Chapter Three
I was running. I couldn't stop running. I heard some shouting behind me, "He's the one! That's him!"
I sped up. My legs were going numb. The sun beat down in my eyes and I thought of home.
The flash of a camera. The laughter of my family. We all were just enjoying each other's presence. That's when he showed up. Marcus. He told everyone but Jacob and I to leave the room.
He then told us about his "tutoring program" where we would learn to shoot strait, use a knife properly, and lead an army like no one else in the country. We were hesitant. At just 8 and 11 years old we thought we knew our parents needed to know about this. Of course, Marcus knew we thought he was creepy and ominous, but he was no creep of an old man. He was about 22 at the time.
We finally agreed to go and our parents came back in the room. "Are you sure?" I can still hear my mom questioning, choking up.
I had never seen her cry. My dad just stared. He knew the government could take us whether they agreed or not. Marcus compared us to Jeremy, our older brother, who was assigned to a similar program but by choice. "This time, though, you will be in training for longer." He said ominously. I was scared out of my mind.
Jacob just looked at me. "What do you think, Jayson?" he asked, smiling.
"I don't know..." I trailed off.
"Jayson." My dad said, "Be brave, son. We'll come visit you soon. I can see you now, bud, flying a jet, smiling your big smile. Waving to citizens, praising you for defeating the most recent threat."
I was smiling. I loved when my dad told me things like that. But I could sense an uncertain cry in his eyes. Marcus got their signatures and stood up. "Well," he said, "let's go."
"Now?" I said, holding back tears, "I don't wanna leave yet, though!"
My mom held me close to her one last time. She was bawling now, and it was contagious. All four of us were crying our last cry together. Then we left.
The shouting got louder. I stopped on a dime and ran into an alley to my right. A chain-link fence covered my only way out of the death trap. I started to climb it. It had to be triple my height. The shouting passed behind me and kept going to my left. "Where did he go?" I heard one shout.
I took a deep breath and continued climbing. The shouts came back in my direction. "There he is!" I heard a deep voice yell.
A bullet wizzed by my head before I was completely over the fence. I dropped over and fell on my face. I was almost out cold when I heard another round go off. I stood quick and ran down the alley. A wide open garage was ten feet ahead of me. I sprinted faster than I ever have before. Another shot came from behind me. All my training was coming back to me.
"Faster, Jayson, faster!" I heard Marcus screaming.
I hated that guy. The first few days were easy. He said those would be the hardest. He lied. I ran at top speed but my stubby little 10 year-old legs couldn't carry me any faster without giving out in seconds. "A pack of wild dogs- No! A group of thugs is chasing you! Run, kid, run!" He didn't understand what was wrong.
"Kid!" He said, "Come here a minute!"
I stopped running, to my legs relief, and went to get a drink of water from Marcus' "bottle" he filled for me daily. I say "bottle" because it was really a two gallon jug of electrolyte powder mixed with reverse osmosis water from the tap. I had to admit, the gear required to make reverse osmosis water wasn't that impressive. Just a small setup of steel and plastic tubing. Anyways, I had to drink the whole thing twice a day.
"Here, Little J." He handed me the jug.
I imagined the refueling that water gave me now. It gave me enough strength to power to the switch in the garage. I flipped it and dove for cover. One last shot burst out loudly while I was in the air. I rolled over onto my back and sat up. I prepared to stand up, but as I did, a sharp pain in my leg made me wince and fall back over. I craved that water now. I wanted to drink until it was gone. Then I would call Marcus to fill it up again. But there was no time to think about that now. I grasped my left leg and held tight. A bullet had grazed it.
I struggled to stand but heard banging on the garage door so I gave up. I started to fade in and out of consciousness. I began to crawl towards the back of the garage. A white door sat there and I thought of what it held behind it. I thought of mountains of food and water and guns. The world began to fade. "No.." I heard a quiet voice say. Was that me? "No... Not now..."
The world went dark.
