“Andy! Wake up, you’ll be late for your update!” My mother’s voice shutters me awake from a deep sleep. I look up groggily at my clock, which reads precisely 07:30. I then turn my eyes to evaluate my room; pale tinted walls, faded with age; and the humming of a computer in the corner, on a white wooden desk.
I smell the faint scent of baking bread coming from the kitchen, which shutters me awake even more. I slide out of my warm bed, and walk over to my closet which holds various outfits of the same style and color. Knowing that this will be the last day to see these colors appear in my closet again, I smile. I slide on a white quarter sleeve shirt, and a matching white knee length skirt. I always thought white was such an absent color, showing the innocence in oneself. But as I grew older, I see the uniform in it, describing one’s self as undeveloped. That we have no use for the world, so we can have no part in it. But today, is my last update. Today I will become developed.
I finish getting ready in the bathroom, braiding my hair and twisting it into a tight knot on the nap of my neck. I leave the bathroom, and take a quick glance at my reflection in the mirror; pale brown hair, pulled tightly back, showing my narrow nose and pursed lips. My eyes travel downwards and fix any wrinkles in my outfit. I’m thin, perhaps too thin for my mother’s liking, but strong.
I feel that I am appropriate, so I walk down the stairs into the kitchen where I find my mother taking the bread out of the oven. She looks up at me and sighs, “You look so beautiful, I cannot wait to find out what color they put you in.” she coos.
“Thank you, mother” I reply.
After all the wars, and destruction of the old times past, scientists have discovered a way to download information in the human brain. Kind of like a SD card you put in a camera, but instead they put it in our head. Every year, on April 1st every kid of the same year gets a annual update for that age. Which updates new technology, and information that scientists have newly discovered that they feel that age should know. You see, scientists have also discovered that the human brain can only hold so much depending on how old you are.
Once you reach a certain age, you get your final update which determines what colour you get. On that final update, the computer reads how you have taken in that information, and puts us in one of those 5. Every 5 colors represents what work post you go into.

Orange= Engineering
Blue= Medicin
Purple= Teaching
Brown= Army
Green= Produce

I go up to my mother and take my breakfast, and head towards the door. “Honey, make sure you come straight home after your update. And not to tell anyone until you have permission to do so” She calls after me.
“Yes ma'am” I call back, and I walk out of the door. I walk out of my house and a warm breeze hits my face, well warm for Washington. I close my eyes and inhale, the smell of ocean fills me. I look around me, I can see the leaves budding on the trees and the grass slowly coming alive after the harsh winter. And in the distance I see storm clouds brewing, it always rains here it seems like. I’ve always loved spring, it is the sign of new beginnings. I head towards the school, which is only 4 blocks from where I live. I always have to watch my step, for if I do not, I will end up on my face. I hop over a big crack in the middle of the street. I am not sure what happened to the past country, but all the information we get, is what lessons we learned from. I always get the feeling that they are trying to hide information from us. I whipe that thought from my mind as soon as I thought it, there are eyes and ears everywhere.

I see the school starting to form in the distance, and something stops me, the hairs of my neck stand up. I slowly turn my head around, I see a shadow disappear, but it could have been my imagination. I look at the ruins that used to be buildings, trying to catch a sign of movement. But my eyes catch nothing out the ordinary. I decide to shake it off, and continue my trek to my destiny.


I get to school without anymore odd interruptions. My school is big, made of bricks, and stark white. Theres that word again; white. Everything is white. But not for long, today I will find my color and finally know where I belong. I walk up the white steps (sorry again) and into the white doors. This school looks new, but smells otherwise, it gives off a musty smell that reminded me of summers at the lake. Then again we never got in the lake, it had too much pollution left over from the old times. I walk into my classroom, I stand there for a minute and I spot my best friend, Leo. I smile and I walk over to him.
Leo and I have been friends ever since I knew how to walk. I could spot him from a mile away, considering he is about 6ft tall. He has light blond hair that hangs just above his ears. Leo is dark complected, he is always outside, he has always had a knack for machines. Which is odd, considering he his mom was a teacher, and his dad was in the army.
“Good morning, Leo.” my voice shook a little out of nerves for the day to come.
“Hey,” he responded, “are you ready for today?”
I didn't know how to respond, I was ready, believe me it gets old wearing all white, everyday. But I had a strange feeling in my gut, as soon as I woke up this morning that something was not right.
Not anything bad, but that strange feeling that something big was going to happen. I look over at Leo and a odd thing caught my eyes. He was wearing a orange bracelet, my heart started to pound. “Leo! What are you doing wearing a that!” I said, almost too loudly.
“Shhh,” he whispered, “My dad gave it to me to wear today for the update”.
I scoffed, “Are you asking for trouble?” I said in disbelief. If they find us wearing any sort of color before we get updated, we would get thrown out of town to live with the unmentionables.
Unmentionables are people that either did not qualify for their final update, or people that disobeyed the government in any way. If you become an unmentionable, you basically get thrown out of your house and defied by everyone. Unmentionables also have to wear a certain color; grey. Grey represents the absence of all colors, so gray= unimportant. My hands start to sweat, and my stomach flutters from nervousness. I tape my feet quickly, and stare at a spot on the floor, to escape this feeling, I do not like it.
“Leo, what is going to happen?” I ask him, he looked up at me and smiled at me reassuringly.
His voice even, but I could tell he was just as nervous as I was. “I do not know, Andy, I do not know”. Just then, the announcement went off, it was a lady and even her voice was shaking. Odd. Saying that all students taking the update need to report to the gym. Automatically getting that feeling that something bad was going to happen again, Leo and I stand up along with our other classmates and head towards our fates.




