The Unknown Place

 FINAL EXAM

The story starts at that time when I was in 3rd grade, it was my last exam. First and foremost, I was both happy and sad. Happy because after giving the paper, we will get a 2 months holiday, and sad because no one knows what section all my friends will be in. But with the experience of three years being in the same school, I knew for a fact that one would not be with their closest buddy in the coming year, leave alone regular friends. You are gonna lose your favourite teacher too. In our school, the classmates change every year, which is kind of weird.

Well, by the time I was thinking of all of this, my mom, Janice Cooper, said, “Robiee, Robert Cooper. Come and get your breakfast.” During breakfast, mom told me that I must take something that will give me energy to give the paper. Basically, something rich in carbohydrates. Well, for all I knew was that you never take ‘energy’ when you are about to give a test, rather, you take omega 3 because it sharpens your brain. But, as usual, mom wouldn’t budge and she gave me something that is rich in carbohydrates. So, I ended up eating a bowl of cereals with some almond milk in it and settled off for school with a packet of M&M in my pocket.

After half an hour, I reached there and I came to know that all my friends were waiting for me to come with them and enjoy the last day. Then I came to know that class 5th children will sit beside the whole class 3rd. That means I can ask a class 5th kid the whole question paper! It was like a blown opportunity for us, basically for me and not for the other kids because I found out that my partner was a friendly kid, and a bonus, he was a nerd. All the others were badge-holders, and all badge-holders are kind of selfish and grumpy. In our school, you don’t have to do any hard work to get a badge though, you just have to go to the principal's office on the 1st day of the new session with a well written application, requesting to give you a badge, and not only small badges like discipline head, but also sports captain badges. And talking about badges, there’s an opportunity for the kids to get the college captain badge if your mother or father are in the school and work there as a teacher. But it only happens in the junior section.

Our school is divided into two buildings separated by a distance of 1 km. The junior section, in which I am, consists of classes 1 to 5. And the senior section, which along with the lower kindergarten and upper kindergarten, consists of classes 6th to 12th. But I didn't understood one thing, that if the section is named ’senior section,’ then why are there lower and upper kindergartens there? So, by the time we were talking about that sort of thing, the bell rang and we had to go inside our class.

After I entered the class, I found out that roll numbers 1-30 of my class will have to go to class 5 because half of the fifth-grade kids will sit in our class, so they needed benches to sit. So when they gave us the question paper, I saw that I could ask a ton of questions to my partner and I told him that if he didn’t tell me the answers, I’ll say to the teacher that this guy cannot answer the questions of the third grade though he was in the fifth grade. He was a moron. He said ok, and when the answer sheets were given to all the kids, I felt really scared because I spent almost the whole day learning the names, symptoms, causes and ways of prevention of different types of lifestyle diseases and didn’t have a look at anything else.

So, the first worksheet was of the diseases only, so it didn’t take me a lot of time to complete that. After 2 hours, the paper was over and I was feeling pretty relaxed because I asked 90.0% of the paper from the fifth-grader. But my guardian came real quick to pick me up from school, so I didn’t get much time to spend with my friends and play. And when I reached home, my father, James Cooper and my elder brother, Andrew Cooper, started asking me how the paper was. I told them that the paper was awesome. Then I found that mom made my favourite dish, spicy cottage cheese with salted cucumber. Well the cucumber was not in the spicy cottage-cheese curry, it was for the salad. After I ate my food, I went to sleep around 2 p.m. When I woke up at 4, I thought of an idea. I thought that all of us could travel to Xendland, a glorious city with an absolutely magnificent view and the country capital of Chesdell, a country, for the holidays. So, I went to ask dad if we can do so, but dad said that if my percentage will be above 90, only then we will go.

See, this is the problem with dad, whenever you’re in a good mood, dad screws up and makes you rage. I was really mad at him, and whenever my mood is off, I go to my younger brother’s room, Jurg Cooper, and we talk a little bit and after I talk, I feel a little relaxed, so, that’s what I did. He studies in class 2nd and he is basically the topper of the whole 2nd grade! His percentage was 99.5% last year and he is really good at history. But the thing is that I hate history. So, it turns out that we are not the same at studies. And out of 24 hours, he spends almost 8 hours studying. And to be honest, sometimes mom gets in tension that if he’ll study a lot, he will rot his brain and will not be able to do any physical activities. When he was born, it was predicted that he’ll become a great scientist, and maybe, the one who predicted that was right.

