Untold Deception

by William Staikos

  I was shocked to hear that. I hadn’t considered it, and I began to feel ashamed for being so closed-minded. I ventured a further question.

  “And Craw?”

  Craw seemed too shy to talk at first but then decided to speak.

  “Red hair is rare among Cyclops. Although I was a purebred, my great-grandfather had red hair. Religious people associated my birth with the evil spirit Polyphemus. I was isolated, and my parents were fired from their jobs. When we traveled, no one would help us or accept us. One morning, I woke up and they, too, had abandoned me. Three days later, the Leader showed up, gave me food, and put clothes on my back,” explained Craw.

  I began to understand why the Leader had so much control over these kids. He had saved them. These kids would go to hell and back for this man now, and he knew it.

  “So now, do you understand?” asked Cassiella.

  “I understand. I know how much you all shared with me, but…” I drifted off.

  “There’s no need to explain yourself. It would be difficult talking about it for me, especially if it just happened,” said Tras.

  I still want escape from this place and get to Sharok. This wasn’t freedom. But for now, I might as well play along.

  “Let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.”

  As we left the room, I thought about the squad battle tomorrow. I was confident in the our abilities, but the other Abundans probably wanted to win just as much as me.

  9- Loss of Eden

  “One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic.”

  ― Josef Stalin

  I left with the three of them to go to the cafeteria. My squad all got a personal chef for their meal. When I walked up to scan my barcode, the machine gave me a cold reply.

  “Subject Salan, rank lowest D level. Time spent in facility four days. Finished practice last. Calculating meal options. You will receive lowest meal for completion of practice last.”

  I wasn’t even given a processed meal. There was just a pill with a drink option. I chose milk. There was no option for a refill, either. I let out a sigh of disappointment. The pill seemed to be green. They really are competitive here. Cassiella grinned cheek to cheek.

  “Oh haha, laugh it up,” I said.

  “I didn’t say anything,” said Cassiella, still smiling.

  “You didn’t have to.”

  She giggled as I sat down and swallowed my meal.

  Tras started up a conversation. “So, this week's game is capture the flag. The way you play for this battle variation is to grab the opponent's flag and make it back to your territory. If you do that, you win. If all players are knocked out on the opposing side, you also win.”

  I was gulping back all my milk while he talked.

  “Pay attention Salan,” said Cassiella.

  I put the glass down, “I am. I can do both, you know.”

  “Relax you two,” said Craw.

  “What’s important to remember is for you to get lots of rest tonight to prepare for the match tomorrow,” said Tras.

  Cassiella added, “We’ll be going against a different squad each time. We’ll be competing for three wins for free time tomorrow. We keep going to 6 pm until we complete this task. The teams are named after their leader. Our squad is Cassiella.”

  “I have a question. Tell me more about the previous member of this squad – the one who died?” I asked.

  Some of the other kids seemed to tune in to the conversation. One of the Minyades females with brown hair interjected.

  “He was killed because he was too weak to handle the injections on a three-day basis. His death caused the injections to be reduced to once per week instead. The Leader was upset with the loose-end in your squad. Hopefully, they will get better for our match.”

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “Jefora.”

  Cassiella stood up furious, ready for a fight. I motioned for her to relax. I walked over to Jefora’s table. Two others were sitting next to her, Human twins. It’s evident that people sit in groups of four with their squad. I noticed the fourth squad member was missing.

  “Where’s the fourth member?” I asked.

  “He went to the room because of you, and he’ll be gunning for you tomorrow in the match,” said Jefora.

  “I look forward to beating that blue idiot to a pulp. I’m not surprised he’s in your squad because he isn’t too bright or a strong fighter. A follower usually takes on the same habits as the leader, Jefora.”

  Her aura was starting to appear; it was bright purple.

  “Did I hit a nerve?”

  I turned around and walked back to the table with my squad. Tras had the biggest smile on his face.

  “Cassiella you better protect your house pet tomorrow,” mocked Jefora.

