3Never Grow Up
"Happy Birthday!" they all cried as Skye entered The Clubhouse.
Skye's face lit up in surprise as all of her friends, even the ever-reclusive Justin was in The Clubhouse, an old abandoned watchtower just off the coast of Island 6 that the group had fixed up to make their own little hangout. Right now, The Clubhouse had been decorated for Skye's surprise party with leaves as streamers and a couple of wooden chairs.
"Oh my gosh, you guys this is all so awesome!" Skye cried, hands on her cheeks in excitement.
"We even made a cake!" Julia announced, revealing a slightly haphazard vanilla cake thinly veiled in a crystal sugar layer.
Skye gladly accepted the cake and her friends, Julia, Gaia, and even Justin sat down with a slice of cake.
"So, we're all ten now." Gaia realized, a deep worry in her voice.
Everyone stopped eating. They all jumped out of their chairs and ran over to the window facing the vast ocean beyond. They saw nothing, just blue sea.
"Ok, so they're not here yet." Gaia sighed.
"Not yet, but they'll be here soon. Gaia and Skye, I think now would be a good time to start the plan." Julia recommended.
They nodded and walked into another room in The Clubhouse.
"Justin?" Julia asked, turning to him.
Justin looked down, and adjusted his glasses.
"Jul, maybe it won't be so bad." He suggested.
"Be bad?! Turning us into adults and having us skip ten years of our lives is good?!" she asked furiously.
Justin reached into his rucksack and got out an issue of Captain America.
"Well, what if it's like Captain America's transformation into a super hero? It's kind of the same thing right?" he asked, holding up the issue.
"No, it's not the same thing as what happens in those old comic books you find in your attic." Julia snapped back at him.
Justin put the issue back into his rucksack.
"Well, I'm still not going to resist them." He informed her, and left The Clubhouse.
"Justin, wait…" Julia called, but he was already gone.
Just then, Gaia and Skye came back into the room.
"Bad news," Gaia began. "we need to go back to the island to pick up some more supplies.".
Julia sighed. They knew the possibility of getting caught if they returned to the island, but if Gaia and Skye needed more supplies…
"Fine, but after you guys get the supplies, we are coming straight back here." Julia compromised.
The three climbed down the ladder that swung from The Clubhouse and into a small wooden rowboat. Gaia and Julia rowed to the shore of Island 6 while Skye watched the sea.
"They're coming soon, aren't they?" she asked, looking out into the vast ocean.
Julia looked down. They'd spent their entire lives living on Island 6. There, their parents taught them about the Age Surgery, a fairly new procedure that turns ten year old kids into full grown adults, thus depriving them of their teenage years and putting them in the work force earlier. The Age Surgery is performed in the Main City, miles away from Island 6, and afterwards the new "adults" are deported to wherever laborers are needed. Their parent also taught them how immoral the Age Surgery is and that if they could, they wouldn't have their kids receive the surgery at all. The boat docked at the shore of Island 6, and while Gaia and Skye went into one of the sand-brushed houses to get supplies, Julia meandered over to Justin's house. Their parents were all at work, deeper within the city, but they'd already said their goodbyes, unaware of what the girls were planning. Julia found Justin where he always was, in his attic, reading issues of Captain America.
"You know, adults aren't allowed to read comic books." she told him, coming into the attic unannounced.
Justin jerked up from his comic book. When he realized it was Julia, the look of surprise left him.
"That's because they're off doing better things. Adult things, like drinking, and getting a girlfriend." Justin told her, smiling at the thought of getting a girlfriend.
"But adulthood isn't all like that. Didn't your parents teach you that?" She asked.
"I never see my parents because they're always working!" Justin exploded.
Julia flinched. It was true for her too. She didn't see her parents that often either, since the usually slept at the office. Usually she only saw them once every two weeks, but she knew Justin saw them even less often.
"See what I mean? Adulthood is mostly just work." She pointed out.
