Control Freakz

by Evans, Michael

  The sun from up above reflected off the glass of the several hundred-foot-tall skyscrapers, and created an evangelical like aura around the buildings. It felt like we were approaching a heaven-like sanctuary instead of hell due to the almost blinding amount of light that refracted from the city that seemed to rise above the desert out of nowhere.

  “Damn.” Hunter exhaled, holding my hand to try and contain his excitement.

  He looked at me with a special glow in his eyes that had been missing for years. It was a sparkle that hinted at the happiness and joy that used to be in his life, and that was swallowed by the hopelessness and despair of reality. But for once reality seemed to actually be treating us nicely.

  “Hey, guys.” There was a nervous crack to Ethan’s voice. “What the hell should I do?”

  My eyes were too busy staring up at the sky to notice the large metal wall approaching in front of us. It was about thirty feet tall, with what looked like to be an electrified wire running across the top. It reminded me of a medieval fortress, with its rough, granite-like exterior and formidable walls. I found my mind anticipating archers to appear at the top of the wall and begin shooting arrows at the car. On either side of us, shimmering metal dividers towered above the asphalt, and made it impossible for Ethan to turn around. I watched as he frantically glanced out his rearview mirror to see an expensive sports car literally riding so close to the back of our old ford mustang that it could scrape the paint.

  Crap. I could feel the beads of sweat beginning to build up in the palms of my hands. The road eventually turned into a dark tunnel, where I could see machines scanning over cars and letting them pass through the motion sensor door. The darkness reminded me of the jaws of a detestable monster, and something tells me that this monster is getting ready to eat us.

  “Fuck,” Hunter muttered. “This must be the rich people’s way of hi-tech security.” Hunter glanced at me with wide eyes. “There’s no way in hell we are getting in there.”

  “Well, what do I do?” There was now a frenzied tone to Ethan’s voice, as he jerked the steering wheel suddenly to the side. We were on a one-lane road, and the entrance to the gray, metallic wall was now just yards in front of our car.

  I watched as a green light emanated from a machine and a door lifted open, giving way to the light, and abundance of wealth visible on the other side.

  Why do people need stupid walls? I found myself, despite my envy of their wealth, having a newfound hatred for these people. Why do they have to be so damn ignorant of us― meaning, the entire population of America―just because we aren’t at the bottom of the massive funnel that our economy is?

  “Stop the car!” Hunter yelled out.

  “I can’t!” Ethan hit on the steering wheel, causing a deafening beeping noise to ring in my ears.

  “What do you mean?!”

  “I don’t know.” Ethan took his hands off the wheel, and sat back in awe. “Something must have taken control of the car.” I could see his eyes widen as we continued to move forward. “This isn’t me.”

  Then, before we could even react, a skinny metal bar popped out of the ceiling and began blinking erratically. I felt my arm try to grab onto Hunter for support, but a searing pain coursed through my shoulder. The anxiety and shock flowing through my veins had a numbing effect on my body, paralyzing it, when a single red light began flashing.

  That can’t be good. I gulped, in a split-second dreaming of a hundred possibilities that could happen to us. But I knew there would only be one truth.

  I screamed, wondering when the light flooded my eyes if it was the blazing fires of hell, but instead it was just the hellish light of day accompanied by a row of bulky men in uniforms. Seemingly, a half a dozen of the hulk-sized men stormed the car with pistols raised and their voices booming. I, meanwhile, still sat, frozen, in the car, my whole body quivering so erratically that I was on the verge of shitting myself.

  “Get off me!” I could hear Ethan scream, but I had already closed my eyes, hoping that if I wished hard enough for death to come that he would somehow swiftly pick me up and fly me away from this horrific world.

  I felt the familiar, yet still ever-depressing and fear-inducing realization sweep over me. We can’t escape this. We’re going to die. I’m going to die. Instead of there being a wave of comfort washing over me after that realization, I found myself beginning to drown under the wrath of the anger and regret inside of me.

  I am useless. I was useless. I will forever be useless. In my life, I have accomplished nothing to help me or help anyone else. I have literally let myself rot with my own emotions, and let my mind deteriorate into a disintegrated piece of matter. I have to die knowing that there’s more to be done; knowing that the energy in the dark matter in my brain will forever be searching for the one connection to comfort its negative charge. I have to die buried in regret.

  But then, just as I was about to accept the arms of death around me forever, I heard a sharp voice cut through the air. I opened my eyes in shock and could see the vague silhouette of a woman in the blackness.

  “They are with me.”

  The men instantly put the pistols down to their sides, and the warm aura of death eluded me once again.

  Chapter 15

  I felt like I was about to throw up.

  This can’t be happening. I stared forward into her cold, brown eyes, my whole body growing limp with shock. She can’t be real; this must be a dream.

  I felt a nervous shiver run down my spine as her lips parted to form an acute smile. She had long, thick, black hair that was draped just below her shoulder. Her cheeks were unnaturally plump, looking like two rosy apples, which had been sprayed with many rounds of pesticide, and were modified to contain a radiant glow. Her eyes were a deep brown, with a dash of hazel coating its outer edges which made her entire face have an air of mystery to it. I looked up and down at her thin, visibly toned body.

