Austin had finally gotten a day off work. For over a month, he had been working late and on weekends. All in hopes that he could get a promotion. The problem was that he did not get to spend any time with his family because of it. All that work for a family he barely got to see or spend time with. He felt like the last year and a half since his son was born had flown by, and he barely got to enjoy it.

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  Austin had to make the most of the time he had with his wife and son because of the long hours. So his wife, Maya, decided they would go to the zoo that day. She had even gotten herself all dressed up for the occasion. She styled her short auburn hair, put on some makeup, and wore a pretty green dress. The dress was nothing fancy, but Austin thought she looked good in it.

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  Austin forced through his exhaustion and stress as they arrived at the zoo. A huge part of him wanted to just rest and decompress on this off day, but he could see the excitement in his wife and son. Elliot, their son, brimmed with excitement. Throughout the drive, he would blurt out various animals from the zoo. As if he were remembering what was there and was excited to see them.

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  Austin sighed after he parked the car. He should have expected it to be busy, but it still overwhelmed him a bit. He wanted to have a nice time with his family, but the massive number of people at the zoo was off-putting.

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  “Everything okay?” Maya asked as they started to get out of the car.

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  “Yeah, I’m fine,” Austin responded quickly. He did not want to make his frustration too apparent, so he responded quickly.

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  “Doesn’t seem so,” Maya observed. She could easily tell that Austin was trying to hide his discomfort.

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  “Just a lot of people, but I’ll be fine. I want to spend time with you two,” Austin smiled slightly.

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  “Okay, as long as you think you’ll be fine,” Maya responded. She was worried about Austin but did not want to pry further.

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  Austin removed the stroller from the trunk and strapped Elliot in. Elliot kicked a little, and Austin got a face full of orange curly hair as he did. He was so excited to run around the zoo and did not want to be placed in the stroller. Maya eventually was able to soothe the boy and convince him to sit in the stroller. The family walked together towards the zoo entrance.

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  Elliot pointed at the statues and signs as they walked towards the entrance. He was laughing and smiling the entire time as he looked around. Elliot’s excitement helped Austin deal with his discomfort. He could not help but be happy when he saw his son's happiness. In a way, his son could wash away a lot of his stress with something as simple as a smile.

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  Maya grabbed onto Austin's arm as he pushed the stroller through the zoo. The family spent a good time walking through the zoo. Occasionally, they would stop and let out to get a closer look of the animals.

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  When they arrived at the lion cage, Elliot climbed onto Maya’s shoulders to get a good look at the lions. As the pair grew closer to the enclosure, Austin sat back and watched the two. As he watched Elliot point out the lion to Maya, Austin’s mind started to wander.

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  Austin could not help but think of his projects at work. His mind started to think of the various deadlines that he had and that he should still be working. A headache started to grow in him as he thought of his deadlines. He started to feel like he should have never taken the day off. If he still worked, then he would definitely hit his deadlines. But now he was not sure if he would.

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  “Austin! Come here!” Maya yelled towards Austin and waved him over.

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  Austin walked over to his wife and son. He gave them a forced smile as he approached. Maya handed Elliot off to Austin and sighed in relief. As she did, Austin placed Elliot on his own shoulders.

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  “Are you okay?” Maya asked as they looked towards the lions.

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  “Yeah, of course,” Austin lied. His mind was filled with stress at the thought of everything he needed to get done.

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  “You know it’s okay to take a break,” Maya said as she rubbed Austin’s back. “You are so caught up in your head that you aren’t even paying attention to the lions. And they are your favorite animal.”

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  “Dadda, look!” Elliot pointed with his finger at the lions.

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  The male lion was waking up when Elliot pointed at him. The lion rubbed his face with the side of his paw and then looked back and forth. Right before he lay back down, a thunderous roar echoed through the park. After the sound of the roar settled, a lioness moved towards the lion and brushed her head against his. She then lay down next to the male lion and nestled against him.

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  “So cool!” As Elliott spoke, Austin looked up at him. His green eyes were wide in amazement at the lion’s loud roar.

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  “Yeah, that’s your dad’s favorite,” Austin smiled gently. “They are lions.”

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  “Just like dadda!” Elliot laughed.

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  Austin lowered his head in guilt at Elliot’s statement. His son probably did not even understand, but Austin could not help but feel guilty. It was true, though, that most of the time he got to spend with Elliot was instead spent sleeping. Austin could not help his exhaustion, but it made him feel like he was letting his son down.

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  “Here, let’s go look at something else,” Maya noticed Austin’s expression and tried to move them along to distract him.

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  “Yeah, let’s do that,” Austin agreed as he leaned down to return Elliot to his stroller.

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  “Stay here!” Elliot demanded as he pulled Austin’s short brown hair. Somehow, even with his hair cut short, Elliot was always able to find a way to pull on it.

