Carissa+Dunne

I laid sleeping as a gun shot rang through the house. I awoke to the agonizing screams of my mother as i crawled to the safety beneath my bed. I began humming my mother’s sweet lullaby as I heard faint footsteps nearing my door. The creaking of the door as it opened caused me to close my eyes tight, then everything went black. That’s when the Gringlords came. It’s been twelve years since then and I am seventeen now, yet I still have nightmare about that night. At times I wake up in the middle of the night to the sounds of shrill laughter, mistaking it for my mothers scream. Almost every morning I am awakened by the sounds of my roommates failed attempts to “escape”. He has been doing this since he was around 13, that’s when he was brought here. His name is Daine Crooker. His parents were killed while he was at school and when he came home he was abducted by the Gringlords. The Gringlords take over parentless children, Daine and I have that in common.  The Gringlords came to earth over 20 years ago and have been slowly taking over every city and state ever since. The Gringlords species is horrid. They have scraggly patches of hair around their head, big yellow-tinted eyes that seem to see right through you, and skin that is greenish-brown color. When they speak they slobber and drool and let it run down their face and drip off slowly. They only have 10 teeth, but they are razor sharp and the tips of them glisten when the light hit them just right. Glypticon is the head of the Gringlords and has turned this earth into nothing. In novels I use to read about these magnificent sunsets, and picnics under the sun with a few puffy white clouds, laying a checkers blanket on top bright green grass that had a few flowers here and there. I have never seen any of those things because when I was born Glypticon had already begun taking over. I use to look at pictures of these tall, beaming buildings that were 500 feet high. All we have now are the ruins of these buildings, decayed shacks that we live in, gray skies covered in smog, and nothing but dirt, gravel and a few patches of grass for the animals. The animals that we have have slowly been dying out but we have to keep them alive because they are our only source of meat and protein. The gardens that we have for fruits and vegetables are almost gone because of the horrible drought that we had and the lack of supplies that we get because Glypticon refuses to let anything be imported or exported because he is afraid someone may smuggle letters or weapons in and out. We are going to slowly start dying out if this life continues on like this.  For years now we have been in this prison like camp. They train is in combat and brain wash to act like them and follow their orders, which we do, but we definitely have other plans in mind. Some people actually believe that Glypticon is here to do good for our planet and will do anything to protect him so we have to be careful about what we say. For a couple months now a majority of us have been talking to one another about rebelling, it’s risky but it is worth a shot. Not everyone is trained in combat, others work in factories and build weapons for war and other objects that the Gringlords want. So a few of the factory workers were able to scrap up the parts needed to fix a radio so we would be able to listen in on what the military is doing and where their where abouts are. Daine and I have estimated that they are approximately 450 miles north of Denver, which is where we are located. I have waited for this time to come for a long time.

 It is currently January 28, 2054 and roughly 7 p.m. We just got done with our work out that Glypticon orders us to do 6 days a week to prepare us to fight against anyone who tries to take down his “Kingdom” as he calls it. I think he knows that the military is on their way because lately he has been making us work harder than he ever has, and has most the factory workers building new tanks, guns, and repairing old buildings that could be used as a hide out.  Glypticon is powerful but has one weakness... he becomes completely unglued when there is a full moon. The moon was one thing he couldn’t control. Over the years Daine and I have noticed this and knew that if we ever had a chance of escaping and helping the earth return to normal, it would have to be during a full moon. On this night the moon was full, a Harvest Moon in fact, large and orange. Daine and I ran from the compound to the nearest hill where we set a large bonfire; it was visible for miles. Even though the moonlight caused them to be visible, the other rebels from the area came to the hill, drawn by our signal fire. This was a rare opportunity and we weren’t going to waste it, all together we chanted “be gone, be gone, be gone Glypticon, be gone.” We chanted for about half an hour when we heard it. We felt it. We knew it. All together we ran towards his room where he rested, we knew he was weak on days like this and knew that we would be able to take him down more easily than the army could when he was strong. We grabbed our weapons and charged toward his door, killing any of the Gringlords that got in our way. Finally we had made it and could see him lying there, weak, helpless, and vulnerable. In a flash and a plume of smoke, Glypticon was gone, his shrill evil voice screamed at us, but it was no use. We had won. We were elated and exhausted not knowing what the next day would bring. At 7am it happened; a beautiful sunrise. It was true, Glypticon was gone for good.