  “Oh no, what happened?” She immediately grasped my thin arm, which sent a sharp pain through my shoulder.

  “I got shot.” I winced. “It happened during the government bombing of Camp Camel.”

  “Oh no, I’m so sorry. I heard about that from Ethan. That is truly tragic.” Her tone was so dramatic that she sounded fake. I almost had to squint when she talked because her bright white teeth became visible as she grimaced. “Don’t worry.” Her tender eyes connected with mine. “When we get back to the compound, we will get you fixed up.”

  “Thanks.” I looked down at the dirt all over my body, and brushed a hand through my hair that was matted in sweat and filth. Maybe I can take a shower, too. At Camp Camel, we would wash ourselves almost daily with water, but it had been years since I have taken an actual shower. That’s gonna feel so nice. I could already imagine the warm water running down my skin, and washing the grime off my entire body.

  “Well, anyways, nice to meet you.” She now smiled, causing the wrinkles underneath the layer of makeup she was wearing to become visible. Her voice had a tenderness to it that made me immediately feel uncomfortable. “My name is Danielle Walker.”

  Damn. I had to repeat the words in my mind, just to let the reality of our situation soak in. That’s Danielle Walker. Even though she was right there in front of me, my eyes still squinted at her, finding the whole spectacle unbelievable. I could feel a weird movement below my feet, as the helicopter began to hover above the wall, and dozen or so guards beneath us.

  “My name is Ethan Blaine.” He shook her hand very firmly.

  “Hunter Lee.” He passively smiled, while giving her a tentative shake.

  Then, when her eyes turned toward me, even though I had two people before me to prepare for this moment, I literally stared at her blankly. There was a still an overwhelming feeling in my body of defeat and lifelessness that hadn’t left me yet. I could still feel the remnants of my will to live, and the ashes of death sprinkled across my body.

  “I’m, I’m Natalie Parker,” I stuttered nervously, the shock s
till having a numbing effect on my body. I desperately grabbed onto the blanket of death that wrapped around me, almost in denial that its warmth ever left me in the first place.

  “Well, it’s nice to meet you guys!” Her voice was so ecstatic that I thought it would break through the windows of the helicopter with her energy.

  The light reflected in from the windows that were on all sides of the aircraft, and refracted off Danielle’s face to surround her in a ghostly aura. She looked like our savior with all the light pouring down on her to create a heavenly glow. In fact, technically, she was our savior. If she hadn’t shown up the second she had, those men would have inevitably killed us. If she hadn’t scooped us up into her fancy, translucent helicopter, death would have taken me away in his chariot and carted me away to a better world where darkness was the only enemy. But for once in this hell on earth, I could see some light. And for once, in this unforsaken world, something had finally gone our way.

  There was an awkward silence as Danielle stared at the three of us, checking each person out. I tried to meet her brown eyes when she began to look at me, but I couldn’t match her long, creepy glare. Why is she looking at me? Goosebumps began to form on my arms, as an unsettled feeling surfaced in my stomach.

  I let my eyes wander out the windows that encompassed the walls of the aircraft. We were flying relatively low to the ground, so some of the magnificent skyscrapers of the village still towered even further above the aircraft. The streets below were bustling with people, and there was a certain atmosphere that emanated off the glass, spiraled buildings that shimmered effervescently in the day light.

  I took a deep breath, letting a surge of adrenaline course through my body. For the first time, in a while, I could finally say I felt reinvigorated with a new purpose in life. Just looking out at a place that was thriving, drowning in material wealth despite being surrounded by a desert, was a liberating experience. Knowing that there was a bubble, and that for once I could reside in that bubble, made me both fearful and happy. I like this bubble. My eyes pranced over the intricacy of the designs on most of the buildings, and the light that radiated off the stores and buildings below that gave the village a warm feeling. Then there was the gray wall that surrounded the city and sheltered it from the lifeless, desolate world that surrounded it.

  “I am the leader of the Retributioners.” Danielle perfectly articulated the words with her dry, caked lips. I glanced at Hunter as we all stood quietly, waiting for her to continue talking, but seemingly that was all she had to say.

  I peered around nervously, a shiver running through my body at the awkward tension that was beginning to invade the room. The entire room was empty, except for the four of us. There were no controls, no seats, no anything. Just the light that poured in from outside through the windows that encased us, and the granite floor beneath us. I was beginning to feel that the windows were just an allusion and that we, in reality, were surrounded by another layer of blackness.

  “And who are the Retributioners exactly?” Hunter finally spoke up, breaking the awkward silence.

  “Well, we are the rebel group, which I founded about two years ago.” There was a blank look in her brown eyes as I could visibly see her push back a flurry of emotions that threatened to appear on her face. “After I divorced President Ash, I knew that I couldn’t just let him rule over this country like it’s his bitch. I knew what I had to do.” She paused, and I could see the expression on her face shift. “I still know what I need to do. I have to take it back from him.”

  There was a glow radiating from deep within her eyes that sent chills down my spine. There was a way in which she said it that conveyed her sheer desperation and her will to do absolutely anything to get back what she lost.