So, I just went to the kitchen to get some snacks like milk with protein powder mixed in it and some oreo biscuits with it. But mom forced me to eat some pulses with rice. Man! who eats pulses & rice for snacks, and it sounds a little weird too. I explained to mom when to eat what, but she was not ready to listen to me at all. So, all I could do was to bring my biology book and show her the chart of when to eat what. But she was not ready to listen to me, so I had to eat it. And for dinner, we ate the same thing, as a result dad was extremely mad at mom. In her defence, she said why didn’t dad tell her not to ‘store’ it for ‘future use.’

So, when we were about to sleep, a message came on mom’s mobile at about 9o’clock that the mark sheets will be shown the very next day. So I informed dad that we have to go to see the marksheet tomorrow, and my younger brother was listening everything and he said that he also wanted to go to my school and he was begging to me for that and almost broke into tears, so I had to tell dad that he will also coming with us, and for the first time dad said, “ Yes.”

 DAY TO SEE THE MARK-SHEET

   So, today was the day when I, Jurg and dad went to see my mark-sheet. Most of the children didn’t come because the message came at around 9o’clock in the night, and that’s when half of the Sonsnovka, a city in which we live, sleeps. Well, not half, about 75%. So, as we entered our class, only 12 to 15 students were there including me, but never-mind because I wanted to see my grades above 90%. When the teacher gave me the papers, I couldn’t believe my eyes, I got 100% in science! And almost 95% above in every other subject. So, when we saw all the papers, and gave them back to the teacher, the teacher said to me, “Congratulations, Robert, you are the topper of the whole 3rd grade!” After listening to that, dad’s smile got jubilant. And a special thanks to that 5th grade guy. And if I bump into that guy someday, I might give him a gum or a pretzel for his good deed.

After we all were in our car to head back home, my younger brother started asking for an ice-cream. So, as dad was in a pretty good mood, he took us to Everyday Happiness, the best-known company for the ice-creams. When we entered, my younger brother started asking for the creamy-vanilla-flavoured ice-cream. Then we saw the cost of it was $15! But dad paid that much also for the ice-cream. I told dad to buy the chocolate flavoured ice-cream for me and butterscotch for everyone else. So, when Jurg and I got the ice-cream, we headed for home. On the way home, I asked dad if now we could travel to Xendland as my percentage was 97.07%? Then dad said “Nope”! I was extremely mad at dad for that. As we reached home at about 1:30 pm, dad immediately told mom that I was the topper with a percentage of 97.07%. Then mom said “Geez! 97.07%! That’s a big win! ,” and as she said this, she gave me a tight hug. Both mom and dad were very happy. But I was still mad at dad.

When we all came out after taking a bath, mom made a ton of dishes. She made a spicy-cottage-cheese-curry with egg curry, pork, some biscuits, a home-made fruitcake followed by chilli-flakes and my favourite flavour of pulses with rice, chapati, orangeade, ginger beer and hot chocolate milk. I ate all the dishes one-by-one with a chapati. And at last, when almost everyone had eaten everything and was about to wash their hands, for dessert, mom bought different types of home-made pastries too. Then at the dinner, we ate the same thing as mom saved it for ‘future use’. When we were about to sleep, dad called me over to his room. Then as I entered, dad told me that there’s a ‘surprise'. And as he showed me his phone, I was shocked.

Dad booked 5 tickets for Xendland, which means the whole family will travel! Dad said, “We will leave for there tomorrow.” Then he said “good night, sleep tight, because all of us have to pack everything the next day and also get to the airport” and of course, I did the same thing dad told me. But when I went into my room, everyone was there. I first thought that I must tell everyone the whole story. But I didn’t. And when I was on the bed, I wasn’t able to hold my tongue, and thus, in a low pitched voice, I said, “we’re gonna travel to Xendland!” Everyone had a heart-attack after I told them this. Everyone was hyper-excited but I told them to just keep quiet and sleep because we have to pack everything and get on the plane the very next day. So, everyone did what I said.  

 OFF TO XENDLAND

So, today was the day to pack our luggage, and leave for Xendland. Everyone woke up at 5:00 am because they were very excited about the trip. Mom and dad were in-charge to make egg curry while we were packing our luggage. But then Andrew started saying that he feels uncomfortable in T-shirts and shorts, so, he packed some full shirts, jeans, a swim-suit, a pair of goggles, a swimming cap and a pair of underwear. But what I was surprised about was that who wears full clothes at the beach-side. And he also said that in the house where we will rest, he will wear the same clothes there also. Jurg packed some T-shirts, boxer shorts, underwear for swimming and a pair of underwear for wearing at the hotel or rest house. I also packed the same thing but I packed a swim-suit, a pair of goggles but I didn’t pack the swimming cap because it sticks to my head and when I take it out after swimming, it breaks my hair too.

