“N-n-no! I’m not l-l-listening to any m-m-more voices in m-m-my head.” I say.
“I am not your mother. Trust in Me.”
I don’t know why, but I feel very much at peace when I hear that voice. “Who are y-y-you?” I ask.
“Now is not the time. For now, you need to walk. I will be with you.”
“W-w-which way?” I ask as I look at a muddy ground. “The c-c-car tracks are g-g-gone!”
“I will guide you. Follow me.”
“B-b-but I don’t even see you! How can I f-f-f-follow what I d-d-don’t see?” This time I don’t get a verbal answer. Instead, a glow on the horizon catches my attention. That’s odd, because the sun is in a different direction. At this point, I’ll take anything I can get, so I head towards the glow.
I stand up, wipe the tears away, and take my first step. Apparently, whatever happened to me while I was out sapped all of my knowledge of walking, because I instantly fall face down in the mud. Lifting my face out of the mud, and I can feel tears welling up again.
“Keep trying.”
I push myself up onto my knees, and I gradually make it back to my feet. My legs are trembling now. I slowly move one foot forward, and then I set it down. Success! What is with me today? Now to move the other foot. Success again! I should have started off slow to begin with. What was I thinking? The only issue is that now my sweat pants are a lot looser and incredibly saggy. So, I grab one side and ensure that they won’t fall down.
I trudge forward with a sway in every step. It takes everything within me not to fall over. I feel like one of those Weeble Wobble toys that would not fall down regardless of how much they wobbled back and forth. The credit goes to their very round bottoms, which I can certainly relate to. Well, I am very round; or at least I used to be. Upon further inspection of myself and the evidence of my pants, I appear to have lost some weight and am no longer as round as I was before this odyssey. However, I am not a toy. I have legs and feet to accompany my very round bottom. Back and forth, to and fro I walk. Although, I would not call this walking so much, but more of a shuffling through the sand. I pause for a brief moment, and I look behind me. I see very curvy trails that have been made in the mud by my swaying. Sigh.
Sway. Trudge. Shuffle. Sway. I’m hot. I’m tired. I’m hungry. I’m thirsty, and I now know the urge all the young people have for excess coffee. However, water sounds really good right now! I look to the sky and hold my hand up to block the sun. Just as I had guessed, there’s not a single cloud in sight, so I won’t be expecting rain anytime soon. The thought of me reclining my head back and swallowing rain water sounds really good right now. I lean my head back ready to receive rain and day dream for just a moment. Yes, that would be nice. I bring my face back down quickly in fear of any birds messing in my mouth. Then again…I don’t see any birds at all. That can’t be a good sign, but I have to keep walking.
Hours pass by. I tried to keep myself occupied by counting the bushes with frail roots. I stopped at five because it became very boring. I then started counting gusts of wind. That one was easy; one. Then I played a little game: how many steps does it take before the sun moves to its next position? This also became futile. As soon as I started that game, I went through all of the scientific facts in regards to the sun. Especially the fact that the sun does not move in a static format, and that it’s constantly moving. I can say that after all of my attempts to come up with a new way to pass the time, time eventually did pass. The sun is setting finally in its usually western spot, and I am still following the same glow which I realize is now in a more northern direction.
I had been focusing so much on the glow in the distance, that the silhouettes of buildings just on the horizon had escaped my vision…until now! This is excellent! I briefly think about running, but quickly dismiss that thought as soon as it came. I can just see myself falling face down, and I don’t want that to happen; again. Besides, I am not that great of a runner. That fact was recently made manifest when I ran after Steve.
I swallow several times in hopes that it will create some kind of moisture for me. I am so thirsty! My tummy feels like it is trying to claw itself free in hopes to generate food. I grab my midsection to hopefully numb the pain. I feel incredibly tired, which I can assume is due to lack of food or water. It can’t be from lack of sleep, could it? I’ve lost a bunch of weight and I have a beard. I had to be out for days, right? Sleep. Voices. Right! Those voices! I keep hearing voices and I’m now worried because they’re becoming more frequent. There’s just no explanation for it at all. I wonder if it’s some kind of delirium or dementia setting in? Well, if that were true then I would have had hallucinations by now. Of course, pyramids, lightning and drowning in blood might fit the definition of a hallucination. However, I woke up spitting up rain water, so it had to just be an intense dream; possibly a night terror. What am I doing? My thoughts are rambling again. I need to focus and keep moving, especially if I am going to survive long enough to make it to town.
