I added in this prologue-ish thing instead of going right to the party because I wanted to start the story with Alan being disoriented and the reader also being disoriented. This was actually something I wanted to do originally, but never did for some reason.
Everything is in slow motion
The burning pain has swallowed me whole. I close my eyes tighter and brace myself. A new sharpness radiates through my stomach, up my throat and erupts as a bloody mess of mucus and guts on the concrete. The powerful force behind the hit is almost inhuman. I have no idea what I am being attacked with, probably a crowbars or iodized pipe. Everything in my head is screaming at me to stop being a victim and protect myself, but I'm too weak, too disoriented, too hurt…too damn scared.
I can feel the bruises that are blossoming on my skin, I want to put a face to his cruelty, but my vision is screwed. Even if I could look him in the face I wouldn’t know what I was seeing.
Of course I am assuming he is even a he. The drugs they gave me keep me pretty fuzzy and I couldn't make out a face or even a clear enough body shape. The exhausted heavy breathes sound male to me, but did have a feminine quality
I think about home. Thinking that if I keep imagining it, I'll eventually get back there.
The blows cease, the pain continues and I can hear him breathing. He is probably staring at me, waiting for me to break, waiting for me to scream, waiting for me to admit something I have no knowledge off.
Or maybe he wants to see what other vulnerable body part he can damage next.
In the distance I hear sharp footsteps. Within seconds the door quickly opens and closes and I hear the receding steps of my attacker.
I'm alone again.
I'm scared.
I feel around until I find the cracked gray plastic bucket in the corner and finish spitting up whatever is lingering in my mouth. Then I pull myself over until I feel the single dull black threadbare blanket in the opposite corner and close my eyes. I can shut out the blurriness of my surroundings, I can relax into my pain until it's just numb, I can pretend I'm somewhere else. The inside of my eyelids is at first a black, then a dull red and finally a peaceful gray.
I don't know who they are or what they want but I get the distinct feeling they are going to kill me.
I'm not worth it. I don't deserve it.
The evil side of me, the side that just wants to survives play on repeat an evil thought.
She's worth it. She deserves it.
-2-
I changed from a funeral to New Year's because I liked the use of the holiday in Mimic, but also the funeral didn't ever really pay off in the original. Also, I did the whole "starting with a death" thing a few to many times.
This wasn’t how my New Year was supposed to begin.
What felt like just hours ago I was in my bedroom at my parents’ house, carefully avoiding my Dad's gaze as he knotted my silk black tie. Dad was never affectionate with me and having him so close was weird. I mean, Dad wasn't a flaky parent or anything, he was always there when Mom and I needed him. He just never went beyond what was acceptable as a father.
“Dad, I’m 19 I can tie my own tie.” I said for the third time as he withdrew his hands from my neck, the pristine Windsor knot finished.
“I know.” Dad said, slightly guiding me towards the floor length mirror on the back of my bedroom door. “But, it has to be right for tonight. You don’t want to look foolish.”
What he meant is he didn't want to look foolish.
Staring at our reflections, there was no doubt I was my father’s son—we
looked so much alike. Same dark blonde hair, same deep blue eyes and deep set
jaw. It didn't help that we were dressed in identical black tuxedos,
complete with vest and all.
The only differences were the 3 inches he had on me, the crows feet around his eyes and the fact that he could actually grow facial hair. Something that seemed to be overlooked in my genetic makeup.
“Hey
Dad, how about after the party we go stand in line at the Apple Store ?,”
I half-joke as we head to the staircase. Our shoes clicked in a matching rhythm against the marble. Oh, if you have a moment, this part (it's in the original) is from the "conformity scene" in Dead Poet's Society. And actually, now that I actually watch that scene I realize Robin Williams sums up one of the themes I was going for with the serial. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnAyr0kWRGE
The new Apple Syndicates were coming out at midnight. At $900 each they were even steep for Dad. Still all the tech-baiters had been standing in line since Christmas night.
“Maybe,” he said with a devilish smile, “If I’m not completely hungover.”
I forced an awkward laugh.
While my mom still treated me like a child, I was developing this weird relationship with my Dad where he talked to me like I was one of his friends.
“It would be so crazy,” I said, breaking the rhythm and jogging down the stairs in front of him.
