I'm running. As fast as I can. Towards the Mall. My name is Grant, and I am running for my future--my life. About 10 years ago Overpopulation started. We needed more energy for our world. So our only option was to Harvest the core. The Biggest energy pump was in Africa. So the U.S. government sent a harvest team to Africa and they took ? of the core’s energy. That was when everything started.

The Mall of America volunteered to help. They were going to build the biggest mall in history and turn it into a space station. They are taking the rich Americans into space to orbit jupiter and live their lives their. The military and their families would go and the rest of us were left to die. The old world is gone. Parts of Norway and Greenland formed in place of the north pole and parts of South America took the place of the south pole. The Old World is engulfed in lava and the pit of corruption stays there. The New World side Is flooding.

Right now I am running towards my family I am on the rooftops of Bloomington Minnesota. The city is flooded. I am running on every rooftop. Jumping to each one trying not to hit the water a few inches below. only 3 more to go. To my family. To my future. To my life. My Wife is holding back my children from running to me. My Daughter is screaming and reaching out to me. My son is crying and is trying to keep more tears from coming out. We are jumpers. Jumpers are people who sneak onto the mall and stay hidden till lift off day. I was found in the ship and was kicked off. My family was able to stay hidden. The mall is taking off. I am running. The ground starts to shake, slowly the huge station rises from the ground. I grab onto one rock under the mall then it happened. My life. It flashed before my eyes. I'm falling. Down I go. I know I'm dead. My back will fall onto the hard rock of a roof top.
I don’t even want to turn around and look. Then I feel a cool rush on my back and my eyes water. I feel like I have no gravity. I turn and then I see Jaws. A huge Bite, Blood, Pain, I get to my senses and look around. I see a creature moving through this zero gravity world. I look up and see light. I jump then feel warmth. I see a structure. The mall. I see the mall. I thrust myself towards it. I get up and see my family. They treat me and I am back home. My wife looks at me and says.

“Man?” “Man?” “Dude wake up!”

Then A rushing feeling. I feel like I am being pulled from this paradise. Then my eyes open. And I’m on the building. I was dreaming. There is a man shaking me. He looks about 20. I got up and looked at him. I felt dizzy. I looked around and saw that we were on a small piece of rock. Other people and families were on bigger and even smaller pieces of rock. I looked around the little island of floating rock and saw a shark. It was medium sized. I Reached out to the man and my arm fell into an excruciating pain. I winced when I touched it. I looked down at my arm and saw a huge bite. The shark must have bit me. It looked like an arch. The man laid me down to the ground and took out some flint and steel. He called some other people over to help me. One took out a first aid kit. Then a very skinny man came and took two fingers out. He laid them on my neck and pushed. I fell into a deep sleep. I started dreaming and I saw the man who saved me he told me in my dream that this will hurt incredibly. I didn’t know what was going to happen and then darkness. I woke up with a jolt and stared at my arm. It was branded on to me. No more blood no more skin falling off. It was a huge charred scar.

“Ok man.” The young man said. “I’m gonna tear off that brand.” “
What?!” I asked in disbelief.
“That brand. It’s a huge scab. I have to pull it off. It may hurt a bit but it will be O.K.”
“Alright.”
I closed my eyes and hoped that it wouldn’t hurt. I looked at my arm And I saw a scar. That was It the charred scab was ripped into pieces on the ground. The scar was in the shape of an arched A it looked cool. I was able to Bring everyone together and form a ship. There were 2000 of us. 1000 went up to the north jungle and we went down to the south jungle. I lead the travel to the south. And the young man lead the travel to the north. It was a 10 year travel.

Ten Years Later

Ten years later the tribe was formed. We have created a government system and camps spread out throughout the south. I am the first leader and founder of the ARK tribe. I am 50 now and the world has changed so much. No one goes towards the east side where the corrupt is. I am old and I have a son. He is the heir to lead the tribe.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

“Hello? Grant? Is anyone home?”
That’s probably my sons friend he Is my messenger.
“Yes, Phillip I’m here.”
“Umm there are some guys to see you, I think they are from the mall.”
“The mall?!”
“Yeah.”
“Phillip get inside.”
“O.K.?”
I pick up my sheath and my sniper rifle so that I look intimidating. I put them on my back and open the door and let Phillip in. I walked over to the group of people. They were all in white armored suits. With gold plated glass over their faces. The glass shifted up on one of the armored men. His suit is partially blue and white. He looked like a leader.