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There was only about a hundred of us lined up waiting for our updates, everyone looked about the same; fidgety, and ready for it to be over. I look over at the guys line and saw Leo, he looked more nervous than he did in the classroom. I looked back, and a space has formed between me and the person in front.
I step forward to fill the gap, right then a, girl walked out crying and demanding them to let her try again. A big lump forms in my throat, “Do not cry,” I said, “do not cry.”

With every second, the line got shorter and shorter, and my heart rate got faster and faster, until I was next. I have never been inside these doors, for they are only for updates. The girl who was in front of me walked out, smiling, and she whispered just loud enough so only I could hear her, “They are going to be so proud.” Just as soon I was about to walk in, the floor started to shake, I looked around just incase it was just my imagination. But sure enough, everyone was looking around confused, clearly not processing what just happend.
Just then, the floor shook again, but harder, small pieces of ceiling tile began to fall all around us. Thats when everyone started to panic, I spot Leo through the chaos and ran to him. He was frozen in shock, I tugged at his arm, “Leo! Come on, we have to get out of here!” I yelled. Tears started to form, and ran down my cheeks, I pulled harder but his face, along with his body were frozen. I heard a big crack and I looked up, right above us, the ceiling had a crack. A crack that was getting bigger at the second.
My heart was beating out of my chest, and my grip on his hand was slipping. I knew I could not carry him over my shoulder, “We are going to die, we are going to die.” But I remember something that I saw before, so I did the one thing that I could think of. I pulled my hand back, I was shaking so hard, I was not sure it was going to have the effect I was hoping for, and brought it forward. My hand collided with his face, I pulled my hand back to my chest in pain. Finally, I could see his eyes come back. He looked at me confused, just then more ceiling began to fall again, he looked up and saw the ceiling above about to collapse on us. He took my hand and pulled me towards the door, I tried to keep up but his legs were so much longer than mine. I heard a huge cracking noise just as we were running out the doors. We both turned around and just in time to witness the ceiling of the school collapse in on itself.
I realized I stopped breathing, and started to gasp, I felt as if my heart was trying to get out of my chest. A lump rose in my throat once again, and this time I could not hold back the noise. Leo turned to look down at me, he looked about as scared as me, but he was so much better at concealing those feelings. He took a step towards me and wrapped his arms around my body. I was frozen, I was not used to this sort of affection, but it felt natural, a warm feeling spread through my body. My arms found their way around his waist, which was thin, and more muscular than I would have thought.
We stood like that for a minute or so, Leo leaned back, “Are you okay?” he asked. I could not find my words, but just when I was about to answer, the ground started to tremble again. Leo and I untangled, and looked around for the cause. If my jaw could touch the floor it would, I could not believe my eyes.
Off in the distance a big figure, it was about the 6 stories tall. I could feel my hands start to tremble. I look over at Leo, who looks as if he is about to fall over, “What the hell is that?” I ask, my voice shaking.
He looks over at me, “I have no idea, but it looks like some sort of big piece of machinery.” He said. He looked away, but I continued to stare at him, somehow he looked different, I am not sure how, but just different. I could tell he was analyzing the huge piece of machinery.
He took a step towards the direction of the machine, but I grab his hand. “What do you think you are doing?” I ask in disbelief.
He looked back at me as if I was crazy, “I am going to see what that thing is.” Now I looked at him as if he was crazy.
“Um, no you are not! Are you crazy? What exactly do you plan on doing when you do?” I yell, “You can not just go up to him and ask, ‘excuse me sir, would you kindly mind telling me why you are destroying my town?’.”
He looked down at me, once again, I could see his eyes calculating a plan. “Come on, we need to get to my house!” he said. I had another bad feeling, but I trusted him. We started in the direction of Leo’s house.
On the way, we stopped at a holo-phone, I dialed the number. My mother’s face appeared, she looked in distress. “Sweetie! Are you okay? What is going on?!” She yelled at me.
“Mom, yes I am okay, but you need to listen to me: grab dad, and head over to Leo’s house, and grab anything you think we will need.” She looked confused, but did not question me, and the holograph disappeared. Leo and I leave, and continue to run to the his house.
We run for a few minutes, I was about to stop for my lungs were burning like fire, and my feet felt like I was running on nails. Then Leo’s house appears in the distance, his house is huge, and looks like a big concrete building. Most of the military jobs own houses like Leos; windowless, and looks like it can withstand almost anything.