Justin looked down at his comic books again, then he walked over to the corner of the room and sat down there.
"It's still better than breaking the law." He pointed out.
Julia scowled. "Fine, whatever. Don't come crying to me when you're miserable." She spat at him, and stormed out of the attic.
She made her way out of Justin's house, only to be stopped by two men in black suits.
"Pickup time kid." The first man in a suit said with a smile.
I was pulled by the two men over to the beach. I saw in the corner of my eye, a large boat was docked at the shore. Great, perfect timing for the City Agents to come, she thought to herself. There were more men, each in varying colors of suits. The Agents brought out Gaia and Skye, and soon found Justin in his house. Gaia and Skye had been carrying watermelons and eggs, but they were all scattered around the beach now. Julia couldn't believe that they were going to go down without a fight.
"Load them into the ship." One of the men commanded.
The men began to push us towards the ship, but Gaia suddenly kicked her captor in the knee. The man lost his grip on her and she punched him in the face. Skye used this opportunity to yank her captor's arms forward, jump onto him, and pushed off on his stomach. Julia felt her captor's grip tighten on her, trying to make sure she doesn't escape as well. But Julia stepped on his foot, and his grip loosened just enough for her to slip out of his hands. She ran over to Gaia and Skye, who were pulling out the wooden row boat to sea. She hopped onto the boat just as they pushed off the shore.
"That was close!" Skye remarked, as she and Gaia rowed out to The Clubhouse.
Julia looked back at the men. "Looks like that wasn't the last of them!" she cried.
The men were filing into their own, much faster boat, and speeding off towards them. Gaia and Skye picked up their rowboat speed, but the Agent's boat easily caught up to them. The men shot o hook onto the rowboat, and began to pull it in.
"Jump!" Gaia cried.
The three girls all dived into the blue ocean. There weren't that far from The Clubhouse, and were able to make it to The Clubhouse safely.
"Ok, we don't have any of our watermelons, coconuts, or eggs but we still have our rocks!" Gaia declared, as Julia pulled up the ladder they had used to get in.
Skye ran over to a wooden cupboard in The Clubhouse to reveal it carried four slingshots, and an arsenal of rocks and pebbles. The girls each took a slingshot, and Julia eyed the forth slingshot, meant for Justin. The each stationed themselves at a window in The Clubhouse and began firing at the men, who began climbing up The Clubhouse's wooden supports. Skye ran over to the other room, where she revealed that she and Gaia had also been storing larger rocks, the biggest being the size of a table.
"How'd you even get those up here?!" Julia asked, kicking down an Agent who'd somehow made it up to the top.
"We shoved it through the window! Like we're going to now!" Skye explained over the roar of the Agent's boat and their constant shouts.
Julia, Gaia, and Skye heaved the rock out the window, smashing their fancy boat in half. The Agents, struggling to save their possessions inside the boat, were now all stranded on a large piece of debris from their boat. Julia, Gaia, and Skye all heaved a sigh of relief, hopefully now the men would go away. But instead, one of the men took out a walkie-talkie and spoke into it. Suddenly, out of nowhere a helicopter appeared and picked up the men. Once all of the men were in the helicopter, the helicopter began spraying something into the ocean.
"What are they spraying?!" Skye asked, now having to yell even louder to be heard over the helicopter.
They looked up, it was a bright blue liquid, that made a hissing sound once it touched the sea. The ocean suddenly began to bubble, and out of the water came dozens of mutated sharks, piranhas, a whale, and other sea mammals.
"Animal Aging Serum!" Gaia cried.
Animal Aging Serum had the exact same effect as the Age Surgery for humans, with an added side effect. The animals became aggressive, and despite their pervious natures, would become carnivores. The sea mammals and fish began chomping and clawing at the wooden supports of The Clubhouse, shaking the girls. They tried their best to hang onto whatever there was in The Clubhouse, but as the supports began to falter, they were running out of options.