by Drew Avera
Chapter 9
I was trapped in complete darkness as a resounding roar emoted all around me. My hands and feet were bound together tightly as I tried to call out for help. It was impossible for my throat to make a sound, or at least it was impossible to hear over the roaring sound surrounding me. The noise was haunting and sent chills down my spine. I struggled against my restraints uselessly as I opened my throat for another scream. I felt a tearing sensation in my vocal cords, but still I made no sound.
I felt hopeless in the darkness, then all of a sudden a bright light like the sun illuminated all around me. I strained to make out the image of a vast arena surrounding me. It was an enormous rust colored bowl where people were shouting and cheering by the thousands, their faces were hidden by identical white masks. Fire erupted on the platform that I was restrained to and I could feel the heat burning my skin. I attempted another blood curdling scream that escaped my lips without making a sound. I was weak and encapsulated by fear and misery.
I squinted from the blinding light that was causing my eyes to burn. Everything became a blur with floating bubbles running from side to side. I widened my eyes despite the pain and made out the form of another platform with someone else trapped on it. It too was blazing in a devilish inferno. It was hell before my eyes. Long black hair blew in the wind that whipped like the flames into giant pillars, the hair parted to reveal a familiar face that was frozen in the same terror that I felt. Kara! She was held to the platform by the same mechanisms that held me. I could see her mouth moving, but I could not hear her screams because of the roaring crowd, instead I felt them like a knife that penetrated my heart with every single beat.
I tore at my restraints with every ounce of strength that I could muster. I screamed and frantically writhed trying to break myself free. It was useless, I was useless. I sat there as a guilty spectator and watched as my sister burned for her crimes against the Syndicate. She burned to the cheers and resounding applauds that were emanating from the faceless cowards in the arena. Her screams were welcomed with fiendish lust by those who controlled the lives of others. The flames died down and she was gone. The last member of my family evaporated before my eyes, now only ashes floated away and settled into the rust colored dirt of the arena. The final resting place for those deemed to be wicked.
The flames swelled closer and closer to me. The fire burned over my skin but the only pain that I felt was in my heart. My longing for my family would forever go unsatisfied. I was left alone to face the flames, alone to taste of death, alone with the bitter hatred that I felt for myself. I should have done something to save Kara. But what could I do? I was trapped on this burning platform! I was a useless, pitiful fool, but it will all be over soon.
Every thought, every burden, every regret was facing me. Looking me in the eye just one last time before the bitterness of hate consumed my final breath. It was better like this I thought. I was only half a man stolen from his life. I remembered love before the end came swooping down at me through the flames. Thank God I knew love in those last moments. The alternative was for me to die hollow, void of any emotion, void of any reason to live. Just a hollowed soul, much like those who survived the Agency into retirement. They had nothing left in life. At least this way I had my sister. At least this way I didn’t have to die with the regret of surviving.
My body convulsed from the flames that were overtaking me. A shaking emanated from deep down in my chest. It was my heart breaking. No amount of programming from the Agency would allow you to ignore this kind of pain. I felt everything in that final moment. Another shake.
"Wake up!" Another shake was felt by my burning nerves.
"Serus!" I can hear her voice. Maybe there is life after death, but I was hoping for nothingness.
"Serus!" My eyes opened and I saw Kara kneeling over me. Her face and body were unmarked by the flames. She was crying and had her warm hands lain upon my shoulders smothering the flames. I could feel that the heat was dying down. That must have been my nerves dying because I could see the flames were still there.
"Serus!" Her lips were moving as she said my name. She wiped another tear from her eye and I could see Thom walk up behind her. Had he been burned too? I hadn’t seen him on a platform. I didn’t see anything anymore except for Kara, and Thom, and a stained wall.
Where was the arena that had been set ablaze? Where were the thousands of people wearing the white masks? Where was the sound of the roaring that I had heard earlier?
My reflexes jumped and I sat up quickly. My body was warm but not on fire. I looked around confused and saw Kara looking at me, fear had consumed her. Thom stood behind her with concern marked across his face.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"It was a dream," Kara said. "We've been trying to wake you for fifteen minutes," she finished. She was obviously shaken by the whole ordeal.
"Oh God," I said. "It was horrible! Everything was on fire. I watched you burn!" I shouted. I could see the terror on her face. Kara had believed that dreams were pathways that our lives could take in reality.
"It was only a dream, a nightmare," she said. "I'm still here and I'm fine," she hugged me and I could feel her heavy breathing on my neck. She was trying to cover up her own fear to settle my own. I had never had a dream like that before. It was so real. I could feel the flames lapping up my body. It was too realistic.
Thom knelt beside me and put his hand on my forehead. "I think you may have a fever," he said. That was possible I supposed.
I wiped the sweat from my face and went to stand up. My throat was dry and I was light headed. I moved slowly into the other room and Kara walked behind me warily with Thom following. The media device had been switched on and the holographic image depicted a growing mob in the square. Their shouts sounded like a roar. That must have been what I heard in my dream. They were setting fire to different buildings and vehicles, causing damage to everything as they protested. The headline along the bottom of the image alerted viewers to the lottery that White had mentioned to me the night before. I had not missed his speech, but what I witnessed now was the precursor to what was coming. Fire burned across the image on the wall.
The lottery would only save twenty five percent of humanity. The rest would die! Population was controlled by the Syndicate, just like everything else. I had to take down the Syndicate. More fire erupted in the square and people were trampled by the mob. The image moved on to Pontiff White standing stoically by his window looking down on the crowd below. He looked unmoved by the commotion and violence below. There was something behind him. I looked at the image and studied it harder. I made out the image of another suited man, the puppeteer, the handler, a member of the Syndicate.