By the time we took our luggage to the car, the egg curry was prepared. And all of us were very hungry, and when you are hungry, you find everything delicious. So, when mom asked how the egg curry was, we said together, “it is extremely appetizing!” Dad also heard that, so both of them were in a good mood. After eating our breakfast, all of us had to take shower quick because there were only an hour left for the flight to go. And we were 5 but the bathrooms were 4. So mom and dad said one of us had to wait and of course, they said I had to wait. The fastest who came out was Jurg and he took almost 10 minutes, which means that I have to take a bath in 5 minutes. So I planned to just wash the upper body and only my face. And when I came out after 5 minutes, everyone was ready. I realised that I had to get ready fast. Then I came out after 30 seconds and when all of us started going towards the car, dad said that he had to take his beard colour with him. When dad went to take it, mom got really angry at him.

When he came back, we all sat in our car and dad drove it at top speed. Then as we reached the airport, we were running very fast and we also injured some people, and between our running they made an announcement, ”flight 276 delayed. I repeat, flight 276 is delayed because of the bad weather.” So that meant that all the injuries and taking a bath in 5 minutes was of no use. So, we had to wait for around an hour or so and then my phone’s battery was at 15% and the charging station was crowded but I had to go there to charge and I saw that only one plug was left. I went running over there and also got 3 to 5 punches on my face.

After I spent almost half an hour over there, my phone’s battery was full. One hour was left for the flight to take-off. In that one hour, I asked dad for 60$ and of-course he gave me as I topped my whole grade. So, with that 60$, I went to the food corner to have some extra-cheese-pizza. But I found that it cost 20$, because it was from the best of best. I had 60 bucks so I didn’t worry and just spent. And that was extremely fantastic. I was nibbling my pizza so that it would remain for a long time. So, I was not worrying about the time and when 1 piece was left, they made an announcement, “flight 276 is going to take-off after 2 minutes, I repeat, flight 276 is going to take-off after 2 minutes because of the good weather.”

I just gobbled my 1 piece and ran as fast as I could and when I reached my parents, only 30 seconds were left. We all ran towards the flight and luckily, we sat on our seats when only 10 second was left. After the flight was in the air, mom lectured me for 20 minutes for coming late. But then I reminded her that she was going to Xendland just because of me. And in between mom's lecture, some air hostess came and gave mom a menu in which there was a list of food items that were available. Mom ordered Italian-grilled-mozzarella cheese-spread dosa for herself. Jurg wanted a bowl of noodles with some tomato ketchup and some sweetened mango juice. I ordered the same mom ordered, and a monstrilla burger that I never ate in my life. Andrew ordered a bowl of chicken nuggets and dad said, “I don’t wanna eat something heavy, just order a cup of tea.” So, mom ordered that. When all those things came, we covered one-fourth of our destination.

 IN THE UNKNOWN PLACE

   And then, suddenly, a warning sound was made. I thought that we just hit a storm or something and the communication was lost. But it was totally different from my thought and was 100 times worse. One of the pilots was just evolving into a creature whose eyes were maroon, purple body colour with a solid body and extremely long nails and just started destroying the plane because of some toxic waves coming from the nearest island. The plane was continuously falling downwards. Me and my family had no choice except taking the parachute and jumping towards the closest island, from where the toxic waves were coming.

We took the parachute and jumped out. The bag seemed pretty heavy to me and the closest place where we could go was bigger than Xendland and that place was not mentioned in any kind of map. We all opened our parachute and as we were going down, we saw people dying on that island whose faces were terrifying and were covered with blood from the hair to the last fingernail of their toe. But they had only 4 fingers on their toes and 6 in the upper arm. Luckily, we didn't get infected by the toxic waves. We all went as far as we could from those half-dead humans and luckily, we landed near a complete human’s house. We all did a soft landing except Jurg and I. We hurt our right leg. And as the man who was inside the house saw our legs, he invited all of us inside. He dropped a drop of red liquid on our legs and five seconds later, our wound vanished and we were feeling alright. We all were shocked at this. Dad first asked the guy’s name and he replied and said, “my name’s Budlender and you all can also call me buddy.” Dad then said,” OK, how old are you, buddy?” Then in a laughing tone, he said, “I'm 2537, how much are you?

