I felt the caged animal mentality ease away with every step. This strange place outside of the maze seemed so much warmer, so much friendlier. I tried to piece together what was going on in my head… was this some kind of hospital? It would explain all the white. A prison, perhaps? The maze was certainly mind-bending and discouraged escaped, and I did happen to see a guard near the exit…
Once I reached the top of the stairs, I found a very small library of sorts. The shelves were absolutely stuffed with books. The pillars downstairs were jealous of their antiquity, as they contained literally thousands of years’ worth of history; Confucius’ wise words, Benjamin Franklin’s words of patriotism, Nostradamus’ prophesies, and even Mark Twain’s satirical tales. Off to my right was a small circular window, with another woman beside it, whom I assumed was the librarian. In the center of the room was a large fountain that seemed to spew purple and pink water, but every time I turned my head and looked back, I could see envious green, gracious yellow, shy blue, and the occasional holy white. Underneath the colorful ripples, I could see the inviting glimmer of coins in its pool. After one final look around the humble room, I began my descent back down the stairs.
I was in the lobby once again. I took one slightly-less-than-cautious step in the direction of the room that was now off to my left, but I felt my heart stop for a split second: Danni was here. I stared at her in disbelief, only to have her run up to me, grab my shoulder, and whisper into my ear.
“C’mon, I’m here to get you out.” was all she whispered before yanking my hand in the direction of the door. I didn’t even bother to try thinking about it anymore; it should all explain itself in time, right? I started to pull my arm back once we reached the door, as I feared the guard. I stared at him, mouth agape, as he literally just let Danni and I walk out!
Outside was a city I recognized as being Burybury. A wide, stupid grin spread across my face faster than it ever had before. I breathed in and out deeply to let the wonderful, polluted air into my lungs. I stretched out my arms and legs some more, then looked around a bit to try to determine where I was exactly. I took a few steps forward so I could turn around and take a good look at the massive facility. Its size was astonishing, stretching far beyond the horizon. I looked around once more, looking at the names of the marts and family shops to see if I might be able t-
“Move!”
“What?”
“MOVE!”
Chapter 2
REFUGE WITHIN REVOLUTION
I whipped my neck around only to find Danni run right past me. I was even more confused now than I was before, but quickly found out that I didn’t have time to be: almost silently, a helicopter rose from behind one of the smaller buildings about fifty feet away. I turned to start running, and already lost sight of Danni; she must have gone down one of the dozens of alleys or side roads. I chose one at random and darted right for it, only to occasionally look behind me to see how close the helicopter was. Just as I dreaded, it was silently stalking me at an alarming pace…not in how fast it was moving, but how in how slowly it hunted.
Corner after corner, side street after side street. It still slowly stalked, following my every move. And what about all the people in the city? They seemed to fly into a panic too; it’s not every day that you see a helicopter hunting a person on foot so steadily… No matter how much I pushed and shoved people out of my way, thought up everything I could to confuse that pilot, the damned thing just would never be gone. I was filled with even more trepidation when a long stretch of road with few people came into sight. I slowed down for a moment when I realized I didn’t even know why I was running; I just did so because Danni told me. Or maybe I pushed on because it was following me after I started running? Perhaps I was drawing too much attention to myself? Either way, I had little time to think. In front of me was a stairway leading down into the grim, malevolent subway. I frantically ran to get inside, but then I heard the crazed whir of machine gun fire behind me! I ducked down to avoid the inevitable storm of bullets, and almost every shot missed except a stray few that hit my leg. I grabbed my leg and screamed out, missing a few steps and landing on my side onto the dusty concrete. I gripped it tightly without even thinking of how it felt, almost with the same state of mind that a cut always feels deeper than it really is. I stopped gripping it so tightly for just a split second to try and assess the damage, but…it didn’t hurt. I was in shock. The gory wound was right there, blood and puss oozing out. Without thinking, I brushed some of that blood away, put the leg of my jeans back down (which still had dozens of tiny bullet holes in it), and carefully put my weight on it. I felt nothing. I took a deep breath before trying to walk on it, but ended up running once more as I heard the whir of the helicopter’s gunfire again. I was a grim sight, a panting figure running through the decrepit subway with a bloody and battered leg. Nobody was down here; the trains had been inactive for years. Years’ worth of dust collecting down here was forced into my lungs with every breath, but I just kept running.
Up ahead I could see light bleeding down into the subway. I ran straight for it, and back up into the world above. Once my feet were on the pavement once again, I heard nothing out of the ordinary, which is why I kept on running. I saw an abandoned apartment building up ahead, rusted and corroding.
Perfect.
I flew inside, choking on dust once more. Everything was a rustic brown that made me feel that if I touched it, it would crumble. Nevertheless, I ran right up the stairs. I must have dashed up two or three steps at a time, and would have tried to find a corner to stay in for a while at a higher floor, but that helicopter’s hunger led it straight back to me. I stopped right in my tracks when I saw it hover, just as silently as before, to the window I was near. Finally, its master spoke with a megaphone.
“COME OUT, RESISTANCE IS USELESS!”
