20 years

A Story by Baku~B.B.

This story follows Trisha and Damien. A couple like everyone else who has been housed together since 3 years old. witnessing a murder, they go to find the truth of this post-apocalyptic place.

Today we did the same thing as we always did. We woke up and left the house, being given food by the breakfast truck on the way to the parks. Damien and I cracked a few dull jokes and laughed silently, Each of us not so eager to get the the parks.
Our days would start and end the same, meeting the same in-between points along the way. Wake, eat, play, eat, play, eat, play, sleep. Wake, eat, play, eat, play, eat, play, sleep. Every day. Somehow, every one around us did notice the dull life they each pursued as an individual in all of the happy sunlight.
But then again, not too many of us had individuality. Not that it was a bad thing, but we had all grown up the same way, one mother who was anywhere between 9 and 17, and one dad who was in between 12 and 18. The ones who were nineteen years didn’t bother with those younger. After all, it was their last year to live. They all went to see the world in their last year of life. No one older than 20 could live on earth. It was not scientifically told why, it was just true. When you turned twenty, you would become ill, and within two weeks, you would be gone, dead. We couldn’t study it though, because the twin-brother monarchy in Florida made it illegal to study medicine. An apocalypse had knocked out the people over 19 within a year. Apparently the disease only targeted those who were older.
But then again when you could go on the racing carts and wet slopes all day, for your whole life, who would want to study or learn?
It was said that a century ago there were people who lived to 100, lived with pets inside their house (animals were apparently very dangerous), watched something called Television and used something called a computer, chose who they mated with, (it was called marriage) and did not usually have children until the age of 20. I heard that if you had a child when you were younger than 18 people would look at you with shame. It was looked down upon heavily. They worked for a monthly pay, went to a thing called ‘school’ (where you learn things so that you may work in the future), you had to pay to go to a park, and for half of the 365 days in a year, (which were named Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in their time,) snow would cover the ground. Snow was a white, cold, powder that children would throw at each other for fun. There was also something called rain, which was when water would fall from the sky in large amounts. The kids often spoke of these legends, but none would really believe them.
Dull is the one word which described our daily life, Dami and I. Nothing exciting happened, it was all just the same of everything. We had heard that there was a world outside of our towns which we lived in, where the sun would shine every day. We heard that animals roamed free, devouring each other’s flesh. That snow would yet fall. We longed for the proof that that world existed. We wanted an adventure.
Dami and I got to the park, and handed our I.D. badges to the mechanical man with the blue hat, who were called officers. They were all a direct reminder to us that the twins ruled all and the officers had control of who went where. Sadly enough, the only way they enforced it was constantly stopping anyone on the sidewalks outside the parks to make sure we were from this city. Unless you were in Tallahassee, it was highly abnormal to be outside of your home city. He checked to make sure we were from this city, and he waved us off. The security was kind of uptight outside of the park gates, like they were trying to make sure no one had found out something secretive or important. No matter who it was, they always seemed (if it was possible for a mechanical being) to be worried and very strict. It was an ominous feeling, you know?
Dami and I had lived together since my mother and father had given me up the corps when they turned 19. Damien was there before me, as he was given up a year earlier. We lived in the same dorm in the orphanage until we were old enough for the operation. After the operation was completed we were put in the same apartment to live together. We were supposed to grow up as a couple, create another newborn or two, and leave the world once again, completing the cycle.This was exactly how everyone lived. Were housed as couples as long as we had gotten the operation, and were placed together based on compatibility from a personality test. The only fault with the system was that we were not made to love each other, so not all housed couples really wanted to be a couple. They had no choice though. We all understood that we didn’t mate for love in most cases. It was to continue the life on earth.
People always would envy Dami and I, because we were one of the few on earth who were in love for real. They would always tell us how lucky we were, and wish us a happy future together. I gripped his hand tighter as we sauntered over to the Mister Twister, one of the most popular rides in the southern parks of Atlanta.
Our lives were ¾ of the way over already. Damien was 15, and I, 14. 15 and 14 already. I was pregnant, and going to mother my first child in 8 months. It had been 12 years since my operation. I couldn't remember anything about before my operation, but I was told about it, at least. I was raised for two years before the orphanage. I was given birth to when my mother, named Illiana, when she was 17. She was fairly old to be having her first child, most were pregnant by the end of 14 to the end of 15. Some were as early as 9.
The operation was given to all children at the age of 3, to give them all of the knowledge they would need to last for the rest of their life. There was also this myth that the chip in your brain that gave you the information we needed to live would track where you were in relation to your house all over the Atlantan area. I touched the back of my neck silently, Dami giving me a look of confusion that said ‘you’re thinking again, aren’t you?’ I smiled, and we both glanced at the couples standing in line. The younger ones were mostly complaining about the wait for the line, about half of the crown was fighting amongst themselves, and the other half was either waiting quietly or talking. One girl who was in front of us was holding her bulbous stomach, smiling to her mate.
“I can’t believe that will be us in little time.” Dami commented. I just smiled at him.

