𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧

Chapter 8: Alan

I definitely underestimated the full extent of the Virus. When I heard about the leak, it was serious, but not overly serious. I thought that we could continue with our lives while it ravaged the posh streets of the Upper Quarter. They would deal with it and it would be a long forgotten story. I never thought that it would get any worse.

I was just lying in my makeshift bed in the morning, as usual. I was an early riser - unlike Violet. She was sleeping next to me, still dreaming about who knew what. Probably conquering the world with her powers or something. 

Suddenly, a loud alarm blared through the streets of the West Quarter. It was so loud - loud enough to wake everyone that wasn't already awake. Violet was jolted out of bed, tired from her recent exercise. When I grabbed Violet's hand and threw open our door, I saw our neighbours streaming out of their hideouts. The sound had come from the direction of our street market. There were markets on nearly every street in the West Quarter. This one wasn't the one that I last met Freddy at, but it was a smaller street market that was even closer to our home.

Violet and I had just followed the crowd, not knowing what was happening but not wanting to miss out. It was rather chaotic, with people rushing into the crowd from all sides. I didn't think I'd seen so many people since the beginning of the War. Then again, I was so young back then. I hadn't seen much from the War since the Upper Quarter had taken over. They had better Soldiers, so we now had a higher chance to win the War against the Countries.

The Government ruled over everything. No one spoke of the Countries anymore. My father had told me that it was an unspoken thing, and no one ever talked about it anymore. He said that it was a far away place, beyond our Quarters. Back when I was in school, I'd learnt about it in History. My Educator told me that our Quarters used to communicate with the Countries, but after a disagreement, they started a War. Not just a War, but a really big War. The deadliest one yet. It sounded quite immature to me, but my Educator scolded me for saying so. It was disrespectful to call our Government immature. I earned a spanking for that and I never mentioned it in my class, again.

But that thought returned to me when Violet and I headed towards the tiny market square. What if someone was in danger and had called people with an alarm? The idea seemed plausible. But after considering it, I realised that the person would have to be rich to be able to afford an alarm.

That made me push through the crowd harder, dragging Violet with me. I wanted to find out who it was. I reached the front of the crowd and started to run towards the market. Violet questioned me, projecting her voice into my mind. I ignored her, channelling all of my power into running towards the alarm. When I reached the market, I stopped. No one was there. I didn't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed. It was fake. A false alarm.

Most of the crowd had already reached the market, and they were turning around in disappointment, wishing that they could have slept for longer.

I started to turn around too, but I was interrupted. A sharp screech cut through the market square. A voice filled the square. "Attention, attention, citizens of the West Quarter. This is a representative of the Government, a certified Official of the Upper Quarter. " The voice paused to get everyone's attention.

I looked around. Everyone had stopped and they were listening out for the voice. Everyone seemed confused as to where the voice came from. I knew that I was confused. But I realised how they were communicating to us when Violet nudged me. Look, she said into my mind. See those black things in that tree? I bet they're speakers.

The voice continued after a moment. "We are using newly installed portable speakers to communicate with you." I saw Violet nodding - she was right about the speakers.