My stomach reminds me to stay focused as well. I frantically scan the ground for any signs of life. I am so hungry right now that anything sounds good to eat. I don’t even care if it crawls or slithers at this point. I just want food! Sadly, all I see are the small, insignificant shrubs, the town in front of me, and a few sporadic hills of sand. This is so stupid! How did I get myself into this mess? Why did I have to trip and fall at the last mass? Why am I so fat and lazy? Why me? What did I do to deserve all of this? I have nothing left! God, I am so angry, alone, and hungry! Of all the places, I could end up in, why am I in a desert?!
I drop to my knees and begin to weep. I let it all out. I cry loudly because I know nobody is going to hear me, and even if there were people nearby I’m not ashamed of who may see me. I make fists with my hands and I slam them to the ground a few times, accenting the sobbing.
“I c-c-can’t take any m-m-more! I am l-l-losing m-m-my mind out here! I j-j-just w-w-want to c-c-call it quits. P-p-p-please; j-j-just let me d-d-d-d-die already.” If I was a big-time movie star, this scene would have won best actor award. I don’t think that is going to happen though.
I hear movement. I quickly dry up my tears and try to be quiet.
I snap my eyes open and I look around trying to be as quiet as possible. Whatever moved, has stopped. So, I wait. After a few minutes of nothing, I hear it move again. It’s coming from over to my left. I swivel my head slowly to look in that direction. There’s a rather large bush about ten feet away from me, and there’s something moving behind it. With the sun going down, I have to give my eyes a few more seconds to adjust so I can make out what it is. I remain perfectly still.
The thing leaps out from behind the bush, and lands just a few feet away from me.
“AAAH!” I scream and close my eyes. When nothing happens, I open my eyes. Right before me is a black-tailed jack rabbit; and it’s looking up at me. My eyes grow really wide, and my stomach leads the way. “F-f-food!” I lunge forward and reach out with both hands. The rabbit moves just out of reach and watches me fall to my face. I really have to stop falling like this. I get back up, and lunge for him again. Yep, I fell. The rabbit moves again, and hops away, staying just out of reach. Why is he staying this close though? Why hasn’t he run as fast and has far as he could to get away from me? Then again, where exactly did this rabbit come from? It is almost as if he appeared out of nowhere. Maybe he could be a ninja rabbit? No, that is stupid. Rabbits cannot be ninjas.
Back on my feet, I move slowly towards my soon to be food. “Y-y-you are g-g-going to be d-d-delicious. You j-j-just don’t know it yet.” I say to the rabbit. He turned and looked at me as if he understood me!
That’s it. This rabbit is a ninja.
The rabbit ducks his head down and scratches his ear with his right rear paw, and then hops another few feet away. I look in the direction he is hopping. If I didn’t know any better, it would seem that this little guy is leading me right to the city! Fantastic! I get to have a snack on
my way into town. I think I should at least restrain myself a bit. It may be better to subtly walk behind the rabbit, instead of falling on my face every five steps. Besides, in my old age, this falling down business is not smart.
I start my slow walk to the rabbit, and it in turn hops along; staying just out of reach. The adrenaline seems to be wearing off now, and quite frankly I didn’t think I had any in the first place. My mind is starting to clear up a bit too. Suddenly, I’m made aware of a sharp, crippling pain coming from my hip. I look down and notice that my right hip is purple and black. That can’t be good at all. As more adrenaline fades, pain takes its place. My walk becomes more of a staggered plod. I start to favor my left side the more I carry on. Good heavens! I think I’ve… I think I broke my hip!
I look up ahead, and the sympathetic tease has slowed its hopping. Cute, but not funny. Oh, Lord, how I long for the taste of meat right now! I can’t stop, though. I have to keep going. That strange voice said to trust Him. So, I am. There’s a glow on the horizon that I chose to follow, and now the buildings are on the horizon as well. It’s kind of hard to make out right now, but it looks sort of familiar. Is this rabbit leading me back home?
17
And Then There Was One
Did I fall asleep? I’m still in the tunnel, right? I blink my eyes several times and try to adjust them. It was a little brighter than this earlier. Why is it so dark now? I suppose I’ll find out later on. I don’t feel like moving right now. My vessel happens to be quite comfy. Speaking of vessels, I’ve counted them all. I think that’s what may have put me to sleep. I remember stopping at 1,596,732 transports. Popping the latch, my door hisses open again and I get on top of mine to see if I can find the place where I left off, and to my surprise I’m way off; the tunnel is practically empty! I’m the only one in here! Well, except for what looks like one abandoned transport.
A rumble and shake cause me to fall down.
What was that? I wouldn’t be surprised if Stephen recruited a few other citizens to help play a prank on me. If that’s the case, then I am going to give him a piece of my mind. Surely, he would have been over it by now. I get up and start making my way to the back of the tunnel.
There’s another rumble, but this time the whole tunnel trembles. How could Stephen and a few extra recruits manage to do that? I’m worried now, so I move along faster. As I’m moving, I notice that this tunnel seems to be longer than last time. I don’t understand at all. I can’t let that bother me now though. I need to figure out what’s going on.
I’m almost at the entrance, and I can hear a pounding sound. The seemingly abandoned transport is in fact empty. Somebody must have left it behind in a panic. Oh, well. I place my head on the wall, trying to hear where it’s coming from. It’s Stephen calling out for me. He doesn’t sound mad anymore. Something’s not right. He sounds scared.
“Aiden! Aiden! Please answer me. Can you hear me?”
“I’m right here, Stephen. What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Oh, thank goodness you are ok. I’ve been trying to get your attention for over 5 days now. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. There’s something I have to tell you, though. Right after our little argument, the captain issued a code black. Something terrible has happened to our town. The captain went into one of his long speeches, but this time it was dreadful. He called it a vasectomy. I’m not sure what that means, and he didn’t give a lot of detail. What I do know is that the factories are completely shut down, and that the entrance to the great tunnel has been sealed shut.
“There’s absolutely no way of reopening it from my end, and I doubt you can do it from yours.” I try to open it, and Stephen is right. I can’t do it. He continues on, “I reported up to headquarters of our condition down here, and he did a special broadcast for us only. Regardless of the status change of the factories, the captain wanted us to do one final loading of the tunnel. I think the entire town showed up. He reminded us all of what our mission was, and also mentioned as a side note that we only have 3 days of life support once we are outside.
“I interrupted the captain’s broadcast to tell him that the tunnel had been sealed, and there’s no possible way to get in. That dummy ordered us, every single one, to push against the side of the wall. That was probably the worst plan I’ve ever heard of. The only thing that was accomplished was that my eyes almost popped out of my head. The intent was to do one final push and attempt to load the tunnel one last time. As you can probably tell, that was almost an absolute failure.
“I didn’t tell him that you were already in. That would have proven the captain’s method true, and to try again. I’m not risking my eyes again like that, sorry. Aiden, listen to me. The reason I tell you all of this is because something seriously wrong has happened outside, and nobody knows what it is. Headquarters won’t say anything, and the rest of the citizens are clueless. As of right now, though, the tunnel is primed and ready for launch.”
Stephen’s last sentence stuns me. “What? You mean to tell me that all of this rumble tumble stuff means that I’m getting ready to be launched outside?” I ask.
“Yes.” Stephen says. “As ridiculous as this is going to sound, I’m going to say it anyway: you guys are our last hope. I wish you the best of luck. I can hear the countdown now. You have 30 seconds, Aiden. Goodbye.”
“Wait a second! You just said you guys! Is there someone else is in here? I thought I was the only one in the tunnel.” I shout back.
“Well, at first you were. If you remember I didn’t say that the captain’s plan was a complete failure. One other person made it through an oddly shaped hole at the top that seemed to somehow close right behind him. I don’t understand all of the mechanics of it. What I do know is that you’re not alone. Have you found Jahmez yet?”
My eyes grow wide and I scream back, “You have got to be kidding me!” The empty transport now makes perfect sense.
“Hey buddy.”
“AH!” I jump. “You scared me, Jahmez.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to. So, are you ready for the big trip?” he asks me.
I turn back to the wall and yell, “Bye Stephen, and yes I found him. I had no idea that he was here.” There are many other things that I want to say to Stephen. Things like: ‘see you later’ or ‘I’ll talk to you some other time’. That will never happen. I’m at a point of no return. I turn to Jahmez and say, “Yes, I suppose so. Are you ready for it?”
He actually looks worried, “Not really. What if I forget how to do the swishy thing?”
“Jahmez…no single transport vessel is going to forget how to do the ‘swishy thing’. When we were all created, our packs just sort of came preprogrammed on their own. They already have their function, and as soon as you plug in to the transport, you’re good to go! You have nothing to worry about.” I try my best to sound comforting.
Jahmez wrinkles his mouth more than it is already. I wonder exactly how long it takes him to process actual thoughts that aren’t his own. That has to be hard work. No wonder he has such a hard time fitting in; poor guy. I wish I had come to that realization sooner. I think I would have been nicer to him, and never had that fight to begin with. No use looking back though. What’s done is done.
A female voice echoes throughout the tunnel. “Launch commencing in T minus 10 seconds.”
The whole mangled form of Jahmez leaps into the air with pure joy. Seeing that just makes me laugh, but not in a bad way. It’s very catchy, that kind of joy. “You look really excited, Jahmez!”
“Oh, you bet I am! I can’t wait to go digging for buried treasure!” Jahmez says with a huge smile.
I drop my head with a sigh and I say, “Jahmez…” I stop myself short. I don’t want to say anything mean. Instead I say, “You’re absolutely right. What lies in wait for us will be the greatest treasure that we could ever find!”
“You said it, buddy!” Jahmez gives me an encouraging smile. The voice calls out the final three seconds, and I’m getting reall
y nervous now. We climb into our transport vessels, and the doors close, hiss and lock. Am I really ready for all of this?
The interior lights come back on, and the heads-up display flickers back in view. There is a speaker just below that I somehow missed before. It crackles and Jahmez’s voice comes through, “Oh look at the pretty lights!” There’s a button right underneath my fingers on the left side, perfectly positioned so that my data pad stays connected. Pressing my button, I reply back, “Yeah, they are pretty cool.”
The tunnel shudders. In a blinding flash, and at incredible speed, we’re shot out of the tunnel. Everything is rushing past me in a blur. Nothing makes sense. Nothing looks like the pictures that were shown to us by the captain. I look straight ahead, and I notice something approaching. Well, it’s not approaching. We’re approaching it, I should say. If we don’t slow down though, we’re going to crash right into it. What is that thing?
Not thing, but rather things. It’s the large barrier-thingy that the captain talked about! Wait a minute! We just by-passed a whole chunk of this so-called “battle” or however he phrased it. I narrow my eyes. Is that barrier moving? It needs to. I don’t want to end up as a flatter version of what I currently am. We’re getting dangerously close now. I look over at Jahmez. He doesn’t look worried at all. In fact, his eyes are closed. Wonderful.
I panic and scream out, “We’re going to crash! Do something quick!” The captain was a liar. If I had the ability, I would go back and give him a piece of my mind. To think that we were created just to crash into this stupid wall; such nonsense! Jahmez may be on to something though. Fine, I’ll close my eyes too. Maybe that will make my death upon impact less painful?
Then of course, I have been wrong before. I open my eyes and I hear an announcement.
“Request acknowledged. Access granted.” A new female voice is heard. The barrier moves. It is exactly as the captain had depicted it. It is split right down the middle and is opening up just enough. Jahmez and I rush right on through to the other side of the barrier as it closes behind us. Our momentum slows down, and we come to a stop. We both marvel at just how quick that happened. Jahmez wanders off a little way as he starts to mumble something to himself, though nothing sounds like actual words. He probably has his grip so tight that he constantly has his button pressed down. I’m just staring at this wall, pondering the fact that I almost crashed into this thing!
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