The man continued tracing the constellations above, proud that he had stood his ground and not given in to his accusers. He had done nothing wrong, and he knew it. They were the ones who were wrong. They were the ones full of evil and deceit, enslaving the entire populace so they could live in splendor at the expense of the common man's suffering. The silence was finally broken when he heard a loud clunking sound behind him, the sound of the large steel door unlocking. The hinges droned with a sickening squeal as the door slowly crept open. The man remained perfectly still, staring out through the window. Finally a harsh, low voice spoke, "137-47A, on your feet."
The man slowly turned toward the voice, showing no fear, no intimidation, only calmness as he stood up in the middle of the room and faced the Guardian square on. "My name ... is Joshua," he said.
The Guardian continued as if he hadn't heard the words spoken to him, "This way, let's go."
Joshua obeyed. He didn't slow his pace or try to fight. He had accepted his fate long ago when he was first brought to this place. The hallway outside of the cell was dimly lit. Footsteps echoed up, down, and around the twisting corridors as the two men walked. Joshua's hands were bound with a very coarse rope that had been tied so tightly that his wrists began to bleed as the Guardian tugged on the line attached at the other end. He was like an animal on a leash, heading for slaughter. He never spoke, never made any indication of fear or pain. They travelled through the hallway for quite some time. The building must have been massive in size.
Finally they had reached a large open room at the end of the hallway. This room was much brighter, as there were large windows stretching along the front side of the building. Underneath the row of windows was a set of double doors that were locked shut, with tall windows to its left and right. Outside the double doors was a small booth-like structure with a handful of Guardians inside. Joshua could see them laughing and talking with each other, as if they were unaware of what was going on inside this place. But they knew. They just didn't care. As long as they were taken care of, nothing else mattered to them. Joshua was taken to a long metal bench lining the room opposite the windows on which numerous other prisoners had already been seated. The Guardian harshly shoved him to the ground in front of the bench and said, "Sit. Remain here until further notice."
Joshua slowly picked himself up off the ground and sat down on the long bench. He continued to gaze out through the now much larger scenic vista. He traced shapes into the stars. He admired the silver glow of the moonlight breaking over the tops of a small puff of clouds. He could feel a gentle breeze blowing around the room from the wall of windows. He closed his eyes and peacefully let the air flow all around his body.
It wasn't until morning that someone came to take him from his spot on the bench. When one of the other prisoners' numbers had been called, he began to yell at the man in the lab coat who had called him, "No! That can't be right! There must be some kind of mistake! Take him!" Pointing toward a man who had been seated beside him, “He's the one who betrayed you! Not me!"
When the man saw that his pleas would go unheard he sprinted toward the large double doors leading outside of the building. He crashed through the glass, hands still tied, and ran as fast as he could past the Guardians’ station just outside, and barreled his way down the street. Joshua and the other prisoners could see what was happening through the windows of the building. The man made it about twenty or thirty feet before one of the Guardians calmly walked outside of the post and fired three rapid shots, pop, pop, pop. Almost as soon as those shots were fired, the man was face down on the ground, now slowly squirming forward. The Guardian calmly walked down the street toward the man. He put his heavy leather boot on the man's back, looked back at the other prisoners who were watching in horror from their place on the bench, and fired one last shot, pop. There was no more movement. The echo from the last shot lingered in the air while the Guardian picked the man up, brought him to a black Humvee, and disappeared down the street.
When Joshua's number was called, he was led down a short, much more brightly lit hallway, and through a set of sliding glass doors. Inside this room were several men in white lab coats. There was a white chair in the center of the room. It looked like a chair found in a dentist’s office, a bright white light hanging directly above, and a slightly reclining back piece. There were numerous IV bags suspended up in the air and strands of tubing hovering overhead. They took him to the chair, sat him down and strapped him in. Nobody said a word. The room was eerily quiet, no sounds other than footsteps and the occasional clinking of glass were made. Joshua stayed perfectly still, calm, at peace. One man came over to him and rubbed the inside of his arm with an alcohol pad, then gently stuck an IV tube into one of the veins. Joshua felt the cold metal enter his arm, then saw a clear liquid slowly making its way from a bag hanging above his head and begin to drip into his body. Everything slowed down. His heartbeat and breathing seemed to soften. He was even more relaxed now than he had been before. He thought that it must be some kind of sedative. Then he lost the ability to think clearly. He was enveloped in a blissful peace. There were no cares, thoughts, actions, nothing. Just peace.
After a while, Joshua was removed from the chair and led back down the hallway and into the large open room. There was a long line of other people waiting there. A Guardian came in through the large set of double doors on the front wall and said, "All prisoners come to me."
With that, everyone, including Joshua, obeyed. They had no control over what was happening. They were just mindlessly going through the motions now. Once outside the building they moved down a narrow street. The area looked old. There were several large brick and stone buildings all around with fencing and barbed wire all along the perimeter and cutting through certain areas. This place used to be a city block back before the people were sent to live inside of the grids. The group, led by a handful of Guardians, made their way toward a pair of towering cylindrical smokestacks in the back corner of the complex. They passed through a gate with a sign that Joshua could barely make out the lettering of before passing by, Inciner ... That was all he was able to see.
