“What do you mean?” I asked. I could feel a surge of adrenaline, along with confusion, surge through my body, creating an interesting combination of emotions. “The government has always been trying to eliminate people. This is nothing new. Now they’re trying to eliminate us.”
“No, this,”—he paused, clenching his fists tightly—“this is on a whole other scale.” Ethan’s deep brown eyes went wide as he began to scroll through the never-ending list of names. “All of this, every last one of these names.” Ethan continued to scroll down the list at a blinding pace just to illustrate how many people were truly there. “It was all posted just a few days ago, the day that Protocol 00 was enacted.”
“What the fuck is happening? What are they doing to us?” Hunter asked, glancing at the screen with horror as the names of tens of thousands of people, including innocent children, flashed across the screen.
“I don’t know.” Ethan stared off into the distance in shock. “This is crazy. Fucking insane. The government has always eliminated their enemies, but they have never done it on a scale like this.”
“They are committing genocide. They are literally trying to wipe out the American people!” Hunter’s voice echoed off the graffiti-covered walls.
“I wouldn’t go that far. They’re just trying to take all the power away from us—and exterminate those who have any power.”
I could see the anger burning in Ethan’s eyes.
“But what power do we have?!” I found myself suddenly yelling, as the confusion and anger spilled out of me. “We have nothing—literally, nothing. We don’t even have beds to sleep in! What could they possibly want from us? What makes us different?”
“It’s about that damn blue pill.” Ethan put his hand over his face. I could tell there was a part of him that was completely done with life, despite the determination that he normally had roaring inside him. “That means something to them. I just don’t know what.”
“Were you able to find anything on the internet about this?” Hunter leaned forward. “Do we know how many people were killed? Do we know anything about the blue pill?”
“Well, we know nothing about the blue pill, except for the fact that the government wants to exterminate anyone in the population who has taken it,” Ethan said, and I could see the heavy look in his eyes as he said it. “And no, I haven’t found anything online about this whole thing. Even if the government killed a million people, it wouldn’t make the news. They would never let that happen.”
“So we’re just all alone—literally and figuratively—in the dark.” Hunter looked defeated.
“Yep . . . ” Ethan paused, his voice trailing off once again. “And I have no fucking clue what to do about it.”
“Well, that’s great,” I said, my voice cracking. My whole body was beginning to give up. I could feel my will to live slowly dwindle. “So we’re basically fucked.”
“Yep.”
“Well, that was a comforting way to end the day.” Hunter laid back down on to the cement floor. “Thanks, Ethan.”
“Oh, no problem.” There was a hint of sarcasm to his voice, despite the overwhelming exhaustion apparent in his tone. “It’s my pleasure.”
“Well, goodnight guys.” I smiled, despite the darkness pervading around me.
I let my tired, weak body fall to the floor, and I felt Hunter’s arm wrap around me. We are fucked. The thought echoed in my brain incessantly, as I closed my eyes and let my mind suddenly drift away into a deep sleep. We are fucked.
Chapter 3
“Get the hell behind me.” Ethan’s voice was low and stern as he grabbed two grocery bags filled with jugs of water and food and placed it on the counter.
“Hello! How’s your day going, sir?” The robot behind the counter said suddenly, startling me.
Talking robots in convenience stores were nothing new, it was just that every time I heard the monotonous yet oddly human tone, chills ran down my spine. Ethan suddenly backed away.
“On second thought, Natalie, deal with the robot. Hunter, go create a distraction. I got the rest.”
Hunter and I glanced at each other, confused, as Ethan slipped away and ducked around the backside of the counter. I placed the bags down on the counter in front of me, and let the robot scan our order with his eyes.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Hunter whispered in my ear, which meant I’d be left all alone with the line of intimidating old men behind me—and a robot for a grocery clerk in front.
