Unomia

    “Get in NOW!”  He grabbed my arm and pushed me in the aircraft. “Please no,” I pleaded.  I tried to escape, but the aircraft door slammed shut right in front of my face.  Tears streamed down my cheeks. “No,” I mumbled to myself… “please.” I turned around to find 3 other people in the aircraft with me.  In the right corner of the aircraft huddled a bald older white man around the age of 65. He was holding on to a young Mexican girl who looked to be 12 with golden blond hair.  She looked up at me with her big blue innocent eyes, and I could see her tears sparkling in the light. Finally, slamming on the door next to me was a fit African American man who seemed about 20.  He had a strong athletic build and was punching the door so vigorously that he started making dents. A loud voice boomed over head, “we’re taking off.” The aircraft jerked forward violently, which caused me to fall, banging my head against the wall. I got up and touched my head to see blood all over my fingers.  My vision was blurry, and stars danced in front of me. I heard myself talking gibberish as I fell back to the ground, and the world mercifully went dark. I was finally at peace.

    I awoke to all 3 of the other members on the aircraft huddled around me, staring, and waiting for me to wake up.  I quickly noticed that the aircraft’s door was open, and a voice coming from the speaker of the aircraft kept repeating, “You are now on the newly discovered planet Unomia.  We have sent you here to learn about Unomia, and to see if it is fit for human life. The animals and plants here are more advanced and strong. We have left you some supplies to help you survive. You will have to stay here until you pass our test, and we will observe you.  Good luck!” The African American man offered me a hand. I took his hand and noticed I had a horrible headache as I tried to stand. I began to feel dizzy and held onto the wall for support.

“We better get that cleaned up,” said the African American as he pointed to my blood head.  

“Oh, and by the way I’m Zach, and the older man is Gary with his granddaughter Stephanie.”

“I’m Ariana,” I replied.

Laying just outside the aircraft was the supplies they left us.

We walked over to the supplies to find an ax, 4 gallons of water, 2 compasses, matches, wood logs, rope, and a first aid kit.  Zach picked up the first aid kit and started wrapping my head in a bandage. Zach finally broke the silence by asking, “So… How old are you?”

“16,” I responded, “how about you?”

“21.”

Zach just kept wrapping my head in the bandage and there was a long pause before i finally asked, “So are you a doctor?”

“No, just a boxer.  YOu kinda learn how to take care of yourself.”

After he finished, I thanked him softly, but was already thinking about our predicament.  We called for the rest of the group to discuss a plan. As soon as Garry and Stephanie walked out of the aircraft, the door noisily shut and the aircraft zoomed away.  Little camera bugs buzzed threw the air around us. That must be how they watch us. There were 4 bugs, one for each of us. We tried to squash the bugs, but they were too quick.  I abandoned my efforts as I watched the aircraft disappear over the horizon. I shuddered as I began to feel petrified. We were now completely alone.

    Shelter is what we needed first.  Zach went out exploring and trying to gather food, as the rest of us used the rope to tie together logs.  Unomia definitely didn't seem like the dream planet to any extent. The air was filled with humidity and fog, leaving the ground a mushy, wet texture.  As far as I could see, it was all rainforest and nothing else. The clouds obscured the sun, yet the heat was stifling. I wondered if the climate was like this all the time.  There didn't seem to be any signs of animal life anywhere. “Is this it?” I wondered. Just a land full of lifeless rainforest.

    A couple hours later Zach returned with logs.  We continued to build our hut until we finally had some sort of shelter.  We were all hard at work until Stephanie broke the silence by her complaint.  “I'm so hungry,” she moaned. “We will eat tomorrow,” Gary responded, “There has to be some sort of life.”  “We should probably start to settle down since it's getting dark,” Zach said. We all got a drink of water and headed into our “hut” barely big enough for us to all fit. Zach put the hatchet just outside our hut, easily accessible.  

    As I laid down, my mind started to race.  I wondered what they meant when they said the animals here are more advanced and strong?  There didn't even seem to be animals. And why were WE chosen to be sent here? How could I even know I could trust Zach, Garry, and Stephanie?  What did they mean “pass our test?” I wondered what my family and friends were doing and focused on all my happy thoughts. I slowly drifted off to an uneasy sleep.

