A Race to New World // ATEEZ Dystopia AU

4 | Wooyoung

I just realized I wrote "Monday and Friday morning"  for the upload dates in the first chapter! In fact, it should be "Monday and Thursday" TT Sorry for the confusion!! From now on, new chapters will be posted every Monday and Thursday morning EST <3

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Vancouver International Airport, Canada

"Next."

The line shifted forward by a person.

After more than one hour, I was finally close enough to make out the end of the line, where a man in a military suit was going through the passengers' bags. They had to make sure we didn't bring anything dangerous or too heavy onto the spaceship that would sabotage the flight.

The process was so familiar, I could almost imagine myself boarding a plane to Hawaii with my family.

"Next."

I took one step forward again, and looked at the spaceship parked in front of me. It was one of the biggest ones in Canada, and my ticket to the New World. Four people stood between me and the entrance ramp.

I shifted my weight from my left foot to my right, then back again. Both were sore from the long journey to the spaceship.

A few hours ago, I had arrived the airport like everyone else, thinking that the spaceship would be parked on one of the plane runways, but it was no where to be seen. I had to ask around for directions, most of which pretended not to hear me or just ignored me.

I didn't blame them. Only saints would lower their chances of winning the race in exchange for helping an enemy. Saints, and perhaps idiots.

Eventually, a nice stewardess told me they moved the spaceship farther to the west of the airport, where there was more space and had less Invincs. So I followed her onto a bus, which took us to the barren field where the spaceship was. People had already started to line up before I even arrived.

I decided that the stewardess was a saint, but before I could thank her, she was chased down by one of the robots.

"Next."

It seemed that I was not the only one tired. A lot of people in line were crouching or sitting on their bags, and I was thankful for them. If the Invincs spotted us, they would be their first targets, and I, who was standing, would have an advantage in running away first.

I was also grateful that the army in Canada did a decent job of fending off the boarding areas with gates. They also used electricity to attack the robots, which I noticed didn't 'kill' them entirely, but they seemed to get a little weaker every time they were shocked.

Two more to go.

I didn't understand why, but my knees were beginning to shake the closer I got to the end. So I did what I always did when I was nervous - I touched the pendant that hung around my neck. Inside, I placed pictures of my siblings and my parents.

I'll meet all of you soon.

I took a deep breath to calm my pounding heart, and when I let it out as a long sigh, a white vapor cloud formed in front of my mouth.

For the first time, I realized that my limbs are numb. Also, was that snow falling from the sky?

Sure, I was in Canada, and the world was changing, but it was only the middle of September. It felt ridiculous.

Earlier, I noticed that the air was cleaner and there was no fire to create any smoke, so I had taken my mask off. Now, I decided to put it back on, along with the parka that I had carried along with me.