While our order was being processed, I found my eyes drifting around the tiny convenience store that was in the heart of one of the largest slums in Phoenix. This place has definitely seen its fair share of robberies. I took a deep breath, trying to let some of the anxiety out of me. It can handle one more.
“The total for your order will be sixty-three dollars and twenty-nine cents. Would you like to pay with debit or credit?”
I could feel my heart beginning to race in my chest as the finger pad in front of me lit up, signaling me to scan my finger print.
“Debit,” I replied, finally managing to croak out the word as I placed my finger on the scanner.
I could feel the nervous tension in my throat building up into a scream. Even after a solid three weeks of doing it, it hadn’t gotten any easier. Every time we had to do it, the fear began to boil in my veins again, and my blood pressure skyrocketed as my hands shook with intense anxiety. I could feel the beads of sweat slowly build up at the sides of my face and drip down onto my dirty, tattered shirt below.
“Verification error,” the machine sounded, and I could feel the pressure of everyone’s eyes as they stood in line, staring at the back of my head.
“That’s weird.” I tried to play it off, even though I was well aware that I was not an American citizen anymore, and therefore, with the new closed-border policy enacted by President Ash, it was impossible to by stuff in the US without a social security number. President Ash, after suspending congress, has gotten even more adept at asserting his total control over America by immediately eliminating all his enemies from the Government Database. Essentially rendering people like me to ghosts.
“Try it again,” the robot commanded, vaguely appearing like a human, despite his exterior made entirely of metal. Shit! Hunter, Ethan, do something! My hands now shook wildly as I attempted to bring my shaking finger to the scanner as slowly as possible. We get two tries, and that’s it. My heart pounded in my chest as I imagined our worst fear coming true. The police are automatically called if there is another error. I shivered. Which means we are automatically dead.
I carefully hung my finger over the scanner, half shocked that the men in line behind me weren’t screaming for me to hurry up. In fact, they were all standing in single-file order, waiting patiently for me to finish. That’s messed up. I glanced back at their eyes, all of them staring forward mindlessly.
“Ma’am, if you could please hurry up,” the robot stated, an urgent tone to its voice.
Shit! Come on! Do something. Don’t leave me here to die all alone!
“Ahhhh!” I heard a cry of agony come from the back of the convenience store, and I immediately smiled. “Oh my! Holy crap! What happened to my leg?!”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Hunter squirming around helplessly on the floor, a mountain of snacks suffocating him. All right, this is our getaway. My eyes lit up as the robot paused for a moment and looked around in attempt to detect where the screaming was coming from. Come on, Ethan, shut that damn thing down. We can’t have it calling the police.
“Please, someone help me!” Hunter’s high-pitched shrill made me laugh despite the anxiety causing my entire body to shake. “I think I’m dying!”
“Be right with you in a moment, sir.” The robot tried to hurry its way over to the scene by dragging its legs behind it, like a mechanized rag doll. Sweat started to pour down my face, puddling and stopping where it continued to hit my shirt, as I could simultaneously feel the pressure inside of me
preparing to burst into a mess on the ground. Ethan, we are running out of time! The anticipation of the moment was beginning to eat away at my will like rust corroding a sheet of metal. It wasn’t a fast process; however, I could feel my entire body conforming to the will of that rust, allowing it to eat away at my thoughts and corrode my every sense.
“Shit!”
I first heard Ethan’s loud grunt, and then the clank of the metal against the side of the counter. What the hell?
Ethan suddenly stood up, sweat dripping from his glowing, caramel skin, as smoke billowed out from the robot’s back and made its way throughout the room. Fuck. I hastily looked behind me at the line of people who were still patiently waiting for the robot to serve them despite the thick smoke beginning to fill the air. Um, okay. I tried to ignore them, but their strange calmness only added to the confusion of the situation. I stood there for a moment, with both bags of groceries clutched in my hands, trying to process all the thoughts swirling through my brain. The exhaustion was finally beginning to set in after three weeks of nights with barely any or no sleep, and I could feel the life slowly being sucked from me, along with the rays of afternoon sun.