On the way home, Trisha and Damien saw something they didn’t think they were supposed to see. It was pitch black outside and the streetlamps were dimmer than usual, no one but the two of them on the streets. Until they saw a kid of nineteen years walking the streets, looking very sad. It must mean that she just had her 20th birthday, Dami realized, soon feeling sorry for her. She passed an alley in-between the apartments, and they heard some alarming loud movement in it as well as a shadow against the side walk that was casted perfectly by the street lamps. Dami quickly hid in the alley on the other side of the street with Trisha and watched something horrifying take place.
The girl passed the Alley, and they sighed quietly. Then a black flash came out of the alley from behind her and got the girl. Dami moved instantly to Trisha to cover her mouth, keeping her from screaming. He held her and she clawed on his arm, drawing a bit of red fluid from his vein. The girl was restricted, and then went limp after she was stuck with a needle filled with liquid in the back of her head She hit the ground with a thump as the hooded figure retreated just as fast as it had entered the scene. They were not discovered, thankfully.
They sat still for thirty more minutes too afraid to move. Eventually they moved a little, and stood. Unsure of what to do, they walked over the the girl. No words were spoken, no words.
She was still breathing. But Dami’s eyes widened as he recognized something. “Hey.. Trish..” He cautiously mentioned. She just looked at him. “I’ve heard that when a person ‘catches’ the sickness, they ‘faint’..” He was not showing the words any real meaning, as his new opinion formed. “And they are found on the sidewalk, or at home, passed out. When they wake up, they slowly forget all of their memory.. until they... die.”
Trisha gasped at him. “You don’t mean...”
“Yes. I don’t think that these people are catching a sickness at all. Maybe they are being killed.” He pondered the horrifying facts.
“But... if what you say..” She paused, “Is true, for any reason at all...” another pause. “Why would they do it in the first place?” She glanced at Dami.
“I’m not sure, who knows what’s going on with the world. After all I’ve heard, I have no reason to believe anything anymore. For all we know, we may live in a world with snow and rain. We may be able to live to 100 years old. Maybe. Maybe.”

It was about 2:00 am. Dami and I had brought the girl home, and set her in our second bed that Dami never used anymore.. The apartment had one floor with nothing but two beds and a big big closet for any clothes we might ever want to wear. “Dami we need a plan.” I told him, grabbing my slippers. The recent events had shaken me up pretty well.
“All I know is that we need to keep an eye on this girl. If there is another sign of her being ‘sick’.... We need to take action.” He waited a minute to respond. “We might even need to leave our home and find out what is really happening.” I laid on the bed and looked at him. “Everything we know and love could be a lie. Keep that in mind.” He laid down next to me, and we slept. My final thought was hoping to myself that it might, might, might be a lie. I didn’t want Dami to be fake. I really didn’t.
In the morning the girl woke us, she was screaming. She stopped when she saw us murmuring something along the lines of, “huh?” The sun was clear in the middle of the sky, so we knew that it was later than 9:00.
“It’s alright,” Dami said, I jumped, noticing he was awake. “Now tell me, what was happening last night. We need to know.” He stood and walked over to the girl, staring at her in the eye. She was pale.
“Dami...” I began, not wanting him to scare her too much.
She responded anyway, “I was walking back to my apartment, it was the second day after my 20th birthday.... And... Next thing I knew I was here.” She blinked, like she was surprised she forgot something. I took a deep breath, hoping that she didn’t forget anything. The room was a tan color, pretty bland. the doors to the outside and closet were white. The beds were steel, but very warm. Heated, actually.
“Okay, can you tell us your name?” Dami asked her.
“Mill.” Her red hair, I noticed, was oddly static, sticking out in all directions.
I Sighed very loudly. Mill and Dami looked at me.
“And,” Dami continued, “Who is your mate?”
“Uh.... I only remember someone named Harrison. I have no clue what a ‘mate’ is though.” Did she forget that basic information? Wait.. she knew personal things, like names.. Maybe it was the information in her chip that was going bad. “What’s 2 plus 2?” I questioned her, standing up. It was common math.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about...” She sighed. “Who are you two anyway?” We looked at her, realization hitting us.
The needle put in her neck made her 1) pass out. And 2) Forget everything on her chip she received in the operation. These were both the ways you could tell that someone was sick, next was..... And I had spoke too soon, because she ran off to our bathroom to puke. Someone was sick when they puked.
I looked at Dami, wide eyed. The people weren’t dying of old age... no.. It was the hooded figure that was killing them.

