Chapter 2

It was like a slow motion scene from a movie, like I had enough time to jump in front of my own bullet to save her, but I just stood there. The bullet sank into her chest right where her heart would have been. I sank to my knees with tears streaming from my eyes. What the heck did I just do? I just killed my sister. S**t, I just killed her. Why did I do that? She tried to kill me, so I killed her, right? The blood was leaving her body from the bullet wound as tears escaped my eyes. My sister is dead, my parents are dead, for all I knew Maxi could have been dead; all of this was spinning in my head. Why were my parents killed and why was I supposed to be killed? I was so confused.

I glanced up to my bed where Alex's dead body lied. I had to get rid of the body, the tracker was still inside it. I stood up still sobbing, wiped my eyes, and walked over to the bed. I gathered the purple sheets that were now stained with blood and wrapped them around the body. I picked it up and threw it over my shoulder, she may have been 100 pounds but her dead weight felt like a ton. I went over to my desk and grabbed my lighter out of the top drawer.

Quickly took the body out to my car, I glanced back to make sure no one was watching out their windows in the long tan building which was my humble abode that also held 20 other girls who had two to their own quad. My car was parked across from the building on stilts. My car was a black Pysgod and was built to run like a fish, it floated and was powered by sun and wind energy (another invention created by the scientists to help eliminate pollution). The sun helped start the car while the wind passing under the car fueled it more like a fish swimming in water to help it breathe. I opened up the trunk and threw the body in. After closing the trunk, I turned to find Bette, the quad leader of the building D standing behind me.

"Hey, Vania." she stated happily. I jumped and gasped in fear. How long had she been there, what did she see? She saw how I reacted and looked apologetic to me, "I'm sorry did I scare you?" I nodded still trying to calm myself down and laughing nervously. "I didn't mean too, what are you up to?" I had to think fast.

"Oh you know, just going to do some quick laundry down at the cleaners." That seemed believable. It didn't seem to faze her any.

"Okay well I was going to invite you to a small gathering, but if you're too busy that's fine." In quad leader language, a small gathering meant a party.

"Oh, I don't know, I'll try to make it." I didn't really know if I was lying or not.

"Great, it's at 19:00 at my quad, I'll see you there." She said excitedly. 19:00, that military time is a mouthful. I nodded and waved as she turned to leave. I got in my car and pushed the start button. My car started silently, rose into the air about a foot, and sped off as I pressed the accelerator. I went to the only place on the grounds where I figured no one could see me destroy the body.

In about five minutes, I arrived to the edge of the grounds where there was about a mile of wooded area before the fence marking the property line. I stopped the car, got out, then went to the trunk and got the body. About twenty feet into the woods, I laid the body down on a pile of dry leaves then found some rocks to line the body so the fire didn't spread. I took the lighter out of my pocket and bent down to light the sheet and some of the leaves. The flame had a hard time catching. Maxi had an “emergency” bottle of rum in the trunk of my car that she kept there in case we went in a holiday or something, but we never did. I decided to use the potent alcohol to help the fire catch. I ran back to the car and grabbed the bottle of rum out of the trunk and ran back. I opened the fresh bottle and drizzled the liquid all over the mound then took the lighter to it. The flames caught then began to burn away the sheet from around my sister’s body. As her form became visible, I kicked some leaves over her, not only to cover her back up, but also to keep the flame going.

As the fire got brighter, the more I could smell burning flesh. It was so awful, I couldn't stand to look at the fire any more. I turned, fell to my knees and wept as the heat of the inferno stabbed at my back. I couldn't believe I was burning the dead body of my sister whom I had killed. I mean she did try to kill me, but still, I could never forgive myself. What the heck kind of birthday was this? It got dark with the fire still growing brightly. I didn’t want to be there any longer as guilt crept into my soul, so I got up, dried my tears, and started toward my car.

When I reached my car, I looked back to make sure the fire wasn't visible from the edge of the wood. I got in my car and started it. The LED clock in the dash read 18:50. I had been out there for over three hours; I needed something to clear my mind. I then remembered the party Bette invited me too and saw I had just enough time to get there.

When I got back to the quad it was already 19:05, but I smelled like death, literally. I asked myself, what's five more minutes to make myself presentable? So I parked my car on some stilts closer to Bette’s quad than to mine. I ran into my quad, dropped the lighter onto my bed, and then rushed straight to the Tweak & Clean in the bathroom. Once I stripped myself of my clothes, I went to the monitor trying to find the right hairstyle, outfit, and makeup for the party. I stepped into the glass tube then sealed it up. A ring of sprayers sprayed me with soap and shampoo from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. The sprayers then went back up spraying water the perfect temperature to rinse me off. Then the fans cut on blowing my body dry. Two handles then popped out of the sides for me to hold while robotic arms dressed me in a little black dress, a white blazer and pearls, with black heels on my feet. Lastly, my least favorite part was the makeup and hair as the tube filled with the smell of hairspray and robot arms combed my hair to the perfect style and applied my makeup with artistic precision.

I stepped out of the tube to the mirror near the bathroom door and saw the final look. To be honest, I thought I looked hot. My once straight dark brown hair was now perfectly wavy. My light hazel eyes were popping out behind smoky makeup and my lips were the perfect color red, I would have made out with myself. I looked at the clock above the toilet that said 19:10, perfect timing. I left my quad and headed toward the party.