No. The thoughts swirled through my mind, but suddenly came to a halt. Both mine and Ethan’s eyes met at the exact same moment, and another wave of terror surged through my entire body. Holy shit! Smoke. That means, fire alarm.
Just as the thought clicked in my mind, the smoke began to activate the alarm in the detectors, and suddenly my ears were inundated with the gorgeous sounds of pandemonium breaking loose.
“We have to go!” Hunter sprung up, causing dozens of chip bags to fall off him.
I stared at Ethan, the shock of the moment overwhelming my every sense, to the point where my entire body stood frozen in the middle of a thin cloud of smoke that blanketed the air. I turned around and looked at all the innocent people who were just now beginning to pour out the doors.
“Natalie, come on!” Ethan took one of the bags from my hand, and with his other arm, forcefully tugged me with him. “No time to waste!”
Ethan refused to let go of me as we belted out of the convenience store, emerging from its icy air into the dry, cool air of a November night in Scottsdale.
“Ethan, but what about the security cameras?” My feet followed him reflexively, but my mind knew we needed to go back. When the police come, they will see the security camera footage, and they will know it is us. I shivered, feeling the thick blackness of the night begin to envelop me. The hitmen will know where we are.
“Fuck it,” Ethan stated, and I could sense the sheer panic in his eyes as he hesitated before sprinting forward. There was a new rashness to his voice that had replaced his usual methodical, demanding tone. “We don’t have time.”
I glanced behind me one last time, and saw the store almost devoid of people, apart from one old man who was trying to put out the flame, which was now burning through the metal of the robot’s back. I could feel my palms dripping with sweat as I clenched the grocery bag that contained the fate of our entire lives inside it. Go for it or die. Hunter’s words echoed in my head as I began to sprint down the sidewalk lined with cracks and potholes.
The sky above was a thick black, and the street lights were ominously dark except for the flicker of a few lampposts and the occasional headlights from the passing cars. The sidewalks were practically deserted, and most of the homes and shops had their windows boarded up. It felt like the world was ending right in front of my eyes. I looked straight ahead into the blackness that enveloped the streets, and I thought that, with every step, I was moving closer and closer toward the jaws of death. Suddenly, my eyes stopped their previous, frantic scanning of the landscape. President Ash’s cold, unearthly gaze stared back at me from a massive poster of his face, with the words “our leader” at the bottom of it. His face had been air-brushed to make him look twenty years younger, and his gray hair was combed perfectly to the side. But I couldn’t avert my eyes from his sinister glare. The poster practically covered the entire run-down storefront, yet another symbol of many people’s freakish obsession over him.
They worshipped him as a god-like figure, and in their dumb fucking eyes he probably was. Most people had flags, posters, t-shirts, and countless numbers of hats, which they kept as sacred items to adorn themselves in order to show their love and pride in the US government. But what they didn’t realize, was that the one thing they were told would protect them, with their tariffs, immigration bans, and walls that separated them from the horrible outside world, was really the most dangerous thing of all. It wasn’t immigrants who came from less-developed countries who were destroying America, it was the ignorance of America itself. It wasn’t labor outsourced to other countries that caused America’s middle class to dwindle. It was the rich, corporate tyrants like President Ash himself, who owned one of the largest investment firms in the nation, that sucked the wealth away from most Americans.
Fucking stupid people. I exhaled, channeling some of my anger and frustration into my stare as I looked at the devilish face of President Ash. Maybe if people in this country weren’t so ignorant, then we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in today. Maybe if we hadn’t allowed this country to crumble, then my life wouldn’t have collapsed along with it.
A gust of warm wind propelled my legs forward against the hard pavement, and with its force, it blew the rusted-up shutters of the rotting homes open, and it whistled through the cracked windows of the looted stores. For the longest time, the only sound was the erratic thumping of my heart—before a loud scream suddenly shattered the silence that had blanketed the air.