Mom was in the kitchen fully dressed and staring off into her Syndacite. Her dress was sparkly pink, like someone had dumped hot pink glitter on her head; at her knees the glitter tapered out until it was just sheer fabric. Her thick hair was curled around her shoulders and a few strands ended at her chest. She looked pretty, but the top of the her dress was dangerously low.
Luckily, none of my friends would see her tonight. They always got so weird around Mom.
Above the sparkly diamond earrings Dad bought her last night sat her thin, pink Sony 0 syndicate. It was no bigger than her pinky finger and when she turned, it was all but obscured by the earring.
Syndicates were small, but crazy powerful pieces of technology—however as usual, my mother was using it for something stupid. She had projected the party invitation in front of us and was staring at it like it was mass partical science
“ Do you think I should do my hair up in a chingon ? It’s more a more elegant affair this year, right ? I mean it says elegant on the invite.” she asked, her voice worried.
“No, dear. You look fine.” Dad reassured her, slipping his hand around her waist and kissing the inside of her neck. She laughed and leaned into him.
Believe me when I say I can’t wait to get out of my parent’s house and back to school.
I've also given Alan more commentary this time around. Hopefully it shows.
“Come on we’re late,” Dad said grasping Mom’s hand as we headed into the chilly night.
Dad’s new sleek red, Lincoln U20I was waiting for us. The clear glass hydraulic suicide doors swung open as we approached.
Mom and I got into the backseat while Dad got into the front. He pulled up the GPS system—a hologram floating above his face. After he taped in the coordinates of the hotel, the car beeped and then started driving on it’s own internal computer into the garage elevator.
When we sped out of the elevator into the dark street, Dad swiped through a few of the car's holographic screens impatiently.
"How the hell do I tint the doors ?," he grumbled to himself, before making an audible sigh. "Ah, nevermind, I got it."
With a soft pur the clear back doors began to tint a solid black.
His new car was pretty sick. The body was covered in flexible liquid LED screens and changed color at the flick of a button. It was pretty random when Dad drove up to the front of the building last week honking the horn. Mom seemed a little pissed, but I was happy because it meant I would get Dad’s old new car—which was barely 6 months old.
Oh, this is kind of truth in fiction with the Mercedes Invisible car,but this one would be more sophisticated...see here
Mom placed her hand on her Syndicate and I could tell she was watching her favorite soap opera,Lile Reference ! Passion Cove. Mom’s eyes were still, with tiny white pin points in her irises that projected the show to her eyes. Her volume was up so high I could hear the sound of the annoying teen actress, crying over some guy coming out of Mom’s ears.
“Hey, Mom that show has a Simstim cast,” I told her
“Hmm ?” she questioned, pushing her finger on an invisible button in front of her eyes --pausing the show.
“That show has a Simstim,” I repeated as she reached her hand over and started to fix a piece of my hair. Her nails matched her dress right down to the sparkles.
”You can only use SimStims on the Apple Syndicates,” I explained. “Dad said he may buy them. Wouldn’t that be amazing ?”
“I don’t know. I don't even know what it is, baby,"
“It’s cool,” I tried to tell her. “It’s like you are an actual character in the show. Like you are standing right in the room. It’s cutting edge.”
“Yeah, cutting edge entertainment shit,” Dad added dryly. He was never big into entertainment or anyone using high tech just for fun. He thought advancements should only be used to create medicine or something else good for society.
Well, except if it helped his car obsession.
“It’s still cool,” I told him.
“Well, if we got this Apple thing for you would it make you stay at home the rest of break ?,” Mom bargained tapping her garish nails against the window.
“Nope,” I smiled, but she kept her red lips in a straight line and her eyes narrowed slightly.
“Sorry,” I added weakly, but she already had her Syndicate back on.
I had spent two weeks of my winter break from the Metro
College of Art and Design at home bored out of my mind. When my new roommate,
Marco invited me to spend the last week of break at his parent’s
vacation house with some other guys I would have left that second, but I had to
go to this party. Mom was upset because she didn’t really know Marco or
any of my school accquantices and well, everyone was on high alert with the
recent attacks and everything. I learned to foreshadow ! I mention the events of the attacks in Chap 2.
It wasn’t a big deal though. I mean terrorist want to blow up borders, not some middle class family vacation homes.
