by Anne Rasico
“The paint on this section does look newer than the rest of the wall,” Trent observed, shining his flashlight on the hollow spot. Zane ran out of the room and emerged with a hammer.
“Get back,” he barked. Trent and Brooklyn moved away from the wall as Zane swung the hammer into it.
He peeled off the plaster and pounded the hollow section of the wall until he stopped suddenly with the hammer still raised in his hand. “What is it?” Trent asked. Zane dropped the hammer and knelt down. He reached inside the hole and pulled out a manila envelope. Brooklyn and Trent hovered over him. Inside it was a thick stack of papers and a flash drive. Zane flipped through the papers, skimming over them. “This is it. This is the documentation of his research! He was researching the effects of the microchip,” he said triumphantly.
A smile came across Brooklyn’s face. She was excited, elated, and fighting the urge to shove a finger in Trent’s face and say ‘I told you so.’ “What does it say?” Brooklyn said, kneeling beside Zane, whose hair was covered in plaster dust. Trent walked towards the front window and peered out around the curtain.
“There’s a lot here to read, but it appears he observed changes in a group of men and women before and after their microchips were installed,” Zane replied.
“Let’s get out of here now. We’ll read all of this later,” Brooklyn urged.
“Oh dammit!” Trent exclaimed backing away from the window, “It’s the cops.”
“What!” Brooklyn cried, rising to her feet. Zane quickly shoved Eldridge’s research back into its envelope.
“The neighbors must have heard something. Come on, you two. MOVE IT!” Trent yelled, running out of the living room. Zane and Brooklyn followed, heading for the back door. Zane clutched the envelope tightly. They flung open the door and ran across the backyard and into the alley.
As soon as Zane reached the alley, something grabbed him and jolted him backyards. Oh God, no! They got me! he thought. He whirled around and saw his shirt was caught on the gate. He yanked the shirt loose, cutting his hand on the metal “No Trespassing” sign that hung on the gate.
“Police! Stop!” a voice shouted from the backyard. They ran faster.
“Come on, man!” Trent yelled to Zane. Unlike Trent and Brooklyn, Zane was moderately overweight and out of shape, and he was struggling to keep up with them. Brooklyn had caught up with Trent, but Zane was a good ten feet behind. They could hear the officer running behind them.
He was gaining on Zane. I can’t get caught or we’ll lose everything, Zane thought frantically. Then he had an idea. Zane ran across to the other side of the gravel road with the officer hot on his heals. Running as hard as he could, he quickly jumped over the large pothole he remembered seeing when there was still daylight.
Not having time to react, the officer’s foot snagged the pothole, and he hit the ground with a hard thud. Zane ran breathlessly towards Trent and Brooklyn, who were already standing beside the truck. “The keys!” Trent shouted. Zane hurled the keys toward Trent. He leapt forward, caught them, unlocked the door, and the three scrambled inside. Trent started the truck and backed out of their parking spot, kicking up rocks and dirt.
That was when they heard what sounded like a pack of bottle rockets going off in the bed of the truck. “We’re being shot at!” Brooklyn cried.
“Get down!” Trent yelled. Brooklyn and Zane crouched down on the floorboard while Trent stomped the gas pedal to the floor and sped away.
“Do you still have the envelope?” Brooklyn asked when they were on a main road. “Yes,” Zane said, still panting.
“What if he got our license plate number” Trent said nervously.
“I doubt it. The alley was really dark, and I smashed your plate lights out before we left Montana,” Zane said.
“You did?” Trent sputtered.
“You didn’t notice?” Zane replied.
“They’re still going to put an APB out on the truck. We need to get onto a side road,” Brooklyn insisted.
Trent turned onto a side road, surrounded by cornfields. “Hand me the atlas. We’re going to need to take another route home,” Trent said to Zane. Trent glanced at the map while Zane and Brooklyn sat in silence, nervously glancing behind them.
