Okay, so I have a repeated version up at the top. Here is the normal version:

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

I was going to put both videos at the top, but it would only let me put one. So if you want to listen to the song while you read, play the top one. If you don't want to listen to it while you read, listen to the bottom one. The top one has a video without lyrics, and the bottom one has a video with lyrics. I hope all of this makes sense. It will be this way for every chapter.

The song that has inspired this story is Radioactive by Imagine Dragons.

Okay, everything is all worked out hopefully. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Alright, with no further delays, let's begin.

The Only Hope

I looked out the window of the old school bus. It was raining. Acid rain most likely. Harmless unless it touched any living organism. I looked around the bus to make sure all windows were closed. They were.

As we drove on our endless journey, there was nothing but wreckage and damage. Nothing but fires. Nothing but destruction. Most plants and animals were dead. Few were salvaged and brought to indoor farms. Food was very scarce.

This all started 20 years ago. An army of giant robots sent from a different planet attacked the planet. Earth won, but suffered greatly. The robots were all dismantled but released chemicals harmful to the human race. The chemicals brought diseases and suffering. Many died. There were few survivors. They were sent to a safe place, but eventually caught the disease and died.

All of the current survivors never take of hazmat suits. They were born in places that sealed off outside air. They are trying to save the human race.

I am among the generation of children who are human race's last hope. The only chance of survival. Each of us were born in one of the places that cleansed the air from the outside. The adults were all scientists, trying to find a way to make us immune to the diseases. In my generation, a boy and a girl were paired together and given a form of treatment and were sent away to other facilities that would give the next step to the treatment. There is hope that one day a pair will be immune and will save the human race. The bus ride is really just a way to test if we are immune to the chemicals in the air. This has been my routine for the past 14 years of my life.

I looked out of the bus window again. The clouds gave such a dreary effect. Everything was dull and lifeless. I saw one of the giant alien robots. There was fire burning on it that has been fueled for the last 20 years.

"Listen up," Dr. Allen said from the aisle at the front of the bus. He was wearing a white hazmat suit. A mark that he was watching over the next generation. The generation of hope. "We will be arriving to the next science facility in a few hours. You all may talk quietly until we get there. But the moment I tell you to be quiet, you better be quiet. That's all."

He sat back in his seat and the quiet chatter began. The 20 pairs of people on the bus managed to keep their voice at a low level.

"You shouldn't look out the window so much," Drake said to me. He was the person I was paired with.

"Why shouldn't I?" I asked, turning to look at him.

"It's too depressing. You should look around the bus like everybody else does. You should look at all the pairs and have hope."

"I want to see if there is anything that managed to survive. Maybe a blade of grass. Or a rebellious flower."

"You know nothing can survive the acid rain."

"Still. I want to know that we aren't all that's left."

"But there are more buses carrying pairs. We aren't alone."

"For the past 14 years there have been buses of pairs. We are all that's left. The only hope left. Sure, there are few farms with few animals and plants. But nothing can support itself anymore. Every has to be protected. Nothing can survive."

"But we have survived."

"Only because we have scientists inject who knows what into our bodies. And not all of us have survived. We used to have four buses that traveled together. Now we only have one."

"But we have lasted longer then many."

"But the cure still hasn't been found. At each facility they run tests to check our immunity. And guess what, they haven't found a cure. Just like everybody else we are all going to die and it's going to be horrible because there won't be a generation of hope anymore and it will be too late. Then all of the scientists will give up like they should have 14 years ago."

"Don't be such a downer Hope."

"Okay, stop calling me Hope. I know my parents named me Hope, but I don't want to be Hope anymore."

"Okay."

"I'm sorry, I'm just not in a good mood today. The rain always puts me in a bad mood."

We were silent for a while. Everybody else was talking about what they thought the earth used to be like. Just like always. There was nothing else to talk about. I finally broke the silence between Drake and I.

"Do you think they will ever find a cure?" I asked.

"I honestly have no idea," Drake answered. "But if they do I hope it's us."

"Yeah. I'm glad that we are a pair that actually get along. Unlike most pairs."

"Yeah. That's true."

"I hope my parents are still alive and I will one day get to meet them."

"Yeah, me-"

Drake was cut off my Dr. Allen. "Everybody be quiet!" he yelled. "I don't even want to hear a cough!"

Everybody was dead silent. We all knew what happened when we talked after being told not to. The bus would stop and we would be thrown out and left for dead. Even if we were a hope for a cure.