A week later the couple had seen that Mill died peacefully, a few tears fell for both Dami and Trisha, and that she be transported to Tallahassee safely for burial. They were now packed, (two shirts filled with food, and a few layers of clothes) and ready to leave at 2:00 am. Of course, while they were sitting around for the week before Mill’s tragic death,, they were planning what they should do. While keeping a close eye on the girl, making sure that she was ‘sick’ after all, they made a plan.
Only once or twice did they get questioned by officers coming to their doors, asking what was the issue, as they had not been seen in days. All they had to do was explain that they had found the girl passed out on the street and had taken her in, noticing that she had caught the sickness. It wasn’t uncommon for the sick to be taken in by the couple who found them. Then again, in some cases the couple couldn’t handle watching the person die, so they were transferred to Tallahassee's hospital.
Tallahassee was where the twins lived, and the biggest hospital in the states was. That was the whole town, a giant hospital and a few luxury houses for certain kids 19 years of age to stay in in their last year of life.
They were supposedly the ones who controlled what happened where, when, why, and how. They were the only two people in the world that people knew had lived past 20. The citizens all considered them godly. Both Trisha and Dami knew that it was only because they had organized the world’s doom that they lived.
They had used the map every house hold had of the 5 cities inside of the 5 states that still existed, and had drawn all over it. Arrows pointing every which-way, and their plan mapped out. They were fairly close to Florida’s city; Tallahassee being only about 150 miles away.
Why were they going to Tallahassee? It was simple: the twins were there. And wherever the twins were, (the top level of the hospital,) so was the radio that they used to communicate special events to the cities. ALL of the cities. That meant that if they could reach the radio, they could tell the world of what the twins had been doing. How they would get to the top level and get the twins away long enough to broadcast the message.... Was something they would improvise.
Jackson, Montgomery, and Columbia were out of their way entirely. Tallahassee was thankfully at the top of Florida, so they didn’t have to go through even more endless wastelands to get there. They already had to go through most of Georgia's wastelands to get there. It was said that the wastelands were very dangerous, and that no one could live out there for more than a week. Apparently animals roamed free there.
Then again, Trisha and Dami knew how serious things were getting, and that if they didn’t at least try to get to Tallahassee then the world may be killed by these hooded figures for the rest of humanity.
They had realized that there were more than one hooded figure killing the people, because no one person could kill off an entire population of 49 states in a year. There must have been hundreds of them. And not only that, but they must have been under direct orders of a personnel. The Twins, they realized, were completely controlling the world. For what intents and/or reasons, they had no clue.
So there they stood, bundled up with three or four thick layers of clothing ready, in case the Wastelands were colder than the cities. The map clenched tightly in their hands, which were intertwined. They opened the window, as the door would tell the officers they were leaving, and Trisha first, made their way out in a very unfashionable manner. They had never had to sneak out before.
A few minutes later, The two were simultaneously dusting themselves off and sneaking fastly down the street to the south cut-off of town. An officer would roll by on it’s wheeled legs every once and a while, so they would hide in another alley. The officers did not have any senses at the moment but seeing. They could hear most of the time, but unless engaged by a human, it would not notice anyone by noise.
By the time the sun began to rise, they felt like they were near what was the end of the city. The houses had stopped about a mile back, and now it was just trees. No one had ever been here, though, because there were no footprints. They were in unfamiliar territory.
They really had no clue if they were in the Wastelands or not until Trisha hit something and fell down with a great big “OOF!”
“Shhhhhh!” Dami said subconsciously, his mind really focused elsewhere. Trisha had hit nothing. Literally nothing. She had hit thin air and fell backwards. Dami out hid hand out to where she hit, feeling something. A wall.
“Trish, come check this out, there’s a wall here.” Dami stared at the wall, touching it repeatedly. It was a clear wall, showing a landscape of more trees. he just kept feeling until he saw a little clearing of trees.
“Thanks for the help, Damien.” Heavy sarcasm. She stood up on her own, dusting leaves that were old and crunchy off out her black jacket and blue jeans. Her hair was a little knotted, being down to her waist. She ran to catch up tp him, and he touched the wall against the clearing. there was a short gasp, then a click, as Damien found a doorknob, an invisible one, and tuned it a bit, opening a door to a world they had never seen before.