Everyone was basically shocked at this. Then dad asked,” OK, can you please tell us something about those half-dead ones, please,” then Buddy said,” those half-dead ones are basically zombies, and you must know what zombies are.” We all said “yup!'' We also asked him how many hours a day takes here. Then he replied ,”20 hours.” We all were shocked to hear this also. Then mom asked ,”what is the lifespan of a normal person here?” Then he replied,”5000!'' Everyone then thought that Buddy was only 2537 out of 5000 and it took 5 seconds for all of us to realise that this guy is in middle age now. Then Andrew asked,” it’s such a small house and where will we sleep, take a bath, go to the washroom and stuff like that? But before Buddy could say anything dad asked him,” first of all, let me get something straight. How will we go out of this horrible place?” Then Buddy said, “whoa! Nice question. So, to get out of this place, you need to take a berry which is green in colour from the boss of the zombies. The boss of the zombies sits on a throne in the middle of Deadsouls. This place is named Deadsouls (Even the souls are dead here!). So, you have to take that green berry and there’s a giant statue of a very good zombie who made this place, and you have to go to the top of the statue, eat the berry and say ‘Deadsouls’ immortal’ . Watch out! The zombies can also eat you and you have only 5 lives at this place.” And as Buddy completed, dad again asked, “how was this place made?” Then Buddy said,'' Uh, that’s kinda a long story but still, I’ll tell y'all.

Many years ago, like 5000 years ago, there was no place for kind zombies, zombies in the past were very kind and helpful. They were neat and clean and used to help human beings. In fact some owned business. But, as the years went by the people thought that these zombies can harm us a lot, if they want to. So one day, they got attacked by advanced weapons, most advanced of that time in which they couldn’t compete with us. Only one family survived. They ran as far as they could and soon, they discovered Deadsouls. They thought, only this unknown place can be fit for zombies. They built a whole empire, after a lot of struggle and a long period of time and the family who survived, the eldest of that family, was declared as the king of the Deadsouls. With the help of some large brains, he made that green berry, and built a statue of his own face. The statue has magical powers. Whoever ate that green berry, and climbed at the top of the statue and said ‘Deadsouls’ immortal,’ will be able to take only 4 people back to Earth. He can also choose whether to blast Deadsouls or not.

The berry was given from generations to generations. But soon, the new kings of the zombies began to grow stubborn and selfish. And now, Deadsouls is needed to be blasted or else, they will conquer the whole world. The king is building an army for that. He thinks that zombies have to spread all over the world in which zombies could live in peace, but he’s wrong. Now the king is being greedy. Deadsouls is enough for them. This place is needed to be blasted off into pieces,” as he finished, Andrew again asked his question. So, when Andrew completed, Buddy said,” come with me.” Then he went to the front wall and dialed 28765 on a keypad sort of thing, which was embedded in the wall and was rusting. I thought that this code could come into use after sometime, so I requested Buddy a pen and wrote 28765 on my shirt. Then the wall opened and there was a luxury house there. Everyone was stunned to see this. There was a deep silence for about 2 minutes. Then Andrew broke the silence and said, “Hurrrrray! Cheer up guys.” Then we chose our own rooms to live in and one more thing, there was wi-fi over there too. Its speed was 100 kbps! And I seriously don’t know how there was such a good system of internet in such a horror kind of place, so I asked Buddy about this, so he said that he himself built an internet tower through which the whole house has a supply of internet, so then I immediately came to know that Buddy is a kind of genius.

The happiest person was Andrew to find this awesome place. Anyway, so, in my room, there was an AI named Dalgony. Whenever I used to speak “Yo Dalagony,” it used to say, “wassup Robert” which is so awesome and cool. Whenever I used to ask him anything, he would give it to me, and even my favourite chips, Cheetos. There was a TV too. There was 1 bathroom to take a bath and in one, there was a commode. And there was a bathrobe too, which is fantastic. And there was a thing similar to a fire TV stick, which was amazing. And in the middle of everyone’s room, there was a dining hall in which there was an AI too. And there was a protective shield around Buddy’s house and when any zombie used to touch it, he would transform into sand. Days went by and we were enjoying our lives at Buddy’s.

Then one day, dad announced a ‘family meeting’ at the dining table. When buddy came, dad said “Bud, I don't want you here. It’s a personal meeting.” Then we all knew that he’s up to something very serious. Then he cleared his throat and said, “I’m up to a very serious and important thing. Look, we all know that we are enjoying ourselves here. But I’m saying that we must all go back to our real home. I know it sounds crazy, but we have to make a move.” Said dad in a very mysterious voice. Dad was going to say something else but then mom chimed in and said, “ look James, I was also thinking of the same last night. I saw in my dream that it was Christmas eve and we all played some carols and danced with our whole family.