“Look, I vote we get the hell out of Boise and find a hotel and just lay low for the night,” Brooklyn suggested.
“That’s a novel idea, but how are we going to get a hotel room?” Zane replied.
“Oh, I think we can convince someone to get us a room,” Brooklyn remarked, pulling the Rolex out of her pocket.
“Brook, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Trent cautioned. They were parked behind a Holiday Inn hotel in Emmett, Idaho, watching people walk in and out.
“Do either of you have a better idea?” Brooklyn retorted. She was answered by silence. “How about this guy?” she said, pointing to a man who had just come out of the side door.
“No way! He looks like a convict,” Zane shrieked.
“Ok, how about him? He’s perfect. He’s probably leaving town, which is even better,” Brooklyn said eyeing a man in a business suit with a suitcase in his hand.
Brooklyn climbed out of the truck and started towards the man. It was time to put her acting abilities to the test. “Excuse me, sir, would you be interested in a Rolex?” she said. The man stopped, shook his head, and started towards his car. “I’m sorry to bother you,” she continued. He stopped and turned his head to face her. “It’s just that I’m from out of town and I’m low on funds. I traveled here to attend my father’s funeral, and I don’t have anywhere to stay tonight. That’s why I was hoping to find someone who could get me a room for the night in return for my dad’s watch. It’s a long trip home to Colorado, and I’m tired of sleeping in my car,” she pleaded, trying to look as sad as possible.
“I wonder what she’s telling him,” Trent said as he and Zane watched their exchange.
“I’m sure she’s using her womanly charms,” Zane chuckled. The man walked back to the hotel as Brooklyn stood waiting for him. He emerged several minutes later, approached Brooklyn, and handed her a key. “Score!” Zane cried.
“This place is great, Brook. You did well,” Zane grinned, flopping onto the bed in the hotel room.
“Did you see the huge pool downstairs? I wish we could go swimming,” Brooklyn said.
“Yeah, that would be great if the cops don’t ruin the party,” Trent said, parting the blinds with his finger and looking suspiciously out the window.
“Relax, no one is going to know we’re here,” Zane assured him. He pulled Eldridge’s research out of the envelope and began reading over it while Trent and Brooklyn sat on the bed beside his, watching TV.
“So what does it say?!” Brooklyn cried after glancing over at him more than a dozen times.
“Eldridge was investigating the microchip alright. There’s a lot I haven’t read yet, but he observed the behavior of a group of one hundred test subjects both before and after the microchip was installed. His subjects included men and women of different races and backgrounds. Almost all of them showed a marked difference in behavior after their microchips were implanted. Only a small percentage of them weren’t affected. He also dissected the chip to see how it works, and he found a component that was not used as a homing device or to store personal information. His hypothesis was that this component sent signals to the frontal lobe of the brain, affecting motivation and personality,” Zane explained.
“So that’s why everyone is acting so weird,” Brooklyn said, turning the TV off.
“Everything I’ve read so far supports his hypothesis,” Zane added.
“There have to be some chips that lack the extra component. If we are the puppets, who are the puppeteers?” Trent mused.
“Right, if the goal is to control people, someone has to be doing the controlling,” Brooklyn agreed.
“Well, the heads of the government are definitely pulling the strings. The entire department of Homeland Security is behind this,” Z
ane said.
“Lars told me that a company called ICS controls the chips now. He said the military was using the chips on soldiers before the bill was even passed. Do you think the police are being mind controlled too?” Brooklyn wanted to know.
“The lower ranking military officers for sure have the component in their chips. The military doesn’t tell them anything. They would want nothing more than robots with guns, and the same thing goes for the police. That’s exactly what they need to help them take over the world!” Zane said.
“Do you think world domination is the ultimate goal? That would explain why your brothers suddenly joined the Army,” Trent deduced.
“From what Lars told me, it definitely is. He said the government plans to use biological warfare to take over the world,” Brooklyn said.
