The Population

They rushed him to the hospital. Timothy laid on the wheeled stretcher. He was ready.

A few weeks ago, he got an email saying that he had been accepted into a science camp. Timothy was overjoyed. He had been trying to get into that camp for three years.

Timothy counted down the days until camp started. Nothing else mattered to him. If he got grounded for not helping out around the house, he would just lay in bed thinking about the camp. As long as he got to go to that camp, everything was fine.

Finally, the day had come. The camp bus drove by his house to pick him up. Timothy got in, carrying a suitcase full of unnecessary things.

“You Timothy Carin?” asked the bus driver.

Timothy nodded and sat down in an empty seat at the front of the bus. The door closed and the bus began to drive away. After a few more stops and other kids’ houses, they were on their way to Camp Camerez. The bus drove down the dirt paved road. The area was abandoned.

Timothy was worried. This was not how the area looked on the flyer. When they got to the camp though, Timothy was amazed. It was so fancy. There was a huge brick building. In the front, it said in big, bold, yellow letters, “WELCOME TO CAMP CAMEREZ!”. There were two other around it buildings that were slightly smaller than the building in the middle. Timothy knew from the virtual tour he had taken that those were the two science labs.

The camp wasn’t much of a camp. It was more of a school. The bus stopped.

“Everyone off the bus,” said the bus driver. “Head towards the main building, but don’t go in yet. Just wait at the entrance.”

The kids nodded and started to get off the bus. Timothy slid out of his seat. He then descended the bus stairs and started to walk towards the big building.

He was one of the first people to make it there. It was probably his excitement fueling him. When he made it, a man walked out of the entrance.

“Welcome to Camp Camerez,” he said cheerfully. “It’s my job to ensure you have a great time here. If you have any problems, please come find me. When the others get here, I will show you where you’ll be staying.”

Timothy nodded. This person seemed friendly enough. When everyone else got there, he told them the same thing. Then he told them to follow him and began walking towards a large cabin.

To Timothy, it seemed like this was the only reason they could call this place a camp.

“This is where the girls will be staying. Everyone unpack and pick a bunk. There will be no fighting or roughhousing in there do you understand?”

The girls nodded and went inside their cabin. He led the boys a little bit further away to a different cabin. 

“Here is your cabin boys. You guys have the same rules as the girls. No roughhousing or fighting. Everyone go ahead and unpack and choose a bunk.”

All the boys, including Timothy, rushed into their cabin, eager to get first pick on a bunk. Timothy was one of the only ones who didn’t know anyone else. Everyone else already knew each other and they all wanted to have a bunk with their friends.

Timothy ended up stuck on the bottom bunk in the corner of the room. He was fine with that though. As long as he got to attend this camp, he would be fine with anything. He unpacked all his belongings. In his suitcase, he had his clothes, toothbrush, hairbrush, and other assorted items. 

After he unpacked, he decided to go explore the camp. He walked outside of the boy’s cabin and looked around. It was sunset. Timothy didn’t want to explore anymore. He just wanted to get a good view of the sunset. He looked around for a high place he could stand.

He saw a zipline. There was a wooden platform leading to it. He could stand on that. He rushed over there, not wanting to miss the beautiful sunset. 

When he made it over there, he saw a ladder to climb up to the platform. Timothy climbed as fast as he could. Finally, he made it up.

Timothy didn’t know why he was so attracted to the sunset this day. It was his destiny to be. He heard someone climbing up the ladder.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“My name’s Andrew. I’m your bunkmate,” the boy shouted from the bottom of the ladder.

He continued climbing up.

“Well, what are you doing here?” Timothy asked again.

“Same as you, I assume. I just wanted to get a good look at the sunset.

Andrew was almost to the platform.

It was a little scary being up there. Timothy was about a hundred-fifty feet up in the air. Below him was water. He wondered if it was deep. 

Andrew had made it up. Both boys stood there, staring at the sunset. Then Andrew started to shift ever so slightly behind Timothy. When he was behind him, he pushed him into the water below.

Timothy felt the shove come from behind. The next thing he knew, he was plunging into the water. He hit the water in a belly flop.

Timothy sunk to the bottom. With a belly flop like that, he should’ve been dead. But miraculously, he survived. Timothy was at the bottom of the lake when he heard a voice.

“Are you ready?” the voice asked.

Timothy had no idea what it was talking about. He tried to talk, forgetting that he was underwater.

“Wwwwwa rrr yaaaa ttaaaa aaaabot?”

“Oh yeah. Sorry about that, I forgot you were underwater.”

A giant bubble of air surrounded Timothy. He could breathe.

“What are you talking about?” he asked again, this time understandably.

“You weren’t told yet? They were supposed to start getting you prepared ages ago!” said the voice.

