Survivor (book)

Chapter 1
Sirens rung heavily through the streets paved with fire, the people were screaming and trying to get their kids to safety. Everyone was going into hiding. In this world, the word safe is non-existent, and fear is understood. There is not a time you don’t watch over your shoulder every five seconds. If you forget to, you will die. The world we live in is not hell, but hell on earth. This world is ruled by people who were genetically transformed to kill, breed, and kill. The only thing was that the people who made them, the scientists who were called geniuses, lost control over them. My town 2,500 miles away had the few people who realized this was trouble. My town was the first to go. I’m the only survivor of a town with a population of 500,000 people or more. 
“Kurtulan! Kurtulan get inside now! Hurry!” my parental guardian Silvia called. I had been outside enjoying the first blue sky in a while, but obviously I couldn’t let it last. I suppose my name gave me good luck, because just after we closed the blinds, one of the super-humans looked at the window.  People often wonder why I was given such an odd name, Kurtulan, but it’s very simple. My great great great grandfather was Turkish, and when he moved here, he told his descendants that if there was going to be a crisis in the family, that the youngest alive was to change their name to Kurtulan, meaning survivor. That’s right; my name means survivor. Not beauty, love, grace, or ever kindness, no, my name means survivor, of all things. 
“How long should we wait for them to go? I really want to go back outside!” I finally had a chance to get some sun on my vampire-pale skin, and I wanted to seize the opportunity!
“We will wait until we don’t need to! I can’t believe you of all people would be so impatient!” She shook her head and headed into the kitchen. As soon as she was in there, the front door swung open and our dear friend Mr. Tines came in.
“I apologize for the intrusion. You were the nearest house that had an unlocked door.” He gave me a quick hug before we sat down.
“It’s quite alright, you’re always welcome here. Speaking of which, what brings you back? I thought you were out looking for something?”
“Oh sweet Kurtulan, I found it! It’s a place of mystery and magic and best of all, we’re…mostly safe. The basement is off limits, for if you go down there you probably won’t return, but it’s still an amazing place! The only problem is, the owner of the house says only I and one other person can go.” As soon as he said this, Silvia came in.
“Well go on Kurtulan! Go and pack your bags!” She looked so happy yet so sad while saying this.
“Silvia, he never asked me to go. You’re assuming things!” I tried to put as much annoyance as I could in my voice.
“Well, she had a good assumption. Look, Kurtulan, it’s especially not safe for you here. Silvia will more than likely be alright, but if you get caught, you have no hope. Please come with me, I-” He stopped himself a moment, obviously catching himself from saying something, though I had clue as to what. “I wouldn’t be able to bear it if you died.” He was forcing a smile, as he always did when talking about touchy topics like this.  I looked at Silvia, and she nodded. I was going to miss her greatly.

We arrived at the house I was going to be staying at and I could feel a difference in the atmosphere as soon as I stepped onto the property. There was a chilling sense of fear and evil I’d never felt before. Not like fear and evil belonging to the rest of the world, but different. The bad part is, I knew why the rest of the world was afraid, but I had no clue as to why people here might be. When we reached the front door, there was a man with a short white beard and big belly at the door. He reminded me a bit of Santa Clause, or that man everyone calls grandpa since he loves every little child as his own kin.
“Welcome back Arthur! Who might this lovely girl be?”
“This is my dear friend Kurtulan Passini, Mr. Claush.” Mr. Tines held his arm out behind him, telling me to step forward and shake Mr. Claush’s hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Passini. Now tell me, how old are you, and aren’t your parents a bit worried?”
“I’m 16, and no sir. My parents died eight years ago. Also, my guardian volunteered me to go for my own safety.” I cleared my throat since the issue with my parents and all was still touchy for me.
“Oh, I see. I’m sorry to hear about your family. Now then, you do know he-” Before Mr. Claush could finish, he was cut off by Arthur.
“Shall we go inside, sir?” Arthur sounded annoyed. At first, Mr. Claush was confused, but later he smiled and shook his head. I had no clue what in the world might be happening, but I just smiled.
We walked in and the place was beautiful. Right in the center of the room was a biggest crystal chandelier I’d ever seen. I couldn’t help but have my mouth gaping open while looking in awe of the place.
“I hope this place is to your liking, Miss.” Mr. Claush was acting as though I must have lived somewhere better.
“Oh yes! This place is beautiful! It’s like a castle!” I spun around in the foyer under the lights. I heard both of the men laugh a little bit.
