Chapter One

I ran and jumped, my arms and legs aching. In front of me was my best friend, Aadya, her strong, muscular legs pumping fast. She wore a beige jumpsuit that exposed her dark arms and legs. She wore black boots. Her dark hair was cropped so short that from the back she looked like a boy. However, from the front she was beautiful. She was the strongest in our group, and therefore was pretty ideal to run behind during these missions.
I leapt over a black raised root, my small, meager breakfast turning over in my stomach. The knife I carried should have gleaned for it was completely clean, but there was no light anymore.
I was lucky to be born in the Fade Era. I got to see what the world was like with and without light. Some people were born and died in the Light Era, and some were just born in the Dark Era. Neither of these generations knew what it was like to experience both. We don’t know why the light went out. The best we could assume was that the sun in the world above us went out. It was supposed to eventually anyway. The light went out quickly. It only took a year. Some of the youngest girls in my troop had never seen light. In some ways it was easier not to be born in the Fade Era. None of the other generations had to adjust like we did. Now, most of the girls can see clearly in the dark, like me.
I saw Aadya stop and turn her head. I sprinted up to her as silently as an owl.
What do you hear? I mouthed to her. She only shook her head in response. Then, I heard it too. There was a booming coming from behind us. It wasn’t necessarily loud, but it was powerful. It shook the dirt above, below, and around me.
“We need to go,” Aadya whispered. The whisper barely made it to my ears, but I heard it. We both began running as fast as we could, swiftly dodging the diseased roots. Next to me, I saw Kaede running almost as fast as I was. Kaede was the second fastest in our troop, which made me the fastest. Aadya was right behind me. I looked back further and saw the whole troop behind me, including a strong leopardess with radiant green eyes. We all ran in unison away from the creature until we saw a welcome sight. It was our lab. We sprinted all the way to the lab even though we couldn’t hear the thing anymore. 
We approached the long, white, four-story building with windows on every floor. Isadora, returning to her human form but keeping her green eyes, stepped up and counted heads.
“...four, five, six, seven… where is number eight?” Isadora demanded. That’s Adira, I thought to myself.
“Isa, I’m here,” Adira said, limping up to us.
“Where were you?” Isa ordered. Adira motioned to her ankle, which was swollen and purple.
“I… I tripped,” she explained quietly. Isa was quiet for a moment, and then spoke.
“You are not permitted to go on any more missions. If you are not able to complete one, then we don’t need you. You are lucky you weren’t caught by the Estrando.” Even though that’s what Adira was sure Isa would say, a determined looked crossed her face.
“I’m tired of this, Isa. I ran more missions than I can count with you, and I have never had a problem. One time I trip and that’s it? I don’t deserve to be exiled.” Her eyes pleaded with Isa’s.
“Go, Adira,” was Isa’s only response. Some of the younger girls looked sad for Adira, but I knew better than to anger Isa further. However, inside I did feel a pang of sympathy. She was to be exiled. Exiled girls were left out to fend for themselves. No one knew what happened to them, just that they were never seen or heard from again. Most people believed that the exiled girls died, but others had hope that they had survived.
“Now that we’ve cleared that up…  nine, ten. Alright, let’s go girls,” Isa commanded. I began walking inside slowly when one of the youngest girls, Bria, came up to me.
“Aliz, will we get a new girl to replace Adira?” the eleven year asked me.
“I think so, Bri,” I responded quietly. She walked beside me while we went inside, and she made me look tiny. She was taller than me and skinny with freckles on her nose. Her hair was long, thin, and light brown, and her nose was a little too large for her face. In the rankings, she was number five, which was pretty good for an eleven year. Her agility got her that spot, and she definitely deserved it.
The ranks were Isadora, Aadya, me, Kaede, Bria, Mae, Gloria, Adira, Althea, and then Salone. Even though we had ranks, everyone had some special talent, like my speed or Aadya’s strength. The people with higher ranks tended to be more valuable to the missions.
We got inside the facility and walked down the long hall that led to our bunks. When we came up to the giant, white metal door, Isa pushed ahead and put in the code: 6104.
“Welcome home, troop 5,” the annoying metallic voice told us just like she did every day.