Garrett grinned at his brother, Hayden. It was about this time of day that they go around the top floors of the hospital and implant the chips into the people’s brains. They were handed a cold iced tea each, and the door was opened for them by one of their hundreds of servants.
These servants were not robots though. They were real people, all older than 21 years of age. Each one implanted with a certain chip which told them what to do. They were lifeless dummies, who were controlled easily by the chip. All they did was breathe, eat, and do their task given. They no longer grew, as their brain was shut off, and their bodies did not know how to. All they knew how to do was sustain their current status. If they were injured, they would die. No matter the wound. If blood was present, they would die. Their body did not know how to regenerate with white blood cells.
“What room is first?” Garret asked.
“30095.” Hayden replied, easily. He was an enhanced human being. Hayden could remember everything he had ever seen, as he had photographic memory. “Drone 156, report with Mechanical chip.” Hayden said into a small radio. This radio would contact only the mentioned destination. in this case, it was drone 156. If they wanted to contact a certain state’s city, he would say the state’s name, then the message. It was a very handy device.
The drone met with Garret and Hayden at the entrance to the hospital room. Inside the room was a girl, not but 3 weeks, twenty years old. She had a blank look on her face, no pupil present in her irises. She was laying on a pillow on white sheets, near a window, outside showing the lovely projection of the sunset over the dome that covered the city.
The dome’s purpose was to keep the rain and winter snow out. Outside it would be snowing very harshly at the moment. Inside the dome it was warm. Over the course of generations, staying the same age, they kept their 25-year-old stature, and had progressed in science to the point where they could create such a dome, and such an illusion of a prefect world.
Their purpose? To live a happy, long, eternal, life, using other personnel. They were pampered and no one knew but them.
But why use only anyone over 20 years? Because if they were younger, they would not be as capable. Also, if they were any older, they would possibly what was going on, and since they were older, they could possibly take the twin’s power.
So far it had worked. Ever since they had successfully used the chips to give them eternal life, they moved on to greater and bigger things. The next thing you knew, BAM! The world was theirs, and every one thought it was perfect.
They walked over to the young girl and rolled her over, placing the chip onto the back of her neck. They nodded toe soulless human out of the room and focused on the girl. They shaved the bottom of her head, just enough for them to reach the place where the chip would connect to the brain and spinal cord perfectly. This was where Garret came in. He knew everything there was to know about medicine, it was one of the perks of his chip. He took out a tray of utensils from below the bed and got to work.
He stitched up the hole in her neck and glued it for extra caution. Her body should begin to function as a mechanic in about 24 hours. She was going to be transported to the north parks in Columbia for underground maintenance for the rest of her immortal life along with a few other new mechanics.
This was a daily task for the brothers, numerous chip implants a day, about 50, then they would relax with whatever they liked, Television re-runs, sweets, comfort, whatever their heart desired. They thought it was a good life, at least.
They were on top of the world.
The fire was warm, much warmer than the snow that was surrounding us. I was leaning against Dami, my hand on my stomach, which now had a small lump in it. My baby was growing steadily and healthily. It had been three weeks since we had found the new world. The ground was covered in snow, animals roamed free, and were not hostile. We had found a place to stay, and every day We would move at dawn until dusk. We would make a snow fort and put a fire on the inside. I had seen pictures describing them as ‘igloos’ and though they did not look warm, boy were they.
We were moving slower than expected, only getting 15 miles in three weeks. Dami and I were already accustomed to the new world, either way.
The sun was rising, “Dami, we are low on food.... We must find some or we will die here.” Dami let go of me and looked down at the fire.
“I know. I have a feeling that we will have to kill for food.”
“No,” I gasped, “I could never do that!” I looked at him in protest, standing up and preparing our things to go.
“We may have to.” Dami threw some snow onto the fire, putting it out. His hands were bright red. “I know, I’m not sure how to do it...” He looked at me. “But I’ll do anything to keep you safe.”
I blushed and we set off on our trip once again.
Along the way, about an hour or two in, we were attacked. Something big jumped out, and I fell into the snow backwards, out of surprise. It was bigger than any of the brown four legged animals we had seen. This one was yellow and orange, and did not have any tree branch looking things on top of it’s head. It had growled at us very loudly and attempted to pounce on us, but Dami had pushed me out of the way.
It prepared to pounce again, and we both simultaneously took deep breaths. Our breath came out of our mouths as smoke. Time seemed to freeze, when the big orange animal was in the air, fangs showing and claws showing, ready to tear. We were on the snowy ground, cold.
I sent a silent prayer that one day the world would find out what was going wrong, when something amazing happened. The animal was stabbed right through the side by a large spear which had flown through the trees, and fell to the ground, motionless for about half a second. Then it stood and sniffed the air, spinning in a half circle, looking at where the spear was thrown from. It growled loudly as four kids came out of the bushes and trees.
For now me and Dami got up and watched in awe. There were other kids out here! We stepped back when more sharp spears were thrown at the big animal. It was pushed backwards, still on all fours, then one person, a girl, ran from behind and jumped onto the big thing’s back, stabbing it with two short spears through the chest which she had reached after wrapping her arms around the animal. It soon stopped growling, and made a gurgling noise. It fell to the snow, staining the snow red with something I thought was called blood. I had never seen it before, but it filled our bodies, and that was how we lived.
“Heh!” She stood up, wiping her bloody hands on her clothes, which I now saw were skins of the brown animals we had seen previously. “He made it too easy!” She turned to me and Dami, grinning. “I see we have two new recruits!” The other four kids walked from the bushes and went to inspect the animal, while the girl came over to us and held out her hand.
She had long-ish brown curly hair. It was fairly messy, but you couldn’t blame her. She looked like she had been through hell. Dami held his hand out, an grabbed the girl’s, who pulled him up. She then helped me up. The four kids waved and took the beast off, one of the men yelling “We’ll meet you back at camp!” The girl nodded.
“See you later Hun!” She grinned at him and turned to us. “So how long have you been out here?” She asked. Me and Dami looked at each other, shrugging as we wiped off the cold snow which was trying to melt it’s way through our four layers of clothes.
“Three weeks?” I answered, still baffled at the fact that there were others out here.
“So you aren’t that useless...” I glared at her. “Well it’s no use.. You better come with us back to camp, we’ll help you out. Somewhere only we know. But you owe us your lives now, seeing as we just saved yours.” My eye twitched. this girl had some serious issues with her cockiness.