A rush of adrenaline suddenly exploded in my veins and calmed the fear and anxiety coursing through me. A rush of adrenaline that had become familiar to me over the past couple weeks. But this time it was different. This time, the fear that was beginning to spill out of my throat in monstrous screams, and anxiety that caused my hands to tremble and my entire head to spin wildly, was coming true. This time, unlike every other time in which our pure desperation had driven us to steal, we’d messed up.
They are gonna catch us. The thought drove my mind to a state of insanity as my body bounded forward to escape the omnipresent hands of death. I could feel every nerve in my body suddenly go numb as the adrenaline began to block out the pain and suppress the fear roaring inside of me. They know it was us. Everything around me turned into a haze, as cars and people passed on either side of me at a rate too fast for my brain to process. I felt like I was on a wild rollercoaster ride, except the rollercoaster ride didn’t end until death stopped you.
“Where the hell should we go?!” Hunter yelled back toward Ethan and I, who were sprinting behind him.
“Make a turn down an alley way!” Ethan yelled, panicked, as he frantically sprinted forward, sweat dripping off his tall, lanky body, as he tried to keep up with Hunter who effortlessly dashed forward. “We have to find a building we can get into!”
Despite Ethan screaming at the top of his lungs, my mind only registered his voice as a faint echo that barely matched the volume of the pounding in my head. I could feel the fear slowly eroding the strength the adrenaline had brought my muscles, as my entire body went into full-on panic mode. I felt my heart almost collapse with shock as I saw what appeared to be flashing blue lights headed toward us. Soon the roar of the siren sounded in my ear as the police car barreled down the street toward us, like a literal horse-drawn chariot of death.
Holy crap! We’re gonna die! I could feel my legs slowly give out under me, as my whole body instantaneously gave into defeat.
“Get up, Natalie!” Ethan grabbed my arm and pulled it forward with such force that I thought he was going to pull it out of its socket. “It was a robot police officer. It’s going to go straight to the scene of the crime.”
I felt my body instantly kick back into gear as I pulled myself off the pavement and back up into a sprint. The terror inside of me had hit such freakishly high-levels that it lit
erally began to slice through my body, causing pain to stab at my sides and pound like a hammer in my head.
“I’m making a left!” Hunter yelled.
He pivoted his legs hard into the pavement to make a sharp right turn down a dark alleyway, and I followed him. The blinding pain in my legs and right arm from carrying the grocery bag had started to become unbearable, but the adrenaline willed my body forward, and the fear as death made itself visible in the darkness, kept my body trucking forward like a runaway train. The coarse dirt lining the floor of the alleyway grated underneath my torn-up shoes, and spewed into the air. I could feel the darkness beginning to envelop my entire body as it infested my airways, smothering my burning lungs with its thick blackness.
I blindly followed Hunter and Ethan, who ran just feet ahead of me, using the sounds of their footsteps as a guide for where to place mine. The alleyway was barren of any light, except for the faint glow of the moon gleaming behind a sheet of wispy clouds. The darkness caused a shiver to run down my entire spine as I imagined a hitman jumping out of the shadows and killing us all, giving us no chance to run away. On the bright side, at least the darkness made it impossible for the police to see us. At the same time, however, it made it impossible for us to see them.
“I think this might work,” Ethan said, having pushed past Hunter, now leading the charge down the narrow alleyway that passed through a maze of deteriorating structures. I felt like a soldier amidst the battlefield with the enemies trailing behind us, and the whole world around us seemed to be falling apart.
“Follow me,” Ethan whispered, and the sound of his voice moved like molasses through the thick blackness. I could barely even see his thin lips and caramel skin, but I could hear where the sound was coming from.
“Where the hell are you going?” Hunter whispered, and even in the dark I could see him nudge Ethan as Ethan tried to move onward further down the alleyway.
Control Freakz Page 5