“No, it really doesn’t.” Carl thought for a moment. “When I was in Bedlam, Chris said that our minds were being controlled. I wonder if it has something to do with that...” he trailed off.
“Maybe. I’ve heard that before. That our minds were controlled. I just thought it was Untruther nonsense. But now I’m not so sure. It’s kind of hard to deny.”
Carl nodded. He couldn’t remember an Untruther actually saying it on the Exoche, but he did remember hearing the rumor from time to time. No one ever gave it much thought. “What I can’t figure out is why so many people thought that I was an Untruther when I went back to my apartment.”
Eva responded, “It’s like there was a switch flipped that turned us into the bad guys. How the hell does that happen?”
Carl shrugged, “That’s a good question.” He screwed the cap back on the bottle. He put it back in Eva’s bag. “Maybe those are the kinds of answers we’ll find in the north.”
“Hopefully.”
“I think we’re all set. Let’s get going.” Carl slung the bag over his shoulder.
* * *
After returning to the cleared path, Carl and Eva continued north. They could see something rising along the horizon, but the dimming sky made vision difficult. Not until they drew near the edge of town could they see scattered and devastated buildings. A replica of Albany’s outskirts.
They entered one of the ruins. “In Albany, I traveled through the streets at night. There was no one there. If we wait a little while, hopefully it will be the same here.”
Eva replied, “Okay. Let’s wait. Maybe we can try to sleep in the meantime.”
“Good idea.”
Carl closed his eyes, hoping that he would be able to get some sleep. He was both mentally and physically drained, having barely a moment’s rest over the last few days. His mind drifted, raising questions about Eva once again. Those thoughts faded quickly; exhaustion overwhelmed him. His mind blanked with the relief of sleep.
* * *
Sometime later, Eva woke him up. “We should get going. It’s dark out and I have no idea how long we’ve been asleep for.”
Still groggy, Carl agreed. A quiet yawn escaped as he sat up. He reached high, as if trying to touch the ceiling. A rumble in his stomach gave Carl an idea. “While we’re here, we should find some food. I don’t know how much longer we can go without anything.”
“I’m starving, too. I think that’s a good idea.”
They walked out of the doorless building to find a smeared moon hanging in the sky. It provided enough light that they could manage outlines of buildings and enough detail to see a few steps ahead. They walked carefully, trying to stay quiet. Eva broke the silence by saying, “I’ve never been here before. I don’t know where to go.”
“We just need to find a restaurant. We should be able to gather some food from there.”
Eva nodded, “Anything other than those mushy bricks would be great.”
Carl grabbed Eva’s arm. “Look,” he said, pointing towards a corner building with a faded burger painted on the window. “I’m not sure, but I think that kind of looks like a logo for Brave New Burger.”
Eva strained her eyes to see it. “You might be right. I sure could go for a burger right about now.”
“Me, too.”
They hurried towards the building. Carl tried the door, which, to his surprise, was open. The front part of the restaurant was empty except for a counter. Carl and Eva walked behind the counter and through an open doorway. “This doesn’t look much like a restaurant,” Carl said.
“No, it doesn’t.” Eva fumbled around the dark for a moment before finding a fridge. She opened the door and told Carl, “Uh. Maybe it is a restaurant after all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look.” She swung the door wide open to reveal hundreds of curd bricks neatly piled on top of each other.
Carl scratched his head. “I had a feeling that’s all we would find,” he sighed. “I was just hoping for something else.”
“Yeah, I guess I was, too.” Eva thought for a moment, then added, “You know, I think this is the only food we’ve ever eaten.”
Carl nodded. She was probably right. “Well, let’s stuff as much as we can in the bag. I don’t want to come back to another town until we absolutely have to.”
They piled the bricks into the bag until it was full. They each took one more bar and unwrapped it, eating the curd on their way out. “It’s not the tastiest thing I’ve ever had, but right now it’s not bad,” Eva said.
Carl laughed, “It’ll do. I’m getting used to the texture.” Carl opened a second fridge to find bottles of water. “This is probably going to taste like sulfur, but we should drink it so we don’t dip into our supply.”
Eva nodded. They both drank as much of the brownish liquid as they could stomach before heading back into the night.
“If we continue along this street, it should lead us to the north end of town, right?” Eva asked.
“I hope so,” replied Carl. “If it doesn’t, we have no way of telling which direction to go until morning.”
Eva nodded into the murky darkness.
They continued forward. Carl scanned the streets, tension rising with each minute they spent in the town. “Do you get the feeling we’re being watched?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Something feels off.”
“Yes, it does.” He looked over his shoulder, not sure what to expect. Visibility limited them to seeing only outlines of buildings painted faintly against the darkness. “Maybe we’re just being paranoid.”
“I hope so.” Eva drew closer to Carl.
After a few more steps, Carl caught a sound hovering in the distance. Faint, like the sound of a persistent gentle breeze. “Do you hear that?” he asked.
Eva stopped to listen. “What? The wind?”
“I don’t think that’s wind. It’s too steady and doesn’t stop.”
She listened closer. “You’re right,” she replied. “What is that?”