“What are we doing here?” I ask Leo. He does not answer and takes me behind his house, out to the garage in the back. We run up to the door, and Leo presses a green metallic button. The door slides open, and we step inside.
I have never been inside of this place befor, and I can see why. There were computers lined up on the entire wall, and all of them were on. On the screen, there were images of destruction, everything was destroyed. On the big screen in the middle, was a image of a creature, so foul looking, I want look away. The creature was basically a huge machine, had a face of an alligator, and the body of a lion.
“Dad, what is going on?” Leo asked, Leo’s dad was sitting in front of the big screen and obviously in deep concentration.
“Son, I am so glad you are okay.” He said. But he did not sound that into the conversation.
“Dad, I asked what is going on?” He asked. His voice shaking, I could tell he was getting upset. I reach down and grab his hand, our fingers intertwine. His shoulders relax a little bit, “I just need to know what is going on!”
Leo’s dad turns around in his chair, “I wish I could tell you, son, but I honestly have no idea” he explains with a tone of helplessness, I could tell he was telling the truth. “I knew something was going on in the government. So many secrets. I had no idea this….” His voice cracks.
Tears start to well up, and I walk over to him, releasing Leo’s hand. “Mr. Turner, I know how you are feeling. These past couple days, I have been seeing flashes of people in the shadows. I did not understand what was going on, but now I do. It is important that you tell us what is really going on.”
Mr. Turner swallows, “I really do not know what is going on. But I have been keeping my ears open, and I think they are testing new war weapons.” His eyes look everywhere but mine.
I look at Leo, I turn back, “What do you mean, they are testing weapons on us? Why?!” realization starts to set in. Why are they testing weapons on us? We are the governments people, this is not civil. This is everything they have taught us not to be, we are a united civilization.
“How do you stop this thing?” Leo asked, his voice was shaking now. He looked scared, but ready to take on what ever that thing was.
“The only way to stop this, is to get to the main controls in the middle of the city” Mr. Turner explains.
Leo looks down, “how do we get there?” just as he asked this, I heard a small voice coming from outside the garage. I am guessing that that was my mom. Leo straightened up and walked over to a safe in the corner of the room. He pushed a bunch of buttons, and the safe made a click noise and opened slowly. Inside the safe was a bunch of weapons, well thats kind of an overstatement. Inside, there was every weapon you can think of, grenades, machine guns, shot guns, and the very BIG guns that are bigger than me. He grabs a bag, and starts stuffing the bag full of weapons and shells.
Realization started to sink in, “What are you going to do?” I ask, “You can’t go, you will be killed!” I yell, my voice shaking.
Leo looked down, “I have to, I am the only one here that knows how to work computers, to shut down this machinery.” He looked scared, but I could tell it was what he needed to do.
I walk over to him, put my hand on his face and draw it towards mine. Our eyes meet, “If you are going, I will go with you.” I sigh. I could not let him go alone, I could not bare if anything ever happened to him.
He looked at me knowing nothing will change my mind, and leaned his cheek against my hand. “Okay, but you are going to have to know how to use a gun.”
Just then there was a banging on the door, everyone froze. Leo’s dad got up and walking over, and looked out the small hole. He turned to me, “It is your mom.”
Relief washed through me, my mother is fine. Mr. Turner opened the door, my mom standing there with my dad, they were all dirty and grimy, from the outside. You can not even see outside, it is covered with smoke, as if someone put a blanket over the world. Leo and I told everyone our plan, at first they were upset and not at all okay with it. They soon realized this is the only way to stop this chaos.
Leo’s dad wanted to come, but we convinced him to stay behind, and rally survivors. We agreed to meet at the Smith tower.
My mom took my face between her hands and squeezed tight, “I love you so much. Be brave.” she sobbed, tears streaming down her face.
“I love you too, be safe.” I said back, barely able to control my sobs. I look over at Leo and his father, as they were saying their goodbyes as well. I still have a bad feeling about this, but we have not died yet, so I am feeling good.
“Okay,” Leo said, “I think that it is time to go.” He walked over and put the heavy backpack over his back. He walked over to me and grabbed both of my hands, and brought them to his chest. I could barely make out his heart beat, which had a rhythm so steady, as if our hearts beat as one. “Are you sure you want to do this?” He asked, almost begging me to chicken out.
I look up at him, releasing one hand and stroke his smooth skin. “Not yet.” I leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek, he blushed, “Okay, now I am ready.”




