Fiction: Group 3
Shimmer
The International School of Macao, Sutton, Dylan - 12, Fiction: Group 3
ain. I feel so much pain. My stolen plasma gun is lying next to me smashed to pieces. I feel like I’ve
just been hit by a gigantic fist. Oh wait, I just was. Everything around me is either destroyed or on
fire. The air smells like smoke. My lungs refuse to breathe. Suddenly, everything around me goes
dark.
Five hours earlier…
The digital sun lights up my room instantly. “Good morning, sir. How would you like your coffee
today?” “Sigh. No coffee for me today, computer. Turn on the shower, download the route to work,
prepare my usual breakfast and turn on the sprinklers.” “Yes, sir.”
“TV, channel 1337.” “Yes, sir.” The
smart TV executes my order. “This just in! The Pearl River Delta claims another victim. This once popular
tourist attraction well known for its water’s high level of radioactivity claimed another life this morning. A
bank robber making his getaway in a heavily modified yellow hover car crashed into the side of the road and
landed in the middle of the river. Witness reports indicate that bubbling continues at the crash site. This is
GLADTEC news. Stay with us. We will be back after a short break.’ GLADTEC is up to no good. Last year
they built a nuclear reactor under the Pearl River Delta. Soon after, its core overloaded and started leaking
toxic chemicals into the river. That put an end to all river transportation as ships began slowly to disintegrate
on the water. The excited voice of the news anchor follows me around the house as I take my shower and
devour my breakfast.
I take out my hover car keys, but their radioactive glow blinds me and I drop them. They disappear
into a crack in the asphalt. “Great, guess I’ll just use my brain chip.” The hover car door unlocks. I get my
plasma gun out of the glove box. “ Good morning, sir. Please state your destination.” “Office.” The engine
starts to hum and I’m on my way to work. Warning holograms keep popping up along the road alerting me
to the dangers of swimming in the river.
I park and take the capsulator up to the 145
th
floor. Another day at the office. Another gadget by
GLADTEC. This time it’s a circlebot that hovers around and helps you live. We slowly forget how to use
our bodies to do the simplest things.
From my office windows I can see the site of the accident. Hover jets are circling the area. A slight
movement catches my eye. It seems to intensify. Suddenly, a huge hump rises out of the water. I gasp. The
Pearl River waters are sucked into this amorphous body. They’re feeding into a yellow orb at its center,
which must be the nuclear core becoming unstable.
I’ve seen it happen before with mutated fish, but never
this large.
The creature rises above the ground and lets out a deafening roar. I rush towards the capsulator and
find myself sandwiched between office workers on the way down. We dart out of the building as the
monster releases another glass shattering roar. Hover jets are blindly firing lasers and plasma orbs at it. It
explodes and we yell in excitement. It’s gone. Or is it? We stare in shock, as the monster is reborn from the
radioactive goop. It’s no longer bright yellow, but speckled with blue and red. That’s when we realize that it
has absorbed the plasma orbs and lasers, which it now fires back at all the buildings around. Everything is on
fire. Entire office towers collapse around us like cardboard boxes.
I want to get away as fast as I can, but I cannot leave my peaceful city fall prey to the horrendous
monster. I have to do something. Anything. I suddenly remember that there is an anti-radiation shield at
the Hong Kong airport. I quickly run to the fire exit and get to the carpark. I stop as part of the ceiling
crumbles. I stare in shock as rock and dust bury my car. I am about to give up when I notice an abandoned
super hover car. I’ve always wanted to drive one! I get in, but there are no keys. The entire ceiling is
threatening to come crashing down. I have to act fast. I quickly check the glove box. No keys there. I check
the floor. Nothing. Then I see a hidden compartment. I punch it open and find the spare keys. I quickly
start up the hover car. Luckily the car assistant is offline otherwise I’d be trapped in here.
As I drive out of the car park, I am horrified by the destruction, but there’s no time to mourn. A
plasma orb is heading towards me. I stomp on the accelerator. 100 mph, 200 mph, 300 mph. The homing
plasma orb is still on my tail. I press the overload engine button. The hover car immediately goes to 1000
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