  The two twins laughed at this with her.

  “Hey Tweedledum and Tweedledee; you better be triplets if it’s going to be a fair fight,” said Tras.

  Both twins got angry, but they couldn’t come up with a witty retort. The back and forth bickering continued. I grew tired of it and decided to stand up and leave.

  “What; turning tail already?” asked Jefora.

  I looked at her triumphant face. I had prepared a line for this.

  “In my experience, the smaller animals bark the most to compensate for their lack of strength. Besides, you bore me.”

  I kept walking. The twins had to hold her back from attacking me. Any attack here would likely result in the room. When I got back to my bedroom, I decided to pick up my mother’s flute. I played the melody she used to play for me. The tune didn’t sound right; she was always better than me. The song felt like a distant echo of the person I once knew. I drifted off to sleep. Then, I was shaken awake around 8 pm that night. Only Cassiella was there.

  “Where are the others?” I asked.

  “They were busy, so I’ve come with information about tomorrow's match.”

  “I’ve got an idea about that,” I responded.

  “Let’s hear it.”

  “I’ll get the others angry and set a distraction while Tras and Craw defend. You focus on grabbing the flag.”

  “That isn’t a bad plan. We’ll try it out at the start and switch to mine afterwards.”

  “What’s your plan?” I asked.

  “For you and Tras act as a strong defense while the rest of us attack.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Hey, it isn’t that bad!” shouted Cassiella.

  I smiled and laughed. She glanced at the flute in my hand, apparently curious as to why this was one of my prized possessions.

  “Why do you carry this around when you were running from the royal guards?”

  “It was my mother’s…” I avoided eye contact.

  “I’m sorry I asked.”

  “No, it’s OK. I must face it sooner or later. It’s funny though: sometimes I wake up and think it was all a bad dream. But that dream always turns into a cold reality.”

  Cassiella hugged me unexpectedly.

  “Why are you hugging me?”

  “Because you looked like you needed it. Growing up, I lost my parents when they were fighting overseas. The housekeeper wasn’t very kind to me while they were gone. Having my parents come back was one of my highest hopes. When I heard the news, I ran away from home. Soon I got lost and wandered for a long time, far away from any Caltron civilization. I crossed the border into a country that had no border patrol. I didn’t even know I was in a place where Caltrons were hated. There was a Minyades tribe. They had older Abundans and wouldn’t stop chasing me. The Leader came by and saved my life with his Abundan soldiers.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, Cassiella.”

  “I’m telling you this, so you understand. I know that it’s a hard subject to talk about.”

  I paused, took a deep breath, and filled her in on everything. Not sparing a detail, I felt that she deserved to know. At the end of my speech, she didn’t say anything. I masked my emotions and put o
n a fake smile.

  “What’s with that face, Cassiella?”

  “Nothing. Just looking at a helpless kitty.”

  “I am not a kitty, and way to kill the moment.”

  “Did I hit a nerve?” she said, mimicking me.

  “What kind of a guy would say something so stupid?”

  “Beats me,” she said, returning my smile.

  Without another word, she started to pet my head. I moved her hand away, but she had already made me purr. That didn’t make me feel manly. My face flushed red.

  “All that tough talk and you act like this,” she said, bursting out into laughter.

  “Hey, I didn’t permit you to start scratching my head! I don’t need this anyway; I’m leaving to train,” I said, standing up awkwardly.

  “Sorry; you can’t leave. You must stay here. Lockdown is at 9 pm. Rest for now,” she said.

  She wasn’t wrong about that. I still felt tired, but I didn’t want to be embarrassed. As I stood up to leave, she grabbed my arms. “If you don’t sit still and get some rest, I’ll have to stop you.”

  “Listen Cassiella; I don’t have time for that—”

  She started to scratch my head again, and the same thing happened. I opened my mouth to complain, but before I could speak, I heard someone at the door.

  “Should I leave and give you two lovebirds a minute?” Tras asked.