“Yeah, yeah,” Aadya complained. I smiled and stepped into our bunk room. There were five bunk beds lined up in one long room. There was one dresser for everyone’s clothes, but that was okay because we always wore the same things anyway. A small bathroom was provided. A tall mirror that reached from the floor to the ceiling hung in the center of the room. I stepped out in front of it and saw my normal self. I was thin but very short. I was in my seventeenth year. I had long, thick brown hair that waved only a little and I was olive-toned with hazel eyes that had small brown, not gold, but brown flecks in them. My hair was in two French braids that hung down to the middle of my back. I wasn’t pretty, but I wasn’t particularly ugly either.
“Aliz?” asked a small voice. I turned around to find Mae. Small, red-headed Mae.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Since Adira isn’t with us anymore, well, I don’t have a bunkmate. You know I get nightmares and…” Mae was in her tenth year and was the youngest in the troop. She had come from above-ground, and for some strange reason still remembered her birth family. That was a very rare occasion, but there was nothing anyone could do about it. The memories gave her nightmares, and I was the only one she told. I had no idea why, but in this troop I was viewed as something of a mother.
“Well, I’m sure Kaede won’t mind if I switch bunks for the night, will you Kaede?” I looked over to her.
“Nah, go for it,” Kaede motioned to the empty bunk, not even glancing up from cleaning her knife.
“Thank you,” Mae grinned as she crawled into the top bunk.
“No problem,” I responded. I slipped into my under-things and got into the bottom bed. I closed my eyes, but a minute later I heard Mae’s voice again.
“Aliz?”
“Yeah Mae?”
“Can I sleep in the same bunk as you?” I thought for a moment, but decided it was alright.
“Sure Mae.” Mae thanked me and climbed down to my bed. She slipped under the covers with me, and it actually was comforting to have another body there.
“Aliz?” she whispered.
“Mae! Go to sleep!” Isa shouted.
“Yeah, come on!” Gloria agreed.
“Oh, sorry,” Mae whispered, as I drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up to Isa banging on a pot.
“Wake up! Today we get our new member and we need to meet her in an hour. Let’s go!” Isa yelled at us.
“Isa! Where did you even get a pot?” Salone complained loudly. Isa just rolled her eyes and shouted at us to be ready in five minutes for breakfast. I rushed out of bed and slipped on some clothes. I did not want to get on Isa’s bad side today. I fingered through my hair and asked myself the question I asked myself every morning, Should I just cut my hair short like Aadya’s? Finally I was ready with one minute to spare. Thankfully, everyone else was ready too. When Isa got mad, she yelled at everyone.
“Alright, let’s go meet our new girl!” Isa shouted, actually sounding a little happy. We rushed out of the room and down the hall to the food-room. We usually walked in one line, but today we ran in a mob. Getting a new girl was a big deal because it changed everything. Our ranks, our missions, everything. We got to the door and opened it quickly. We were hoping she’d already be there, but she wasn’t.
For about ten minutes,  we traded ideas of what she would look like, act like. Would she have dark skin like Aadya or almond eyes like Kaede? Would she be kind and sweet like Mae and Althea, or bossy like Isa and Gloria? (Isa didn’t take that one too well). Finally the door opened, and the new girl emerged from the shadows. She was thin and wiry, like we were, but even more thin, and she was pale. Her hair was blonde and thin, but what really stood out were her eyes. Everything about her was fairly dull, except those eyes. They were the deepest blue I had ever seen, and I could tell that she had seen light recently because her pupils took up a huge part of her eyes.
“I am Rosaleen,” the girl said, almost like she didn’t want to be talking to us.
“Hi, Rosaleen. I’m Aliz,” I responded gently, realizing that it was probably harder for her than for us. She smiled and nodded. “Can we call you Rosa? We kind of all have nicknames for the longer names.”
“Sure, Aliz,” Rosa stated.
“To help us with ranking, we need to know what year you are in,” Aadya asked quietly.
“I’m a seventeenth year,” responded Rosa quietly. I was taken aback. She looked to be no more than thirteen years like Althea!
“Okay, what’s your talent?” Aadya asked, pretending not to be surprised.
“Well, that I’d have to show you,” Rosa responded quickly and then started walking over to the door. Everyone slowly followed her.
Once Rosa stopped, I saw that we were outside. I looked at her for an explanation, but got none.
“Rosa, what are you doing?” I whispered to her.
“Sh, I need to concentrate,” Rosa snapped. I was surprised, but I quieted down. I watched her as she closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate really hard. I stared at her, wondering what she was doing, until I saw it. The diseased tree roots covering the path began drawing back as if something had scared them. All of the rocks on the ground started floating. I gasped and looked at Isa.