I turned my basic Sony S7 Syndicate back on and turned up my music. The Sony S7 doesn’t do much, but it is the first Syndicate to offer an NBA pro package. I looked out my window as we drove past the rest of the metallic high rises that made up our neighborhood. I imagined the apartments were mostly empty.
Our neighborhood was made up almost entirely of employees of Tempus Corporation—the company dad worked for. Everyone from the senior executives to the lunch cooks lived in those few blocks of the South District. Obviously, some had single family apartment while a few, like my family,had penthouse suites.
Empty spaces in between the buildings had continually running hologram ads and screens giving text news updates.
“The 4th Infantry Guards will be awarded The Bronze Heart for bravery upon return to Atlanta.”
“Terror
level is no longer an Orange. It has gone up two places to Green.” <--- This line is from En Moritas, and kind of sparked this whole reboot.
Good. Maybe Mom will stop freaking out.
“Happy New Year, South District !”
Almost.
“State Guards on the Border send love and New Year’s thoughts to S. Townsend, Helen Dawnson, Maggie F and Bradshaw M.”
Taking my eyes away from the screen I can see a bunch of kids my age heading off to arcades,parties or bars. I'm a little envious, but, I had promised Dad I would attend the Tempus Corp New Year’s Party before I left with Marco. I'd been joking with Dad he would be be lucky if I stayed around until midnight. Hanging out with his boring co-workers wasn't exactly how I wanted my New Year's to go.
-3-
The car finally pulled up to a glittering, gray high-rise and even though all of the skyscrapers around it were gray this building seemed to be a shade brighter I used to have "darker" here than the rest. Sparkling strobe lights were bouncing off the exterior and I could hear the live jazz music coming from inside.
At
the entrance two security guards--probably
State Guards off duty---were scanning people for weapons. Security
was intense nowadays, some people were even taken aside and patted down.
Dad
gripped my arm as I was scanned and I resisted the urge to pull away
from him.
Maybe it was from being in college, but my parents were so god damn
protective. The guard scanning me had the standard close cropped
military look. He was wearing shades, but I guess he was new because he
seemed barely interested in his job. <--oh, hmm this is Sara. I didn't mean to put the pronoun in there. But also, she has a shaved head.
Inside,
the large ballroom was covered with large gold
balloons floating from floor to ceiling. Glittering ice sculptures and
solid gold art pieces surrounded the dance floor. The holoscreens on
the wall showed a large countdown and with each number change virtual
3D glitter sprung from the letters
and fell on to the crowd. Dancing on the floor were electric holograms
of Tempus' motto;
Scienta Veritas. Truth in
Science <--There is still some latin !
All the employees were decked out in their fanciest clothes—men in sharp tuxedos like Dad and I and the women in shiny, sparkly gowns with large jewels. The adults milled around talking; most of them were older and worked with Dad. Dad placed his arm around mom’s waist and the other on my shoulder as we were instantly greeted by his subordinates.
Mrs. Lewis, the new assistant office manager of Tempus Corp greeted us first. She clacked over to us in a pair of strappy silver heels.
For some reason this character had a gender change. In the original it was Mr. Lewis
“Look who is here ! Such, a beautiful family !, Mr.--,"
"Please. Just call me Henry. okay ?," Dad reminded her with a humble nod, slight wink and a jovial hand shake.
Oh, right I wanted to show Alan's dad flirting with her.
I'd seen him give that "Just call me Henry" line and hand shake/nod/wink combination with every new Tempus employee. For some reason that move made everyone want to be his best friend. Of course, what most of them don't realize is becoming best friends with my father was never going to happen. Dad loved socializing and being the center of attention, but he never really let anyone into our lives.
I guess that's where I got it from.
“Really, Cielle you look beautiful as always and look at your son, I hear you are at Metro, that's my husband's alama mater. How is it ?” Mrs.Lewis continued in my direction.
“Good.” I lied automatically.
College was boring, I didn't have any real friends yet, I didn't know what I was going to major in, I was hiding the fact I'd failed two classes from my Dad and of course I've had to spend the last two weeks with my music constantly blaring in my ears because I was living with my parents who were clearly forget I am in the apartment.
I put on my smile and nodded along while Mom descended into polite conversation with Mrs.Lewis about earrings.