  Cassiella seemed to be nervous this time.

  “We aren’t doing anything like that,” she said.

  Tras leaned against the wall, “Yeah, right. Anyway, did you tell him the simple plan?”

  “Yes, but he came up with his own; I’ll fill you both in on the details.” Cassiella stood up. “You better not leave this room.”

  “Would you quit telling me what to do.” I stated bluntly.

  “Excuse me?”

  Tras ushered her out of the room, but she seemed genuinely angry.

  “Goodnight Salan,” said Tras.

  I waited for them to leave. It was time to inspect my room. At ceiling of our rooms, there was some ventilation. Getting closer, I observed there were four holes. I saw these on the way in. They were in every room, and even in the hallways.

  What’s their purpose? I wondered.

  I stepped up and sniffed the area near the holes. It smelled strong and made me so lightheaded that I had difficulty continuing to stand up.

  Must be used to incapacitate someone who is resisting the Leader. The cameras, collars, lockdown, and these gas holes? Why was this necessary? There was a wide window at the front of every room. Guards would patrol those areas to ensure lockdown. The door was heavily boarded, so during lockdown procedure, there was no possibility of leaving. I felt the glass in the window; it was thick and hard to get through. It opened to the main hallway. The glass didn’t seem to give too much, and I couldn’t go too far inspecting faults as there was a camera tracking my movement.

  After I broke the glass, I would need an escape route. That was just in case the facility gets into unpredictable trouble after lockdown. It was 8:30 PM, if I’m going, it should be now.

  I opened the door and checked both ways for Cassiella. The coast was clear. The facility had three sections, A, B, and C. Section A was dedicated to living quarters; Section B was for training, cafeteria, and the doctor’s office; and I have not explored Section C. Although, I should be thorough, so I should check every section.

  Section A was nothing but dead ends; not the best escape route. If I get in trouble, I’ll use the fact that I’m new and don’t know any better. I walked around to Section B, passing by the training room, cafeteria, and several other rooms. The hallways were massive, and I didn’t understand why they had to be so long. It seemed like a waste of space. I noticed the same smoke mechanism was set up near the cameras. I finally got it: the facility used the time spent going through the hallways to counter escape attempts. I passed by the doctor’s office and reached Section C after a few turns. Section C had a thick door with a sign on it saying ‘Authorized Personnel’.

  The material made of a bright gold like the swords at Faslow. They sure took a lot of measures to prevent escapes. The door alone must have cost a fortune; it had a red light with a barcode on the side of it, just like my room. The door won’t break if I used my aura. The worst that could happen was that I’m still stuck in here.

  Taking a deep breath, I tried swiping my barcode and activated a deafening siren. A blinding red strobe light flashed on and off.

  “Red Alert! Red Alert!” A monotone female shouted piercing my ears.

  Two men in suits came out of the doorway, and some sort of electrical weapon immediately incapacitated me. Within seconds I was pinned to the ground.

  Playing dumb, I tried to ask, “What did I do wrong? Why can’t I go outside?” The electric shock made my words more of a stuttering whisper.

  I knew that whatever was behind that door was outside, but I had no idea how to get through it. The men in suits said nothing. One used the speaker system on the walls to make contact.

  “Subject Salan was apprehended trying to access the Authorized Personnel door. What do you want us to do, Leader?”

  “Ask him his purpose for doing such a thing,” I heard a faint voice say.

  One of the men looked at me sternly and demanded, “What is your purpose for trying to access this door?”

  To facilitate an understandable reply, they turned down the volume on the incapacitation device.

  As soon as I could, I blurted out, “Was this door off limits? Do I not count as ‘Authorized Personnel?’ Why can’t I go outside?”

  “He thought he was ‘Authorized Personnel,’” said the man near the speaker.

  After considering this information for a moment, the Leader said, “He doesn’t know any better. Tell him not to do it again and take him back to his room before lockdown. Notify his squad leader for disciplinary action.”