“Sir. I was told that you are the leader of this tribe.” I look over at Phillip and he gives me a nervous smile through the window.
“Yes that’s right.”
“Well we would like to create a treaty.”
“A treaty? For what?”
We would like to connect the north and south tribes together. We already discussed it with the other tribe, and they agreed.”
“What is the treaty about.”
The man hands me some papers and I look at them. The man blurts out
“They say that the Astros (us) will build a Land mass across the world connecting the two tribes.”
“What’s the catch?”
“Every year the two tribes equally give us food and resources.”
“ Hmmm. O.K.”
“Good! then the building of the jungle will begin. It will be called Banen.”
Then the men leave. I go over to my house and open the door. I lay my weapons down, knowing that they were not needed. My son comes into the house.
“Dad?”
“Yes son?”
“Can we go hunting?”
“Sure. Grab your things.”
I look over at the wall where the calender is. One year. We have created a civilization in one year. We evolved. Which starts AE (After evolution). Since the mall took off it has been 20 years which is 20 IS. But right now we are in 1 AE. It will keep going on and on, until the END.

236 years later. (237 IS/217 AE)

I’m running. Through the battle field. My sword in my right hand and my glock pistol in my left. A battle is taking place right now. Five men run toward me and I shoot. I wound 2 and kill 3. One man (most likely a leader.) Unsheathes a rapier and jabs it at me. I quickly duck and knock it out of the way with my bolt sword (A combination of a broad sword and a long sword) and I close my eyes and swing. I open my eyes and see the leader dead, with a huge gash on his chest. The year is 217 AE. Also known as 237 IS. 5 years ago the war started between the Unbound and the ARKs. Many have been killed. But our world has expanded. Using astro technology we were able to make the east side of the jungle be inhabitable. My name is Alex and I am the descendent of Grant, the first leader of the ARKs.

Right now I am in a transport ship. We are coming back from a battle. We won, only lost 5 men. and 10 were wounded. Our transport ships are very fast. My best friend Sebastian used astro ship jet propulsion and tripled the amount of speed that they can generate, making a light speed ship.

“Sir. we have picked up a radio signal. It's out in the Western Swamp.”
“Ok. Change course.”
I look out the window and see the building tops. It’s The first time i've been in this area. I look down and there is a big rock. It’s like a platform.
“Sir we are here.”
“Ok I’ll drop down and you land the ship, k?”
“Got it.”

I clip a cable to my belt and swing down. The rock looks mossy with a few other rocks on top of it. I look around. I see an odd structure. It’s like a ship. I take out my sword and smash all of the glass in the front. I crawl inside of the ship and look around. It has a few seats for about 3 people and then there was a driver's seat. I leave the small ship and look around the rock. Waves are splashing up against the side. I see some sharks in the water. Then I hear a small sound. Then a pebble comes from behind a bush. I take out my glock and aim it at the bush. Then A human comes out. I jump back with shock. No one has ever been found here in 200 years.

“Who are you?” I ask.
“Who are you? What is this place?” The girl says in a worried voice.
“You’re on Earth.” I say in a confused voice.
“Earth? What is Earth?”
“It’s your home planet.” I say, baffled by what I am hearing.
“The only planet that exists is Jupiter.” The girl says.
“NO. You are part of Earth, you are human. Come with me.”
“No”
This voice is different. It is a man’s voice.
“Were not going anywhere.” The boy says.
“I’m the good guy don’t worry. Are you from the mall?”
“Yes” the girl says.
“How did you get here.”
“We got on an Astro’s ship. But you wouldn’t know what tha---”
“They are space police and guardians from the mall.” I say with confident swagger in my voice.
“How do you know.”
“Story for another time. So back to how you got here.”
“We took a ship and were flying it towards this place. But we were headed towards a huge pit so… Our pilot shot this pod out of the ship and he is missing we need to find him.”
“How many of you are there?” I ask as I’m trying to put the puzzle pieces together.
“3 including me. Me, Tori and Sam. Who you have already met.”
“So I seem that your pilot likes to sightsee.” I say with a smile.
“What how can you joke now?? He may have just died!!”
“He shot you right towards Lady Liberty.”
She looks up and sees the towering half submerged tower behind her. I go back to the ship and ask for a small transport. We all get in and I fly us back to the tribe.

