Generation Infinosil

Chapter Forty Eight

Chapter Forty Eight

2041

The fresh victims filtered through the gates. They were unaware that these gates led to inevitable oppression, that these gates were the boundary between freedom and borderline torture. Yet Paul and Jamie were seeking to be amongst this group of victims, seeking to wander back into the very village that resembled hell. Why? All because it was part of Paul's plan- Paul's plan for their safe escape.

Paul and Jamie crept through the forest, hiding amongst the dry foliage and watching the crowd of people with both sympathy and fear.

"Follow me Jamie, just follow me and we'll be fine." Paul said. He stepped out from underneath the trees when the rejuvenation guards were all facing away from them. They walked into the crowd, not so fast that they attracted attention but fast enough to reach their destination before any of the guards spotted them. They were heading towards the village when a booming voice through a megaphone shouted, "HAAALT!" Everyone paused simultaneously.

"There has been a change of plan." The voice continued, it seemed to echo despite the fact that there were no surroundings for it to bounce off of. There was something unnerving about the surreal echoing.

"This village is full. There is no room for you here." The voice stated bluntly.

The crowd erupted into chaos and panic. What was going to happen to everyone now?

"You will all be relocated to a newly built village. It's no different to the original one and you will receive the same treatment and welcome there."

"Pfft. Welcome? Yeah right." Paul muttered angrily.

"This is a good thing Paul, don't you see? They won't look for us there, they won't expect us to be in the new village." Jamie whispered.

"You're right," Paul whispered back, "this is good."

The walk to the new village was long and arduous, fearful mumbles were passed around like a parcel in a children's party game. It was ironic, considering how far away from a party this venture really was. The voices of the strangers were packed with regret, terror was painted thickly on their faces, their vision clouded and blurred by the silent tears rolling down their cheeks. No one dared cry out loud, not a single sob was heard, not even from the infants.

'Why did we sign up for this?' They all wondered, "why weren't we grateful for the life we had?" Like many of the other villagers, this group were invited to the supposedly 'prosperous and modern' village, targeted because of their humble, impoverished backgrounds. You could argue that yes, the village was prosperous. But it wasn't wealthy in terms of money, it was wealthy in terms of evil. Indeed, there was certainly plenty of that.

After what seemed an endless journey, a new set of gates came into view- more fierce looking than the others. These were taller, stronger, spikier and far more menacing. Intimidated by the appearance of the gates, many people turned to flee, realising that this was all a big mistake, that they should have never trusted these strange, dark men. But they were met with alarming resistance from the armed guards, who seemed to double in number every time Paul and Jamie raised their heads. One man tried to fight the guard who retained him, but to little avail. The crowd gasped in shock as the guard smashed his gun into the brave soul's head with so much force that he fell unconscious. Paul started doubting that his plan would be as easy as he thought. These men were trained, and far more efficient and cold than the old guards.

The crowd were forced through the gates. Many continued to try their luck with running away but, from what Paul and Jamie could see, no one succeeded. With every step into the village, it became more evident that the methods of the other village were not apparent here. There was no attempt at a façade of happy village life, instead the village seemed to mimic a prison block. There were rows upon rows of plain, stone buildings. These were supposed to be homes but there were bars on the windows and chains on the doors. Everything metal was rusty, despite the fact that these buildings were supposedly new. There was a veil of ominous fog in the air, as if the weather was trying to warn them about the danger of the unknown.

But the new villagers were all too aware that they could only expect bad things from this village, and perhaps most frightening of all was the look of sadistic glee plastered on the faces of the guards.

The group was split into smaller groups, and each was led to a different section of the village. With every house that was passed, three people were grabbed by the shoulder and shoved through the door. Even if people arrived in a group of four, one of them would have to be separated from the rest. The door was locked from the outside as soon as they were inside. Paul and Jamie prayed that they would be put together, if they were going to survive in this awful place then they needed each other.

When it was their turn to be escorted to a house, they sighed with relief that they were put together. However, they watched in sympathy when they saw that the woman being escorted into the same house as them, appeared to be separated from her friends and loved ones. The clothes that she was wearing were dull and frayed, but Paul couldn't help but notice that despite her attire, her beauty shone as if it were a golden halo around her precious head. Paul found himself smiling, despite the current situation, and when she smiled back shyly he felt as though he could conquer anything. She gave him a surge of strength and willpower that he was unaware he could feel in such a grief-stricken setting.

Before the three of them were locked in, the guard demanded that they give him their names so that he could write them down for the village records. The woman said that her name was Jane and, realising that it was not safe to use their real names, Paul improvised and claimed, "my name is Robert... and this is my son... Shane."