After I woke up, I was feeling very sad. You’re right James. We must make a move.” After listening to that lecture, me, Andrew and Jurg thought that mom and dad were right. “Yes, so, we ought to make a move the next night when Buddy will be fast asleep,” said dad with a worried voice. We all took our dinner and went to our bedrooms. In the middle of the night, I was awakened by a voice in my bedroom. I told Dalagony to give me a pan for my safety. But then I saw that it was only Jurg. He came to me and said, “Robert, I just had a nightmare. Can I sleep with you tonight?” Then I said, “Of course man.” “Thank you,” he replied. Then I asked, “would you like to sleep on the floor or in the little place left in my cosy little bed?” I was sure that he would say I would like to sleep on the bed, but to my astonishment, he said, “No, you could take the whole bed, I’ll sleep on the ground!” I thought he was very kind, and then I immediately asked Dalagony to give me a cosy bed with a warm and cosy pillow and a warm blanket. Then he said, “Good night, sleep tight.” That night, I had a very good dream, and I hoped that Jurg didn’t have any other nightmare.

PLANNING FOR THE ESCAPADE

The next day started and mom and dad were in great vigour to leave in the night, fight those wicked zombies, and get the hell out of here. But me and Jurg were sure that that would not at all be easy. We all took our breakfast and went back to our rooms. Jurg again wanted to come into my room. We both played cards and he won all the time. Well, I could have won but I let him win. Time passed by and it was 6:00 in the evening. Jurg returned to his room at 5:00 pm only. Well, I was a bit scared and Jurg was too. The only one who was ‘sad’ was Andrew because he said that this house of buddy was his favourite place in the world. So, the plan was we will leave at 1:00am in the night. Well, none of us knows when buddy sleeps. So, Andrew was to go and find out when he would be sound asleep.

Now it was only 6 o’clock. We had some fruit cake, some ginger beer, some biscuits, pork pie, a big piece of ham and some biscuits for our lunch. As time passed by, mom and dad’s vigour too began to flag. They started to stress and thought that they could stay here. But their ideas soon changed at the thought of Christmas. Today, at Deadsouls it was 15 November. But on earth, it was already 2nd of December because in Deadsouls, a day had only 20 hours. It was 9:00pm and we had to eat a lot for dinner and pack a large amount for our adventure.

ANDREW TELLS AN ALARMING TALE

 

At around 10:00 in the night, we sent Andrew to have a glimpse in Buddy's room and check out if Buddy was asleep or not. We stood there, sitting and worrying. By the time we were worrying, I went in my room to ask Dalagony to give me a pineapple cake, a fruit cake, some chocolates, a ham, biscuits, toffees, some planks of woods, a match-box, sunscreen, 2 medium size and 3 large size bags, 5 sunglasses, 5 caps, winter clothes for everyone and a lollipop. Well, that lollipop was not for me, it was for Jurg.

I took everything one-by-one in the dining hall. Then dad asked, “I understand that these ham, biscuits and cakes and stuff will not keep us hungry throughout the venture, but why these wooden planks?” “Dad,” I said, “with the help of these wooden planks and match-box we will be able to light fire, which is important in many ways, like, it will keep us warm in this winter season and most importantly it will keep all those zombies away from us and many wild animals too.” Then dad replied, “Ah, that’s my son.” Then he gave me a pat on my back.

We kept everything in our backpacks. Jurg was licking his lollipop joyfully. By the time he was licking, Andrew came running to the dining hall, panting. Then mom immediately asked, “What happe...” but before mom could complete Andrew said, “I’ve got a report. The thing is that, I was whistling and walking towards Buddy’s room and then I heard Buddy say, ‘Oh no. Aaahhhhhh. Aaarrrggghhh. OH BOY. AAAAR.....’ then he stopped screaming. I got cover of a corner as fast as I could. I had a glimpse through the windows and found out that the zombie protective shield got crushed! And then I found out that a zombie has bitten Buddy and he has evolved into a zombie! I have locked his room for now. But he will break it in a few minutes. We just need to run through the back gates. There aren’t any zombies there. C’mon fast. As fast as you can. Quick, or we’ll never be able to go back to our home. Quick!” 

 THE ADVENTURE BECKONS!

   

As Andrew told us all this, we were shocked and were running. We all couldn’t run that fast because we had heavy backpacks hanging on our shoulders, and especially Jurg and dad. Jurg because he was small and dad because he was having thick and heavy planks of wood. We were running and were soon out of Buddy’s shield. But then we saw that his shield started repairing! It meant that now, our only friend in Deadsouls, was infected and was following the commands of an evil king.