Dad started at Tempus as an intern when he was close to my age and still in college. In 25 years he had gone from Coffee Intern to Lead Engineer, to Director to Chief Engineering Officer at Tempus. The Founder and President of Tempus—Mr. Kyto, practically had Dad in his back pocket. He constantly received pay raises and swung privileges for Mom and I.
The privilege seeking thing was probably another reason everyone cozied up to Dad.
I’m not sure exactly what Tempus does, but I do know Mr. Kyto invented a chemical that is essential to creating BioFarms--the large holding plants for genetically harvested organs. The organs are used for people who are in accidents and need exact matches. Mr. Kyto was a pretty powerful guy in the science and humanitarian community.
Either way Tempus is a big , multi-billion dollar company and the New Year’s Eve party is a show for that. I had never been before, but now that I was 19, Dad insisted I come and make an appearance.
I did a quick scan of the room and saw Mr. Kyto’s daughter, Allison at a table by herself carefully stacking cheese cubes on a small plate. I was about to whisper to Dad I was going to talk to her, but he got to me first.
“Go
talk to Mr.Kyto’s
daughter. Be a gentleman,” he
said to me sternly, then gave me the half smile/wink/nod combination. (This may come back)
I quickly walked over to Allison for no other reason, but to get away from my parents. Allison was two years younger than me, but we had always been friendly because of these Tempus Corp. events our parents dragged us to.
No other employees really brought their kids around much once they got around Allison and I’s age. We were pretty much the youngest ones here---Aside from a few babies in the arms of women on the dance floor, the interns busy kissing ass and another younger teenager sulking in the corner trying to sneak a beer. My Dad brought me around to show me off ( I assume) and Allison’s did it to keep an eye on her.
Or maybe both our parents had more nefarious purposes.
Allison isn’t a bad looking girl. She has this naturally tan skin, a full face and dark eyes. Tonight her dark hair is pulled into a straight ponytail, she is wearing a gray puffy gown trailing down to her feet and a sparkly thick shawl over her shoulders that ties in front of her chest. I’m sure it’s supposed to cover her breasts but, it makes me stare to see exactly what she is covering up.
“You look pretty,” I said to her, even though I think her dress is ugly. The muted gray makes her looks look depressed. It made her look so gloomy. I started to give her a half hug, but I stopped myself.
“Thanks,” she smiled, putting her hands in her lap. “You clean up nice too,”
I shrugged. For $2,000 this tuxedo was uncomfortable as hell.
“Your mom is so gorgeous. She looks dazzling tonight. . .,” Allison sighed
“She is--sparkly,” I said awkwardly sitting in the seat across from Allison.
Allison has a proximity chip. It stops boys from getting to close to her. If they do, she gets really bad nerve pain. Dad told me about it and he said Mr. Kyto does it for her protection. Mr. Kyto thinks she is a smart girl who doesn’t need distractions. Particularly male distractions. It was kind of weird and I had a lot of questions, but wouldn’t dare bring the chip up to Allison.
We sat in silence watching the adults get more sloshed by the minute. People were beginning to dance.
“Oh,hey can I see it ?,” she asked, “The tattoo.”
“Oh, um yeah,” I said and rolled my sleeve to show her the tattoo on my wrist. It was a simple and elegant pattern of lines going across my wrist.
Encoded in the tattoo was all my System ID Number information—it held stuff like my Social Security info, checking account info, allowed me to get past the house’s security system, started my car, even contained all my medical information. All anyone had to do was scan my wrist.
Everyone has a System ID and most people kept their codes on
accessories like rings or in my parents case-- and others in their
generation---on cards. But, most of us kept our identity where it should be ;
apart of us. I actually hate this line and find it cheesy, but I kept it in for nostalgia.
Getting the code tattooed had been one the first things I did while I was I in college. In one sense it made things easier but, the real reason I got it was because I thought it looked cool. I have to admit though, at times it seemed like to much—to showy.
“Did it hurt ?” Allison asked
“Of course not.” I told her,” It was done with lasers I barely felt a thing, just some tingling. ”
Allison and I talked about the usual crap; school, friends, new tech and we were constantly interrupted by people coming over—mostly other Tempus employees---asking how Allison was doing or commenting how fun the party was. Like they couldn’t see we were bored out of our minds. Or like they thought they had done us a favor by talking to us.