The rest of the ride was silent. We reached the facility just as the rain stopped. We were told to stay out of puddles and be careful not to get wet.

"You know the drill," Dr. Allen said as everybody got of the bus. "Once you get in the facility there will be somebody that will take you to the get any chemicals cleaned off of you."

We all walked in the building and followed the same routine that we have been following for the past 14 years.

We walked in single file, following the woman that was taking us to be sanitized. We were each given a new set of pure white clothes and were put into different sanitization chambers. The boys went in one and the girls went into the other. We changed into the clothes they gave us, and the sanitization process began. First, hot water rained down on us. Then, hot air came from the floor and dried us. This happened a few more times. When we were all sanitized, we exited the chamber from the opposite side that we entered.

"Get into you pairs and a scientist will get with you soon," somebody instructed. I immediately found Drake and we hugged. We always hugged after being sanitized. It was just something weird that we did.

After about five minutes, a scientist came up to us and took us to a room. He carried a clipboard that I assumed had own information on it. He had us sit on a table and he sat in a chair in front of us. He flipped through some papers on his clipboard.

"Are you two Hope and Drake?" he asked. We nodded our heads. Nobody was supposed to talk around the scientists unless told other wise. "Okay then, I am Dr. Smith I will be administrating the next step of your cure. First we must run some tests and do a check up."

He checked our breathing. He checked out blood pressure. He checked our temperature. He checked our heart rate. He checked everything. He asked if we had been eating properly. If they have been giving us certain things. All we did was nod.

"Okay then," Dr. Smith said. "All we have left to do is draw some blood and go get it tested."

When he finished drawing some blood, he put colorful bandaids over the places he drew blood from. This was different from every other time they have done this. They always gave us brown bandaids, never colored ones.

"Alright," Dr. Smith stated. "I'm going to take you to your quarters and get you blood tested. Tomorrow we will complete the process and give you the next step of your cure. Any questions?"

We sat there, silent.

"Come on, you have to have something you are unsure about. It can be about anything. Asked me about the old earth or the giant robots."

"How will making us immune save the human race?" I asked.

"Well," Dr. Smith started. "With each step of your cure we edit your genes little by little. When you are immune, the editing we did to you genes will be passed down to your children."

"How do you know it will work?"

"We edited your parents genes to give you a certain trait. Maybe to give you a certain hair or eye color, and it worked. So we are creating each of your cures like we did to get that certain trait from your parents."

"How do you know those traits didn't come from our parents anyways?"

"We gave you traits different from your parents."

I sat there quiet. I was done asking questions. I wasn't happy with my answers. I didn't want the fate of humanity to be on my shoulders. I wish I lived before the giant robots invaded.

"Will we ever get to meet our parents?" Drake asked. Dr. Smith looked at us like he really didn't want to tell us.

"I don't know," he said. "They donated you to science to save the human race. I don't think they were too concerned about seeing you again. If they look for you they may be able to find you, but that is very unlikely."

An awkward silence fell upon us. Without saying a word, Dr. Smith got up from his seat and opened the door to the room. Drake and I got up from the table and filed out of the room. Dr. Smith put a hand on each of us and led us to the quarters. We reached the quarters before anybody else. The room was empty.

Dr. Smith left us secured in the quarters and left to go test our blood. I selected one of the many beds and sat down on it. Drake sat on one next to me. We faced each other.

"I don't know who much longer I can handle this," I said.

"We'll get through it," he replied. "We are strong."

"This is all too much. I'm done doing the same thing every day. Ride in the same bus. Eat the same food. My life is in a never ending loop."

"It will end one day. One day a cure will be found and we will be immune."

"No, they won't find a cure. It's impossible. They are only looking because they want to have hope. They might as well stop trying."

"Hope, don't say that."

"Stop calling me Hope!"

I turned away from Drake and lay on the bed. I forced myself to keep from crying. This was all too stressful, even though it's hardly anything. It's such a simple life, yet so complicated.

-------------

"Alright," Dr. Smith said. It was the next morning and we were about to receive the next step of our cure. "Your blood results are in this envelope. These results will tell you how your last treatment affected you immunity." He held up an envelope. "I have not looked at the results yet. I like to give the pairs a chance to find out when I do. Most pair don't even know what level of immunity they are at. Just remember. If your immunity is bellow 50% and you catch diseases there will be no hope of helping you. Few times we have had some pairs catch the disease while they had over 50% immunity, and they are still alive. We are still trying to treat them, but they are still ill. Alright, are you two ready?"

Drake and I nodded our heads. It was strange he was going to tell us our percentage of immunity. They never tell us that.