“I’m glad you like it. Now, I only have rule besides common sense:  do not go into the basement. If you do, and you come back, you will be immediately sent back.” Claush’s face went hard. I could tell he was dead serious. I nodded my head in agreement. 
“Well, now that this has been stated, shall I show Kurtulan her room?” Mr. Tines asked. Mr. Claush lit back up to his jolly self and told him that was a good idea. Arthur took my arm and led me to the most beautifully decorated room I’d ever seen, with the biggest bed I’d ever even dreamt of.
“Is this my room?” My eyes grew with every word.
“Of course it is. My room is right across from you, so if you need anything, feel free to knock.” He headed toward the door, and just before closing it he said, “Oh, and dinner is at five.” I checked the clock and it was a quarter after three, so I had plenty of time to explore my surroundings. I just had to hope I didn’t get lost.
After an hour and a half of exploring, I realized I got lost. I had fifteen minutes to find the eating hall, and I was lost. I decided I’d try yelling through the halls for someone.
“Hello? HELLO?! Is anyone around here? I’m kind of lost!”
“Over here!” I turned around, but I didn’t see anyone. “You’re looking the right way, follow my voice!” I walked toward the voice but there was still no one. There was only a passage way with a staircase going downward.
“That’s right, down here!” he said. I could tell it was a man, it was also deceptive. This was probably the way to the basement.
“I don’t think that I’m supposed to go down there. I mean, there are no rules except not to go in the basement and listen to common sense.”
“Are you sure? Did Claush really say that? I doubt he did.” He was trying to deceive me, like Lucifer did to Eve. However, I was going to learn from her mistake.
“I’m not going down! I know what he said!” I started to walk away, but I felt hands go around my waist.
“Come on. Let’s go.” I turned and saw a man in a black oxford shirt and black slacks. His eyes were a dark brown like his hair, but vampire fair skin. I tried to break his hands from around my waist, but it was no use. He started pulling me closer and closer to the stairs and I got more and more frantic. Finally, I saw Arthur right before we reached the stairs.
“Arth-!” I started, but the man’s hand went over my mouth. Luckily, Arthur heard enough. When he looked, there was a puff of smoke and the man disappeared.
“Arthur!” I ran up and hugged him tightly.
“Kurtulan, are you alright? Why were about to go down into the basement?” He was obviously angered that I was almost down the stairs, but worried since I was hugging him like I did when the incident happened.
“I’m fine now, but…” I explained everything to him and his eyes grew. Immediately he took my hand and started to take me somewhere.
“Kurtulan, we need to go to the dining hall and you are going to tell Mr. Claush exactly what happened.” I could tell I had no choice in the matter. I sighed and agreed.

“What happened?!” Mr. Claush asked completely shocked.
“I’m telling you, that’s what happened!” I wasn’t sure if he believed me or not.
“That’s just…well…I suppose it’s not truly impossible…” Claush got in thought in thought for a moment, so I decided to bring him back with a question.
“Do you know who the man could have been?”
“Well, there’s an old legend of a man who was cursed, but even I aren’t allowed down there. But it just can’t…” with that said, Claush was back to thinking.
“So Kurtulan, were you even thinking when you called me by first name?” Mr. Tine asked. My eyes grew because it was only then I realized I had.
“N-no! I apologize if I seemed like anything but a lady!” My face was burning red to the point I could have been mistaken for having a fever.
“It’s alright, don’t worry about such things. Besides, you’re a woman soon, and we’ve known each other a good while. I think it’s time you call me Arthur anyway.” He sipped his tea obviously feeling proud of himself. I, however, looked at him as though he were truly insane.
“Are you not still eight years older? It would be highly improper of me to call you such unless it was a dire emergency! Until I am of age you will still be Mr. Tine!” I was appalled that he had even suggested I address him as Arthur. It was not a thing I would even think about doing. I looked at him to see how he reacted, and he looked quite pitiful, actually. 
"Oh fine. I suppose since you are practically my brother I can call you Arthur." I gave him a teasing smile, and of course he laughed. The only thing was there was a pain in his eyes. 
"Are you alright, Arthur?" 
"Huh? Oh, yes. I'm fine. I’m just asking myself what'd do if I was just a second too late." He gave his touchy smile again, so I went over and hugged him. 
"Don't worry about what didn't, but feel blessed about what did." I hugged him a bit tighter, and he hugged back. He, however, pulled me down onto his lap when he hugged me. Of course I laughed. It was a bit improper of him, but still amusing. Mr. Claush just laughed at our playing, probably remembering fun with his siblings. 
