The Dreamer Trilogy: Book One

Chapter 24

As soon as the doors of the elevator close, and the man in red is no longer visible, everyone begins whispering and moving. Chris3 walks quickly over to me, and takes my arm to lead me to the elevator, then pressing the “Up” button. “We need to get to our apartments, now.” He says, looking and sounding more serious than usual. “I get that there has just been a murder in the Main Living Space, but why do we need to take cover?” I respond, honestly not concerned about my own life. “Do you not see how this could affect us? The man in the red vest obviously is someone important, right? If he can kill anyone in the facility at any time, he also has the power to just destroy all of us.” Chris3 says as the elevator doors slide open. “Why would he wipe out a couple thousand people for the fun of it? In fact, why are we even here if they don’t need us for something” I say to him as we proceed into the elevator. “I don’t know, all I’m saying is it’s a very real possibility” He replies back, clicking the “2” on the elevator panel. “But the chances are infinitesimal” I argue, trying to stall until we get back to our rooms, to avoid talking about Callista2 more. “Let’s just get back to our rooms” He says, looking genuinely frightened that if he stays out here longer, he’ll get shot. “Okay...” I trail off, starting to think about Callista2 again, had she seen what happened on television? The doors slide open, and we step outside. I look down at the Main Living Space, which is now practically empty, except for the corpses and a few others who haven’t decided to leave yet, probably still stunned from the execution. Chris3 and I round a few corners and burst into my apartment door. I look around, as does Chris3, and notice Callista2 is not in the living room, but her bedroom door is closed. I swiftly walk over to it, and knock four times. No response. I put my ear against the wall and hear the shower running in the bathroom. “She’s here, but in the shower” I say to Chris3. “Well let’s wait out here, maybe we can find the man in red on the television.” He says, walking over and flopping down on the sofa. “Good idea” I reply back, also walking over and sitting down next to him. He has the remote, so he scrolls through the channels to look for anything red, but with no success, at least, not yet. I hear him groan and sit back, now just cycling through the previous channels. “We can try again tomorrow if you want” I say to him, attempting to cheer him up. “Yeah, I guess” He responds, with a sigh. We sit in silence, watching people on the screen for around ten minutes before Callista2 finally emerges from her room. Both Chris3 and I look back at her, and say “Hi”. “Hey, what’s up?” She responds happily with a big smile, still brushing her wet hair. “Did you see what happened in the Main Living Space today?” Chris3 asks her. “No, why?” She asks, tilting her head to one side, showing the blue streak. “Well, we were in the Main Living Space, and saw this dead body robot thing, and went over to check it out. Almost on cue, a man in a red vest came into sight, and executed a student, right there in the middle of the room.” Chris3 said, looking at the screen. “Wait really? I thought I heard a gunshot from the shower but I wasn’t sure” Callista2 says, coming and sitting down on the couch armrest. “Well, now you can be. We tried tracking down the man in red but we couldn’t find him anywhere.” I tell her, looking up at her. She looks back down at me, then to Chris3, and says “So what happened after that?”. “Well, the man in red took off with his group of Overseers into the elevator, never to be seen again” Chris3 answers. “Well, maybe we should write a letter to The Guild asking what it was about.” She suggests. “They would never respond, especially not on something like this” Chris3 says, shaking his head at the floor. “Actually, Callista2 has a really good relationship with The Guild, right?” I ask her. She nods and smiles. “Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s write that letter” He says, leaning forward and grabbing a pen and paper off the coffee table.