About three months later the couple had gotten used to their surroundings.
There turned out to be another small civilization outside of the states which was home to the people who found out about what was going on. There were about 200 people. All ranging from the youngest as newborns, and the oldest being 47, at the moment.
Trisha had just awoken, stretching. She reached up only to feel the roof, which was very low to the ground. All of the inhabitants of this misfit town were living in tents made of skins, inside of houses made of wood. They were called log-cabins.
As it turned out, leaving the cities was the best thing that they could have asked for. All of their questions were finally answered. Trisha laid back down on Dami’s elk-skin coat and thought back on when they first had come here, her hand on her ever-growing stomach.
“So... I’m guessing you want to know what the hell is going on... Right?” The girl they had found out was named Taylor asked them. She laid against the wall of a small log cabin, her fingers intertwined behind her head, her eyes closed. Trisha remembered wondering why she was not washing the blood off.
“Kind of?” Dami asked.
“That big thing I just killed, that’s called a Mountain Lion.” She continued. “There are lots of them all over these parts, but they used to only go where there were mountains. They mutated and spread out, living in more places. The brown animals with branches on their heads are called Deer and Elk. They are pretty harmless unless you get too close to them. The things on their heads are called antlers, and are much stronger than branches of wood.” This was when she sat up.
Someone had walked into the tent, and left the couple gaping. This person had to be at least 40. Their hair was grey at the top, and he had a beard. He was holding a piece of bloody meat, which he threw onto the ground. “This is for your cabin, a little extra for the new comers.” He winked at Trisha ad walked off laughing a little.
“And this is where it gets fun!” Their eyes flew back to Taylor.
“Who was that?” Damien asked, dumbfounded.
“That was Tim. He’s one of the oldest in our little group out here. For now, I guess I’ll just explain...” She sighed. “You see... In the cities, you live to 20, and then you’re killed off by the hooded figures after your twentieth. There are a few hundred of them, and they live to kill. They have a chip in their heads that tells them to get the needle in you, and nothing else. The liquid in the needle you saw kills all of your chip’s functions and memory, and slowly melts away your memory in your brain later on. Soon enough you die because your brain forgets how to breathe and pump blood through your body.” She paused, seeing that they had not reacted. “Wait, you did see a hooded figure attack a person, right?” Taylor was hoping they had.
“Uh.. Uh yeah.” Trisha finally got out. “We knew that the syringe injected a lethal drug into a person, but we had no clue that it did that much damage...” Trisha was wondering how Mill dealt with the pain of loosing every precious memory.
“Okay, so we know that people are killing other people, and we have a feeling that it’s the twins idea, but why. Why would they kill every human older than 20?” Dami leaned towards Taylor.
“We aren’t sure, as no one had asked them directly,” She chuckled at this, “But we do a have a theory about it.”
“Continue.” Trisha said.
“They want domination of the world. Possibly being older than 20 means you may be able to compete with them, and take their authority.”
“But after that... You know, when the bodies die...” Dami paused. “Where do they go?”
“They are used as slaves, we think. For the rest of their immortal lives they are slaves to them. They control the parks from underground, they are the hooded figures, they probably are doctors in that hospital in Tallahassee...” Taylor gritted her teeth in anger. “Of course this is just a theory. There is no way to be sure. We’ve lost many people who have tried top stop them and find the truth, but none have survived.” Taylor sniffed, and wiped away a tear.
“But we can. I know it.” Damien said.
“You can’t. I promise. So many people-” Damien cut Taylor off.
“So many people what? Died trying? Who knows if they died, they could still be alive. And if they did,” Deep breath, “We will avenge them... When WE,” He pointed to Trisha and himself, “Stop this. We can stop this, Taylor.”
“No, you can’t, not even Adrien could.. And.. And he promised he would return... And he didn’t. He hasn’t. And he never will.” She wiped her tears away. “You idiots.. making me cry like this... Remember my words.... It is hopeless. It’s better to be happy on your own then sacrifice yourself for other people’s happiness. You’ll just end up hurting yourself, and everyone who loves you.” She stood up and walked out of the room. The room was silent for a long time. Trisha and Damien silent, in thought.
No more noise was made until a group of five came inside the hut. The same five that had saved them but five hours earlier. They got right to work and started a fire to cook the meat Tim had thrown into the room.
Taylor was with the group of five, and she was not open to more discussion for another month.