“Say, Arthur, why don’t you show Ms. Patini around the property?”
“That sounds lovely. Oh, and her name is Kurtulan Passini, not Patini.”
“Oh, yes. Sorry Madame. Well off you go now.” He made a quick motion with his hand then headed upstairs. With Claush gone, Arthur took me by the elbow and led me outside. He showed me the gardens and the fountain and so many other beautiful things I’d only dreamt of.  After we’d gone all around the property we went back to fountain.
“Oh my goodness! This is so beautiful; I’ve never seen anything like it!” With every word, my eyes grew with wonder and excitement.
“I’ glad you enjoy it here. I was afraid you’d want to go home by now after what all happened.”
“Please, Arthur, I’ve been through worse.”
“I suppose. Now, this is a bit random, but would you care to dance?” He put his hand out and I could feel my cheeks get pink. 
“I’d love to, but I was never taught.”
“Well then, we’ll have to change that, won’t we?”  He took my hands and properly placed them, then started counting “1, 2, 3, 4,” over and over. Soon enough, I was actually doing a basic ballroom dance. We started talking so we were laughing to the point of not breathing, talking, and dancing all at once. It was actually quite a sight to see. We looked like we were drunk.
“I suppose we better go back inside, shouldn’t we?” I asked when we finally calmed down.
“I suppose we should.” He once again took me by the elbow, and with all said and done, we were off to our separate rooms.

Chapter 2
I woke up to panic. The house was shaking and I heard crashing and booming everywhere. I got out of bed and headed outside. Luckily, I’d been so tired I hadn’t changed from the following night. I saw a maid come my way.
“Miss, why are hugging the wall? Are you hurt? What’s wrong?”
“Don’t you hear the crashing a feel the shaking? The place is falling apart!”
“Miss what are talking about? It’s still and quiet!” She looked at me as though I was insane, but I knew I wasn’t! That’s when I woke up for real.
“Ah, you finally woke up. It’s five after noon.” Arthur said sitting on the edge of my bed.
“What…? Wait what! How did I sleep-in so late?!”
“I don’t know, but you had a long day yesterday. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were just zapped of your energy.” He gave a quick a smile, then quickly stood up. “Well, I’ll let you get ready. Lunch will be served in half of an hour. I hope to see you brimming with energy then.” With that, he left.
Once I got to the dining hall and sat down, there was a loud crash. Within seconds, one of the maids walked in.
“Mr. Claush, sir, they found us!” She seemed frantic.
“They found us? Who did?”
“The experiments! They found us here!” Suddenly, everyone knew what she meant.
“Take Mr. Tine and Ms. Passini to the basement, I’ll deal with the intruders.” Claush got up and started for the door.
“But sir, they’ll-”
“No buts! Now go! Be sure to inform them of every possible danger if they don’t listen correctly!” The maid nodded and had Arthur and I follow her. I made sure to get one last look at Mr. Claush, since I was surely never to see him again. While I was replaying the last few moments here in the known, the maid told us everything. I vaguely heard her, since everything seemed to be going so slowly. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we reached the entrance to the basement.
“One last thing,” she started, “nothing is as you expect. If you do any one thing incorrectly, you have a large risk of death.” Arthur and I looked at each other. He had a brave face on, but I could tell he was scared. He took a breath than held his hand out to me. It was obvious I was scared out of my mind. The three of us then started down to our almost assured doom.
Chapter 3
We fell through the stairs. That’s right, the stairs weren’t real; they were a mirage. Under the “stairs” was a forest of trees thousands of feet tall. I really wanted to hold Arthur closer, but I knew that would lessen his own chance for survival. This being the case, I let him go.
“Kurtulan!” he yelled, but I lost him through the branches. A few seconds later, I saw him holding onto a branch with this maid, but I went right past them. I looked below me seeing only barren ground. I closed my eyes, bracing for impact. The moment I should have hit the ground, I felt I was caught by someone.
“So we meet again, Kurtulan.” I heard a deceitful voice say. I opened my eyes to see I was being held in a bridal position by the guy who vanished into thin air after Arthur saw him. Of course, I squirmed out of his arms and crawled backwards a few feet.
“Y-y-you!” I yelled pointing at him. He just laughed at me and walked closer. I immediately crawled back further.
“Cute. You think I have to walk.” As soon as he said that, he puffed himself right behind me. I stood up and walked away, never letting him leave my sight. I was getting really frantic.
“How, that, I mean, that, it’s impossible!” I managed to get out. He did a small chuckle.
