Control Freakz

by Evans, Michael

  “I love you.” The words emanated from his mouth and caressed my ears with their softness. The diamond-like shine to his blue eyes was visible beneath a layer of tears that began to bubble up to the surface.

  “I love you, too.” The words naturally flowed out of me, as I let my emotions come to the surface, which was always a bad idea. I could feel the sadness, anger, and even hatred for the world begin to roar inside of me, and cause my muscles to tense up as a result. But at the same time, an intense emotion to be with Hunter, and to feel Hunter coursed through me.

  I didn’t know how long that moment would last; the both of us just staring at each other painfully, knowing that every moment we shared together could be our final one. I felt something inside me shatter as I watched a couple of tears stream down Hunter’s face. I couldn’t bear to watch him this way. I couldn’t handle him being upset. I wanted to tell him that it would all be okay; I wanted to tell him that I would always be there with him. But my mouth stayed frozen shut, unable to lie to him. My whole body suddenly fell to the ground, unwilling to continue lying to itself.

  It’s all gonna be over one day! The vexation erupted inside of me, and I could feel Hunter’s body try to support mine, which was shaking erratically. Even what little I have left, will soon be gone. My mind began to succumb to the hopelessness that was threatening to swallow the miniscule amount of light left in the sky. I could feel the darkness suddenly growing closer, and the anxiety inside of me beginning to snap. Death felt closer than ever; the end of me, the end of all the hope I have for life to get better, appeared as if its imminent destruction loomed directly overhead.

  I looked at Hunter and tried to engrave the image of his face into my mind, so that no matter how much of the happy memories left my mind, and no matter what state my brain was in, I would always remember every detail of his face. I drilled the image of his smooth, tan skin, and round, narrow face into my mind. I admired the beauty of his small nose and ears, and his thin, arched eyebrows that always narrowed when he was both surprised or confused about something. I singed the feeling of his defined body against mine, and held the taste of his lips on my tongue.

  “I don’t ever want you to leave me!” A desperate cry managed to make its way out of my throat as I felt my head subconsciously rest against his shoulder.

  “Well, maybe you don’t have to.” Our roles had now reversed, and he was the one with the more level, soft tone. “Maybe we can just hold onto this moment forever.”

  I let all the anxiety inside of me escape my veins and get pushed back so far into my mind, that their presence was for once barely noticeable. I could feel my body release all the tension in its muscles and slowly conform to the warmth of Hunter’s body that was wrapped around me. I closed my eyes, trying to let the energy and coziness of his body silence all the fear and misery screaming inside of me. I tried to lose myself in the moment, while at the same time holding onto the moment and cherishing it forever. I tried to forget everything bad about my past, while simultaneously recalling all the happiness and joy that used to fill my life.

  But it was all impossible.

  Even with his body next to mine, I could feel it slipping away. Even with a few of the last rays of light still visible, I could already feel that the darkness had eaten me alive.

  “Guys!” Just by the sound of the sharp voice, I knew it was Ethan. Hunter and I both shifted away from each other and looked up at Ethan with a startled, almost shocked expression. What the hell is he doing here? I could feel a surge of frustration course through me, followed by a numbing sensation that radiated throughout my entire body.

  After having been exposed for his heinous act yesterday, Ethan basically fled the camp for his life. He was scared, and I couldn’t blame him, that someone, maybe Anna herself, was going to abduct him from his tent and kill him in the dead of the night. With the way that the camp had reacted to his murdering John, I find it hard to believe that he even made it out alive. And even after he left, people still smack talked him, and some even threatened to kill him themselves if he returned.

  How did he get back? The shock literally caused all my senses to immediately shut down. My mind had already accepted the devastating blow of reality. My mind, along with the minds of Hunter and Dulce, had already found it inevitable that Ethan left this camp forever. My mind had already come to terms with the fact that Ethan was just yet another life savagely torn away from me, and it feared the dawn of what life would be taken from it next.