“Hey." Allison said suddenly. Her voice sounded different, cautious almost. ”Can you buy me a drink ? Just one, I’m so bored.”
I was startled as she sputtered out the last words nervously. Allison Kyto has a reputation. The kind of reputation you want your daughter to have.
“Yeah, I don’t-- I mean . . .I can’t--,”
“Please,” she begged. ”If Dad finds out, I’ll tell him I bribed you. I won’t let them blame you. I have to be here for four more hours. Please ?”
I wanted to say no, but reluctantly nodded my head. I guess it was better me than some creep who would take advantage of her. And I was sure Tempus has hired it’s fair share of creeps.
Plus, it wasn’t fair she had to be the only sober one.
“Okay,” I said. “Meet me outside by the pool. I’ll bring it outside so no one sees.”
She popped up a little too quickly and then calming down, walked to the back door, slipping out as inconspicuously as her ugly gray dress would let her.
After a few moments I went to the open bar and ordered a beer and some kind of pomegranate infused vodka cocktail or something for her. The bar was automatic so, after it scanned my ID, the sleek machine produced two chilled beverages. My beer was in a simple sleek glass, but her cocktail looked like a piece of artwork. It was all swirls and embellishments.
I carried the drinks outside into the pool area. It was an outdoor pool and tealights were floating in the water. The garden surrounding the area was all flowering trees and rose bushes. It was nice, but Allison was no where to be seen.
Setting the twirly bright pink drink on a stone bench, I paced around to the god awful jazz music flooding out of the ballroom.
“Allison ?,” I called uncertain. She had just stepped out here only seconds ago. “Allison ?”
I heard a rustling in the trees and tapped my Syndicate to call for help when Allison popped out of the darkness with a smile on her face.
“Shit!,” I said before I could think, “You scared me. Why were you hiding like that ?”
“ I’m sorry. I thought someone might see me. Sorry.” she smiled nervously taking the drink and inspecting it. She was clearly pleased.
“You shouldn’t go into the woods by yourself, you know.” I told her.
“I know, it was stupid” she said.
I shrugged it off, regretting having sounded like someone's parent.
She raised her glass for a toast and I did the same. We paused a moment, our glasses inches from one another.
“To . . . ?” Allison asked.
“To a Happy New Year and open bars ?,” I suggested
“To good friends.” She added
“You mean friends who will break the law for you ?,” I smiled
“That too.” she giggled.
^^^
Hmm, foreshadowing ? Possibly ! You all know I'm a pantser.
We toasted and she took a tiny sip.
“Thanks, I owe you.”
“Yeah.” I said.
We sat in silence and in a few minutes I had downed the beer and she has sipped away most of her drink.
“I don’t even feel buzzed,” she said. “I don’t get the big deal.”
I shrugged. I guess she was going to need a few more.
-4-
As I brought out our third drinks--- a side car for me and gin and tonic for her--- Allison turned on her Apple Alpha Syndicate (See Allison has the Apple Alpha, which is the predecessor to the Apple Beta that Alan wants.) and the external speaker flooded the courtyard with her music selection. It was one of those classical vintage sappy love song set to a stereotypical soft beat, but I still liked it. With her new drink in hand, she stood up and swayed to the music. She never invited me, but I stood up to join her.
I took a few steps closer to her until she winced and held up her hand. I took a few steps back and began to sway with her. It was weird because we were two feet apart, but it was still nice.
“I hate that we will be the only ones without someone to kiss a midnight,” she mumbled and then pressed her lips together, “I mean, I will be. I don’t know if you have a--,”
She was actually blushing.
“No, I don’t have anyone," I quickly added," Never even thought about it,"
“I mean, it’s not important to me. Having a New Year's kiss or even a, you know... boyfriend. I mean my Mom would freak if she heard but, I don’t care about that stuff. I mean not right now, I guess--,” she began
“Me either.” I interrupted, but I don't think I meant it. I don't think she did either. “I mean, I know where you are coming from.”
We danced to the next two songs on her playlist when I heard the back door open. Allison quickly downed her drink and tossed the glass in the bushes. The drink had been extra dry and she almost immediately had to spit it in the pool. I smirked and she let out a hurried laugh as the young Guard with the shaved head came out.
