“Food shortage... Emergency electricity on all-time low... Lights soon to go dark...”
The depressing headlines blurred through Kayla Savage’s head as she climbed the steps to Stonemason Academy. Stone. That word. Kayla hated it. Scientists had miraculously discovered the Savageland stones in the heart of Antarctica right after most of the world's resources went up in smoke. Personally, Kayla hated the desolate look of everything. The stones were everywhere, even in her name. But without them, the world would be nothing. There was basically a rock for everything. Circuits were replaced by Silverstone. Plastic was replaced by Moldaton. Most importantly, lights were replaced by Luminyte. It lit up everything; the only source of light. It also happened to be the rarest one. The one running out.
Kayla walked into first period, science. It was once her favorite class, but now, since all they studied was the Savageland stones, it was a real bore. The teacher took an unhealthy obsession to Poisonstone, a particular stone that as soon as it is touched the victim dies instantly, which made the class creepy as well. Everyday they recited the Stone Act. This was the law that stated no resources were to be used except the Savageland stones until the time came. She had memorized it, but it seemed useless. Everyone already knew the resources were mostly gone. She had asked her teacher, Mr. Lancaster, about it but, he simply replied that the government was great and knew the best for everybody-- like every other practically brainwashed adult would have. 
Today all the class was looking at was Luminyte. It was a lame lesson. They only examined photos, and they were blurry ones at that. The projector itself was a thin piece of nameless stone known only as Stuff surrounded by a wood-like stone called Rockford shaped as a box. The slides blurred together until one caught Kayla's eye. For what seemed like a split second, lines appeared on the slab of ore. No one else seemed to notice.
Finally lunch arrived, the one part of the school day that didn’t involve the Savageland stones. Kayla sat down alone at the end of a table dubbed “The Nerd Table”. Amber, Kayla's rock star BFF had been gone for while, leaving Kayla friendless. It wasn’t so bad though, because it gave Kayla time to think. So as she sat down to munch on her sandwich, don't even ask what that's made of, her mind wandered back to the lines on the Luminyte. Nothing seemed like a possibility, except maybe there was a smudge on the Stuff, but why had it been only for a second on one slide? No one had touched the projector. Kayla abandoned her thoughts as the dismissal bell rang.
After blearily slogging through the rest of her day, she finally got to the one thing she wanted to do: Regional Final Basketball Game. (The ball was composed mainly of Rubbore, so it bounced like an average ball, but Rubbore was very rare, so basketballs and basketball games were too.) Kayla slipped into the crowd that was streaming to the gym after the toils of school. After finding a hard-worn seat, the players took the court. Finally halftime rolled around and everyone milled about, impatient for the next quarter. Kayla was surprised when Amber showed up. Kayla recognized her as soon as she saw the flash of bright red hair.
“What are you doing here?” asked a befuddled Kayla. “I thought you were on tour in Halifax.”
“Well, even singing has its breaks.” replied Amber.
Hugging each other to death, Kayla whispered, “Come with me to the locker room at the start of 4th quarter. There’s something urgent I need to tell you.”
The buzzer sounded ending the 3rd quarter. Kayla and Amber stood up and silently slid out, while the rest of the fans cheered for the winning team or got snacks at the concession stand. The locker room was dingy and smelled of old sweat. Since PE was no longer a fundable class, it had been abandoned, minus the spiders that crawled about. Lockers were littered with old, stinky gym clothes that had numerous moth holes in them. It was dark, as the rest of the world mostly was, a single speck of Luminyte hung in the corner. It was almost haunting and Kayla had a feeling someone was watching her. She knew it wasn’t true, for no one had stepped foot in that room since at least 3012. Kayla began to tell Amber about the strange lines etched into the Lumniyte ore, keeping her voice at a whisper even though no one was even within ear shot.
“Yeah, something was engraved in the rock. It was a little corner on the back,”
“What? What was it?”
“Too fuzzy to read.” came Kayla’s reply.
“Ah, so probably nothing,” said an optimistic Amber. “Let’s get back to the game. The after parties are awesome here, and I don’t want to miss Stonemason win another regional championship.”
Amber was right. The amazing party took Kayla’s mind off of everything. Loud, pounding music, refreshments, swirling lights and delicious desserts brought her into another world. “I’m so glad Amber dragged me here, this party is awesome,” thought Kayla. Even her crush, Hayden, had walked by and winked at her. Suddenly, a thunderous crashing noise was heard above everything else. The back door had been rammed down. A scraggly-looking man stood in front of them next to a large slab of light. His clothes were ripped and tattered, his features were well-worn, and his face looked a thousand years old.
He began to shout in a haggard voice. “You’ll all be DEAD! Dead, you hear me?!
That’s all the light we have! It’s Doomsday! Gather your families! Get supplies! It’ll---” Kayla watched as a police officer, who had snuck in the open back door, raised his gun. Time seemed to slow down, but blur together all at once. The bullet leaped from the barrel and buried itself in the man’s back. He crumpled to the floor, dead, his body seemingly sinking in a pool of crimson blood. The gym was immediately thrown into a panic. People ran in circles, police officers began to yell and the pounding music kept going. Kayla and Amber crouched down behind thier seats and were almost trampled.
“LOCKER ROOM?” shouted Amber. 
“YEAH!” yelled back Kayla. They scrambled for the door.
The locker room had a different smell that Kayla couldn’t quite place. All too late, she heard the gruff voices of policemen. They were bent over a red-stained body bag. Then, an officer raised his gun, loaded a Tranq capsule and fired at the duo. They were unconscious before they hit the ground.
Kayla  awoke in a windowless tiny gray prison cell with a stone toilet and a stone bed. No other cells near were occupied. It smelled of mold and blood and something similar to sewage.  A small tray of stale bread was on the dusty floor. A large guard stood in front of the iron doors, weapon in hand, stopping any chance for escape. On the floor was Amber, her red hair frazzled, eyes closed and face pale.
“Oh, God.” Kayla said hazily, then blacked out again.