The group approached a tunnel leading into the buildings at the base of the towers. They followed a straight, wide hallway before coming to a big mechanical-looking door. One Guardian made a motion with his hand and the massive door began to hiss and grind open. As it slowly raised from the ground the Guardians began to reposition themselves behind the group. After the door had fully opened, one of them shouted, "Move forward, into the room!"
Ahead of them, in the back corner of a large open room, the man who was shot earlier lay motionless, crumpled up against the wall. The group moved like sheep into a massive open space with nothing above, and a grated floor below. A Guardian made another signal and the door slowly rattled shut. The room was starting to spin, Joshua's legs felt weak and limp. In a stupor, he slowly surveyed the room. The other people around him were all silent and drooping. The smell was horrible. He looked directly up and noticed an opening high above his head where the sun was creeping across the sky. There was a humming sound growing ever-louder from below his feet. The room was getting very hot from where he stood, and in his state of mind he wondered if it was the sun that was the cause of it. He smiled and continued gazing up at the opening which had now begun to fill with smoke. A few of the people had begun to lose the effects of the sedatives and were lined up against the door screaming in pain and banging on its hard metal surface. Joshua remained perfectly still, fully aware of what was going on around him, but completely and utterly peaceful. There was a large glass window a short distance up one of the walls with faceless men in lab coats looking down at the group. Despite the roar from below him, the heat nipping at his heels, and the smoke beginning to fill the room, he was motionless. Some of the people who had been banging on the door were now frantically writhing in pain on the grate as flames began to overtake their bodies. In a flash, a large fire ignited from below him with great force as he w
hispered, "Caleb."
2.8 (Beyond)
Caleb had finished loading the cabin with wood for the night, and after briefly talking with Aaron, he headed down to the stream to fill a small plastic bucket that they used for washing their bowls and hands. About two weeks had passed since he first met Aaron and Alice. He had taken over stacking the wood and filling the water bucket each day since he arrived. He walked for several miles before hearing the sound of water rushing just ahead of him beyond the pine branches. Pushing his way through, he emerged from the dense forest as the sunlight began to pour over his body. It was warm, and seemed to embrace him in a comforting hold as he closed his eyes and looked up into the sky. It was a brilliant blue, clean and welcoming. He walked over to the bank of the stream and set the bucket down. Then he walked to the row of berry bushes lining the edge of the forest and took some to eat. After he had eaten enough, he made his way back toward the bucket and sat next to it. He took off his canvas shoes, still the same ones from the grid, and rolled up his pant legs. He filled the bucket with water and returned to the bank of the stream where he sat looking up into the sky. Off in the distance he could see a pillar of thick black smoke climbing over the top of one of the lower peaks of the mountain range. He wondered what it was and watched as the smoke twisted and bent, further climbing into the clear blue sky, corrupting its beauty as it filled the air.
After a while of sitting and enjoying the fresh air, he took the bucket and headed back into the forest toward the cabin. A few miles in, he saw the pine tree with an “x” carved in it. When he finally arrived back at the cabin, he knocked on the door and said, "Hey Aaron, I'm back with the water."
There was no response. Everything was eerily quiet. He opened the door and peered inside, but couldn't see anyone. Finally, Aaron poked his head out from within the bedroom. "Well," he said in a playful tone, "what are you waiting for? Get that water in here!"
Caleb was relieved. He smiled as he entered the room, placing the bucket of water along the left wall by the cabinets that were falling apart. Aaron had already started a small fire, the flickering light dancing along the wooden walls. It was dusk now and Alice hadn't returned back from her garden. "What's Alice doing?" Caleb asked.
"Ahh, she's always out and about when she goes to grab food from the garden. She's very curious. She likes to explore new areas of the forest that she hasn't been to before," Aaron said as he poured a little bit of the water from the bucket into the black kettle. "Her curiosity has the potential to get her into trouble though. There are some country roads not far from here. One day she told me she saw a small group of Guardians escorting a flame-tank. She didn't know what it was, but when she described it to me I knew." He made his way over to the fireplace and began to hang the kettle over the flames. "I told her to let me know if she ever sees anything out of the ordinary. She's a smart girl. I trust her to be safe out there."
Caleb held the kettle in place for Aaron as he hung the wire straps through the hooks above the flames. "What's a flame-tank?" he asked.
"They’re weapons that the Inner Circle use. Basically, they are very big armored Humvees that have long nozzles that shoot out fire. They use these tanks to clear through forests now. Before the transition, they used them on the people who fought against them." Aaron gave one last tug on the wire to make sure it was secured. "There we go," he said with a grunt of satisfaction.
"What was it like before the transition, Aaron?" Caleb asked. "The only person I could ask before was my father, but he couldn't remember."
