A loud buzzing sound rattles my eardrums and I begrudgingly slump out of bed. I look at my alarm clock. I slept over four hours past schedule. Dang, I must have been _tired. _I look above my door and to my surprise, (and a bit of delight), the never-red siren is as crimson as ever, and bright as emergency lights flash from inside.

This is new. I shiver in exhilaration. _Nothing _new happens around here. It’s always the same old routine over and over again, everyday like a never-ending calendar. Though you might as well scratch off the names of each month, because it wouldn’t matter anyway. This makes me—along with the other 7000 children and teenagers of City 118–long for the day when we finally be reunited with our birth parents when we hit 18. Of course by then we won’t need them anymore, but we can then be dropped off into the outside world to make a name for ourselves and strengthen the world. Kids get deposited all over _from_ all over, which is exciting.

Almost as exciting as me and some of the other kids knowing the exact date of our deposit. We (somewhat accidentally) managed to hear a snippet of a conversation from one of the principals of our school while he was reviewing some of our birth records. Now we know the exact date of when we turn 18, and the best part about it is that I should be hitting 18 in two weeks. But judging from the crazy wake-up alarm, maybe…not.

I tentatively walk towards my door, and pry it open a tad. Nothing. Nobody’s out there, but alarms keep blaring on, loud as ever.

Where is everybody?

“Hello?”

No reply. I throw on a hoodie and walk outside. The screens beside everyone’s doors catches my eye. Usually the schedule for the day is on them, but today is something different.

“**If you’re reading this, then you’re just as doomed as I am**.”

What the…?!

I cup my hands over my mouth. “IS ANYONE THERE?!”

As soon as I scream this, the screen goes pitch black, and the sirens stop blaring. New words fill the screen in front of me.

“**Yes. But I’m not who you’re expecting.” **

** “**I wasn’t really expecting a person to be behind this in the first place.”

“……**Fair.”**

** “**WELL. WHO ARE YOU?!”

“**Sensitive, for starters. You can lower your voice.”**

** **I blush and lower my voice. “Okay, then. Well, who are you? And if you say that I can’t know-“

“**Well, you can’t.” **

** “**Why not?”

“**They’ll get me if you tell anyone who I am.”**

** **“….Who’ll get you?”

“ **I can’t tell you who, but I’m going to send you something to make sure ****_you’re _****not one of them.”**

** **I run my hands through my hair and take a shaky breath. “Alright.”

A short, simple message fills the entire screen in large font. “**Cats and Spam.”**

** “**Cats and…..spam? What is this supposed to mean?”

“**That you and everybody else here might be the only safe ones on the planet.”**

** **

** **