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You have to go into stasis for a thousand years.”

Timothy laughed. The voice had to be joking.

“I’m not kidding. You must go into stasis. It is your destiny. You must do it to save the world.”

“How is me going into stasis going to save the world?”

“It’s kind of a long story. Well, the world is overpopulated. If there are too many humans, the whole race will die out. Not wanting to kill anyone, a scientist came up with a plan. She came up with a way to transfer people’s souls inside other people. So, you’re the body. There are about fifty-million souls inside of you. Still, killing all those people would be wrong. That’s why we need you to go into stasis for a while. That way, the world won’t be overpopulated anymore, and hopefully, when you wake up, the world won’t be as populated and you can come back. Don't worry though, you won't be in stasis for too long. Every three hundred years, you'll wake up and I'll take you through physical therapy.”

"That doesn't make it any better! That means I'll only wake up three times!" Timothy shouted.

This was a lot for him to take in. He couldn’t believe that he had about fifty-million people inside him. He had always been an ambivalent person.

Timothy did not want to go into stasis, but it was either that, or he had to die. Plus, it wasn’t fair to all the other people in him. It wouldn’t be fair if all of them had to die just because he didn’t want to go into stasis. Timothy decided he would do it.

“Besides you and the scientist, does anyone else know about this?” he asked.

“Actually, I am the scientist. I found a way to transmit my voice down here. But no, besides us, no one else knows about this. When you go into stasis, I’ll make it look like some kind of accident.”

“What will you do with me?”

“I guess I’ll just take you back to my lab and take care of you there. Before I pass away, I’ll find some more trustworthy people to take care of you. They’ll do the same. So we’ll take care of you for a thousand years,” said the scientist. “Come back here tomorrow. I have to get you prepared.”

The air bubble disappeared and Timothy floated up to the surface. He looked up and saw Andrew still standing on the platform. Timothy climbed up the ladder at lightning speed. When he made it up there, he was furious.

“Why would you push me? I could’ve died! It’s a miracle I survived!” he shouted.

“Calm down. I was just trying to have a little fun. How was I supposed to know you’re afraid of water?”

“I’m not afraid of water! You’re lucky I’m okay. I’m going back to the cabin.”

Timothy stormed off in the direction of the cabin. When he got there, he changed into some dry clothes and went to bed.

The next morning, they were woken up at sunrise by their guide.

“Everyone up! Time to get up!”

Timothy jumped up, startled. He banged his head on Andrew’s bunk above him. He rubbed his head and got up.

He and all the other boys took turns showering, brushing their teeth, washing their faces, and getting dressed. It took about an hour for everyone to get ready, mainly because there were only a few showers and a lot of kids. Also, some of the boys wouldn't stop playing around.

When they were all ready, they waited for the girls to finish. The girls took even longer than the boys because they were putting on makeup. Timothy never got the point of makeup. Why would you go through the hassle to put it on, when you’re going to mess it up anyway? And even if you didn’t, it didn’t even last that long. The boys waited for about thirty minutes. Finally, the girls finished.

Timothy was excited about camp. He also needed to find the time to go back to the lake and meet the scientist. He wasn’t worried about that though. He could probably just slip away when nobody was looking.

The guide came by both of the cabins and led the boys and the girls.

“Today we’re letting everyone work in the labs. After that, you’ll have free time for the rest of the day. Then tonight, we’ll be roasting marshmallows by the campfire,” he said, pointing to a campfire.

When they made it to the labs, they walked in. There were adult supervisors at every station. Everyone split up and got to work.

Timothy wasn’t sure what to do. He had been so excited to come to this camp, but when he finally got there, he didn’t know what to do. Timothy eventually decided to just build a mini volcano.

After being in the lab for a few hours, the guide let them out for free time. During his free time, Timothy went to the lake. He talked to the scientist, preparing for his stasis.

She taught him what to do. If he felt like he was about to go into stasis, he had to breathe in and out at a rapid pace. This would help keep him alive.

Day after day, Timothy kept going to the lake.

Eventually, it was time. 

One day, Timothy started to slip. He felt as if he was losing his grip on reality. He knew it was time. He breathed in and out rapidly. He was in the boy's cabin alone. Then, Andrew walked through the door.

Timothy gasped. He didn't want Andrew to see him pass out.

"Andrew, you have to get out of here," he said, still wheezing.

"Why?"

"Ummmmmmmmmm. You'll miss zip lining!" Timothy said, trying to sound believable.

"I didn't know we were going zip lining today," Andrew said.

He rushed out of the room with false hopes. Timothy was glad he was gone. He continued to breathe fast. He enjoyed those breaths. They were the last he would take for three hundred years.