The Nike Apocalypse

Isam Nubani

Isam Nubani

Age 10-12 category | Fall into Fiction Short Story Contest 2024 | San José Public Library
The year is 2099. The name is Jason. Jason Jackson Jr. One day (in the year 2092) I was just minding my own business and wandered into the woods. I was walking for hours. I then came across this cave and my curiosity got the best of me so I went in. When I went in I saw this mummy on the floor just laying there. I was scared so I decided to run. Before I could run I heard this voice:

"In the year when the sun sets beneath the wings of the swoosh, the realm of mankind shall find itself ensnared in the grip of a relentless force—Nike shoes shall rise to dominate every street and every soul. As the tides of fashion swell, two unlikely heroes shall emerge from the shadows, destined to challenge the very essence of control. The journey will leave them at the precipice of despair, their next move obscured in the mists of uncertainty—a cliffhanger that will echo through time, waiting for the dawn of resolution."

ONE YEAR LATER

It was a nice day in the year 2093. I was at Nike working on the new "Air Mags" and suddenly I heard my boss say 
"Yes, YES! Keep it up, soon I will be able to rule the world. If I do this everyone shall kneel before me and call me their king." Wait what? I thought my boss always wanted to be a king, but he never said it in an evil way like this. Why am I helping him rule the world?
I said to my boss,  "I'm feeling sick. Can I leave early?" 
Before he could answer, I was already outside the door. 

.........

I was very confused. I needed to form an army of Nike workers and overthrow my boss. So I gathered up all of the workers.

"My fellow-hey where are you going?"  Everyone left me and went to work on new Nike shoes. My plan didn't work. But I was not going to give up. Then I heard something, it sounded like a big robot walking towards me... I turned around and saw NIKE ROBOTS!!! The robots started to attack me. I didn't have a weapon so I picked up the longest thing I could find on the floor. I picked up a stick. I attacked!! The robot Ben and Jerry collab shoe attacked me, and before I could react, stomped on my leg and broke it. The pain! I still remember the pain. I had to retreat so I ran, I ran and didn't look back...
Present day, 2099
Day 2191
"Here I am traveling the world to find a way to destroy Nike robots," I said to myself.
I was getting so bored I had to talk with myself for company. The earth is a wasteland now. Any human that had survived was in hiding.. I need food. I haven't eaten in days. My last meal was one piece of turkey. I found it on the street.
"Hey what's that I see in the distance?" It's a giant turkey shaped like a human!" Then I passed out.
Sadly, I didn't sleep peacefully. I had a vision. My vision self decided to go to see my ex-boss. My ex-boss was tied up, and it turned out someone completed the air mags I started to work on.  The other shoes (I am not going to name them all because that would be a lot of names) were guarding my air mags while it was  torturing my ex-boss. My boss was crying while the robots were constantly scratching him with their swords. The air mags got bored of torturing him so it stabbed my boss right into the heart and then set him on fire.

I woke up sweaty and surprisingly in a comfy bed. I hadn't slept in a bed in so long. I didn't know how I had a vision but I knew the robots killed my boss and took over the Nike headquarters. I needed to see who brought me here. I think I was hallucinating earlier – I don't think I saw a giant turkey. So I went downstairs to see the nice person that also survived the Nike apocalypse. 

I went downstairs to find someone working on shoes. The person was putting wires in it. That was kind of weird, so I decided to sneak up on him and see what he was doing. 
 "Hey, what are you doing?" I asked.
"AH!!!! Oh it's you. Don't sneak up on me ever again," he said.
"Ok fine. Who are you and why did you save me?" I asked.
 "My name is Jimmy John Randolf Jr. the third. I saved you because I needed some company. Being the last person on earth is lonely."
"True, do you have anything to eat? I'm starving."
 "Yeah, let me just get my butler. Hey Curry, come over here."
I heard a clicking noise and then thump thump. I turned around and saw a robot shoe! 
"WHAT IS THAT DOING HERE?!" I shouted.
 "Chill. That's just my butler. His name is Chef Curry Da Goat. And he cooks both on the basketball court and in the kitchen," Jimmy said.
 "Is he going to kill me like he kills the turkey he makes?" I asked
 "No, listen... remember when you asked what I was doing?  I was making robot shoes to destroy the Nike shoes. But...um...but –" he burst into tears, "I'm the one who started the whole robot shoe thing I – I told the Nike guy how to make them. WHAAAAA!" 
I forgot all about having lunch and started to think about what I just learned. I just discovered who made the Nike shoes. Now I need to figure out how he made it. 
 "Why did you do that," I asked, "how did you discover it and how do you make them?"
 "Your boss, he-he bribed me into making them. He said if I was able to do it I would be rewarded. Every night after you made a shoe I would sneak in, add wires, and make them come to life. One night the boss saw me make them and said he didn't need me. He then banished me here – Wasteland of  Waste."
 "Ok but if you made them you know if they have a weakness right?" I asked.
"Yes I did, but if you want to kill them you have to study these blueprints," Jimmy said as he grabbed hundreds of blueprints off the table.
 "NOOOOOO, this is going to take so long." I said.

ONE YEAR LATER, AGAIN
Day 2556
The Nike apocalypse is still going, the whole earth is a wasteland. The good news is I finished studying the blueprints. Don't tell the shoes this but their weak spot is the air pocket and their tongue. I could've figured that out without the blueprint. Anyway I went downstairs and saw Jimmy finishing off the final shoe, the new Kobe reverse grinches (cue the angel sound because this was epic).  Finally we were ready, except for one thing. I needed a weapon. So did Jimmy. So Jimmy made these super powerful sticks...at least that's what they looked like. 
"These are not sticks. They are the "super duper secret sword dawgs 2000," said Jimmy.
 "Ok let's use these super duper hunjrddthh," I said.
 "That's not what they are called!" Jimmy exclaimed,  "They are called the, you know what, never mind." 
 "Okay, it's time. Time to fight the robots," I said.

After days of traveling across the earth, we made it to the Nike headquarters. The headquarters changed. It looked like, well, a shoe. Once we were at the headquarters we discussed the plan
"We keep the robots here and if we need them we scream. You go to the right and I go to the left," I said.
 "That's a terrible plan but, ok," said Jimmy
 "Let's end this," I said.
So I went to the left, and Jimmy went to the right. After traveling for a while I heard a scream. Jimmy, I thought. I ran over to the other side of the building. When I arrived, Jimmy was scratched and bleeding. Behind me I heard and thump thump. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Curry. 
"What happened Jimmy?" I asked.
"I fell," he said.
"You screamed a blood curdling scream and all because you fell. Anyway we are at the entrance," I said.
We went in. The lights were off and I heard this thump, I found a light switch and pressed it. In the middle of the room was the air mags and its army of shoes. 
"ATTACK!" I yelled.
Jimmy the Curry's and I attacked the air mags. The Kobe's jumped from the ceiling, and landed on the air mags crushing them.
"That was easy," I said. 
"Never say that," said Jimmy as he walked to the enemy team.
"Jimmy what are you doing?" I asked
"I forgot to mention something about myself. I am a robot and on the side of the shoes –" said Jimmy. I was so scared I ran. I came across a power switch. I flipped it, nothing happened.
"No NO NO, why did nothing happen?" I said.
Then everything went dark. I did it, I saved the world!!

So that's my story.
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