I was born on a different planet, away from Earth. I’ve never felt the sun on my face, or floated in real water. None of us have, for four generations. After Earth was deemed uninhabitable due to an apocalypse in 2020, the few who survived were sent off to Mars in an attempt to repopulate. And now, over four generations later, we’re ready to go back.

A group of us were sent on a ship together. They chose the ones they didn’t want to keep: the poor people, the mentally ill, and the like. The ones who weren’t of use to them, so if we died due to the climate or something else here, it wouldn’t matter to them. Me? I was one of the poor kids. I remember being chosen, just a week ago. I remember my name being announced over the loudspeaker that boomed throughout the entire planet. I remember my blood running cold in complete and utter terror. But here I was, heading down toward Earth.

As soon as we landed, the heavy doors to the ship opened to reveal a beautiful, grassy area. Nearly everything seemed a beautiful shade of green, from the tall trees that surrounded us to the grass underneath. Sunlight peeked between the branches, providing an almost heavenly light. I unbuckled first, approaching the doors as I looked around in wonder. Everything was so beautiful . . .

“We’re here, suckers!” a voice called. One of the other boys, someone I recognized as James, threw his hands up excitedly, letting out a, “Whoo!” A few of the others followed suit, whooping and cheering excitedly as they hopped down around me. Tentatively, I took a step forward, before jumping down. My feet made contact with the grass. I was wearing heavy boots, but I could tell the leafy strands were soft. I almost wanted to strip off my shoes and feel them beneath my toes, but I didn’t. Who knows, maybe it was poisonous against the skin?

My thought process was soon proven wrong as people began flopping on their backs against the grass, wriggling around excitedly. However, I started thinking again. What would we do now? What could be done now? Would we go looking for supplies? Would we set up camp? Would we go exploring? It seemed the others were starting to think that way too, as their looks of excitement soon turned to looks of worry. We needed someone to direct us. Someone who’d already been on Earth before to show us around. Unfortunately, we were the first people to set foot here. We had nothing and no one.

“Having a map sure would be nice right around now!” James sighed audibly, crossing his arms over his chest. “We’re gonna need direction.”

“What we need is a leader.” I looked around at the others. Who among the group looked most like a leader? I didn’t trust James, and I didn’t know much about most of the others to trust them yet. One woman looked promising, with her soft blue eyes and long blonde hair, but there was something about the way she stood that told me she couldn’t be trusted.

Another guy scoffed. “Are you suggesting you should be our leader?” He sounded doubtful, like he didn’t think I could ever fit the role of leader. I bit my lip. Me? Leader? That’s something I never thought about. I’d never led anyone in my life, other than my siblings when it was my turn to look after them. But maybe I was their best bet for a leader. What other choice did we have? I wasn’t even sure how much time we had left before some disaster could hit us. We had no idea what was on this planet. There could be a massive monster waiting behind a tree, waiting to kill us at any moment.

I realized they were all staring at me, and tensed. My decision had been made for me. They needed a leader, and they needed one now. I sucked in a deep breath and climbed up onto a stack of rocks, gazing down at the other people before me. They were all waiting expectantly for orders.

“Okay, everyone,” I began in as loud a voice as I could, “this is our home now. There’s no going back up to Mars for us, so we might as well set up camp. My name is Aleksandra, and I guess I’m your new leader.” I paused, trying to think of what else to say.

“Let’s get camp set up!” James helped, giving me a wink.

I nodded, and smiled in return at him. I then turned toward the others. “Okay, you five, gather up sticks for firewood and shelter. You five, grab jackets and stuff from the pod to drape over the sticks for warmth.”

I was ready to be leader, and guide these people to survival.