I’ve never heard that cliché before… I stayed right where I was standing, ready for anything. At that moment, a bitter countdown started. I heard a computerized female’s voice announcing each second that I assumed I had left.
“Five…four…three…”
I flew into a panic, and crouched down into the nearest corner.
“two…”
I pulled any objects that were near against myself.
“one…”
I was thinking about what I might end up leaving behind, without ever knowing what I had done wrong. My parents, my school, Danni…
TICK! TICK! TICK! The last sound I remember hearing was an extremely high-pitched whistle, followed by a deafening blast of concrete flying in a million directions. Without a single thought, I sprinted for a window. I didn’t know exactly what was happening, but I knew I shouldn’t find out soon and that the window was my only form of escape. I didn’t even realize how many floors I had come up; that realization came AFTER I had jumped out. I saw a fiery ball consuming part of the building below me. I knew that’s where the helicopter’s strike landed. Through the flames, I could make out what appeared to be a large tub of wet cement. A blessing? I was processing all of this while I was falling. I shut my eyes tight when I felt myself falling faster, feeling the heat from the fire ball below and smelling ash. I blacked out again just as I felt flames singe my skin…
After what seemed like hours, my mind was my own once more. Every sense was muddled, except for my touch, considering I found most of my body covered in something pebbly and slimy. Having not remembered yet any of the events that happened before, my eyes shot open and I freaked out for a moment before realizing I was covered in… wet cement. Not wanting to find out why the cement hadn’t hardened by now, I stretched out my arms to reach the edge of the container and pull myself out of the muck. It clung to me and I couldn’t quite get all of it off. I pulled myself partially out of the container but immediately pulled myself back in.
My city was in shambles.
Soldiers patrolled the area, and I couldn’t tell whether they were friendly or not. A helicopter was also patrolling the blue-gray
sky that was hinting of a coming storm; I couldn’t figure out if the craft was the same from before or not. Every one of the soldiers was busy rummaging through rubble; it seemed like they were looking for something. Without warning, I was yanked out of the wet cement by the back of my shirt.
“Hey, look at what I found!” I heard my captor yell out in a friendly tone to his fellow soldiers. I struggled half-heartedly, relieved that they all had easy-going smiles on their faces. He put me down and patted my back roughly. Each one was laughing at me, and I couldn’t really blame them: I was absolutely covered in wet cement. I chuckled a bit too, and someone grabbed my shoulder and led me elsewhere.
“NicetomeetyousirmynameisEddyI’llexplaineverythingontheway!” I was impressed by how quickly he could force words out, almost as fast as a narrator listing side effects on a commercial for medicine. His wide steps were almost as quick as his tongue; I was too busy playing catch-up to even get a good look at him. He looked up at the helicopter patrolling, waved one of his long arms, and it obeyed his call. It made a swift descent, just quick enough for the both of us to jump inside. I hastily wiped off the cement that hadn’t dripped off to the best of my ability. Just as quickly as we had jumped in, we were airborne. I finally could get a good bearing of his features: very dark skin, bred of African origins. Each of his limbs and fingers were long and spidery, accommodating his height; he must have been at least six-foot-six. He wore an engineer’s goggles, perfectly round and covered in oil and grime. His khaki clothes were torn, and his blindingly white teeth flashed every time he spoke.
“Sorry ‘bout before, I had to get you out of there fast. I’m Eddy, and you’re Leo! Leo Deleon!” he extended one of his long arms. I smiled, and extended my own for a friendly shake.
“How do you know me…? And would you be so kind as to tell me what the hell this is all about?” I asked, bitter sarcasm dripping off my words.
“I know you since you’re important!” he beamed.
“Uh huh…and everything else…?”
“Ooh… that one’s a long story. You wouldn’t happen to have a minute or two, would you? No ideas of going anywhere?” he looked out the side of the helicopter at the tremendous drop below, having a likeable tone of wisecracking… I was beginning to like this guy.
“Let’s start with the basics,” I held up my hand to count on my fingers, “the demon.”
“I can’t—“
“The courtroom.”
“I don—“
“The maze and the… whatever it was at the end of the maze. Kind of a library and business building hybrid.”
“Calm do—“
“The helicopter…”
“THAT WASN’T U—“
“THIS!” I spread my arms wide so Eddy wouldn’t miss the destruction of the city around us.
“SHUT UP!” I couldn’t see them through the dark red lenses of his goggles, but if I could, I’m sure his eyes shone with anger for the brief moment before he laughed it off. He started digging through his pockets, and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“Does this guy look familiar to you?” he asked after unfolding the paper and holding it before me. It showed the profile of a man with his name under his picture. I almost leapt out of my seat (not the best idea when in a moving helicopter) when I recognized the name and person.
“That’s that political slimeball! I—I talked to this guy before,” I pointed to the image of the suit-and-tie I talked to before when I was with Danni, “and HE had his name plastered all over the place.” I pointed to the text that said “Devon Miller”. Eddy bit his lip.
“What’d he say? Miller?” Eddy asked. I hesitated for a minute before answering.
“Well, uh… he talked a bit about voting for himself… tried to get a friend of mine to vote and…”
“Did you bring home or take anything he gave you?” Eddy gave me what I could tell was a stern look through his tinted lenses.
