Please make sure to take a weapon from the wall before you leave,” Dave’s monotonous voice sounded in the room.

Most of them hurried to take one for themselves. Alexey managed to get a dagger while half of the rest huddled to the guns. She wanted to opt for a pistol, but aside from the bad memories it brought her, it was not the time she should learn its proper handling. Besides, knives fit her hands best.

“Options are always good,” Kurt walked to her with a bow and arrow.

She nodded. “Exactly,” her eyes followed the string bag Kurt threw aside. “You’re leaving your bag?”

“Yeah. It’s got nothing anyway. Just pile of paper to hide my Swiss knife,” he patted his pocket.

Hearing this, she ought to do the same. She removed her backpack from her shoulder and checked if she needed it discarded. A zip lock pouch and a pair of fingerless gloves toppled her stuff. “Oh, Peter,” she took it out.

“Medicine kit? That’s cool,” Kurt took his string bag and gave it to her. “You can use my bag instead. It’s smaller. Just remove all my stuff.”

She smiled. “Thanks,” she opened his bag and removed the papers. He was right. They were just random pieces of paper. So much for being careful when the guards cared less.

She glanced at him before she put the medicine kit and a kit of her own in Kurt’s bag. She hauled it on her shoulders, tied its strings across her torso, and put the gloves in the back pocket of her pants. “Say, what do partners sound to you?” she stretched her hand.

He smiled.

Gunshots suddenly rang in the room, followed by screams. Kurt pulled her to the corner.

Mike, an old classmate, burst into manic laughter as he pointed and shot everyone in his sight.

Alexey covered her ears as her eyes widened at the scene. When Mike shot another, she closed her eyes.

Two gunshots before it stopped, followed by a thud and a groan. Cries, gurgling, and cough filled the room.

Her eyes opened when someone touched her arm. The scent of blood and gun powder was dizzying. “You okay?” Kurt asked. She nodded.

“What the hell is wrong with him?” Quinton, one of the transferees, said. He had no flag patch. He pulled Mike into a corner and pulled a fuzzy red stuck in his arm. Tranquilizer.

Someone threw Quinton duct tape. He pressed Mike's hands together and taped them.

Alexey ran to the nearest one lying on the floor. Skye, who had been aloof with her after a fight at a prom. She accused Alexey of seducing her boyfriend after seeing them talking together.

Despite being equally shitty as Francine, she did not imagine seeing her in this state.

Skye continued to bleed on her chest, creating a puddle under her. She gently lifted her head and smiled. "Hey, hey. It's alright," she said as she checked her pulse. There barely was anything. Her hands started to feel cold as she coughed blood that splattered everywhere.

“Madagascar and Thailand didn’t make it,” Wilson announced. “f**k, we don’t even know their names,” he walked away and retched.

Skye looked at her with a soft gaze. Alexey nodded. She knew she was sorry even before this happened. Skye wheezed before she breathed one deep sigh, staring into nothing.

"Skye?" she patted her cheek and checked her pulse and breathing. Nothing.

She brushed her hand on Skye's face to close her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said and gently lay her head on the floor. "Skye is gone," she pronounced.

"Blake, Sofia, and Conor didn't make it either,” Lara announced. She walked to the far back of the room to vomit and cry with the rest. The room was horrendous.

“Anyone who can do first aid?” Holly ran with a medicine box. A part of the wall retracted close.

Alexey went to Holly and took the medicine kit. Ivan was holding his arm wet in red. She drenched her hands with antiseptic before she touched his arm.

“It was just a cut. The bullet grazed my skin,” Ivan said and bit his lip when she drenched his arm with antiseptic. He muttered a train of curses. The cut was a bit deep.

Alexey brushed her welling eyes on her shoulder.

“For the love of God, let’s not kill each other,” the Spanish sighed as he held a tranquilizer gun.

As Alexey was finally dressing Ivan’s wound, the steel plate over the window cleared until it was transparent.

The objects that glistened in the sky finally hit the land with a continuous muffled thud⁠—one of them far behind the gates.

When she stood at the window, the gates were closed. The men in white were not anywhere within the vicinity.

The walls started to extend from the ground until they reached the height of the gates. She scoffed.

Steel plates on windows and doors retracted with a gritting whir. “All the cubes have finally touched the Earth. Students shall proceed to disarm and destroy the cubes. Good luck.

This is The Law Of Last Day.”