The final bell of the day rang and students began to pour out of the classroom. “Do you want to hang out after school today?” Ben asked as he packed his things into his book bag. “We could go to the pond and catch some fish - it is Friday after all!”“My pole broke last time we went, remember?” John turned to look at Ben. “And don’t forget about my game later tonight.” “Oh yeah! When you hooked the rock and thought it was a fish” Ben laughed to himself. “You can borrow one of my poles, and your game doesn't even start until six o'clock tonight. We have time.” “Sorry man, I have to get to the field early. You can come with me if you want,” John said as he put on his backpack. “We can go fishing tomorrow.” “I have to go work in the shop tomorrow. Today was the only day I had off this weekend.” Ben stood up. “I’ll go to the game with you tonight, though.” Madison and Sabrina walked over to them. “Hey John! Are you ready for the game against Lowell tonight?” Madison asked with great excitement. “You bet! The whole team is pumped up and ready to go!” John said confidently. “Are both of you going to the game tonight?”“Yeah! I'm giving Madison a ride,” Sabrina replied. “We can't wait to see you guys win!” “Don't you worry, we will. This has been our team's best season yet,” John remarked with a smirk.“It’s probably because you're the captain of the team,” replied Sabrina. “We’ll see the two of you later tonight, okay? We have to go and get ready.” said Ben as he and John left the classroom. They walked out to the parking lot where they saw one of John’s teammates waiting for them. “Hey Matt! You need a ride?” John asked. “No, I’m good. I just wanted to stop by and see my captain before the big game tonight!” Matt smiled. “And I wanted to talk to Ben for a second.” “What do you need this time, you big brute?” Ben jokingly asked. “Would you be able to install the turbo I just got for my truck?” “I can install it but I won't, I have my own truck in the shop right now.”“Come on. Your truck’s from the 80s! It’s gonna take a while to fix. Please just install the turbo for me,” Matt begged. “I can't afford a real mechanic right now but I know you can do it.”“We'll see. Win tonight and I'll do it,” Ben said with a laugh. “I’ll see you later.” John, Ben, Madison, Sabrina, and the rest of the baseball team headed down to the baseball field. Slowly, the bleachers filled up with spectators. The game began. Whitney took the first few innings, but the opposing team started making a comeback in the last few innings. In the ninth inning, Whitney was up to bat with Lowell winning by a few points. The bases were loaded with John on third base, and Matt stepped up to the plate. Matt, being the football team’s quarterback in the off season, had the hardest hit on the team. He knew that if he made this hit, Whitney would take the game. John nodded at Matt and the crowd in the bleachers roared.The pitcher winded up and threw. Matt swung with all of his might.Crack!He hit the ball. Suddenly, the scoreboard and stadium lights blinked once and shut off. The crowd hushed and John ran over to the bleachers. “What happened? Did a power line go down or something?” John asked. “I have no idea,” replied Ben. “Maybe an earthquake? We do live in Northern California.”“No, I don't think so. I didn't feel anything and my phone won’t turn on.” said Madison. “It must’ve been an EMP then,” said Sabrina.“An EM-what?” asked John. “An EMP it's a burst of energy that can knock out or fry any unshielded electronics,” she explained. “They’re caused by sun flares and are super uncommon.” “Everybody listen up!” The coach yelled to everybody. “ Due to the power outage, we are asking that everyone finds their parents or the group they came with and return home immediately so that everyone is safe. Thank you!”“Well, looks like we're all walking now,” Ben frowned.“Why wouldn't we just drive home?” asked Madison. “Because if the EMP did fry all of the electronics then that means all of the cars computers got fried too,” Ben replied.“We should all walk home together, and then we can get our cars towed when they fix the power.” Madison suggested.“Can I come with you guys, too? I live on the same street as Sabrina,” Matt asked as he walked toward the group.