“I don’t know, but I think we should move quicker.” He reached for Eva’s arm as he took a step forward. She didn’t budge.
“Carl, not that way.” She stared ahead. “There’s someone, or something, there.”
Carl looked but only saw outlines of buildings. “Are you sure?”
“No. But I swear I just saw eyes.”
The sound, while still distant, was undoubtedly louder. Carl had the sense that whatever that sound might be, it came for them. “Eva, we need go. Now.”
Eva nodded. “This way.” She pointed down a side street. “We’ll head down one block and then keep going in this direction.”
Carl followed. Whatever it took to keep moving. They began with a slow jog, careful to avoid the numerous pot holes. Together, they went forward, not speaking, focused on the task. When the next street appeared, they took a left, hoping that this was the correct way to go. Once on the street, the sound faded away. Carl and Eva slowed down.
He giggled nervously, “I think we’re being paranoid.”
“I sure hope so.”
Carl exhaled his worry away. Everything was going to be okay. Just keep moving forward, he told himself.
Two blocks into their trek, they found a rhythm – a fast walk that satisfied the need to move quickly and safely. With deep crevices in the road, it was tricky to navigate in the darkness. During the tense calm, Carl wanted to hold Eva’s hand. He couldn’t explain the urge. It wasn’t the same as when he wanted to hold Liam’s hand at the mall. This was different. A desire to get closer to someone in a more intimate way. He didn’t understand this desire; it was altogether foreign to him. He had never felt this need before.
“Stop,” Eva said abruptly.
Caught off guard, Carl thought that she meant for him to stop thinking about her. But then he heard it – the same sound as before – getting louder. Whatever was making the sound approached with haste. “Don’t stop,” he said. “Run.”
/> They bolted forward, keeping stride with each other. It didn’t matter; the sound zeroed in on them faster than they could possibly move. Within seconds, a machine hovered over them. It shot a blinding spotlight. A monotonous voice boomed, “Carl Winston and Eva Thompson, you are under arrest. Stop where you are.”
They did not stop. Instead, the spotlight allowed them to sprint, now able to see the sink holes in the road. The machine remained overtop, giving its order again, “There is no escape. Stop where you are.”
As they passed another side street, a small flame whizzed in the air, hitting the nearby ground. The flame turned into a small explosion, leaving a strip of fire to Eva’s left. From the alley, a group of people rushed out, dashing at them, screaming their vendetta, “It’s The Executioner! Get him!” Another Molotov cocktail hit the street just behind Eva. “And there’s Evil Eva. Don’t let her get away!”
The crowd filed behind Carl and Eva, giving chase like rabid dogs. Their screams for revenge echoed louder than the hovercraft above them, which lit a path for the mob to catch them.
Carl’s lungs burned again. He didn’t know how much longer he could continue. He glanced at Eva to see sweat dripping down her face, eyes squinted, mouth open, teeth bared, grunting; she couldn’t possibly last much longer, either.
The ground beneath their feet turned from pavement to gravel. Carl wanted to tell Eva that they were nearly out of the town, but he had no breath with which to talk. A sign, Do Not Enter, shone brightly against the hovercraft’s light. Past the sign, Eva stumbled forward. With her legs giving out, she slid forward. Scrambling to her knees, Carl stopped to help her up. With an arm around her, they jogged forward together.
The guiding light from above shut off. Carl turned around in time to see the hovercraft back away. Eva followed his lead and they both watched the angry mob standing at the edge of the pavement, unwilling to move past that point. The people looked ridiculous, standing at the edge of town like a group of zombies that hit an invisible wall. Eva let out a nervous laugh until coughing took over. Carl, while laughing and coughing too, waved at them. Through shallow breaths, Carl managed to say, “I guess that’s as far as they can go.”
Eva nodded, “I guess so.” She tried to laugh again.
With a last look, they walked into the dark wasteland, feeling more secure now that they knew these people wouldn’t dare pass the Do Not Enter sign. As they walked, Carl felt relieved about Eva as well. The mob and that machine were after her as much as they were after him. Any suspicions he had about her were gone.
They continued walking for a while before deciding to stop for the day. They laid down in the dead meadow and tried to get more rest.
* * *
A breeze slapped Carl awake in the chilly morning. He opened his eyes to find Eva taking a sip of water. “It’s about time,” she joked with him.
“Have you been up for long?” Carl rolled to his side.
“No, not too long. I’m ready to get going, though.”
Carl sat up, wondering where Eva found the energy to be in such a good mood. He liked that about her. It motivated him to get ready and keep on trekking down this path, which otherwise provided little hope. Without her, he wasn’t sure that he would have the will to continue, never mind that he would most likely be dead if not for her help.
Carl reached in the bag to grab a slab of curd. He broke a chunk off and gnawed at it while gathering himself. Finally, he stood, ready to go.
They continued along the path. After some time, Eva pointed to her right. “Look, there’s the river again.”
Carl found relief in seeing water. They were still well stocked, but the sight provided comfort. “Let’s hope that it stays near us. Just in case.”
Although Carl wanted to talk, he kept silent, listening for anything that sounded out of place. The only noise came from their feet crunching along the dead grass.