“Yeah, I drank a…” there was utter silence between the both of us when I realized what had happened. Once again, I almost leapt out of my seat.
“WHAT WAS IN THAT DRINK?!” I barely missed grabbing him by the collar.
“CALM DOWN, CALM DOWN! Ok, deep breaths…” he rested his head in his palms for a moment before pulling out a handheld, squarish device from his pocket. Its screen lit up, and several documents popped up in a three-dimensional image before he put it back into his pocket. I was very impressed, but didn’t really have time to gawk.
“Ok, so first things first…Miller’s been a politician around here for years and years, getting the experience to go along with it. He can basically sweet-talk anybody into getting what he wants. He’d been buying out all the districts and land he could for as long as he’s been in politics, reason for that being that is that he gets the district’s manpower after buying them out with the way things are; y’know, construction workers, doctors, scientists, you get the idea. He uses all these guys to help him build REALLY experimental… ‘institutions’. Prisons or hospitals like the one you were in. They go up fast as hell, too. Miller works those men ‘round the clock. Nobody else bothered to stop him from eating up all the land (really couldn’t stop him, for that matter) since there’s no unified set of laws.” he inhaled deeply before going on another long-winded dialogue.
“I do need to bring another thing up before I go on, though. The guerillas had been around for a while before Miller came into play, but the two got along well enough. They just stayed out of each other’s business, and everything worked out okay. Neither had a reason to bother with the other. Now, that’s before the guerillas heard about the disease in Europe. They heard about the incident first, before any of us. They have better lines of communication; they get everything straight from their sources all over the world. Nothing is censored there to stop ‘em from panicking, unlike us living in the cities. Funny enough, that’s just what the guerillas did: they started trying to destroy every airport, sea port, ANY way of getting in so the disease can’t come over here.” he inhaled more deeply than before.
“Miller obviously had a problem on his hand. No matter what he’s done in terms of scummy ethics, he’s still no fool. It was a better idea to just barter with the guerillas rather than take ‘em head-on. He thought that the best idea would be to show ‘em a vaccine just in case the disease came over, just to show ‘em that everything would be ok. Now, seeing how quickly he ordered all of his little hospitals, prisons, and so forth to be built, it’s no wonder that he forced the scientists that were under his thumb to whip up something in a matter of days. They needed someone to test their vaccine on at this point, so they chose one randomly. The one chosen was…” Eddy nodded and made a gesture towards me slowly, keeping eye contact with me.
“Obviously…it didn’t work. Seeing how that worked out, Miller wanted to keep things quiet; he didn’t want the guerillas to know he was working behind their back, and ESPECIALLY that his ‘solution’ was completely broken. He bought up all the districts around you quick as he could, keeping a close eye on everything. Just like every other city he bought out, his ‘experimental’ institutions went up in no time flat. I’d say three weeks.” Eddy opened his mouth once more to speak, but I interrupted.
“What about the election posters?” I asked, arching a brow.
“Ah, that’s for show.” he waved his hand with a laugh, “Just for public support, that’s all. Looks a lot better if someone is elected in, ‘finds’ one of his citizens with a weird sickness (just in case the antidote screwed up, which it did), and goes ‘I’ll fix it, I’ll fix it!’, rather than someone who just BOUGHT their way in trying the same stunt. That’s exactly what happened though.” he explained, readying himself to continue the story.
“So, that happened. He made his way in just a day after your hallucinations and you went into your coma— “ I cringed, momentarily interrupting him, “—and told everyone just how great you were gonna end up being. In no time, he had his prison, hospital and ‘co
urt system’ in place to deal with the issue. Your family was never allowed to even see you in Miller’s hospital, so they knew they had to take matters into their own hands. Problem was, they tried using the law. Miller’s new court system was in place already. The court was just a formality; nothing really legal to it, especially seeing as he made every decision. I don’t think I need to tell you how that went. You were then sent to another one of his facilities which I’m sure you’re familiar with…the prison.” he smirked.
“What the hell kind of prison lets you walk out?” I had to ask.
“What the hell kind of kid gets in prison to begin with?” he snapped back, but with a smile so I was aware he was half-joking.
“Anyway… after one of Miller’s guys chased you ‘round the city, the word about what Miller had been trying to do (and failed to accomplish) reached the guerillas VERY quickly. Obviously, they didn’t like that one bit. Miller had some men to try to hold the guerrillas back, but it was useless; most of the city was razed in hours. Unfortunately enough, the disease finally made its way to the West Coast over a little time before. Must’ve been carried by someone who snuck into the country. The guerillas basically are a mess right now, more so than usual.” Eddy finally concluded.
“Ok…so…you are…?” I tilted my head, trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together.
“We’re U.S.P.L., United States Preservation League, and we’re trying to RE-establish order, not break it down anymore. We’re trying to get the U.S. to be the UNITED states again! We’ve been around for a while, but you don’t really hear much about us, probably ‘cause we’re a little more outta the way other guys ‘round here. We came here after all the fighting to try and get any supplies we can or to help anybody who was stranded, like you. You’re a little more helpful than the average man, though.” he proudly beamed.
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