Her eyes were widened as she whispered to herself,  “I didn’t know there were anymore mind-warriors.” When Rosa opened her eyes, I smiled.
“Wow,” I breathed. “This is going to help us a lot.” Rosa smiled.
That night, we voted for her ranking while she was still getting settled. We made her go into the bathroom while we sat in a circle in the middle of all the bunks.
“She is obviously very valuable, so she’ll be on the top,” Kaede commented.
“I agree. All in favor of making Rosa number one, put up your hand,” Aadya added. All hands went up except for Isa’s.
“We’ve never seen her actually in action! What if she panics under pressure?” Isa pleaded.
“I’m sorry, Isa, but the majority rules. Rosa is now officially number one followed by Isa, Aadya, Aliz, me, Bri, Mae, Gloria, Althea, and then Salone,” Kaede said, finalizing the motion. Isa scowled, but couldn’t argue. She knew the rules. She made the rules.
“Rosa, you can come over now!” I yelled happily. Rosa walked over cautiously, awaiting her rank. She looked at the cement wall where Salone was carving the ranks.
“I’m number one?” asked Rosa, surprised.
“Yes. You are going to be valuable to this troop,” Aadya responded.
“But if you make a mistake, the rank will be reconsidered,” Isa added snidely. I pulled Isa aside.
“That isn’t a rule, and you know it. You have to be fair to be the troop leader,” I whispered angrily.
“If you don’t like how I run this troop, then you can leave and become an Exiled,” Isa snapped back. I had no comeback because I knew she was right. We walked back to our circle, both ignoring each other.
“What happened?” Salone asked me quietly. I shook my head and responded.
“We need to elect a new troop leader,” I whispered back. Salone paused for a moment, but then nodded her head in agreement.

Chapter Two

At night time, I slept in my normal bunk but woke up late to Mae crawling in with me.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked sleepily.
“I miss Adira,” Mae responded sadly. I looked at her intently. Adira was one of the nicest and most confident at the same time. She always stood up for her troop no matter what. At that, I felt a pang of guilt. I didn’t stand up for her, even though she had helped me out before. Adira also never bragged. She was the prettiest with long, flowing black hair and brilliant green eyes. Her skin was very pale and she was tall and thin, but she never mentioned anything like that. She always complimented us. When you have to leave your troop, it’s like losing your family, and for the troop, it’s like losing a member of their family.
“Me too, Mae,” I choked out. I hugged her and tried not to think about how evil Isa was. All I thought about was how I was going to give Isa’s spot to someone who would use it well.
The next morning, I told my plan to Salone, Aadya, Kaede, and Gloria, all of the girls older than fourteen years except Rosa.
“Isa is too hard on us. We need a leader who will listen to us and not discourage us.” I let my statement sink in with my friends. They knew very well that if the majority chose it, we could have a re-vote for leader which would change the entire direction that our troop was headed.
“I agree with Aliz,” Aadya said quietly. “Even though Rosa is a great addition to our troop, Adira was valuable. She didn’t deserve what she got, and we can’t let that happen to anyone else.” A couple girls murmured in agreement, but Gloria spoke up harshly.
“Wait a minute here. If Isa just let every girl stay, we would have the weakest troop in the colony! She has to take small things into consideration or else we won’t have the best troop!” I sighed. Gloria always sided with Isa no matter what. They were best friends and they both had harsh personalities.
“Think about why Isa was voted leader in the first place! Only because she was the oldest. We shouldn’t have thrown someone random into this kind of  position,” I fired back.
“Hold up, guys,” Kaede interrupted. “I agree with Aliz, but let’s not turn this into a fight. Remember? First just a troop, but then a family?” Gloria rolled her eyes.
“That was just something we made up a long time ago.”
“Yeah, but with Adira! Was she not part of that?” I yelled, feeling my face get hot.
“Well being in a troop isn’t just all lovey feelings and ‘family’. It’s about getting what we need to get done done. If you think it isn’t, then you’re definitely not even close to more qualified for the job than Isa like you think,” Gloria fired at me. Before I could respond, she stormed off. These words stung. Did I actually question Isa’s leadership, or did I just want to be leader? I shook away this feeling, telling myself that of course Isa’s leadership needed questioning. What she did was wrong. I turned to the remaining girls.
“What do you guys think? Re-vote?”