  Holy shit, what is happening? My mind suddenly registered the panicked expression in his face, and the erratic movements of his arms as he motioned toward the sky. The word panic didn’t even do his movements justice, they bordered the line of pure insanity, as his red bloodshot eyes almost vibrated in their sockets.

  A thought so dreadful, that it was actually paralyzing suddenly entered my mind. What if the camp wants to kill us now? A chilling sensation ran down my spine, as I stood up frenetically. After a couple of the people at Camp Camel went through John’s computer, they determined that Ethan was still talking to a leader from another camp. And they also determined that we, meaning Hunter and I, were part of it is as well. This caused for there to be calls to either banish, or just plain, outright kill us due to our treachery from the democracy of the camp.

  Dealing with the sheer despoliation, after realizing that the only hope that you ever had at getting your happiness back was gone, was enough for one person to handle. But coming to terms with the fact that your seemingly pointless life, truly the last thing you had left, was about to get taken away from you, was essentially impossible to deal with.

  The people of Camp Camel, mainly led by Anna and Liam, were still deciding whether they should send three people to go up to the Grand Canyon National Village, where Danielle Walker supposedly wanted to meet. However, they immediately ruled out even the notion that Hunter and I were going; they pretty much took away the little power we had in this little, futile camp, and tossed it away with the rest of our hopes and dreams. And now I was left all alone within myself, hopelessly attempting to piece back the remains of my shattered life, with no shovel to pick up the mountains of devastation evoked upon me.

  “We have to go right now!” Ethan tugged on both our arms forcefully.

  He accelerated into a full-on sprint in mere seconds, and began to pass through the middle of the camp that was bustling with people. Seemingly everyone in the camp turned their heads toward him as he shoved people down, and pushed people to the side in his mad, desperate dash. I tried to follow him, but his skinny, gazelle-like legs bounded forward, yards ahead of me. However, Hunter stayed back running at my pace, shooting me a confused, horrified glance.

  Wild shouts from people in the camp roared in my ears, but I refused to open my eyes that were squinted forward, focused on the path that Ethan blazed ahead. There was even one shout that my mind registered to distinctively be Dulce’s.

  “What the fuck is happening, dude?!” Hunter bellowed so loud that the entire camp could clearly hear him.

  Ethan turned his head around for a split second to scream out, “The fucking end!” Just catching the paralyzed, vibrantly determined look in his eyes sent chills down my spine.

  I could feel a dark thought cross my mind as my legs tensed up, attempting to stop following Ethan. What if he is leading you to your death? I looked at the almost pitch blackness that surrounded us, despite the bonfire emblazoning a path of light through the night. I couldn’t exactly pinpoint the reason I darted after Ethan so ferociously; maybe it was because of the terrified, completely hysterical look in his eyes, or maybe it was because of the almost instinctive sensation that danger lurked somewhere in the darkness above.

  I felt my heart rate begin to quicken, as we passed through the camp, and began to make our way at a blinding speed at the path down the mountain. I frantically glanced behind me, to see if anyone was following us, but all I saw was a couple of blank stares as they watched us in shock bound d
own the mountain.

  What the hell is happening?! There was a burning sensation in my lungs, as my dry, cracked throat attempted to suck some moisture out of the arid air. I felt myself suddenly stumble as we began to make our way down a steeper portion of the trail, and I braced myself against Hunter to prevent a cataclysmic fall down the mountainside.

  About a minute, which felt like an hour with the searing pain coursing through me, passed by and I could finally see what Ethan was running toward. Even in the darkness I could see the outline of a red pickup truck, parked at the end of a steep, rocky service trail, that John had ordered us to carve into the side of the mountain, to make it easier to retrieve supplies from the drop-off locations.

  He stole a truck?! At first my mind had to give Ethan credit for being sly enough about it to not get killed by the government squad that patrolled the cities. Since no crimes were ever committed anymore, the government felt the need to abolish the police force. But then a rush of anxiety flowed through me, as I registered the pure insanity of Ethan Blaine. Where is he planning to take us in that truck? A panic attack threatened to overcome me, as the thought of leaving my bubble on Camelback Mountain crossed through my mind.