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  “Fine, fine,” Austin relented as he squinted his eyes in pain.

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  They continued throughout the zoo, Elliot riding on Austin’s shoulders as they did. Elliot squirmed and constantly moved around and pointed at things as they walked. At times, Elliot would even jerk hard, and Austin had to make sure that Elliot did not fly off his shoulders.

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  After walking for several hours, they took a break at a small sandwich shop. Maya and Austin both got club sandwiches, and they got peanut butter and jelly for Elliot. As they sat down at a small bench, Austin rubbed his shoulders. He was relieved to get a break from carrying Elliot around.

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  As Maya and Austin ate, they each took turns to try to feed Elliot. They broke off small pieces of his sandwich and tried to feed him a little bit at a time. Elliot alternated between refusing to eat and relenting.

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  “Thank you for coming out with us today,” Maya said to Austin as they tried to feed Elliot.

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  “I don’t get what you mean,” Austin was caught off guard. “I wanted to spend time with you.”

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  “I know you want to spend time with us,” Maya explained. “But I also know how tired you have been. So I appreciate it. Elliot was really looking forward to today.”

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  “Well, I’m happy to spend time with you two,” Austin said. “And he seems to be having a really good time.”

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  “He definitely is,” Maya smiled and looked down at Elliot. “It was all he could talk about this week.”

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  Austin let out a sigh of relief and smiled. Their conversation had made him feel better. Knowing that Elliot and she were having a good time was enough for him. It helped him realize that it was okay that he took the day off. He had been working long days, and the work would still be there when he returned.

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  “Dadda?” Elliot suddenly looked up at Austin with a worried expression.

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  “What’s up, buddy?” Austin asked in a comforting tone as he placed his hand on Elliot’s head.

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  “Scared,” Elliot replied.

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  Before Austin could reply, a voice rang out in his head. The voice was thunderous but had a cold tone. Like the sound one would imagine from a being that did not care for others.

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  “Survival Game starts in ten seconds. Prepare for departure.”

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  Maya must have heard the same voice in her head, because she looked at Austin with a worried expression. The voice counted down, and Austin sprang into action. He had no idea what that voice was, but it worried him. He quickly grabbed his wife and son. He pulled them both close to himself and covered them with his arms. Elliot began to cry as Austin held them tightly against himself.

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  The world itself began to twist around the family. Austin watched as the nearby restaurant began to twist and distort. He could not be sure if it was something wrong with his vision or everything around him. Soon, everything blurred together, and he could no longer feel the bench underneath him. Austin held Maya and Elliot even tighter as he lost the feeling of the bench. He could no longer tell the difference in any object as they swirled into a mass of colors before his eyes.

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  Austin’s vision went blank for a moment before snapping back into focus. He looked around and was happy to see that he was still holding Maya and Elliot. That was the only normal in the situation, though. The family was now in a small clearing in a dense forested area. Within the clearing were three brown packs. Before Austin grabbed the packs, he tried to make sense of the situation. The biggest thing that caught him off guard was the trees and foliage surrounding the family. Instead of green, like he was used to, the forest was filled with red and purple. It felt beautiful, strange, and dangerous all at once.

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  Austin let go of Maya and Elliot as he observed the area around them. Maya did not let go of Elliot as she continued to hold him close to her hip. Austin and Maya walked over to the packs together, and there was an envelope attached to them. They took the envelope and read over the contents:

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  “Welcome to the Survival Game. The people of your planet have been chosen to advance and reach the next step of evolution. Congratulations!

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  This game will be used to decide who can continue to advance. You have been transported into a Survival Zone. If you survive here for a month, then you will be freed. Within these packs are supplies that will help you survive.”

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  “This has to be a bad dream, right?” Maya asked Austin with a worried expression.

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  “I don’t think so,” Austin felt guilty because he wanted to comfort Maya, but he did not want to lie to her. “I don’t know what this is, but it feels real to me.”

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  “I knew you were going to say that,” Maya sighed. “You never lie to me.”

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  “I’m sorry. Let’s look into these packs and see if we can make more sense of the situation,” Austin suggested.

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  Austin opened the packs to see what was inside. Each pack contained a few blocks of fire starter, a lighter, a knife, a hatchet, a sleeping bag, a canteen, bottled water, and a few tan colored blocks. The blocks were wrapped in a plastic wrap with a label that said each block had the nutrition for a day. Between the water and the nutrition blocks, it seemed they had enough food and water for a week before they had to search for food themselves.

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  “Looks like each bag has basic supplies to help us survive,” Austin told Maya. “The food and water seem to be enough for the first week.”

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  “Then what do we do?” Maya asked.

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  “I guess we have to hunt and forage after that,” Austin said. “We should probably come up with a plan. So we are ready when the time comes.”