  Why would she ever divorce President Ash? The thought aimlessly crossed through my mind. She had all the power in the world, she had everything. Why would she want to lose that?

  “So is that your plan?” The eagerness to Ethan’s voice matched that of a little kid waiting to go on an amusement park ride.

  “It’s my purpose,” she stated, her thin, clearly penciled-in eyebrows raised.

  “Is that where we come in?” Ethan leaned up against the back window of the helicopter, the blue sky practically touching his body. “Is that what you need our help with?”

  “Don’t worry about that.” Her voice turned curt as her whole body grew tense. “Everything is good now. Let’s just get back to the compound.”

  Hunter eyed me suspiciously. I felt an uneasiness rise from within my stomach. Why did she refuse to answer his question?

  “Compound?” Ethan glanced out the window, a suddenly worried look in his eyes.

  I knew exactly what he was thinking, and just from the thought of it I felt a rush of anxiety course through me. What if she is taking us to a government compound? What if this is all a trap? I glanced around frantically, looking for an escape, but we were inevitably trapped. There was nowhere to run except out one of the windows, which would undoubtedly end up in us plummeting hundreds maybe even thousands of feet to our deaths. It was impossible to tell our elevation because the only thing visible out the window was the sea of milky blue that stretched on as far as the eye could see.

  “Yes, we are headed to our Grand Canyon compound that is built into the side of the canyon opposite from the village.” Her whole demeanor seemed to calm down now, as she began to pronounce her words with an acerbic emphasis on each syllable. “After I left the White House, the government gave me quite a large sum of ‘hush’ money. With that money, I built the headquarters for the Retributioners located near New York City, and four more compounds in Oakland, Grand Canyon National Village, Boston, and Atlanta.”

  I found myself grow annoyed at the way Danielle said “I.” Each time she uttered the word, she’d said it with a stress that made it sound like it was the most important part of her sentence.

  “That’s cool,” Ethan managed to croak out. He was never good at making small talk with girls, so he was horribly failing at talking to a woman who was at least fifty years older than him. Even though her multiple cosmetic surgeries and makeup did a good job at hiding it, it was easy to tell from the lines around her eyes and minute creases on her forehead that she was definitely an older lady.

  There was an awkward silence where Danielle continued staring at us, almost as if she was grading us on our looks. At one point, she even rubbed her chin when she looked at me, and I widened my eyes not knowing whether that was a sign of approval or not. I felt an urge inside of me to spit out all the questions I had inside about my family, about the government, and how we could get them back. But the tension in the atmosphere pushed the words off my tongue and deeper down into my throat where their echoes could not be heard.

  There was still a feeling of shock that numbed my senses. I can’t believe I am still alive. The warm residue of death still dotted my body like morning dew on grass, yet I could feel its overwhelming presence finally leave. I had accepted―in fact, I had wished―for something so dark to come into my life and now that it had left me, my body had been blinded by the inundation of light.

  There was another low vibration from beneath my feet, and my stomach dropped a bit, as the helicopter came in for a landing. The blue that was once all around us had faded into a thick blackness that coated the windows. I grabbed onto Hunter’s hand, fearing that when the doors of the aircraft slid open that dozens of government guards would flood in.

  “Welcome to our Grand Canyon Compound.” There was an emphatic boom to Danielle’s voice, and a peculiar glimmer to her eyes. The doors slid open and an outpouring of light flooded my eyes.

  Danielle was first to step out of the aircraft, followed by the three of us, and I stopped in my tracks as a row of about a dozen, mostly men, and women stood right outside the aircraft clapping. I turned around at the helicopter that actually appeared black from its exterior and sighed, letting some of the shock and hysteria out of me. I wanted to truly acce
pt that something good was happening in my life. I wanted to accept that things may finally now have a shot at getting better. But my brain was still paralyzed with fear and trauma, and refused to accept the reality standing and clapping in front of me.

  I should be crying. I should be screaming and jumping with joy. But instead I searched through my mind, looking for a reason to tell myself that this wasn’t real.

  “They are here finally!” A woman erupted into joyous screams at the sight of us. She had frail, gray hair and dark circles beneath her eyes that seemed to weigh her down like weights beneath her pupils. Besides her there was only one more woman, and the rest of the people were old, white men, who were always abundant in any sort of political or business setting.

  The helicopter pad was inside of the compound, and was surrounded by bright lights that were draped across the ceiling and walls. The floors were all a pristine marble that looked so shiny, that I almost felt guilty stepping on it with my dirty, torn-up shoes.

  People began to eye my shoulder that had turned over into a crusty brown, as the blood had festered and begun to rot on my body. As I walked, some of the dry blood began to flake off me like a piece of dry, stale bread that had been engulfed by a colony of mold.

  I could already hear someone yell to go get the emergency medical kit, as the group of clean-cut white people, all dressed in suits or lavish dresses, stared at my shoulder like it was the most horrific thing they had ever seen. These people have no idea. I glanced at Danielle, who wore a black dress with a pair of expensive-looking, gold-laden sandals.