I sat up and greeted her cabin-mates after sticking my head out of the tent inside the cabin. There used to be 5, but one had passed, leaving four of them. Taylor was still a little iffy with us, and she sure enough didn’t appreciate the plan the we had convinced the other four into doing. We had learned so much while being here. It turned out that every single myth was, well, not a myth. Damien and I were still getting used to it.
I climbed out of the tent and shivered, realizing the sun was not completely up, and stretched. I smoothed out my elk-skins I was wearing and jumped little, shaking out my hands. This was the day we had been waiting for.
“OK. Do we have our plan set?” Dami looked around him. Ten minutes after I woke him up, we were all sitting there were three girls, and one guy. The guy’s name was Ed, he was high-strung and hot headed all of the time, a blondie. His mate was Morgan, another girl in the circle. She had black hair which was cropped really short. The two people left were a girl named Zaidee and myself. Zaidee was fairly short, like Ed was, and her hair was dyed purple by some berries. She had the most character of them all. Her mate was the one who passed, and it still amazed me that she could bring herself to smile every day. Allen was a good person. Taylor was off to the side, reading a book. She really didn’t want any part of this, but she decided she needed to come, “To protect you idiots!” She had said.
“I think so,” Ed said proudly. He had his hair in a braid. A chorus of agreeing shouts and ‘whoops’ followed. Taylor glared at us.
Dami spread out the map we still had from when we first arrived. even more circles and arrows and side notes were added since then. the plan the six of us created would take us straight south to Tallahassee. From there we would sneak into the Hospital saying that we had a sick relative who was 19 to say goodbye to, but along the way we had caught a sickness. from there we would sneak room from room, hallway to hallway, in search of the way to the top floor. From there we would tell the world of the issues, in hope of a rebellion. We would then hide back at camp and accept any more runaways. We didn’t want any more lives being taken.
We figured our plan to be foolproof. We had been working on it for months.
Taylor stood abruptly, slamming her book shut with only her left hand. The room went completely silent and all eyes fell unto her. “I can’t believe you’re doing this... “ She walked over to our bags that were packed and ready to go. “Just remember, it’s futile. We’ll never make it. I just don’t want to live with the guilt that you had to do this alone. Remember it, idiots.” She kicked her bag away from the pile and grabbed it.
Spring was in the air, snow was melted, and the sun was shining. Trisha and Dami had shed their skins and placed their old clothes back onto their bodies, sharing the extra shirts and jackets with the other kids. This was so the people in Tallahassee were not scared by their make-shift animal clothes. Trisha and Dami took a deep breath simultaneously and gripped each other’s hands. In about four short weeks They should reach the cities.
“This is it, we can finally leave our mark on the future of the, our, world.” Morgan added from behind, as she heaved the small bag of necessities onto her back. She linked arms with Ed and they trudged forward through the brush, everyone else following, sealing their fate.

Of course, this adventure did not come easy to us. We already had to fight off a pack of Wolves, and Mountain Lions. Things looked grim whenever the nights were cold and the stars didn’t shine, and as if to add to the feeling of weight on our shoulders, Taylor glared at us all the time.
Taylor was, in fact, proving to be quite a pain. She would never help set up the fire, never help set the tents, never make her own meals when we fried meat, never acknowledge either I or Dami’s existence, and would purposely lag behind so we could carry her things just to have her speed up. No one really wanted her to continue, obviously, but Ed had made a valid point in saying that not only did she need an attitude change, but we couldn’t let one person bring her down.
He let us know that she might just be trying to see if we are willing to do more to get to the goal, like she’s trying to make us purposefully give up.
Unlike the gloomy nights we recently had become very accommodated with, tonight was just beautiful.
Dami and I were seated around the campfire. All of us were laughing and chatting about our old lives in the cities, the days we spent as kids, when we found out, happiness, sadness... For the first time we really bonded. Even Taylor shared a few memories of Harrison her deceased mate.
I for one learned that Allen, Zaidee’s mate, was not actually from a particular city, he was raised outside the cities by his parents who had escaped from the society when they were young and naive themselves. Zaidee had not really met Allen until she escaped from the colonies after her mate passed from turning twenty. She had watched her own mate die. Allen helped her recover. She missed both him and Allen a lot, but she also had said that Allen would not want her to live a life of regret and sorrow over himself, but to live on and meet new people. Allen had died from a sickness only cities could cure. Something called cancer. Trisha and Dami had watched him die with their own eyes.
Morgan and Ed didn’t talk a lot, they were busy with themselves, but we learned that they escaped when they were only 10, not only that... But Taylor was the one that had gotten them out of Colombia. They had thought of Taylor as on older sister, and when Adrien died she escaped with them.
That night was the last night I was alive.

“We Found it!” Trisha was perched on a rock, hands together. She leaned onto Dami who was both shocked and relieved at the same time. He hugged her tightly as Trisha’s eyes never left the city. It was bigger and brighter than she would have imagined. There were multicolored lights everywhere, they were only visible because it was night time in the dome, unlike how outside the dome it was still a little light outside.
“I think we need to set up camp for the night a little bit back into the forest.” Taylor spoke up, finally everyone looking away from the lights.
“Here should be fine right? I mean, we have a wonderful view of the hospital from here, right?” Ed seemed too tired to walk more than five feet into the forest.
“It should be fine...” Dami yawned and stretched, two or three following his contagious act. Trisha giggled and patted his back, throwing her bag on her shoulder to the ground. “It’s so warm in here, I don’t think we need our tents.”
Everyone agreed, setting their bags down and snuggling into the bushes comfortably.
“We have... To get up early... or we might get caught... by the bots.” Trisha added sleepily.
No one answered her.