  Then I felt my entire body freeze as the deafening sound of an aircraft passing by echoed in my ears. I looked up, and couldn’t see anything but blackness all around. What the hell? But then an ear-splitting scream roared out of my throat, as my entire body collapsed with shock and devastation. Instantly the void of blackness in the night sky was filled with a gigantic eruption of fire that emanated from the peak of Camelback Mountain.

  I stared on in shock, as I watched dirt, debris, and the charred pieces of bodies catapult into the night sky and down the side of the mountain, some pieces of wood even landing just yards behind us. No. No. My body began to shake vehemently, as my mind went into denial of the reality literally exploding into a ball of fire in front of me.

  “Come on!” Ethan hollered frantically, as the engine of the car roared.

  But I couldn’t move. My eyes and body were both paralyzed with shock and fear. The fire seemed to only grow as it began to eat away slowly at the sides of the mountain, attempting to blaze a path of fury directly at us. But my mind was too shocked to even think about the devastation of the explosion, never mind register the hell that was barreling straight toward me.

  I felt Hunter’s hands swiftly pick me up and carry my frozen, shaking body over to the truck and place me in the back seat. The slam of both car doors practically shook my ears, as Ethan instantly slammed on the gas pedal, driving away from the destruction behind us; driving away from everything that we just lost.

  I looked out the back window of the truck, through the tears in my eyes, and could see the fire burning through everything, causing a hellish black smoke to billow from the top of the mountain. Then my eyes went wide with shock, and a scream erupted from my mouth. There was the outline of an all-black helicopter flying through the night sky, and it was clearly following us. I felt a faint feeling overcome my body as reality hit me.

  It was the government.

  Chapter 12

  “Stop the vehicle! This is the United States Government, and we are bound by the law to act with force if you refuse to accept our orders!” the deep, sinister voice blared through a megaphone.

  Holy shit! I felt a scream roar out of my throat before my mind could even register what the man was yelling from the side of the helicopter. A muscle-tearing, truly spine-splitting fear coursed through my veins. The intensity of the anxiety and terror pumping through me caused my entire body to shake as the cavity holding all the tension inside of me threatened to explode.

  The car shook madly, almost like a gong vibrating back and forth, as Ethan slammed on the gas. I looked over his shoulder and saw the speedometer clocking in at almost fifty miles per hour. Normally that wouldn’t be too fast, but we were traveling fifty miles per hour down a rather steep, and sketchy service trail road that was a minefield of bumps and rocks. With every jolt of the car, I could feel my organs get jarred inside of me, and thrown up against my stomach, that felt nauseous, yet numb.

  I looked behind me, and was instantly blinded by the spotlight shining down from the bottom of the helicopter, that pierced through the night sky.

  “This is the United States Government!” I couldn’t see the man behind the large ray of light penetrating through the back window of through truck, but I could hear his loud, commanding voice. “Stop the vehicle now, or lethal force will be used against you!”

  The ferocity behind his words caused my body to sit up straight, absolutely petrified with fear. The feeling of defeat and helplessness was so overwhelming, that I could already feel my body starting to surrender to the hands of death that were beginning to reach up and pull me down into a pit of fiery hell. There was a heavy, almost suffocating feeling to the atmosphere, as I could feel death’s grip closing in around my neck.

  “Hold on!” Ethan screamed hysterically. The truck practically leaped into the air as a result of switching terrains from the rocky, coarse mountain to a much smoother dirt road around it. I glanced behind me again. The spotlight from the helicopter swerved erratically to the side as it turned to follow us. This gave my eyes a view of the bulky, yet somehow agile, jet black helicopter, that had a row of turrets visible sticking out from the sides of the helicopter.

