Escape from Hiomia

My name is Florian Shadowbite. I have red hair, green eyes, and I live in a place called Hiomia. You see, my world isn't a normal world. You might be thinking, mine isn’t either because for some reason, my mom keeps yelling at me to do my chores which is not normal. But, that is normal. Stop being a lazy bum. In my world, everything you do can be predicted. If you like a girl and want to ask her out, right before you do she already knows you’re going to and immediately rejects you, not that that’s ever happened to me. Anyway, pretty much every day is the same. I eat, go to school, come home and eat some more, then sleep. Nothing interesting ever happens on Hiomia. Not until one particular day….

It’s dark out as I’m coming from my job. My best bud, Jaydenne, walks next to me talking about his newest hobby. “Dude, you have to try painting. It’s the best thing since...well, bread.” he says. “First of all, nothing is better than bread. Secondly, I don’t think throwing paint on a canvas is called painting. It’s called making a mess.” I say. Jaydenne takes a swing at my arm playfully, but I easily dodge it knowing it’s coming. He sighs. “Florian, do you ever wish that our world was different? I mean, knowing what everyone is going to do before they do it is so boring and predictable. I always wonder what a life without predictability would be like.” Jaydenne says. I look at him. “You shouldn’t say that out loud. You know what happened to the last person with those thoughts.” I say. He shakes his head. “I don’t care what happened. I think we should leave Hiomia. We deserve-” I cover his mouth quickly.

“Sh! Don’t say that! Are you trying to get yourself killed?” I hiss. Jaydenne pushes my hand away. “I’m just saying. You can’t possibly be content with this life. Especially, when we know there’s more than this out there.” he says. I glance around and glare at him. “You’re my best friend, Jaydenne. But, if you know what’s best for you, you’d leave this alone. I’m not going to back you up if They catch you.” I say. Jaydenne also glances around, grabs my arm, and pulls me to the side of a building. “You won’t have to. They won’t catch me. Or anyone else. Look, I didn’t come to just walk you home. I need to talk to you about something. About the Underground Rebellion. I’m the leader. My rebellion is going to leave Hiomia. Tonight. Will you come with us?” he asks.

I just stare at him for a moment in shock. “Jaydenne, have you lost your mind? A rebellion? This won’t work. They will know you’re trying to escape. Everyone will know. Don’t do this, man.” I yell. Jaydenne covers my mouth now. “Sh! I know you’re mad, but you’ll get me caught for sure with all that noise. I know this is a huge risk, but this life isn’t for me. We’re being held here like prisoners. I have to leave, but I didn’t want to leave you behind. Come with me.” he says. What do I do? His plan is stupid and reckless, but he’s my best friend. My only friend. What kind of a friend would I be if I let him go alone? Well, one that’s alive, but that’s not the point. If he’s going to his death, then I can’t turn my back on him.

I sigh. “Fine. I’m in. But, I need to pack some things and tell my family goodbye.” I say. Jaydenne puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me. “You already know I packed your stuff and your family can’t know we’re escaping.” he says. I nod. “Okay. Let’s go.” I say.

I follow Jaydenne to a small abandoned warehouse and he knocks on the door three short times. The door swings open and a girl studies me. “Jaydenne, everyone’s packed and ready to go.” she says. Jaydenne nods at her. “Good. Caylee, this is my best friend, Florian. He’s the one I told you about.” he says. Caylee sends me a small smile, then turns around and walks into a crowd of people. Surprisingly, they’re all silent. Jaydenne picks up a bag and tosses it to me. I easily catch it.

“Okay, here’s the plan. We’re going to break off into four groups and escape at four different exits. Florian, you’re with me. Caylee’s leading the second group, Acel has the third, and Mayia has the fourth. We leave at exactly midnight which is in about three minutes. Don’t stop for anyone or anything and run as fast as you can. Got it?” he asks. I take a deep breath. “Yeah, I got it. But, where are we going if we escape?” I ask. Jaydenne smiles at me. “Everywhere.” he replies.

As soon as it was midnight, we ran. Jaydenne and I ran in the front of the group. Suddenly, alarms start going off. “They know!” I yell. Jaydenne surveys our surroundings. “Yeah. Which means we might get attacked soon. Just stay close to me.” he says. We pick up the pace when suddenly a little girl falls. Immediately, bots come out of hiding and swarm towards her. No one makes a move to go back for her. She’s screaming and crying. I’m sorry, Jaydenne. I can’t keep going. I turn around and run to the girl. “Florian, no!” Jaydenne yells. The bots raise their guns and are about to shoot her when I scoop her up into my arms and run like Hell is nipping at my heels.

Instead of shooting me on the spot, the bots are frozen for a second, but it’s long enough for me to be out of range. My group is out of sight, but Jaydenne stands waiting for me to catch up. “Did you get hurt?” he asks. I shake my head, looking at the trembling girl in my arms. “Good. We’re almost out. Come on.” Jaydenne says. We continue running with the bots on our trail. “We need to lose those bots or we’re done for.” I say. Jaydenne nods. “I know. Just keep running.” he says. I frown. He’s going to sacrifice himself. I can’t let him do that. Jaydenne stops when a large wall comes into view. There’s a gap in it. Jaydenne stops and turns around. I put the girl down and dig in my bag. I know it’s here somewhere. Jaydenne brought it just for this. I put on my Mechanical Optimal Strage and press the button. Then, I make a fist and punch the bot coming for Jaydenne. His eyes widen. “Florian. You just-” I stop listening as two more bots come for us. I open my fist and fire shoots at them. “Come on, Jaydenne. I won’t let you die.” I say.

“I...Okay. Let’s go.” Jaydenne says. We continue running and I get the girl. Once we reach the wall, we run to the other side and Jaydenne presses a button that closes the gap. “We did it!” Caylee cheers. Everyone else joins her. “Florian, do you know what you did?” Jaydenne asks. I look at him. “No, what?” I ask. “You did something no one expected. Not even Them.” he says. From that moment on, I knew my life would never be the same.