“I don’t know,” Salone responded quietly. “Was what she said right, about you just wanting to be leader?”
“Of course not!” Aadya responded quickly for me.
“If it makes you feel better, then I won’t even run.” This seemed to satisfy everyone because they all agreed. Then, I went to the littles, Bri, Althea and Mae. They were easier because I think they understood. I don’t know why, but sometimes it was easier to talk to them. Maybe because they knew what it was like to be pushed around. Our conversation went like this:
“Hey, guys. So Salone, Aadya, Kaede, and I want to have a re-vote for troop leader because of what happened with Adira. What are your thoughts?”
“I agree!” Mae exclaimed confidently.
“I don’t know,” Althea said gently. “Isa has been troop leader for so long now. Is it best to change her right after getting a new girl?”
“I understand what you mean, but it actually might be the best time to do it. It was going to happen, and I’m not sure how Isa would respond to Rosa’s abilities,” I answered.
“Okay. Who’s running?”
“Well I think all the qualified over-fourteen girls except me, Gloria, and obviously Isa,” I explained quietly.
“Why not you, Aliz?” Mae questioned. Her little freckled face was confused. She seemed to look up to me.
“The older girls were afraid that I wanted to be leader and that was the only reason I wanted a re-vote. Gloria doesn’t even want a re-vote.”
“Okay,” she answered, not completely satisfied.
“Alright, yeah I vote yes,” Althea agreed. Then I noticed that Bri was quiet and nervous, and hadn’t spoken yet.
“Bri? What are you thinking?” I asked gently. Bri took a deep breath like she was going to say something, but then let it out. She looked me in the eye and took another breath.
“I feel like Isa is a good leader even though she is strict. I vote no re-vote.” I nodded, realizing that she deserved her own opinion, and even if I did lose her vote, I would still get the re-vote.
Apparently, Gloria had told Isa because Isa came up to me later in the day.
“What’s wrong with you?” she spat at me.
“I didn’t do anything wrong, Isadora. I asked all of the qualifying voters and truthfully tallied the votes. Six to two; we’re having the re-vote.” Isa’s face went pale. Her dark freckles were highlighted because of this, and somehow it actually made her even prettier. Because we were re-voting, she was no longer going to be leader no matter what.
“Well,” she stammered. “I’m not voting for you!” Her snide face somehow looked proud and scared at the same time. I smiled at her.
“Good thing I’m not running,” I answered, and then pranced away.
The re-vote took place at night time before we went to sleep. Isa and Gloria refused to vote, which was fine. The vote was almost unanimous for Aadya, and only Aadya herself voted for Kaede. It was official that night; Aadya was the new leader and Isa was my new enemy.

Chapter Three

Isadora remained number two in the rankings because of her talent. She was very valuable to the team, even if she was heartless.
That night, I left the lab for some fresh air. The night was peaceful with not a sound to be heard. I tiptoed quietly to the ladder at the edge of the building. As quietly as a mouse, I scampered up. I climbed up onto the roof and looked around me. The roof was long and flat, with nothing protruding from it at all. The roof was so long that I couldn’t see the end of it. I smiled. This was where I went every time I needed to be alone. It was perfect, especially at night when the air was cool and clear. I walked for a long time, around two minutes, toward the edge. All of a sudden, I saw a shape, sitting in the center of the rooftop. It looked like a person lying on his or her back. I started walking slowly, but quickly broke into a sprint. As soon as I got within ten feet of the person, I stopped. My heart raced. A veil of curly red hair circled the girl’s head.
“Mae!” I called out, panicked. I sprinted up to her and dropped to my knees. I looked at her face, which was surprisingly warm for the temperature outside. “Mae!” I said again. Her eyes fluttered open as she yawned.
“Aliz?” she asked.
“Mae! What are you doing sleeping out here? You could freeze!” I grasped her tightly, not wanting to let go.
“I don’t know,” she stammered, looking around once I let her go. “Where am I?”
“You are on the roof of the lab.” I finally let go.
“I must have sleep walked up here,” Mae said, rubbing the back of her head. “Why are you up here? Isn’t it forbidden?” I ignored her question and addressed her head.
“Is your head okay?” She nodded slightly and got up.
“I think so. We should get back to the bunks now.” I insisted that I check her over, just to be sure she was okay. Reluctantly, she allowed me. The back of her head had blood, but it might have been because she probably fell when she got up. It wasn’t enough to worry about, but she was also surprisingly hot like she had a fever. She insisted that she was fine, so I let it go.