Our last day sure did start out wonderful.
My eyes were only just opening after I was already standing in a defensive position. Dami had yanked me up after we were both woken up by Zaidee screeching at the top of her lungs. The bots had her backed against a tree, I soon saw, as well as Taylor who was actually kicking the bots. Ed was protecting Morgan. Dami and I were hidden in the bushes, apparently we had rolled into them far enough so that the officers couldn’t see us..
Why were we not the ones out there? Why were we the ones not in danger?
This was when I began to feel helpless.
Taylor was now done fighting, sitting on the ground, panting. Sweat was wetting her face, as well as tears. Ed had been shoved down, his arm making an audible snap, making Morgan fall to her knees. His elbow on the left arm bent backwards in a way that said it was more than broken. Zaidee was Crying now, as she fell to her knees, praying or something.
This was when Dami and I saw something dreadful.
Dami’s hand flew to cover both my and his mouth when I felt something you could call a blood curdling scream crawl its way to the top of my throat.
Morgan fell to the ground on top of Ed who was now somehow clenching his broken arm’s fist and grabbing her tightly. Ed was leaning over her, tears streaming down his distraught face.
The hooded figured had found us. One of them had just injected Morgan with the poison that would soon make her into an immortal slave. The hooded figures got to work.
This work sure was torture, both me and Dami crying in waves and sobs silently. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be! We were supposed to save the world from these stupid people!
“Just remember, it’s futile. We’ll never make it.” stupid Taylor! She was making me feel guilty! This was not my fault... Yet...
Ed fell, then Zaidee.
It was my fault. I had dragged those four along. I never should have taken them with us. It was stupid! If I hadn’t taken them... would they have still been alive? If we would have moved farther off the streets and further into the forest would we have been awake making some breakfast, celebrating out arrival?
Were our efforts really all that useless?
I ripped Dami’s hand off of my mouth and leaned over to puke. This was sick. Nothing was as wrong as these two men. Whoever they were, they sure had some kind of nerve, putting these people to work for nothing but their pure enjoyment.
It seemed Taylor had given up now. She held out her hands for the hooded figured to take. She looked to the ground, then her eyes closed right after filling with shock. Her lifeless body fell to the ground.
I cried into the ground. This was a horrible horrible thing. Dami patted my back silently when they were taken away from us, along with the bags we had brought. “Damien, I never want to loose you. I never want to loose anyone ever again. I never want to feel this helpless, this useless. This is a horrible feeling that no one should ever have to endure.” I whispered to him.
His only response was a nod, and another fit of intertwining sobs from this hopeless little couple.