Aaron laughed, "You know, my son asked me that very same question a long time ago." He grabbed a stool and set it next to the fireplace, then sat down.
"Patrick," Caleb said.
"Yes, Patrick," Aaron said with a smile. "It was much different than how things are now. People were free to do what they wanted. People owned their own houses, cars, items. There were places to go for fun. They still worked, but they worked for themselves, not for the Inner Circle."
Caleb had a smile on his face as Aaron told him this, picturing the world which he described. "How did the Inner Circle get everyone to give all of that up?"
"Well, it's complicated, and it took decades to do."
"What's a decade?"
"Oh, right. Before the transition, people kept time. There were seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years." He leaned back on his stool as he spoke, putting his hands behind his head, almost as if he were reminiscing. "A decade was ten years. I know it's hard for you to understand. You know how you keep track of the seasons? It's kind of like that."
Caleb nodded. "Ok, so how did the Inner Circle get the people to work for them?"
"Right, like I said, it took time for it to fully unfold. It started with little things, like people allowing some of their freedoms to be stripped away. But there was always a good reason for it. The Inner Circle members are devious. They made the people believe it was for their own good to lose some of those freedoms." Aaron leaned forward and dipped his finger in the water in the kettle. He quickly removed his hand and shook it. "Wow that heated up quick!" He leaned back and continued. "Honestly Caleb, it would be hard for you to understand since the only thing you've ever known is how it is now. I am truly sorry for the part I played in all of this. If I could go back and change things I would, but that's not possible."
Caleb felt compassion for Aaron and the regret he held about his past. Aaron reminded him of his father in a way. He could answer his questions, and Caleb felt safe around him. He felt safe now in this place, wherever it was. "You could always help me find one of the Resistance groups," he said with excitement.
Aaron looked down at the ground remembering the day that his son left to join the Resistance. He couldn't be sure if the people that Patrick went to join were who they said they were, but he trusted his son’s judgment.
"Yes. I could," Aaron said, looking back up at Caleb, "You have to remember, I don't know these people. I've never met them. Patrick left to join them a long time ago, they may not even be there anymore. If it's something that you would really want to risk doing, I can help you. But you will need to be discerning. I would hate to help you find them and in the process get you hurt."
Just as Aaron finished that sentence, Alice came bursting through the door, "Hey guys!"
"Welcome back sweet heart!" Aaron said, as he stood up from his stool to greet her. "How was the garden?"
"Wow, Daddy! You're in a really good mood!" she said, beaming. Looking at Caleb she said, "You can stay here as long as you'd like!"
Caleb smiled at her, he couldn't help it. There was something about her, the way she seemed so happy and carefree all the time. She was unlike anyone he had ever met. It was intoxicating to him.
"What'd you get us for dinner Alice?" Aaron asked.
"More of the usual. Veggies, veggies, and more veggies!" she said jokingly.
"Ah, wonderful! My favorite!" Aaron said, playing along with her.
Alice went across the room and dropped her backpack onto the ground. She pulled out numerous plastic bags filled with bright green vegetables.
"Here, come help me bring some of these over to the fire, will you Caleb?" Aaron asked.
Caleb got up from his spot on the floor and took a few of the plastic bags into his arms and followed Aaron back over to the fireplace. He handed them to him one at a time until the kettle was just past halfway full. "Thanks," Aaron said.
"Sure," Caleb replied. After a brief moment of silence he said, "Aaron, thank you for letting me stay here with you guys. You have no idea how great this has been. Since my father was taken, I haven't had a single person to talk to. I really appreciate it."
Aaron smiled at him and said, "The pleasure has been all mine, Caleb."
Alice carried a stool over and put it at Caleb's feet. "Here you go, why stand when you can sit?" she said with a smile.
"Thanks," Caleb said.
Alice walked back across the room and grabbed another stool for her
self. Then she grabbed three bowls out of the old cupboard, made her way toward them and sat down. The three of them sat silently watching the vegetables tumult and turn in the kettle. "So ... how was your day?" she asked happily.
Caleb looked toward her. She was grinning, her eyes were sparkling reflecting the flames from the fireplace. A big smile stretched across his face. "It was great."
"Good!" Alice said, laughing. "I had an interesting day today myself," she looked over at Aaron and continued, "You know those pillars I keep asking you about down inside of that weird complex?"
A serious look came over Aaron's face as he said, "Alice, how many times have I told you ... I'm not going to tell you..."
"No, no, no! Let me finish! I wasn't going to ask you anything this time." Aaron had stopped talking to let her continue. His arms were folded almost as if he was warning her not to bring up the subject. "Today, after I picked the veggies, I looked over toward where that place is. Over one of the hills I could see a big pillar of thick, black smoke going up into the air."
Caleb interrupted, "Oh yeah, I saw that too, when I was down at the stream. What was it from?"
"Well, I climbed up the ledge to look down into the complex. I took out my binoculars and focused them on the smoke. I followed the smoke down to these two large towers that he won't tell me about," Alice said, motioning toward Aaron.
Sector 27- Assignment Page 7