“These things go pretty fast right?” Sam asks
“Yeah” I reply. “So Melissa why are you here with your friends?”
“It’s Madison. We are here to get my brother, Justin. He is an Astro he was also our pilot. His ship crashed and we need to find him. Have you seen him?”
“No. Sorry. Do you know where he was headed. Somewhere in the north. I think a jungle.”
“The Unbound probably have him.”
“The Unbound?” She asks.
“It’s the tribe that we are at war with. They are ruthless and all about death and war. They don’t like Astros. They probably imprisoned him.”
“We need to get him and bring him back to the mall!”
“O.K. I may be able to help. This could even end the war.”
“What war?” Tori asks, obviously not listening from before.
“Long story.”

We fly back to the capital.
“Ok this is the ARK tribe capital.”
“WOW!!! THIS IS AMAZING!!!!” Tori says in a sarcastic voice.
“SIR.” Clayton the colonel says.
“Yes clayton?”
“A siege is taking place right now, on the South Ash Dune.”
“Ok get 100 men and some dune riders. We will need a transport and some magmatic suits.”
“What is happening?” Sam says in a confused voice.
“A battle. In the east”
“I’m coming.” Sam says.

“No! you’ll die. Your bodies haven’t evolved in order to withstand the heat.”

I’m in the ship right now. Im looking down and I see the Unbound shooting bullets and astro gun bolts at the transport. Im above the west side of the south Ash dune. “Alright everyone. We have 100 men in total. We have 30 dune riders and 20 magma men. That leaves 50 men on the ground including me.” At the same time they all say
“YES SIR.”

“Let’s go!”
We all get on top of the dune rider and we plummet to the ground. All of the men jump off and start to fight. I Pull out my glock and start shooting. I look up and I see an Astro ship zoom by. It is colored in black and red. The colors of the Unbound. It starts to shoot down at the ground. I turn and see the neon blue bolt come straight at me I quickly pull my sword and the bolt hits the side of my sword Skimming my arm and burning skin. The ship passes me and turns around and shoots again. I block a few and one hits me straight in the leg. I fall to the ground and try to get up but I can’t.

“SIR!” Clayton runs over to me. “I’ll help you don’t worry”
“Clayton, Thank you. Bring me to a ship. Stealth F5 model.”
“Yes Sir.”

I get into a stealth ship and start up the thermal generator. The ship ascends and I take off I see the other ship diving down to the ground, shooting then ascending again. It reminds me of something. Like when I did my first mission as leader. I banished my sister. I don’t know why it reminds me of this but it does. I get back on track and hold down the target button. I press the blast button and bolts come out of the sides and hit the other ship. The ship starts to smoke and It crashes down to the ground. I eject and crash my stealth bomber. I am floating down to the ground in my ejection chair. I pull out my sniper and zoom in on their general. I shoot and he is dead.
They all retreat but they have nowhere to go.

They all die.
we all survive.
The transport drops down a pickup pod and we all get into it. They pull us back up and we are in the transport. We go back to the capital.

“So you’re back.” Madison says
“Yes. Yes I am.”
“So… did you win?”
“Yeah.” I say confidently.
“Nice.” Madison replies
“Um…” Sam interrupts
“Hey, Sam?” I say.
“Yeah?” He says like he isn’t listening.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” He says in an excited voice.
“I want to start working on a plan to get you guys off Earth.”
“And… What do you want me for?”
“I need you to make sure that you guys are protected at all times. Take this.”
I Hand him a Gun.

“What is this?”
“It’s an Astro scattergun.”
“A WHAT?!”
“A scattergun. It’s a shotgun with a larger radius of fire.” I say
“But it shoots bolts?” He asks.
“Yup!” I say.
“WOW. Thanks so much.” He says with enthusiasm

I’m in the control room. The plan is being set up. Sebastian is explaining to me that the signal will be sent directly to the unbound without them knowing. The signal will hopefully make the tribe set a voyage out to find the signal.
“Can’t they just fly to the middle?”
“Actually no. Because they wouldn’t be able to land.” Sebastian says with a smirk.
“Ok.”
“They will take jungle speeders so we should get you guys some speeder pods. They are small, easy to control, fast and they can hold two people.” Says Sebastian.
“Yes that will do.” I say.
“Sir we have something.” Clayton says to me.
“What is it?” I ask, I see a paper in his hand.
“Sir it’s a note.”
“From where?” I ask
“The Mall.” He says in a serious voice.
“Are you kidding?” I ask.
“No.”
“What does it say?” I ask nervously.