Busted.
The Guard pulled out a gun and pointed at Allison
“Whoa—hey, I’m sorry,” Allison started, “Is it that big of a deal--,”
“Follow me. Now.” the guard ordered holding up Allison’s ID card. The guard was a woman.
“Hey, c’mon.” I said.
The guard seemed to be noticing me for the first time. She stared at me for a second and then from behind her shots erupted and came towards me.
I quickly got down and moved away from Allison, hoping they would focus on me and let Allison go, but the red head caught my back under her foot and kept her eyes on Allison standing to my left, her weapon aimed. I lifted myself up abruptly, forcing he woman off my back, she slipped and fell back smacking her head on the concrete.
A dark figure emerged from behind her, firing more bullets in my direction but missing. The woman wasn’t working alone. I turned my back and ran towards Allison. I knew it was stupid to turn my back on someone with a gun, but I had to make sure Allison was okay. I charged towards Allison and she let out a blood-curdling scream as I made contact, her proximity chip shocking her for being so close to me. I felt her body tingling as her nerve endings sent pain signals to her brain.
With all my energy I pushed Allison into the dark pool—away from the bullets-- as I saw the familiar faces of Mr. Kyto’s personal bodyguards coming towards us. The woman was on her feet as she casually walked over to me and placed a hand to the back of my neck. I felt a pinch and it all went black
----
-5-
Oh, in case you didn't notice, Alan is recalling all of this from his position in the first paragraph which is why it is in past tense. I know, I care way too much about tenses.
It all happened so fast. I remember having some sensation of being dragged across the pavement and thrown into the trunk of a car. It felt like a blurry dream instead of something that actually happened. I didn’t know if anyone from the party had seen me get hauled off. The backyard was dark and unlit.
They had gagged me, making it impossible to swallow and I was sure I was going to suffocate before somebody found me. The car went over rolling hills and I was jerked from side to side of the small space. These people were crazy, they were probably terrorists, drug dealers or headhunters—people who stole technology for illegal stuff.
I couldn’t
stop thinking about Mom and Dad and my friends—the people I loved.
I had to get out of here. I needed to know if Allison was alive, I had
just pushed her into the pool, I had no idea if she could swim or not.
See this is the fun part of the early pieces of this reboot. I can lift whole paragraphs from the original.
I needed a signal from outside so I could jack back into my Syndicate. I started kicking out the rear back light until it gave way and dangled inches from the road. Natural light flooded in and my Syndicate came to life. The signal was low and I didn’t want to talk so, I immediately patched into the police and typed ‘help’ into the connection, hoping someone would pick it up. Hoping they weren’t busy with after New Year’s craziness.
When I was confident it had gone through I scooted to the edge to see if I could get a stronger signal and contact my parents. I had half of Dad’s number in when I was suddenly thrown to the back by the car coming to a sudden halt. I heard footsteps and the car trunk opened.
From my position all I saw was a female torso wearing a black tank top.
“What the hell ?” said a woman—I guessed it was the same shaved redhead from the party, her voice filled with a certain distain.
She bent her knees and peered down at me in the trunk. I could see her clearly now.
She was older, her dark bleak eyes were staring hard into mine and she mouthed ‘shit’. She held a gun in her hand and another smaller one holstered to her side. Her eyes made a trail from me to the headlight on the road. She picked it up and my brain became frantic with my next escape move.
Like a divine intervention I could hear the sound of police sirens. She quickly shut the trunk on me placing the LED light back into it’s socket. It was crooked and I could still see the outside through a crack.
The police car stopped and I heard two sets of footsteps get out.
“Is everything okay here ma’am ? Are you hurt ?” an officer asked
“We just had a flat tire,” she lied,” It’s fine though, I fixed it,”
“You make a call via a Syndicate ?” the officer asked
“Why,no.” she said in a convincingly innocent voice.
“Can we look around ?” the officer asked
“I’m sorry but, no,” she answered,” You have no right, I’m not--,”
I immediately screamed to get their attention, hoping my choking and gagging could be heard by them. Police were supposed to have sensitive senses for things like that. It hurt like hell but, I kept screaming until my gag reflexes kicked in and I started losing oxygen.