“I’m not bound to your restrictions. You see, this world is no longer Earth, but the world of dreams. This place is a mix of all three of you and your friends worse and best dreams. I am the person showing you the ropes of survival, because while in your dreams you just wake when you die, here you truly die.” There was a smirk on his face as he held his hand out for me to take. “Shall we go get your friends?”
“I….ah…bah…eh…” I couldn’t argue since I was shaking so bad, so I just took his hand. I had no desire to after, well, everything, but I wanted to help Arthur and the maid. Within seconds, this guy had poofed us onto the branch Arthur and the maid were on.
“Kurtulan!” Arthur yelled, instantly squeezing me in a hug. “I thought you were a goner.”
“No, she’s alright.” The guy said. Arthur looked over to him, then immediately put me behind himself.
“Wow, I save Kurtulan and you try to keep her from me? That’s not very nice now is it?” he said, puffing over to me, grabbing my hand, and then puffing him and me back to where he was.
“Hey! How did you do that? Give her back!” Arthur was ready to strangle this guy.
“I would, but she has beauty I have never seen before. Plus, she’s independent and cocky. I could easily amuse myself with her.” With that said, he’d drawn the line. I kicked him in the shin and linked elbows with Arthur.
“Didn’t see that coming, did you?!” I yelled at him, whoever he was. He was holding his shin tightly.
“No, I can honestly say I didn’t.” He looked at me and he was ticked. “If you three want to survive, you have to go by my rules. I know this place like the back of my hand and I have nicely decided not to let you all die down here like the other trespassers!” He got up and started walking toward Arthur and I. “Do you want my help, or do you want to die?” This worried me. I looked up to Arthur who I could tell was going to say he’d rather die.
“We’ll take your help!” the maid yelled. She walked over after having been on the other end of the branch. Arthur looked at her as though she was crazy, but I nudged him to say she was right. We didn’t really have a choice. I smiled her as a thank you.
“Well then, you two girls, each of you take a hand.” The man said.
“What about Arthur?!” I wasn’t leaving him, not if it meant we both died.
“I’ll come back for him. Now come on.”
“Take him first, then come back for me. I can trust that you’ll come back then.” I thought it was a fair agreement. He nodded and motioned Arthur to go over to him. With everything said and done, they poofed away, and I was left alone. Well, so I thought. After a few seconds, I heard and saw a large hawk coming my way. I ducked as it flew right over me and landed on the branch.
“You there, what’s your name?” I looked up to see a handsome boy with long black-purple hair and bright blue eyes.
“I’m Kurtul-”
“Her name is unimportant to you.” Said the man from before who I have been scared of several times.
“I don’t think she believes that, Wusatsuki.”
“Well, finally I learned your name! Now, I think so far he’s made a far better impression than you have, so I think it will be just fine to let him know my name!” I thought I made that pretty clear to Wusatsuki. I see his ticked expression returning. “Anyway, my name is Kurtulan.” With that, the hark-boy jumped onto the branch and approached me smiling kindly. Wusatsuki went in front of my though, almost in the protective position.
“Don’t touch her, Sagishi!” he said several other things, but it must have been in a native tongue of sorts. Sagishi replied in the same language, but only now he had an evil expression. His was cool but blood chilling as he spoke like this. However, Wusatsuki was worried and protective. Finally, Sagishi looked straight at me.
“Who would you like to go with, Kurt-tu-lan?” I became speechless, realizing what I had done. I grabbed Wusatsuki’s arm as my answer, and both looked surprised.
“Th-this guy; h-he’s a p-pain of all s-sorts, but r-right n-now, I trust him f-far more than y-you!” I had to force words to come out, because I was so terrified nothing wanted to come out.
“Well then. It was good seeing you Sagishi.” Wusatsuki said before puffing us down to the others.
“What took you so long? Kurtulan, are you alright?” Arthur obviously had no trust still.
“I’m fine, thanks to Wusatsuki. By the way, can I call you Suki for short?” I smiled nicely. At first, Wusatsuki seemed confused, but then smiled down at me.
“Only if you hold onto my arm more often.” His smirk grew wider when he said it, and I felt my cheeks get pink.
“I-I was scared, and I trusted you…enough!” I turned my back towards him and he hugged me from behind.
“Sure that’s what happened. Sure.” I tried to get free from his grip, but it was useless. Luckily, only seconds after Suki said that, Arthur pulled him off of me.
“I suggest you become more of a gentleman, because if you don’t, we’re going to have problems. So, since I made myself clear and we still have no clue about this place, what do we do now?”

 

Tags: