Youth Patrol

by Andrew Lueders

  “Ever feel any pain?”

  “Na. Never. That was easy to fix.”

  “Really?” he says, rubbing his knee. “You know that Drone that visited me ten years ago?”

  “Yeah?”

  “It told me, they’d fix my knee if I turned on Puck. You think they would have done that?”

  “Don’t make deals with the devil,” I answer him matter-of-factly.

  He chuckles. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I figured if I betrayed my friends, the pain I’d feel inside would be worse than the pain I’d feel outside.”

  “The L-Chip has a way of masking that too.”

  “Now you tell me,” he laughs quietly.

  “But it doesn’t really fix it,” I add. “It may numb the guilt, but it doesn’t solve it.”

  “Hmm,” he says contemplatively as he looks out into the night. He sits there in silence as the rain continues to fall on the tarp.

  I begin to think of Val and what she must be going through right now. “Oh God, help her!” I blurt out.

  “You okay, Evan?” Earl asks.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, obviously lying. A moment passes between us. I then sit up and look at him. “Do you believe in God?” I ask bluntly.

  He looks at me strangely. “I suppose I do.”

  “Is he on our side?”

  “Our side?”

  “Yeah, is God on the side of the Resistance? Does he know about our suffering, the shit we’re in? Does he even care?”

  “I used to think he did.” He shrugs.

  “Then why doesn’t he do something?” I ask.

  I can tell he’s thinking about my question quite seriously. Then, after a while, he starts to laugh. It makes me mad.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing,” he says.

  “You were laughing at something, what was it?”

  “I have this thing hanging in my hallway,” he answers.

  “What? That crucifix?”

  “You’ve seen it, then?”

  “Yeah I saw it, that’s what’s making you laugh?”

  “I must have walked by that thing a hundred times,” he reminisces.

  “So?”

  “So? That’s God doing something.”

  “No wonder your side is losing,” I say harshly.

  “Don’t you get it, Evan?” Earl says persuasively. “We’ll get out of this someday, someday the suffering is gonna end.” He leans back against the street lamp once again. “Someday,” he utters longingly. “Someday.”

  I’m not going to ask him to explain. He seems content for the first time since I met him, and I don’t want to disturb him any further. But I still don’t get it. How is Jesus dying ‘doing something?’ Val seemed to understand, but I don’t.

  CHAPTER 65

  “Good morning, people of America, I’m Valerie Star.”

  Am I dreaming? I rub my eyes. I think I just heard Val’s voice. Earl rips the tarp away, and we look up at the clear blue sky. The storm clouds are gone and Valerie is on the Billboard. Holy shit.

  “Good morning,” she says, looking gorgeous. Her hair and makeup are done up flawlessly. Behind her is a wall, it’s bland, beige; she could be anywhere.

  “I know most of you were expecting the Senator’s daily devotion. But it’s not happening today or any day from here on out. I know you in the military are surprised that this transmission is coming through to you on your L-Chip. Normally, you’re on L-Chip lockdown, but I’ve changed all that. I’ve hijacked Willernger’s console. I have it now; I’m in control. You see–I’ve killed the Senator. Vincent Willenger is dead. I slit his throat while he ate his breakfast. I saw him bleed and gasp for his last breath. There’s nothing anyone can do about it; he’s dead. I’m in a secret location now, don’t even try to find me, it’s useless. So why did I kill the Senator? I’ll get to that later. But first, People of Utah, tell Governor Puck to mobilize his troops and free the prisoners of Camp Utah. Do it quickly. Colonel Krog and his troops won’t be able to fight back. I’ve immobilized them. I’ve sent an excruciating high pitch signal to their L-Chips. I’m sure they’re writhing in pain, hoping someone will put them out of their misery. I’m also warning all U.S. armed forces not to come to Krog’s aid. Remember I have the Senator’s console. I can track your every movement. If you come, I’ll administer the same torture onto you. So go and defend our borders and don’t bother messing with domestic issues right now. You don’t want to end up like Krog. I’ve also immobilized the politicians, Youth Patrol and the School Bus Drivers. Kill them if you’d like, or let them suffer if you want, I don’t care. I just want us to be free, free from their tyranny, their oppression. It’s time for us to live; be free. I want children loving their moms and dads and not hating them. I want parents enjoying their kids and not fearing them. It’s time to storm Santa Verde and take our children back. It’s time to storm the prison camps and free our parents. This is why I killed Willenger. It’s time for us to remove our L-Chips and stop depending on them. It’s time to rely on God instead. There are people out there that have the tools to cut out the L-Chip. Look for them. They’ll help you. I will end this message soon, but I will continue to control The Database as long as I can. So people, it’s time to attack, do it now, before it’s too late.” She pauses, takes a deep breath and leans closer into the camera lens. “And Evan Sparks, I love you. I love you very much.”

  The message ends. I hear people all around begin to emerge from their make shift shelters. They start heading west, running as fast as they can. But as for me, I’m a bit in a daze.

  “Let’s go!” Earl shouts. “Come on! This is what we’ve been waiting for!” He doesn’t wait for me. He gets up and takes off running, but I don’t go with him, I stay.

  I can’t believe it. She’s alive. She slit his throat. The same girl I saw in the cave, singing songs just a few days ago had to kill to save her life, to save all our lives. Should I go looking for her? Is she with Brodie, hiding out in the cave? Should I fight along side Puck and his rebels? What should I do?

  I walk around for an hour or two trying to piece it all together. I end up on a quiet empty street with not a soul around. Where am I?

  “So are you a religious fanatic now?” a voice calls out to me. I stop; I know that voice. I turn and there’s Jeremin with his ever-present smirk on his face. He’s dressed in torn up jeans, a white t-shirt and a maroon nylon jacket. He looks like a typical resident of Utah. A trickle of blood oozes from his forehead. He has no L-Chip. “I have orders to kill you,” he says.

  “The Senator’s dead, Jeremin. Youth Patrol is dead. Your orders are null and void.”

  He pulls out a small pistol from his jacket and points it at me. “Please tell me you’re a religious fanatic. You know how I hate killing non One-Wayers.”

  “What are you doing, Jeremin? It’s done. You’re not on the winning side anymore, you lost.”

  He brings up his other hand to steady his aim. “Are you one of them? Are you a religious fanatic?” he asks again.

  “I don’t know what I am.”

  “Do you believe you’re going to go to heaven when you die?”

  “I don’t know what that is.”

  “Do you believe in Mohammad or is it Jesus or something else? C’mon tell me, you’ve got to believe in something. Don’t you believe in the cross and the resurrection and all that shit?”

  “You know about the cross?” I ask.

  “Oh course I do. I know all about my enemy. I downloaded all that shit on my L-Chip years ago. I know it better than they do.”

  “What’s heaven like, Jeremin? I want to know.”

  “Well you’re going to find out soon enough. So why don’t you do me a favor and just tell me you believe in Jesus? Tell me so I can kill you with a clear conscious.”

  “But I don’t know what I believe, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I don’t know.”

  “After hanging out with all these people, you still d
on’t believe? You gotta believe in it a little bit, don’t you? Don’t you believe that Jesus died for your sins?”

  “I don’t know what that means? I hear people say it, but I don’t get it.”

  “He died for you! He suffered so you can live. Jesus took your place in death. Some say he even descended into the depths of hell to save you. But he rose from the dead, he conquered death; he conquered Hades. Your sins are forgiven; you’ve been washed clean. Think about it, Evan. All those people we killed, all those kids we took to Santa Verde, you’ve been forgiven for that. It’s like it never happened. It’s like going back in time and erasing it all. You’ve been made perfect, Evan, perfect because of what Jesus did for you. Don’t you want that?”

  “It sounds impossible!”

  “Not for God. C’mon Evan, this is what you’ve been looking for. God loves you so much that he sent his son to die for you. You gotta want that?”

  “I do! I do want that!” I cry out.

  “Good.” Jeremin fires his gun and the bullet hits me in the chest. I collapse to the ground. Things start to go black.

  I open my eyes and look up; Jeremin stands over me.

  “Sorry, Evan,” he says as I bleed out. “I couldn’t just kill you. I had to make sure you believed.”

  He puts the gun back in his jacket and walks away. I lay there on the ground as I breathe my last breath, but I do believe now, I do believe in God.

  End.