We crawled down the ladder to the entrance of the lab, and Mae held her barcoded wrist up to the scanner to let us in. It denied her access. She tried again, to no avail.
“Aliz, I guess you better try it,” Mae said, starting to look pale.
“Okay,” I said slowly, and held up the inside of my wrist. It allowed me access. I stared at Mae for a second, trying to figure out what was going on with her. Finally, I decided to go in before the doors closed and I’d have to scan my wrist again.
We walked down the hall, Mae’s face getting paler by the minute. Finally, I stopped her.
“Mae, what’s going on?” A nervous look crossed her face.
“What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong,” she said quietly. I looked at her sternly, knowing there was something out of the ordinary going on. She bit her lip, which was one of her nervous habits, and looked me in the eye. “You know those dreams I have?” I nodded slightly. “Well, right before you woke me up, I was dreaming that I was on the roof, like I was, but that I didn’t just see the dirt above me. I saw the world above us. You know, the one from the myths? Well, what I saw was the same as the stories. The ceiling wasn’t dirt; it was blue that stretched on and on. The land wasn’t barren like ours, but green with these, I don’t know how else to describe them, hairs that grew up out of them. There were no labs, only small cots like the ones that are rest stops on missions. There were people too. And light. Aliz, the sun didn’t go out.” I studied her intently. These were parts of her imagination. How could this possibly be true? Then again, her physical appearance was different. Almost drained. She was slightly thinner than normal and pale, but still felt like she had a fever. Had she glimpsed into the world above? If this were true, that would mean that there was life there. “I’m not crazy,” Mae whispered. I looked at her and just nodded. Then we walked back to the bunks in silence.
When we got back, Aadya was angry.
“Where have you been? It was lights out a half an hour ago!” I looked at Mae and told her with my eyes, No.
“We were just getting water and we were stopped by a girl from another troop. She wanted to ask us why we were out late and that kept us later,” I lied.
“There’s water in here,” Aadya informed us.
“We were getting fresh water for tomorrow,” Mae responded quickly, biting that lip again. Her voice trembled a little, but just enough to make Aadya soften her stare.
“Alright. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.” I smiled at Mae as we got into our bunks.
That night, we all awoke to Mae screaming and a booming crash from outside. I think I was the first to hear, but soon everyone was up and frantic.
“What is it, Mae?” Kaede asked worriedly.
“N… nothing,” Mae responded, shaking. “I just had a nightmare.” Everyone sighed, glad that there was no intruder. “Aliz, c… can I sleep with you?” I looked at her and saw the fear in her eyes.
“Alright Mae,” I said nonchalantly. She crawled in the covers, her skin burning. I frowned, but said nothing. Everyone was still awake. Once everyone fell asleep, I spoke. “What is it?” Mae looked at me with wide, frightened eyes.
“My dream, it had the same real feeling as the one earlier. This time, I was looking at the outside of the lab, when the Estrando approached. I saw it, Aliz.” My eyes widened to match hers. “He was sitting there, staring at me. When I moved, he lunged at me. I woke up just in time to hear the boom from outside.” I frowned, and whispered to her softly.
“Mae, I don’t think your dreams are dreams. I think we’ve found your talent, and I think that the Estrando is outside the lab right now.” We lay awake in silence, listening for signs of the monster, until we heard it. A deep, growling sort of noise. I turned to Mae and saw that she was wearing the same expression as me. Her eyes were wide open and her face was as pale as the moon. I jumped out of bed. “Come on,” I whispered to her. Her eyes somehow widened further as she realized what I was saying.
“Aliz, it’s not safe!”
“You’re right, it’s not, but we have to go and see.” She nodded slightly and got out of bed.
We tiptoed down the hallway to the entrance of the lab and pushed the door. Immediately, a warm blast of air hit us in the face. We searched for what might be of cause it, shaking with fright. Suddenly, Mae looked up and screamed.
Above her was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. It had sagging, grey skin that almost looked like it was melting off of its face. It had three eyes, two where they were supposed to be and one on its chin. It had eight fingers on each hand with claws as long as a new pencil. Mae screamed next to me and ran away from the building.
“Mae!” I screamed, running after her. I was half trying to catch her and half running away. A boom behind me let me know that the Estrando had jumped down and was now chasing me.
I ran and ran until I couldn’t hear the monster anymore. My vision swam as I collapsed onto the ground.