    I was awoken by Stephanie’s scream in the middle of the night.  I immediately rose out of my sleep to hear some animal knocking our hut about.  I peeked through holes in the wall to see a creature that looked like a tiger. The animal had the same stripes like a tiger, except they were black and white.  Its teeth and claws were noticeably larger, each tooth about 7 inches long. It had a strong build with muscles bulging through its skin. It was sniffing in the wind, as if he didn't yet know where we were.  As Stephanie screamed again, it turned its head, and I could clearly see its gray piercing eyes. I then knew what they meant by “the animals are stronger and more advanced.”

  I felt a tear roll down my face as the animal leaned up against our hut.  Gary put his hand over Stephanie's mouth to stop her from screaming. I looked over to find Zach and the hatchet gone.  I peeked out of the hut to see Zach hiding in the bushes. The creature kept stalking around outside our hut trying to find its way in.  Right before it reached the door, Zach threw a large rock as far as he could into a river. As the rock splashed in the water, the animal turned its head and ran towards the splash.  Zach ran back to the hut and told everyone to calm down and go back to sleep, and that he would take watch. Nobody objected, and we all just laid there speechless on how he had just lured the creature away. “Thank you,” I finally whispered as I drifted off to sleep.

    I was the last one to wake up the next day around 12.  As i exited our hut I saw that there was a pile of raw fish with a note that read, “This is the only help you'll get.  In return you will spend the day exploring.” Zach and Gary had already made a fire and were cooking fish as Stephanie was already digging into the fish.  “Good Morning,” Gary said, “you must sleep in late.” “We have already explored some and are eating.” I started to talk but then realized that my mouth quinced with thirst.  “Water?” I asked. Zach handed me the water and I sat down, starting to cook my fish with a stick. This is the first time it seemed like I was back on Earth, having a normal breakfast with my family.   

    When breakfast was over, we went straight to work exploring.  We grabbed a compass and split up. Zach and I went north, while Stephanie and Garry went South.  Our camera bugs buzzed around, following us. I had never really examined the trees until then. It wasn't like a regular rainforest tree; it was much bigger and taller than any tree I had seen before.  The trunk was extremely prodigious and the tree was a darker brown than normal. As we continued our search, there was nothing out of the ordinary, but I still continued to think about that animal we had seen last night.  Why have we never seen anything in the morning, but then at night we see that animal. Did animals only come out at night? We searched for another couple hours or so and lost track of time. As the sun went down we rushed back.  “Oh no,” I mumbled in panic. “We’ll make it back before night,” Zach reassured me. I really hoped he was right.

    Daylight hours were ending, and it started to get dark.  To make matters worse, we really had no idea how far away we were from the shelter.  “Just keep going,” I told myself. “You will make it, just keep going.” As time passed, it got darker and darker until I could barely see anything at all, and we still weren't back. I suddenly tripped and fell on some twigs, which sent me tumbling down a hill.  “Zach!” I screamed. “I'm coming,” he yelled back. My leg ached with pain. I tried to get up, but fell back to the ground. I couldn't put any weight on it.

“Are you okay?” Zach said as he grabbed my arm.

“I can't stand.”

“Here hold on to me.”

I wrapped my arm around his neck and started standing up.

“We will make it back, we just have to be quiet and keep moving,” Zach reassured me.

“Okay. Lets go.”

When it was quiet, I realized I could hear the buzz of bugs, along with crickets chirping, and the hiss of a snake slithering through the grass.  “Oh no,” I whispered to Zach, “What if the animals come back?” “Just keep moving,” Zach responded. I then could see the hut in the distance. “Look there it is.”

    I felt joy fall over my body.  As I was about to enter the hut, a huge animal sprung out on top of me, sending me sprawling.  It hovered over me, and as I looked up, I realized it was the tiger-like creature from last night again.  I struggled and fought to break free, but his claws began to dig into me. “Help!” I screamed. That's when I saw Zach behind me with the ax in his hand.  He struck the animal as hard as he could, and the animal shrieked in pain. It fell to the ground, but quickly got up to meet its attacker, blood spewing from its wound.  It was about to strike Zach, until Garry grabbed a piece of wood and drove it deep into the animal’s side. The animal fell to the ground struggling to stand. Zach struck the animal one more time with the ax, and the tiger fell dead to the ground.  “The camera bugs spoke out saying, “you have passed our test.”

   I was speechless.  I couldn’t move or really say anything.  I didn't know what I had just witnessed. I crawled into the hut and fell asleep.  I woke up to the buzzing of some sort of drone. I crawled out of the hut, my body still aching in pain from last night.  A smile spread across my face as I saw an aircraft approaching us. We would finally be able to go home.