We saw a good place to camp which was under a giant Banyan tree. We bought some planks of wood, some cotton (from a cotton tree just next to our camping spot) and some dry leaves. There were dry leaves all over the place, so the wooden sticks that we brought and planned to burn in order to stay warm, we now changed our plan and planned that we will make a house from it since there were so many dry leaves. Then with the help of a match-stick, we lightened fire for the first time on dry leaves. As soon as we lightened it, I gave everyone their winter clothes. They were pretty warm, and made us all feel better. Then when I looked at Jurg, I found out that he was still licking his lollipop! And he managed to finish only half of it till now! Then he said, “Thanks a lot, kind brother!” and I replied, “Naughty boy!.” Then he gave me a friendly smile. After about 20 minutes, mom and dad were sound asleep except us 3 boys.

The night was not very cold. It was about 16 degrees Celsius only at night. We made two camps. In one, mom and dad were sleeping, and in another one, we were sleeping. Then I asked Andrew, “How did you felt when you were just 2 meters away from Buddy?” and then he replied in a sleepy voice, “Afraid.”

 A VERY PLEASANT NEXT DAY

“Now don’t ask any other questions, cause I’ll not be able to answer ‘em,” said Andrew, with an extremely sleepy voice. I then immediately understood why he said ‘I’ll not be able to answer them.’ He always says this when he has a cold or when he’s sleepy. In the morning, Jurg woke up at 7:00 am and I woke up half an hour later.

It was a pleasant sunny day. We all had 5 lives each. It was fun lying lazily in the scorching sun in December. We were in our camp, enjoying a cup of hot chocolate each. Only Jurg was afraid. In the evening, we had some snacks. After our snacks, dad cleared his throat and said, “Today, we’ll rest in this camp and tomorrow we’ll be out.” “Out? Where?” said Jurg with a shivering voice. “Out to take that berry and go back home.” replied dad. Upon hearing this, Jurg’s heart sank. He didn’t want to take the berry stuff, he just wanted to escape. But how would it be without taking the berry?

A SPY IN THE MOONLIGHT 

We ate our dinner and enjoyed playing some cards which Jurg brought from his room. We were enjoying ourselves and at last, as usual, I won. Then we went to our camps to sleep. We all were sound asleep after about 8 minutes. We were sleeping in our cosy cotton beds safely and that’s when a sound of falling vessels jolted us awake.

We went out and to our astonishment, we saw buddy as a zombie. We didn’t know why, but he rushed very fast the moment he saw us. Then suddenly, Jurg, who had the strongest eyesight amongst all of us, saw that on Buddy's chest, it was written ‘The head of the spies’! It meant that he was a spy and was going to tell the Deadsouls’ king that where are 5 people from Earth! We rushed towards him but as we were going to catch him, he vanished!

“Go towards the camp and pack everything. Fast,” said dad suddenly. “I know what his plan is.” We came back very quickly. “What is his plan dad?” I asked. “Now we know that Buddy is the head of all the spies in Deadsouls. Now, when he vanished, he didn’t die, though, he teleported himself to the castle of the king of Deadsouls. He’ll tell his boss that we are here. Then his boss will cage us and kill all of us! So, that’s his plan,” replied dad with an alarming voice. This story of dad really freaked Jurg out.

 I HAD A BRIGHT IDEA 

 

“But dad, we all have 5 lives each right,” I asked. “Then he’ll kill us five times,” said dad, looking very sad. “Hey! I have an idea,” I said, with a cheerful voice. “Listen, my plan is that we’ll first go and have a look at the castle. Then we’ll find out when they’re coming to trap us. And since Buddy is out, we can hide in his house, and when they’ll head back to the castle, thinking that Buddy had a screw loose or something, in that time, we can rush towards the castle from the opposite side and then I’ll take that berry before the king has returned, go at the top of the statue, eat it and say ‘Deadsouls immortal’. How’s the idea?” Then when I finished all of them were looking at me as if they’re gonna hug me. But before they could, mom said, “Stop. Robert, I know your idea’s good, but how will you climb at the top, and getting that berry is not that easy.” “Mom, when we’ll hide in Buddy’s house, I’ll ask Dalagony, my AI, to give me a jet-packet, and with the help of that, I could climb easily, and we could get that berry easily as 75% of the king’s army would be searching for us, I think ” I said. “Yeah, but to enter that big luxury hall, first you’ll have to enter some sort of code,” asked mom. “Mom, that code, I’ve noted it on my shirt, it’s 28765. See, here at my shoulder.” I said. “Oh, good!,” both mom and dad said together.  