  Wonderful! My eyes were so flustered that they couldn’t even produce any tears. My whole body was just in such a deep state of shock that it had to struggle to even consciously move. All those machine guns hopefully are very good at ending lives quickly.

  I gulped, another scream attempting to erupt out of me. I had finally gotten to the point in my life where the idea of death scares me less than the notion that I would continue going on living forever in a perpetual state of emptiness and sorrow. It wasn’t death that scares me. In fact, I welcomed its warm arms and calming energy to sweep over the dark matter in my brain, and cause me to feel like I am in a better place forever. It was the pain, torture, and agony of forcing the life out of me that kept me awake at night, and caused my insides to shrivel up with fear whenever death appeared with a warm smile and a cold knife behind his back.

  “Ethan, what the hell is your plan?!” Hunter looked so angry, terrified, and befuddled that I thought he was about to rip the steering wheel out of his hands.

  I took a deep breath, trying to deny the reality that was now a raging inferno down the mountain behind me, and a black, explosively deadly helicopter looming above me. Everything gone. I finally felt tears start to build up in a glassy film on the surface of my eyes, as I looked back for the final time, at the summit of Camelback Mountain being swallowed by the jaws of a hungry blaze. Everything burned. Everything ashes.

  A place that I used to know and love so much, could now return to the blackness that always threatened to swallow it. A place that I used to call home, could now rot in hell with the rest of my happiness.

  “Ugh!” Ethan pounded his fist hard against the wheel, as he shifted gears and began to speed up down the narrow, curvy, dirt road.

  Hunter glanced back at me with a look of shock and devastation in his eyes. I held his hand tightly, and looked, with tears in my eyes, into his crisp blue eyes, that looked almost on the verge of shattering with sadness. At least we can go out together. At least we can go out knowing that no one ever took us away from each other.

  An explosion of tears suddenly ruptured from the corners of my eyes as I looked around the car and realized who was missing. The dark reality pressed up against my throat and caused a sharp cry to emanate from my throat. Dulce is in those flames. I pictured her thick black hair, and cute, yet hardened, caramel face vividly in my mind. Dulce is dead.

  The thought, and the sadness and regret that it brought with it, hit me in the gut like a bullet. And simultaneously, loud pounding noises reverberated from the exterior of the car, and sounded in my ears like bullets.

  But different from th
e emotional pain, the new sound beginning to cascade down upon the windows and metal exterior of the car, were literal bullets. The frozen paranoia that was inflicted upon my body instantly lifted, and my entire body began to spaz out subconsciously as it began to process the insanity of my reality. The numb feeling in my brain was beginning to thaw out, as the initial icy feeling of death, began to be replaced by a livid burning sensation.

  Everything quickly became a blur, as my entire body entered a state of panic. The spotlight flashing down upon the truck looked like the blinding fire of hell in my eyes. The sounds of the screams, the clamoring of the megaphone, and the incessant barrage of the bullets against the truck created a cacophonous white noise in my ears. I would normally attempt to describe the jarring of the car against my body, but my nerves had grown immune to every other sensory stimulation besides the searing pain coursing through my body. It felt like my entire body was being scorched in an angry blaze; it felt like I was somehow united with the fire, and forced to swim in its fiery hell for the rest of eternity.

  “Goddammit!” Ethan quickly jerked the steering wheel to the side, causing the entire car to skid out onto the open pavement, and almost topple over because of the speed at which it turned.

  “Ethan, just give it up!” There was a crazed, terrified look in Hunter’s eyes as tears poured down his face. I could feel the genuine horror radiating off his shaking hands.

  “I have a plan!” Ethan hollered frantically, just above the sounds of the machine gun bullets raining down on the car. I could feel the glass and metal shards of the car beginning to rain down upon me and cut up my arms and legs, like little embers digging into my skin, and causing the paralysis plaguing my entire body to temporarily reside.

  End it quick! I closed my eyes and my vision instantly filled with red. I desperately screamed, hoping that one of the next bullets to pierce through the car would somehow connect in a lethal spot with my body.