“Can we check the trunk ?,” the officer asked.
Footsteps came towards the car and I heard the sounds of gunshots. A stream of blood shot through the crack in the trunk and onto my face. The woman ran back to the passenger seat and the car sped off.
Oh, god. Had she killed them ?
The car continued for more hours as I tried to make sense of what happened. No normal person would shoot a police officer, there is almost a 100% chance they will find you. They can track anyone based on their Syndicates.
When the car finally pulled over, the woman opened the trunk and removed the gag, tears were streaming down my face as I inhaled all the fresh air I could. She watched me pathetically for a few seconds and then held her hand over my nose cutting off air until I was forced to open my mouth. She stuck her weapon in it. The barrel was still warm around my lips.
“Shut up,” she ordered, “And stand up,”
I got out of the trunk, my limbs were sore and clumsy as she lead me into a deserted alley way. I had no idea where I was—some abandoned part of the city-- but, I was sure I could get back home from there.
I tried to make some kind of begging noise so she would have some kind of mercy on me.
“Don’t think I won’t kill you. You’re just my constellation prize,” she said as we walked on the broken pavement towards a dark cracked alley. The only light coming from a flickering holo-screen that was tuned out of the Networks. She pulled the smaller gun out of the holster on her hip and pushed it to the side of my face.
“Knees,” she ordered.
My legs trembled as I kneeled in front of her, I wiped the tear from my face but she seemed not to care. If this was how she was going to kill me I doubted anyone would recognize my face when it was over. The bullet would tear it to pieces. It would be nothing but exposed flesh and skull fragments. I suppose if anyone found me they would have to use the internal brain implant in my head to ID me.
I closed my eyes to my fate as the gun went off and a sudden heat burned past my ear.
I looked to see my Sony7 syndicate fall to the ground. It was immediately followed by a rippling sensation that went through my body, like I had been electrocuted.
“Fucking piece of shit,” she snarled at me,”Stand up,”
She walked me to the front of the car and let me sit in the back seat. I could see the back of a man’s head in the driver’s seat. I felt like I had horse-blinders on because my peripheral vision was non existent. Still, I sensed someone was sitting next to me. She placed a needle into my skin and my tired body came to life and back down again and I was left in a paralytic state. I couldn’t move any of my limbs or make a sound but everything else around me had never felt so real. She placed a pair of shades over my eyes as we sped through a tunnel and entered a brighter area.
As the car continued to drive I began to see the sounds around me and hear the gray and black of my clothing. I saw something in front of me like the Syndicate was still on--things I could not make sense of. Images glittered in and out of my vision like the sparkles on Mom’s dress.
I was high.
She probably gave me chrome--the drug that seemed to cause the collapse of a country.
I was in-between hallucination when, I saw it the lights up ahead.
We were at the border.
She was taking me out of the country
To the LOLA.
***
I have no memories of actually crossing the border. All of my recent memories have been of this cell.
A room
A cracked plastic trash can in the corner
Okay, this is going to be random and kind of gross, but I'll be diplomatic. I recently read about this article about swearing in books and the author writes about how his editors decided to make the girls in his book more "aspirational" (which I read as desirable) they took out any references to bodily functions. Which I get, but it was also unrealistic and I kind of did that in Veritas too because Alan is kidnapped and held hostage for a few days. Anyway, to rememdy that I added the trash can.
4 stone walls and a door.
Maybe a door.
At first, everything was a blur and before I make make sense of it, it transmuted in my vision and everything became a brilliant white. Pure white. So white I could hear it. So clean and perfect I felt euphoric. An uncontrollable smile twitched at my lips.
Then I passed out.
I was scared, but that fear was better than the fear I have now. When I first woke up, I thought I might have a chance, but now I’m not so sure.
I remember having this sense someone was in the room with me. Before I could say a word a sole landed in my face. It kicked me hard in the head and in the stomach, seemingly taking pleasure in causing me pain.
I didn’t know if this was supposed to be torture. They never asked me questions, if they did I would give them all the answers.
I just want to go home.
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A/N
Well, if you are reading this, I finally found the courage to post it, so go Shawna
I hope you caught all the homages to the original peice (i.e I used a Beatles song again )
Catch the Lile reference ? Huh ?