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As we walked through through the opaque air in silence, I could not help but think. How could the government use us as their test monkeys, I thought things have been going according to plan. We have won every one of the wars we have been subjected to, are we going to war again? Is it someone who we are close to no match against, that we have to test our weapons on ourselves?
All these thoughts were circling my mind like a tornado going a million miles per hour. I almost did not notice the burning in my throat, and the pain was getting more intense by the minute. I could feel the CO2 invading my lungs, threatening them to stop what they are doing. “Leo, we can not make it there in these air conditions.” I tell him, my eyes burning and watering.
“I think I have something for that, I did not know what it was, but I think that it is meant for this kind of trouble.” He reaching into his bag a pulled out two breathing devices. We put both of them on, automatically, we felt better. And continued to to walk towards the city.
About 30 minutes later, we reached the city limits. Far away, I could hear the sound of buildings falling. The destruction was awful, I have never seen anything like it in my life. There was debris everywhere, and ashed falling from the sky as if it were raining.
We reached the center of the city, and walked in, there were guards everywhere. We stayed hidden, and Leo took out a gun. “Leo! You can not just shoot them.” I whispered.
“This is not a real gun, it has needles that inject a medication that puts them to sleep.” he explained, he took the gun and loaded it.
Befor I knew it, everyone in the building was lying down apparently asleep. Leo and I walked up the stairs and to the control room entrance. Leo looked down, “It is not that easy,” he said to himself, “it can not be that easy.”
He stepped forward very carefully as if he expected the floor to be boobytrapped. He opened the door, inside was a long wall of computers, it kind of looked like the inside of his garage. But way bigger. He walked towards the biggest computer screen, and started to press buttons.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement, on the screen was a the picture of the machine destroying the space needle. I heard a loud beep come from Leo’s direction, and he turned towards me, “It was just the button.” he explained.
As I turned back towards the screen in relief, something changed. The machine changed its course. It was in fact heading towards us. My relief quickly faded, in exchange for pure terror.
“Leo, you have changed it’s course! It is heading towards us!” I yelled.
Leo looked back at me, and his eyes focused on the screen behind. His face went stark white. “U-um okay,” he stuttered, “I just need to override the system to control him.” he explained.
By every passing second, the machine was getting closer and closer. Until I could hear the vibrations his foot steps. Leo kept pressing buttons, I did not know how to help and I was getting frustrated with myself. Until, the building started to shake, Leo pressed in another code. Everything went silent.
We both looked at eachother, “Is it over?” I asked. Relief flooded through my chest. I ran to him and hugged him so tight, as if I could never let go.
He stroked my hair, still shaking, “I think so, but we have to hurry. It the government finds out what has happened to the machine, they will have no trouble turning him back on.”
So we both ran out of the building and towards the Smith Tower to meet the survivors.

As soon as I saw my mom I run to her, and embrace her. “It’s okay, shhh” she cooed. As we all got organized, and I calmed down, we planned to find a new place to live. And from there we would find out the meaning of this catastrophe. Before we left, I walk over to the edge wondering what will happen next.
I feel the cool air caress my face as I stand on the roof of the Smith Tower in Washington. I look over the city and inhale the slowey, my mouth fills with the taste of salt water and smoke. After everything that has happened, I wonder how it is possible that I can just stand here and feel so numb. My mind tells me to not to look away, but my heart tells me to leave and to never look back.
“Andy, are you ready to go?” My mother yells over the howling of the wind. “Yeah! Coming!” I yell back. My throat burning, and tears welling up in my eyes, I turn my back and walk towards my family, friends, and Leo. I grab his hand knowing that I will never see my home again.