“You’ve been talking to Lars about world domination? Consider your source,” Trent retorted.
“Lars is a lot more knowledgeable than you think and he was in the military,” Brooklyn replied.
“I definitely think world domination is one of their goals,” Zane injected.
“Mind control is a powerful and useful tool. If the government decides that the world is overpopulated, which I think they already have, what is to stop them from telling everyone to march off a cliff? If the masses are dead, the greedy minority gets everything,” Trent said.
“Do you really think they have that much power over our basic will to live??!” Brooklyn asked in astonishment.
“You haven’t seen what the chip has done to people. The government wants everyone’s mind clouded so they don't pay attention to what is going on around them. It's like the time I took too much cold medicine and went to work. I could still do my job because it's easy to do something you've done repeatedly, but I was too doped up to think about anything else. I think that's how it is for these people with microchips inside them.
When the bill was first passed, they made everyone get their chips implanted by order of their birthdate. People born in January went first, then February, and so on. I had an advantage by having a November birthday, because I got to see what was happening to everyone. When some of my friends and coworkers starting getting their chips, I saw them completely transform. These brilliant, intellectual people who loved to talk politics and philosophy had little more to say than ‘hello’ and ‘how's the weather?’ It was as Lars described-‘no opinions and no feelings.’ That's when I knew something terrible was going on. I believe that once they have that chip in you, they can do whatever the hell they want to you,” Trent said wide eyed.
“I had similar experiences. I was born in December,” Zane injected, “My friend, Aaron from work was the first person I knew who got chipped. Genius ran in his family. His uncle used to work for NASA and his dad was a Biologist who received a Nobel Peace Prize for the advancements he made to science. Aaron was every bit as gifted as his family. I guess the government saw him as a particular threat because after he got his chip, he didn’t even know who the hell I was, and I ate lunch with the guy every day! Caleb was next in line to be chipped and he was flipping out about it, not that I blamed him. He said he’d live on the street before he’d let them turn him into a zombie. Soon after that he told us he knew someone in Montana that wanted to sell his farmhouse and leave the country. We really felt we had no other choice.”
“I wonder what’s on that flash,” Brooklyn said, staring at the envelope.
“He probably videotaped his experimentation. The data is encrypted. It’s going to take some time to decode, so we won’t find out until later,” Zane said, pointing to his laptop, which was plugged into a charger in the corner of the room.
“Let me read it,” Brooklyn demanded, holding her hand out.
“Later,” Zane said. Brooklyn glared at him.
“I found it,” she snapped.
“Yes, and you did a wonderful job,” Zane replied, not taking his eyes off of the spiral bound book.
Brooklyn marched to the bathroom to take a shower.
Caleb was startled awake the next morning by the sound of someone banging on the front door. He sleepily climbed out of bed, rubbed his eyes, and staggered toward the door. He was surprised and confused to see Lars standing on the foyer. “Lars, what are you doing here, man?” Caleb asked groggily. He pushed his shaggy red hair out of his face as he tried to fully awaken.
“I’ve got to talk to you, brother,” Lars said, barging through the front door and into the living room.
“Well, come on in,” Caleb muttered sarcastically as he shut the door.
“Zane is in a lot of trouble. I don’t know where he is right now, but I hope he knows what he’s doing. I was watching the news this morning and he and two unknown accomplices are wanted by the cops for breaking and entering in Boise,” Lars said, frantically pacing.
“What!” Caleb cried.
“He can’t get caught, brother. There’s no telling what they’ll do to him!” Lars exclaimed as he stopped pacing.
“Okay, calm down, man,” Caleb responded, half in disbelief, “Since when do you watch TV anyway?”
“Marcus and I were gathering resources this morning, and we watched the news on our new portable TV. I like to keep myself informed on the latest injustices of our government,” Lars said. “Gathering resources” was the term Lars used for stealing from someone’s house while they were out of town.