“Sure. We're safer in numbers, and you're probably the strongest kid at our school,” Ben responded.. They began their walk home through the inky black streets. “It’s so weird how dark it is without any lights or cars on the roads,” said Sabrina as they walked. The others nodded. “Hey! There are a whole bunch of headlights up ahead,” Ben said. “Those are some pretty intense lights on those cars.” “They're military vehicles. HMMWVs and MRAPs to be exact,” said Matt. “It's probably the National Guard going to help with the outages.” “I wonder why they have guns mounted on them, then. Why wouldn't they just bring generators?” John wondered aloud. “Maybe they don’t know whether it's an EMP for sure so they’re preparing for anything,” said Sabrina. “Or maybe we're getting attacked by aliens!” Ben said, chuckling. “Whatever it is, there's a lot of them,” said John. “How come their trucks still work? “The EMP probably only affected a certain area,” said Sabrina. The group continued to walk through the night, eventually making it to Madison’s house. By this time, a thick fog had rolled in, making it impossible to see farther than a few feet ahead of them. They entered the front door to find the house completely silent and pitch black. Madison opened the kitchen door and saw a single candle burning on the floor. “Hey, Mom, Dad, anyone home?” Madison called up the stairs. She walked behind the counter and saw her Mom and Dad lying on the ground. She ran to them. “Oh my god, what happened?” She screamed. They didn't move. The others entered the kitchen. Sabrina bent down and checked their pulses. “Both of them are still alive. They’re breathing with a pulse but are completely unconscious.” The boys laid them on the living room couches. “What is going on?” Madison asked frantically. “I think we should just wait for them to wake up.” Someone knocked on the front door. Everyone jumped but stayed where they were. A muffled voice yelled “This is the army! Is anyone home?” No one answered “We are entering. Please make yourselves known.” The group moved to hide in a closet, leaving Madison’s parents on the couch. The soldiers kicked open the door and they began searching the house. “They're wearing gas masks,” Matt said quietly to the rest of the group. “Sergeant! We got two over here in the living room,” one of the soldiers yelled. The sergeant strode over with a clipboard.“Okay, this is Mr. and Mrs. Baker. Load them up into the truck,” he barked at the other soldiers. “We're missing the only child, it's a high school senior. Go find her,” he yelled to the other soldiers. The soldiers continued to search the house, making their way closer and closer to the closet. One reached his hand out to open the closet door, and the group held their breath. Suddenly, the sergeant yelled, “Did you find her yet?” “No, Sergeant, we’re still looking.” They walked away from the closet. “She's not here. And a bunch of kids went missing from a sports game tonight. Let’s go.” The soldier looked at the closet again, hesitated, and left the room. The group took a deep breath.“That was really close,” Ben said quietly. “What was the Army doing in my house? Why did they take my parents?” Madison asked. “That wasn't the real military,” Matt said. “I know a lot about it because my dad is a Marine Corps instructor, and he works at the mountain warfare training center near Mt Patterson. I grew up around it.”“Oh. How do you know they aren’t real soldiers?” asked John. “They were wearing black uniforms, but no branch of the military wears black uniforms. Also, they weren't wearing American flags,” Matt responded. “One thing confused me, though. They had military-issued gear; gas masks, rifles, night vision goggles, and helmets. And they definitely had American accents.” “Why did they take my parents?” Maddison yelled emphatically. “I don't know. But we aren't going to find out by sitting here. We should try to find somebody else,” John suggested. They carefully and quietly left Madison’s house through the back door. The fog had started to clear, and Matt estimated that it was just after midnight. Madison’s front door had the number one spray painted on it in harsh white. The surrounding houses had large exes sprayed onto their doors. The group went to John’s house next, and his door was also marked with a one. The house was completely empty. They then ventured to Matt and Sabrina’s houses and found the same thing. By the time they had gotten to Ben’s house, it was nearly two-thirty in the morning. “Okay, I’m getting creeped out,” Ben said. “It's got to mean something, it's only on our doors.”“Man, I'm hungry,” said Matt. “Let’s grab something to eat inside my house,” Ben said. They cautiously walked into Ben’s house to figure out what to do next.“I think I know what the markings on the doors are,” said Sabrina. “Really? What?” asked Matt.“Only our houses were marked differently. Everyone else’s had an X on it. I think that the number means how many people are missing from the house,” she said. “Think about what the soldiers were saying at Madison's house when they discovered that she was missing.” “You’re right. We can go to where my dad works, he is in the military after all,” said Matt. “How can we get there? We can’t walk,” Sabrina said. “No. But we can drive there,” said Matt. “We can fix Ben's truck, it doesn't have a computer in it.” “Sure, and I can get it running,” said Ben. “Give me a few hours. Matt, come help me.” John watched for any soldiers as the two worked on the truck, and four short hours later the truck was fixed and ready to go. They began the drive on the empty roads. Two hours later, they arrived at the Marine Installation. “The guard shack in front is empty, I wonder where everyone is,” said Matt as they pulled up to the facility. They parked the truck in a ditch on the side of the road and covered it in brush. Matt grabbed his baseball bat from his bag as the rest of the group got ready to enter the facility. “Stay behind me, I've been here before with my Dad,” said Matt. “Okay, but we still have to be careful. We don't know what we might find in there,” John added. They made their way through the base without seeing anyone, and finally found their way to Matt’s father’s office. It was empty.Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed from the hallway. Matt clutched his bat and crept to the door.Crack! Matt’s swing was so strong that it broke the glass on the soldier’s gas mask, who stumbled. “You brat! My gas mask is broken. I’m gonna take you with me,” he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at them. Matt swung again, and knocked the gun to the floor. John jumped on the soldier, pinning him to the ground, and the girls quickly tied him up. “Why are you all wearing gas masks? What is going on?” Matt yelled at the restrained soldier.“I'll tell you one thing, kid. The gas we released makes everyone older than twenty years old pass out so we can collect them. We keep the kids awake so we can send them to political reeducation,” the soldier said. “That's the only reason you’re walking around right now. I’m about to pass out because I’m twenty-five.”“Why did you tell us this?” Madison asked.“Because it doesn't matter,” the soldier responded. “This base is crawling with patrols looking for kids like you. They're gonna find you and now you know your fate when they do.” The soldier’s eyes faded and he lost consciousness. “What are we going to do now? This is a lot worse than we thought,” said Ben.“First, we have to get off this base without getting caught,” said John. The group started to move through the halls to exit the base. When they reached the ditch they had parked in, they realized their truck had been found and was being searched. They hid behind the soldiers' trucks. Up ahead, a patrol headed their way. Quickly thinking, John got everyone to climb inside the back of a truck. They were shocked and disgusted to see that the truck held the bodies of some unconscious adults. The soldiers walked over and got into the cab of the truck, and the engine started. It began moving.“Great. Where are we being taken now with all of these bodies?” whispered Madison. “Maybe this is a good thing! Now we can really find out what's happening and maybe save some people,” John said enthusiastically. The truck began to slow down and they looked outside. A sign read “Sierra Army Depot”. “We're pretty far from home now,” said Sabrina as they entered the base. It appeared to be currently in use as a prison for the adults that had been taken. As soon as the truck stopped, the five of them jumped out and entered the nearest door. They worked their way through the facility, dodging guards. Eventually, they found a room labelled Command Room. The team entered. They only saw a single officer typing on a keyboard. “Don't move unless you really want a concussion,” Matt said while holding his bat ready to swing.“How did you get in here? I didn't realize we had a pest problem on this base,” the officer snarled, turning around to face them. “I'm guessing you're in charge of this whole thing,” John said. “Me? No, I'm just a cog in the machine. There are people like me all over the country doing the exact same thing. Even if you were to stop us here, your efforts would be futile,” the officer scoffed. “Why are you doing all of this?” Ben asked.“New management. Just business, nothing personal.” “I've heard enough. Matt, take him down,” said John. The officer pressed an alarm button and Matt quickly knocked him out. “Quick! We have to find a way to open the containment,” John yelled. Sabrina was able to find the prisoner controls in a disguised file cabinet and opened all the cells in the facility. The prisoners immediately revolted, outnumbering and overtaking the guards. Not long after, the US military was able to regroup to take back parts of California, releasing prisoners as they went. In the end, the oppressive regime that was trying to take hold was stopped by nothing more than a group of five high school students. Eventually, it was uncovered that the evil organization was a coup headed by multiple corrupt politicians. It took six months for the entire country to restabilize. John, Ben, Sabrina, Madison, and Matt were named national heroes for saving their country. The people involved in the organization were caught attempting to flee and were tried for the crimes they had committed. They were convicted and the country was stable once again.