|| An Expendables Survival ||

THE CONTRACT

They told me I did it..

There was no way I could have done it. After-all, I had been at home that day. But the law did not care. I was convicted on the spot, and with no funds for a lawyer... My life had been ruined in the blink of an eye.

I now had to live the rest of my years in a maximum security prison because of a crime that I had not even known of. It truly was pathetic of me, as if God had discarded me like a toy who was not appealing any more.

So I waited around in my jail cell. Hoping that in the coming days, my conviction would be overruled and I would be a free man. But that never came. A week in, I still had much hope. The inmates who were around me, though tough on the exterior were not evil.

They weren't monsters, not all of them. But those that I spoke to were genuinely just broken people, that were desperate to flee from their lives of suffering and went to the extreme. A month in, I had gotten used to the daily life of living as a prisoner.

Hope had already begun to run dry like though a drought had occurred. There was no way they couldn't have not already found me innocent. Soon, it wrung like a wet cloth, and that 'hope' amalgamated into despair..

An extra two months had passed by inside the prison with no news. Yet on my ninety third day, the speaker came on. Though for different intentions to that of which it usually came on for.. The voice that rung out, was not one that you had heard.

"For today, we have come with an offer that if taken, will grant you a cleared record, and a set amount of money that will help you go back to your daily lives from wherever you came from.

We do not care if you are a falsely convicted prisoner or an insane lunatic. We only need you to scavenge some precious resources from some of our facilities that have fallen into disrepair. This job may be risky, but there is just an equally as good reward for you.

If you wish to sign up, we at Urbanshade would be grateful for your services. Once the contract given is signed, we will bring you to the designated location. If you try to flee, you will be taken out promptly. Thank you."

Hearing this, I was ecstatic.. But also sceptical. How would bringing precious resources back to the surfaces be risky? Though, most of the fellow inmates that I had hung around with had already signed contracts. Only those who wished to repent or were conflicted tried to understand what had been given.

But the desperation to be a free man was too strong. Who wouldn't have been entranced by such a deal when they were already rotting in a cell for the rest of their life, where their future had been ruined?

Leaving my cell, the hallways that had always been dull, now seemed like a path that shone lightly, yet those sparkles emitted a sense of freedom. As though to reel me in towards the contract, like a fish bait.

Yet the allure of freedom dwindled my negativity, because this was the only choice I had if I wanted to live a free man for another day on this world. Now standing in the queue that stretched vast, with dozens of inmates queuing up to sign this contract, we all awaited our turns.

One, by one.. the line grew shorter, and soon it would be my turn. I saw as some turned away, but most looked reluctant... even ecstatic for another chance at life. Days of misfortune, suffer.. they all hoped for the day they'd feel the shackles of jail released.

Now.. they had the one chance they could to become the average citizen. Yet whilst my thoughts drifted into the mindscape, it was now my turn.

Aovzl mvvsz dov avvr aol jvuayhja, hstvza hss dvbsk kpl vul dhf vy huvaoly.

Stepping into the room, Two burly men stood besides an oak office table. Armed with matte black guns. Their faces unnerved as they stared deeply into my soul. On the oak office table, laid several 'Classified' documents, written in a cardinal red. As I sat down, I saw who sat opposite of me. A young man, no older than thirty, similar in body build yet with glasses and a navy blue outfit was sat down.