Gloomy day waned, turning to night. The process repeated the following day. Finally, Eva asked, “How far north are we supposed to go?”
“I have no idea. Chris never said anything specific, just that there were answers to the north.”
“Do you still believe him?”
Carl had to think. Chris was right about going to see his son. While Carl needed closure, Chris did predict the ensuing catastrophe. Plus, this ordeal about mind control, as hard as it was for Carl to believe, seemed to be true. If Chris knew about these two things, then perhaps there were answers ahead; he just didn’t know where. “I think so. He was right about other things. Besides,” he added, “where else would we go? I can’t think of anything else that we should try.”
Eva nodded. “True. There isn’t anything to eat out here and going to any town isn’t a great option,” she reasoned.
“So, we keep going north?”
“Sure. We might as well.”
Silence fell over them once again. As they walked, a childhood event churned in Carl’s mind. He decided to share it with Eva. “When I was ten,” he said, “I remember getting lost. My dad took me to the old fun park. Do you remember the one that used to be in the south part of Albany, before Untruthers supposedly blew it up?”
“No, I don’t think I remember it,” she said.
“That’s okay. It probably never existed. But anyway, I was lost and I wandered around for hours. Eventually, I was so scared that I hid underneath a game booth. I don’t know why I hid under there, but I did. I remember staying there until the place closed for the night. I stayed in that crawl space until I fell asleep. The next day I woke up in my bed. I’ve never been able to figure out how I ended up there. I guess that’s something I’ll never figure out.”
“That is pretty strange,” she agreed. In the spirit of sharing, Eva recalled her own story, “I think I was ten, too, when I had pneumonia. I don’t really remember it myself, but my mother told me that I got sicker and sicker in bed for nearly a month. By the end of it, I was nearly dead. I could barely breathe. I couldn’t eat. She had nearly lost hope because the doctors told her that there wasn’t much more they could do. But then one day, I just woke out of it. I sprang out of bed and was completely back to normal.”
Carl enjoyed sharing stories with her. He had never done that with anyone before and found the experience cathartic.
They continued to chat about their old life while walking down the path. They shared whatever stories they could remember while grey turned to black around them. Then, they returned to silence while black made its shift to grey, walking toward the bleak horizon, hoping for change. Both Carl and Eva began to doubt that there was anything in the north. Even though Chris was right about what lay in Albany, Carl wondered if this journey was the hope of a madman. The hope to find answers in a world where there were none. Carl wondered if maybe this was an inescapable dream and his body lay in his bedroom, waiting to be awakened.
There was still nothing on the horizon as dusk fell. Carl quietly ate and drank, noting how quickly their stash dwindled. In another day, two if they were careful, they would be out of supplies. He thought that they should consider making another trip to the river tomorrow and talk about where they were going to get more food. Fatigue washed over Carl; sleep came quickly.
* * *
When Carl woke up, he didn’t see Eva. The food and water sat tucked in a bag next to him. Seated, he looked in every direction, figuring that she couldn’t be far away. When he couldn’t see her, irrational fear swelled. Did she run away? He wondered. Did someone take her?
Carl scrambled to his feet, calling out, “Eva!” He left the bag behind, running from one side of the path to the other. “Eva!”
He ran ahead, continuing in desperation. “Eva!”
No. She can’t be gone. Why? No. She has to be here. Has to be. “Eva!” Carl ran up the incline in the path. “Eva!”
“Carl,” she called back, “over here.”
Carl continued up the slope. He came to a quick stop at the apex where Eva stood, looking down a sharp dec
line, which smoothed out into a valley. When she heard Carl coming her way, she said, “Sorry, I didn’t hear you. I just can’t believe this.”
Carl stood with his mouth wide open. To one side of the valley were acres upon acres of green plants, which stood in stark contrast to the grey behind them. In front of the plants, pools of water and trees outlined the farm. A building of some sort stood to the left. To Carl, it looked out of place.
“Do you think this is what we’ve been looking for?” Eva asked.
“I’m not sure,” Carl said, still staring at the scene. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.
Eva nodded.
“I’ll go back to get the bag.”
Chapter 20
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Accessing departmental requests...
Extract: Joint Protocol Request from Homeland with the aid of the Agriculture, forwarded to Psychology by command of Government (350.355)
The growing food crisis has brought riots across America. There is a need to act quickly as these shortages become more severe. With haste, we must act together to bring back safety. With the abrupt decline in primary agricultural land as a result of radiation from the war, Agriculture predicts massive famine for next year. There is already a limited food supply, as storages become depleted. If these riots continue, there will, undoubtedly, be a total loss of control and we may very well be in jeopardy as collective entities. As a group, we must put aside our respective agendas and come to a consensus on how to deal with this situation.
Agriculture has already stated that she will accommodate whatever action is necessary, as Government sees fit. What Homeland and Government seeks of Psychology is nothing short of a miracle. We need the minds of the hoi polloi tamed by any means necessary.
Searching experiment database for possible solutions...
Possible solution found. Micom DJD336 and later has access to the hypothalamus and can control hunger, with some modification to its firmware.
Interpretation Page 13