 HIDING FROM DANGER! 

      So, according to the plan, we first decided to go to the castle. Jurg had a map in his bag. Dad gave each of us a diamond sword. “Where’d you get that sword from?” asked mom, looking very happy, indeed. “I got it from my room. There was 1 under every bed,” said dad, looking very proud. On our way to the castle, we found 2 or 3 zombies, their mouths opened, covered all over with blood and some of them spitting venom. It was not a pleasant sight but we handled it with the help of our diamond sword. “This sword is working great dad,” said Andrew, and yes, it was working great. “It would now be a bit easier to get the berry as this is a great sword and would kill every zombie which comes in our way,” I said.

 As a zombie used to touch the sword, he transformed into sand, like buddy’s zombie shield. We soon approached the castle. It was big and was covered with skeletons and skulls. Blood was being dropped from the skull, and it was a horrible sight. “How will we get in man,” said Andrew, annoyingly. “We should have thought of it earlier. Ugh! Now I’m losing my temper!” “Shut up man,” I said, “we don’t have to go in now. We have to hide now. We are here to find out when they are coming to chase us. And don’t shout. If the king is preparing to go out, the guards must be very alert,” but after my lecture also, he was looking miserable. Then we found the king announcing, “Every guards be very alert, because the almighty of Deadsouls, your trusted king, is preparing to go and find those 5 ugly beasts and kill them! All the guards who are coming with me, be armed, we are gonna leave in 5 minutes!” then there was a very big applause at the spooky castle.

 I was right! 75% of the army was going out. Now, we may leave,” I said. We were walking from the opposite side of the king. Then suddenly, dad said,” Hey. Look at your diamond swords, everybody. It’s written, hold me as tight as you can and say: ‘Deadsouls’ Immortal’ and then say the name of the place you wanna go. Alert! You can teleport only thrice using me. Whoa! That’s cool!” “Well,” I said, “we all can teleport with only one sword! See, it’s written here. It’s simple. Everyone has to touch any sword and one guy will say ‘Deadsouls’ Immortal’ and say the name of the place.” “Hmmm! It’s a good feature,” said Andrew. “We’ll teleport using my sword!” said mom “That’s a better plan mom,” said Andrew. And then, we all got hold of mom’s diamond sword and she said, “ ‘Deadsouls’ Immortal!’ Take us to Buddy’s.” And as mom said this, a portal opened on our feet and we magically got bumped inside Buddy’s! Then I typed ‘28765‘ and the door opened and we came inside, but as we stepped in the hall, we got killed by 5 large arrows straight on to our chest! Then, a skull was made at our death spot. And to our astonishment, we all were in a milky white room, and a kind woman asked us, “where would you like to respawn in Deadsouls!” Then we all said together, “IN BUDLINDER’S LUXURY HALL,” we said it out loud. And the kind woman replied, “Location detected. May you all have a happy journey.” “The good news is that we have the diamond swords still left with us, and everything present in our backpacks,” said dad, trying not to stress that only 4 lives are left! I got to my room where I used to stay.

 But, Buddy’s smart enough. He smashed everyone’s room’s AI into pieces! “Now how would we climb man,” said Andrew, irritated. “Now we have no other option,” said dad, “We have to climb with our own climbing skills. Now, the question is, who knows how to climb and can climb that giant zombie statue?” “Hey, I have a better plan,” said Jurg, cheerfully, “We can teleport!” “Well,” said dad,”that’s not a better plan, that’s the best plan! None of us knows how to climb, and teleporting is the best option. First we’ll go to the castle for the berry, then to the statue!” Everyone sighed with relief. Then all of us caught hold of mom’s sword and then mom immediately said, “ ‘Deadsouls’ Immortal’, take us wherever the precious green berry is.” But then it replied, “Access denied.” “What, why the hell, why isn’t it working?” said mom. And as mom said it, we found one more trap!

 This time 5 big swords came from the top and sliced all of us into pieces. Then we all again came into that lonely white room. This time we saw that on the top of the room, it was written ‘respawning room’. Then again that kind lady came and asked us the same thing. We all said “ into Budlinder’s luxury hall,” rather gloomily. Then the same thing happened and we were all again in the luxury hall. “What a pity, only 3 lives!” said Jurg. “Now everybody, heads up, stay sharp!” said dad, in a mysterious tone. And as dad said ‘stay sharp’, we found another trap. This time, a blade sort of thing swung right at us and sliced our heads off. Then again the same respawning room and that lady and we all respawned successfully. “What! Not again!” said mom.