"Okay, here we go," Dr. Smith said as he opened the envelope. He faced it towards Drake and I so we would find out first. When the paper was completely revealed, we saw that we were 90% immune. "Okay, how is it?" Dr. Smith turned the paper to him so he could look at it. He was speechless.

"Is it good?" Drake asked.

"No," Dr. Smith replied. "It's beyond good. Most pairs are at 60%. The last time you received treatment, you were at 60%. Your attempt of the cure might actually succeed. You might get to save the human race. You are a new hope."

There was that word again. Hope. Such a small word that meant so much. Maybe I didn't want to be hope. Maybe I didn't want the fate of humanity to rest on me. Maybe I didn't have a choice.

"Wait a second," I said. Dr. Smith looked at me, waiting for me to speak. Drake was too. "The bus provides no filter to the air. How did we survive when we were younger, below 50%?"

"All of the current pairs were instantly at 50% after their first treatment," Dr. Smith replied. "At that point there was a form of filtration of the bus. It has taken a lot to improve immunity."

"So now what?" Drake asked.

"Why do you ask?" Dr. Smith answered with a question.

"What do we do now? Is anything going to change?"

"We are going to continue as normal until a cure is found. The same as always."

There was a silence as we received our next treatment. It was slowly injected into our veins, like always. It doesn't hurt. It did when we were little, but we are used to it.

"Alright, you two just need to go do the required exercise and you will travel to the next facility," Dr. Smith said when we were finished received our treatment. "I hope for the best for you two."

Drake and I smiled at him as he led us to the exercise area. Many pairs were already there, running on treadmills, lifting weights, and whatever else was available.

"Do you wanna do the treadmills for a bit?" Drake asked. "There are two that aren't being used."

"That sounds nice," I replied. We each got on the empty treadmills that were next to each other. We began at slow jog to warm up.

"So what do you think about our results?" Drake asked.

"I think we are the only hope these scientist have. That they are about to give up on everybody else." I instantly regretted those words.

"What did you just say?" the girl on the treadmill next to me said. "You think you will get cure? Impossible. We were told that we were ahead of schedule. We are at 64%."

"Oh yeah," Drake remarked. "We're at-"

"We're at 63%," I said before Drake could finish. I gave Drake a look that told him to be quiet and go with it.

"Well," the girl said, pausing to catch her breathe. "I guess you'll end up like the rest and my pair will have the cure."

She turned away to talk to the person on her other side. "Finally," I said. "I didn't think she would ever stop talking. Level up." Drake and I increased the speed of our jog.

"Why did you lie to her?" Drake asked.

"Because if she knows what our immunity level is, she will blab. And then everybody will try to get rid of us so they will have the cure. Just don't draw attention."

"Okay, that makes sense. Level up." We increased our fast jog to a run.

"This is I good workout."

"I know right."

I held up my hand for a high five. Drake responded with a high five, he didn't leave me hanging. As he came to contact with my hand, a surge of pain spiraled through my body. From my finger tips to my toes. I instantly lost my footing and fell, the treadmill pushing me into the floor. The same happened to Drake.

Everybody stopped what they were doing and stared. Nobody came to help. Everybody was silent. All I could hear was the sound of the rebellious treadmills. The pain kept surging around my body. It came in waves. I could tell Drake was in the same situation.

Scientists finally came to our aid, but had no idea what was going on. Dr. Smith came to us after a few others. He pushed them aside. "I think the theory is correct," he said. "Get them to my lab."

We were carried away and set on tables in what I assumed was Dr. Smith's lab. After what seemed like forever, the pain subsided and was over.

"What happened?" Drake asked.

"The next step greatly modified you genes. And quite rapidly at that." Dr. Smith answered.

"Do we have the cure now?" I asked.

"No," Dr. Smith began. "You are still at 90%. But we have been theorizing that at 90% the most genetic changes occur."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that we are on the right track."

"Yay..."

I was very tired. I felt like the life had been drained from me.

"There is another theory that we have," Dr. Smith began. "We believe that once these major changes occur that the pair will receive some supernatural abilities due to genetic mutation."

"What do you mean by that?" I barely managed to mutter.

"You could say that you have super powers."

Drake and I bolted up. There was more to this cure than we thought.

"And that means you will probably save the human race."

Okay guys that's it! What do you think? It was a lot longer than I thought it would be. But I'm happy with how it turned out. I hope you all enjoyed it! I don't know when the next one will be out but that will be soon. Thanks for reading!