I look down at the note and start to read. It says...

Dear Brother,
You know who it is. I hate you.
You abandoned me before I had the chance to be me, you destroyed me before I could become me, you changed me before I could become myself. Now you will die for it. Enjoy dieing. Oh, by the way, your arch enemy is coming near your kingdom and you can destroy him before you die if you want, and I took several families to the safety of the mall. I hate you and they hate you too.
By, Rebecca
The only sister you have, that also hates you.

I re-read the note and think about what I did 4 years ago. I was only 14 I didn’t know better I was told to banish her and I did what I was told. “Get the speeders we are going.”

Now I’m outside. I’m on the speeder. In its little glass ball. The two curved wings on the outside easily cut through trees so I go very fast. Tori is behind me. In the speeder next to me Sam is driving with Madison behind him He glances over at me and smiles. I smile back. I See some jungle wolves running. We pass them. I think about how the animals are happier in this environment. But soon enough they won’t have anything to enjoy. A few giant parrots fly above. I look to the right of me and I see the Glow of Lava. Like a blazing aurora.

We finally got to the meeting point and got out of the speeders. I set them to camo mode. We hid behind a mound of rocks. I left and let sam take control.

A few days pass and tonight they arrive. They look around miss us and the speeders and leave. I write a note saying that you shouldn’t follow me and I am going to get Justin. When I’m done writing I run into the forest and out of our small valley. I follow their every move. Until I get to The gauntlet. The division of the two tribes. This long river feeds into the pit of corruption. I See a  bridge. The unbound must have made this in order to cross the river. Once I get across this river I will be trespassing the Unbound land. The small skirmishes that we had will escalate and a complete war will begin.

Right now it is 2:00 am. I see the Unbound Camp. Their leader is staying here for the monthly sacrifice. I take out my sniper rifle and get ready to Aim. I know that Justin will be the sacrifice. I fix the scope and zoom in. I see the leader moving. I pull the trigger and I shoot. The bullet is cutting through the air and creating a stream of wind. And in that split second I see the leader pull out his pistol and shoot and then a sound of metal colliding both bullets fall to the ground. He is staring at me in the tree with his Python pistol up in the air. He turns his Arm and aims.

“You thought you could kill me THAT easily?”
“Actually yes I did Lucifer.”
“Okay then.”

He pulls out his rapier and starts to run towards me. He jumps on a rock and then jumps completely over the river gauntlet. And again in the split second he pulls out his python and then shoots. I throw my sniper to the air and the bullet smashes it to pieces, then pull out my bolt sword. I swing it up and down and he dodges each strike. Then out of the corner of my eye I see Madison. She is with all of them. And she is also with a man my age who is taller than any of them. He is wearing an Astro suit. And is holding a blaster. A very high tech blaster. I look to my side and I see lucifer diving at me with his rapier I dodge the shot and move to the side. At that point I swing to his back and he quickly blocks it. “Maddie?! What are you doing here, and who is that?”

“He’s my brother. Justin.”
“Where did you find him?”
“He saved us from some wolves. We have to get back” She says.
“I know. But I can’t really do that. And you’ll never guess why!” I say in a sarcastic tone.

A slash to the head comes and I duck under it. I run to them and grab the blaster out of Justin’s hand. I turn to Lucifer and shoot a few shots. The gun starts to smoke and my hand burns. I give it back to Justin and he reloads a charge. We start running back. “How are we going to get back?” I ask.

“With this.” Justin says excitedly.
I look up and then out of the sky a astro stealth ship comes into view.
“It’s in Hover mode.” He says.

We run to the ship and I turn around and see Lucifer running towards me. I pull out my bolt sword and then the ground shakes. A huge fissure cracks through the ground. I catch my balance before I fall in. I look at the crack and it is quickly filling with lava. Lucifer Is on the other side of the crack and he is on the ground He jumps up and Jabs at me. I dodge and look at the ship and wave them a signal to go. They do. Around us The world is starting to shake and the ground is falling in. Cracks start to form and they fill with lava. The trees are falling down and things start to burn. Trees are falling in the lava and me and Lucifer run and clash our swords together. “Lucifer, We are going to Die anyway!”

“I know but I would like to Live my last minutes killing you!”
“Well it’s gonna be the other way around.”

I Turn my sword hard enough to throw the sword from his hands. He pulls out the Python and shoots I block it and then stab him in the chest.

“You…”

Then a burning feeling hits my back.

And then there was blackness…