Preview+of+The+Resistance

“Why did the apocalypse come early? It’s still 2011!” Hunter Cutone exclaimed. He was twelve, but extremely short. His hair was short and curly and he had a slightly high voice. The location was Woodbury University in Burbank, California. Before we get ahead of the plot though, we must go back a little.

............................................................................................................................................................................................ A girl, 11 years of age, who had been coming to the Burbank Youth Summer Theatre Institute camp for all three years was running late. Her name: Carly Stanford. She made a mad dash from her mom’s car and as she neared the BYSTI entrance, a speeding delivery truck rushed by. Carly looked at the beast in horror and with her last screams of terror she attempted to move, but the truck was too fast, and in seconds Carly was dead. Blood trickled down her delicate forehead and made her curly brown hair become almost black from the sticky liquid. The campers rushed out of the concrete building, eyes wide with fear and surprise. Everyone was in frantic panic. “Call the hospital!” Lisa Dyson, one of the counselors, said, slightly in shock.

The ambulance came to take her away, but all the people knew she was gone. Camp was somber that day and everyone had one of the tongue twisters playing back in their minds: To sit in solemn silence/ on a dull, dark dock./ in a pestilential prison/ with a life long lock./ awaiting the sensation/ of a short, sharp shock/ from a cheap and chippy chopper/ on a big black block. At lunch, as everyone began to timidly eat with no appetite whatsoever, Lady Peggy Flynn, the camp director, came with an announcement. “Carly’s dead. They tried to save her, but couldn’t. The funeral is tomorrow, and Woodbury has offered space on the quad for her to be buried. Please wear black tomorrow…” she trailed off as tears filled her eyes. Never in her entire life as a teacher had one of her students died. It was a whole new sensation for her. A very unpleasant one, I might add.

Carly was buried the next day on the quad, a giant field they used half of for lunchtime games and half of for their show. She was buried on the games side, so the actors would not freak out on stage. Her gravestone was small, like her, with a smile carved into it, since she never stopped smiling. There was a large orange rose with specs of purple on the grave.

In the cafeteria, a group of kids sat. It was the largest, most rowdy group. They were silent. For the first time possibly ever, it was quiet. The group was Harry Miller, a 5 foot tall, twelve year old boy with slightly long blonde hair and freckles across his face that wore battered blue glasses; Hunter Cutone, the short boy with glasses previously described; Emma Shannon, almost 13 with long brown and gold curls about the same height as Harry who also wore glasses, but was known for forgetting them; Katherine Coy--who most people called by her middle name, Wiley--a tall girl who was one of Carly’s best friends and had long curly black hair and was in top shape from water polo; Susie Miller, Harry’s older sister who had long blonde locks and had freckles covering almost her entire body and was the oldest at our table, seeing as she was going into high school; Billy Singleton, an 11 year old boy with short brown hair buzzed close to his head and a video camera almost always in hand; Anton Prather, a tall 7th grade boy with closely cropped black hair and a slightly high voice who was usually very nice to everyone, but had his moments of pure evil, like everyone; Ashley Rodriguez, who was average height with slightly long dark blonde hair and was the most normal person in the entire camp, yet amazingly she sat with the craziest people; and Malcolm Magginus, who was a fairly good actor and had crazy schemes up his sleeve and could sneak up on anyone he wanted to. The group usually cracked jokes and laughed until a counselor came over and yelled at them, but that day no one wanted to say a word.

No one really spoke the rest of the day. The games were quiet and even the most hyper little kids were calm. Everyone left camp and didn’t actually say goodbye to one another. A storm started pouring down rain as the campers began leaving. This was a problem for Harry, Susie, and their little sister Addie because they rode their bikes every day.

............................................................................................................................................................................................ That night, the storm raged on. Carly’s grave became muddy and started to wash away in a river of the sky’s tears, and all but one rose were washed down the quad. Lightning crashed down onto the Woodbury grounds and struck the remaining rose. Flames arose on the flower and it began to turn into grey ash. The fire didn’t spread because rain doused it. The storm stopped and the sky cleared, the eerie moonlight falling onto the charred grave of Carly Stanford.