“Ready?” Dami glanced at myself nervously. I turned away from Dami shyly, confirming his statement. I grabbed the one sock I had left, (the other one was in my shoes, which were taken.) and prepared myself, swallowing in more of a gulp-like fashion than intended.
I felt Dami eye me concerned, and I shook it off. My neck decided to burn a little anyway.
I cringed a little when I heard blood drop onto the sidewalk I turned slowly, seeing as the deed had been done, a multi-colored mess stained the sidewalk. The hospital’s lights were right above us, so now his blood looked more pink and purple than red. I handed him the sock, to cover his wound. He placed the bloody piece of metal onto the ground right where the blood was to add to the effect. I grabbed his wrist that was not injured with self-inflicted pain, and dragged him to the hospital’s entrance. The lights inside were ten times brighter than the starry night sky outside.
Dami had cut himself with metal, only enough that he would bleed a little, so that we could gain entrance into the hospital’s elevator. We were greeted by a bot at the front desk, who had us fill out forms stating our birth date and home town. They lead us to the elevator, where we grinned.
Until we saw the second bot inside the elevator, taking us to the floor for ‘children’s care’. Dami pressed his sock down harder, as blood was now visible through the sock.
Our eyes fell, we would have to find another way to the top floor, considering there was a bot in here.. unless.
“Dami,” I whispered. “Do you think you can climb a ladder? A tall one?” He nodded, seeing what I meant. I kicked the bot onto it’s back and pressed the emergency stop button, at the bottom of over 150 floor numbers, on the elevator. Everything powered down, lights out. I felt for dami, who helped me up onto his shoulders to reach the top of the elevator in order to get the emergency hatch undone.
I hopped up onto it and jumped onto the roof of the small black box. It was odd to see how little pulled the elevator up and down. To see how little cable would keep us from zipping down, down, down, to our death.
“Here,” I held out my hand for Dami, who yanked up so he could grab the edge of the small exit hatch. Then we dealt with climbing.
We went up and up and up and up, not looking down too often. It didn’t bother me that we were this high, because the racing carts always went this high... Until I realized that there were no restraints keeping me from falling.
About 20 painful painful minutes of climbing we met a roof. there were many doors on the way up, but this was the last one. Dami reached out and grabbed it’s knob, twisting it only a little, Light shone through a crack, and footsteps were heard. two identical voices.
They passed without noticing the door shut a little quickly.
“Gotta go check on the emergency stopped elevator.” one said walking by.
“Be quick, I think I left the communicator in the office.”
It was the twins. They were on the top floor!
Then a third voice. A familiar one. “Do you need me to go back and get it, sirs?”
“...” one almost said something.
“No, but could you go...” the other one paused. “Watch the room for us?”
Then their voices faded out, the familiar sounding female walking in the other direction. This was our chance. Neither of us noticed the obvious knowledge in the two male voices.
This time I grabbed the handle, but I opened it all the way, I pulled myself over to the ladder right below the emergency door and climbed up to stick my head out and look around. The twins had rounded a corner, and the other person was walking down the long hall to her left, short, static red hair behind her.
I jumped out into the hallway silently, motioning for Dami to get a move on. “You won’t believe this...” My eyes still hadn’t left the girl’s hair. He followed soon after, his wound done bleeding, but his arm covered in dried blood.
“Mill!” He whispered.
“And Mill here, is walking over to their room with the radio!” I pulled on his hand a little, both of us stalking her silently. When she turned into a room we sped up in hopes another person wouldn’t find us in the hallway.
The key word in that last sentance being person. So Taylor’s theories were correct, there were people being put to work as slaves after they ‘died’.
They turned into the room and looked at the slave who’s back was turned from them, looking at one of the two bland and white desks. She looked like she was alive... Just like us. But she couldn’t be. She didn’t have a chip like they did that told them what to do, and how to speak, not anymore. Someone who was dead just couldn’t have a personal thinking ability.
Dami was on her, grabbing her hands and pulling them behind her. He then covered her mouth and pulled her to the closest chair in which he sat her in it and held her there.
I grinned at him, walking over to them, my smile only growing wider when I saw the radio. It looked like a telephone but more of a box shape and with nothing but a small antennae and a button. Dami looked around until he found duct tape. I passed it to him, and he began wrapping the girl up so she could do nothing but watch us save the world.
I held onto the radio as it was a life line, like when I dropped it, I would loose all existence. In most cases, this would not hold much truth.
Dami walked over to me and grabbed my hand that wasn’t giving this radio the death grip.
We decided to ignore the muffled screams of Mill, who could do nothing but watch.
We, as if on cue, took a deep breath and sighed at the same time. We did it.
I pressed the button, and the words flowed.
“Atlanta, Tallahassee, Columbia, , and .” I took a deep breath. “Please listen to us. This is two misfits from Atlanta, telling you something we think everyone deserves to know. For the last who knows how long, the twins, our overlords, they have been abusing us. There is NO such think as the ‘sickness’ There are people out there killing us. They are under the direct order of both overlords. They have turned us into slaves who kill us, work the parks, and take care of the ‘sick’ patients in the hospital out here in Tallahassee. We live in domes, where the sun always shines, but that’s not the case-” Dami took over.
“Outside these domes are snow, rain, animals, and many more things. Outside of your cities you can live to 100 years old. All the myths you’ve heard, they are all true. Sadly, no one has been able to tell you this. Trisha and I advise that you leave as soon as possible. In fact, outside these domes are small cities of people who already know.... They are welcoming, and will always be your home.”
I was going to continue, but my breath hitched when I saw something. Mill was grinning an evil grin. I could see it through the duct tape it was so big and evil.
Although there was not only that, there was a lack of air flow, from right behind us. Dami squeezed my hand. “So please. Run, to a place only you know about, find a place to live outside of these people’s order. Go see what you can in your many years to come.” I almost whispered. I let go of the button.
There was now a steady breathing behind them. “You know, Trisha. closing the door would have been a good start.” One voice said.
Then I let go of hope.
“You’ve caused some trouble for us, now haven’t you?” Another identical voice chuckled with a deep evil sense.
Finally, with a sharp pain to my heart, the hand that was gripping Dami’s, the other hand gripping the useless radio, and the back of my neck, I let go of not only my hope, but the radio.
And when the radio fell to the floor with nothing more than a quiet knock on the tile, my soul left and my eyes closed.

“You know Mill, You could have tried just a little bit harder to stop them, explaining this to our followers will be quite a hassle.” Garret chuckled.
Then he ripped off the tape on her mouth while Hayden dragged the two collapsed bodies out of their office. “Mill, please meet your replacements.” Hayden nodded to the two lifeless bodies.
Garret laughed a little bit harder this time, when he pricked Mill’s shoulder with a pin, letting her blood flow endlessly.

© 2011 Baku~B.B.

Author's Note

Okay this is the short, not very well put together, version of my school paper... If you leave a comment can it be about my plot development/story line? Basically help with plot holes would be perfect. Yes I do realize it goes a little fast, but this is the shorter version... No flames, please.:3