 We all decided to head back and find some way to climb that tall, steep statue. But the problem was, the zombies were searching for us like dogs. So, we all could do nothing but sit and wait for the skeletons to clear out. But right at that moment, we got a nasty shock. Buddy had kept a tracker on all of us! The first one to figure it out was dad. Then he said, “Heyyy! Buddy had kept trackers on us! See, it’s beeping over here, on my shoulder. We all need to throw our clothes and throw it as far away as we can from the back door. Hey Robert, fetch the binoculars from my camper bag.” Everyone thought that they are not gonna survive anymore and this mystery will be everlasting. I came back in a trice with the binoculars and handed it to dad. “Oh no!” he cried. “The zombie army is only about 70 yards away from us! We need to make a move quick.” And just at that moment, I realised that the AI in buddy’s room was still safe, untouched! I ran there and ordered a jetpack with my heart thumping fast, my whole body shivering and my hands trembling!.

 A THRILLING FINISH!

  When I was heading back, my family was gone and the house was surrounded by zombies! I heard dad screaming, “Run! Run Robert. Run for your lif.....” Right at that moment, I heard a screaming voice from everyone. I knew that my family was killed. And it turns out that they killed them twice! And the king of Deadsouls can control the respawning room! So that meant that it was all upon me! And now that they were gonna search for me, I can’t even stick to my plan, and get the berry! The king of Deadsouls enjoyed his victory, not knowing that I was still alive.

 Then when I started making a run, someone said, “Hey. Who’s tha..?” then buddy said, “It’s….. it’s him! Robert! I thought he was left out! He's one of those whom we killed just now! Chase him!” I felt as if my heart stopped thumping! Some skeletons, wearing immensely torn shirts and trousers, with blood all over their face, barefoot, and the skull broken, with little flesh on every part of them, were chasing me. I was then absolutely sure that I’m gonna die, because there was no way I was gonna be able to get the berry all alone. Then, right at that moment, I thought that I could make it. In between my running, the zombies who were chasing me started getting killed one by one! Then I noticed somebody was on top of a 10 feet high tree. I don’t know why, but the king of Deadsouls started to flare. And not just him, his whole army was raged up!

 Then the one who was sitting on the tree, muttered something and was swinging a sword. Then he pointed at me with his sword and to my astonishment, a large portal opened beneath me and I fell down and landed with a huge bump on top of the statue! Everyone was staring at me, dumbfounded and petrified.

 

 And then I realised that the man who was sitting at the tree gave a duplicate copy of the green berry! And with my heart thumping fast, I ate the berry and shouted out “Deadsouls Immortal!” and then after that, a big explosion happened and all the zombies were wiped out! It meant I had won! And then, the man who saved me, was standing in front of me. He said in a dark voice, “you can take 4 people with you back to Earth. And you are also counted in that 4.” My family was 5, and I could take 4. I didn't know what to do. Then I thought it was time for me to save my family. I knew I had to make a sacrifice. There was no other option in front of me. Then with a lot of courage, I said, “I want to take my mom, dad, my elder brother and my younger brother back to Earth.” The man who was in front of me said, “You sure?” “Yes.” I said. Then the man smiled at me. “You are a kid with very high courage! I appreciate that! Your reward is that now you can also go back to Earth with your mom, dad, Jurg and Andrew!”

 “Hey, wait for a sec, how do you know my elder and younger brother’s name? And there’s one more guy I wanna take home. He's Budlinder or Buddy for short ” I said. “I know everything, kid. Tell me, do you wanna explode this place?” Said that man. I said “Yes. But wait, what about y...” but before I could finish, another big explosion was made and I was sitting on my drawing room sofa with my family, and Buddy! “You saved us Robert!” exclaimed everyone, patting me on my back, “I think I need to throw a party, because something like this deserves a serious celebration! But not a single one of you, let the word out. It has to be a secret,” said dad.

 And then I told them the whole story. Everybody was listening with their mouths open! “Well, that was astonishing! I need to get some food or else I'll pass away!” said Jurg. And, we were all sitting in the dining hall, eating the dinner joyfully.

 I was very happy and proud. And moreover, tomorrow was Christmas! But I kept thinking of that guy who saved all our lives. Well, I guess the thrill is over and you all don’t wanna read anymore. Also, only one exciting part is left and that is how we enjoyed our Christmas, but whatever, so I guess this is -

THE END!