  The man glanced down and said, “Come with me kid. We’ll escort you back to your room. Don’t do that again.”

  He and his partner pushed me down the hall and back into my room, telling me to wait for my squad leader. Within minutes Cassiella was opening my door. She was furious.

  “What did I instruct you to do?” she shouted.

  “Wait here and sleep,” I replied in a monotone.

  “So why were you out trying access doors?!”

  “I just thought I’d explore and I di—”

  “You didn’t think! You know that your squad can be punished for your actions, don’t you? We suffer too for your mistakes!”

  Tras and Craw entered my room as Cassiella was speaking.

  “Go easy on him, Cassiella; he didn’t know,” said Craw.

  She decided to calm down and took Craw’s advice.

  “OK. Make sure it doesn’t happen again,” she said.

  I laid back on my bed and decided to close my eyes. “You got it, goodnight Cassiella.”

  She said nothing and the three of them left the room. My sheets were still torn; I should have asked for new ones. Eventually, I was asleep, but my dreams replayed the same nightmare of m y mother. When I woke up, I found I had ripped the mattress beyond repair. I checked the clock; it was 6 a.m. I decided to prepare for capture the flag, this should make Cassiella less mad. I killed time with the flute. The clock eventually turned to 8 am and Cassiella walked in. She seemed surprised to see me awake.

  “Good; you’re awake. Let’s go.”

  Putting down the flute, I asked, “Why am I not allowed outside?”

  Ignoring my question, Cassiella merely said, “Those are the rules, and you must follow them.”

  She still seemed a little mad about last night. I followed her to Section B and entered the training area. Some others were filing in as well. We all took a knee and waited for the Leader's arrival. When he entered, he was wearing a suit with a handkerchief tucked in his breast pocket.

  “Hello everyone and good morning. Today you will be doing capture
the flag, and we will be setting up walls to hold three matches at once. Each team will rotate over the three different battle areas. A win is granted for a single flag capture, or the opposing team is unconscious. Three wins and you get free time. If you are the first team to win all three, you get the additional reward of having recreational sports equipment in your rooms. Now, the first arena fight is squad Cassiella versus squad Jefora. The second–”

  The Leader started coughing badly into his handkerchief. He seemed ill, more debilitated than usual, even for an old man. When I turned my head, I noticed that the blue Hymer had been eying me the whole time, as had Jefora. I stuck my tongue out at them.

  The Leader kept reading off the names of members of the four squads, but I just waited patiently. I wanted him to give the go ahead.

  “And remember,” said the Leader, who paused expectantly.

  “To work is to triumph,” we responded in unison.

  The Leader looked around the room and then began to speak again. “Take your positions. Squads not going first should stay back.”

  The Leader walked behind the sliding doors and disappeared into the bright white light. He coughed on his way out. I followed my squad to the ‘X’ mark on the ground. The walls moved up, dividing the training ground into three separate areas. There was a red flag behind us and a blue flag behind our opponents. The walls had ledges that came out at variable heights. The dome had a red light on each section. I’m guessing it would glow green when we won. I had to start the distraction tactic now.

  “Hey, Jefora! Try not to lose too quickly. Please try to keep it interesting for us!” I shouted.

  All their auras glowed. I stifled a massive yawn, putting my hand over my mouth. The rest of my squad seemed to understand what I was doing, so they didn’t join in on the taunting. I was supposed to be the target.

  There was a countdown from the speaker overhead:”5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Begin!” shouted the announcer.

  All four went for me at the start. I blocked Jefora’s attack with a shield, but her punches made me brace for the next impact. The Hymer shot out a long pillar of green aura that hit my sides hard. I ignored the pain and pushed into their territory. Sprinting as fast as possible, I pretended to be going for their flag. Their whole team followed me. I kept dodging, using aura purely for speed and defense. I past the line and saw Cassiella far above us. Her bright white wings tipped with blue aura flew upwards. Cassiella nose-dived for the flag.