“How long have they been gone?” Lars wanted to know.
“Since yesterday. I knew going to Boise was a bad idea,” Caleb replied.
Trent and Brooklyn awoke to find Zane asleep with Eldridge’s book open in front of him. His glasses were still on his face. “What time is it?” Brooklyn asked stretching.
“It’s free continental breakfast time,” Trent said happily.
“Yay! Food we don’t have to make ourselves,” Brooklyn exclaimed. “Should we wake Sleeping Beauty?” she asked, still irritated with him.
“No, we’ll bring him back a plate,” Trent said. They threw on their clothes and ran downstairs to the breakfast room.
“Zane, wake up man. We brought you some scrambled eggs and biscuits,” Trent said when they had returned.
“Cool,” Zane said groggily.
“Any messages?” Brooklyn asked when she saw Trent checking his phone.
“Caleb called five times while we were at breakfast. I don’t know what could be so important,” Trent replied bewildered. Trent dialed Caleb’s number, and Caleb answered.
“Where have you guys been? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you,” he blasted in an anxious tone.
“Yeah, I saw that. What’s up?” Trent said.
“Lars is here. He said the police are looking for Zane. They say he’s a suspect in a breaking-and-entering incident,” Caleb said.
“Oh dammit,” Trent gasped.
“It’s all over the news. What kind of illegal stupid stuff have you guys been doing in Boise?” Caleb demanded.
“Did they mention anyone besides Zane?” Trent said.
“They mentioned two unknown accomplices, but there were no names or physical descriptions given. Now tell me what is going on!!”Caleb insisted.
Trent ran his fingers through his thick dark hair. His mind was racing. “Listen to me, Caleb, I want you to take our belongings and stay with someone else right now. It’s probably not safe there. Don’t try to contact me; I’ll be disposing of this phone. I’ll explain later,” he instructed.
“But Trent…”Caleb stammered. He was confused and annoyed.
“Just do it, Caleb,” Trent said and he hung up the phone.
“Guys, we are screwed. Screwed screwed screwed!” Trent exclaimed, throwing his phone on the bed.
“Why? What happened?” Brooklyn said.
“The police are looking for you, Zane, and Brook and I are your ‘unknown accomplices.’ Your picture is all over the news. They’re on to us now,” Trent said.
“Hell’s bells!” Zane cried with a mouth full of food.
> “If they have a clue as to what was in Eldridge’s house, and I’m sure they do, they’ll never stop hunting us,” Trent said.
“Why are they looking for Zane and not us?” Brooklyn asked, “That makes no sense.” The three were silent for several minutes. Trent stood facing the window until he suddenly whirled around and pointed a finger at Zane.
“You cut yourself, didn’t you?! I saw you get caught on that gate. You left your damn DNA behind!” he exclaimed.
“It’s just a small cut. I don’t think it drew blood. At least I didn’t notice any in the shower last night,” Zane said, holding out his hand. His startled expression answered Trent’s question.
“I knew it. That’s no small cut; of course it drew blood,” Trent cried.
“Why would Zane’s DNA be in the National Database? He’s not a criminal,” Brooklyn said.
“Before the microchip bill was passed, the government started requiring everyone to give DNA samples,” Zane explained.
“That’s just great. Why the hell didn’t you tell us you cut yourself?! That was really dumb to assume it didn’t bleed,” Trent snapped.
“Hey, get off my back, man. It was dark outside. It’s not like I could see any blood,” Zane retorted.
“Well, that would’ve been all the more reason to tell somebody! If you couldn’t see, then you couldn’t be sure! You know all it takes is a tiny drop of blood to be able to find out who it belongs to in the National Database. I can’t believe you wouldn’t think of that, being a hi-tech nerd. The whole community could be in danger now,” Trent barked. This infuriated Zane.
“You thought this trip was a waste of time from the beginning. If not for Brooklyn and me, we never even would have found what we found!” he exploded.