You woke up, welcomed by a man pointing a gun on your face with anger and curiosity obvious on his face, his lips parted as he speaks "I'll shoot in you three if you don't tell me who the fuck you are"
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"... hence, let us welcome this century with buoyancy and alacrity for this will serve as the commencement for new discoveries to invention to greater the life of every being in this planet. In celebration of this brand new year, may I present to you our newest creation, the Engine 2200-UFE89! That's all, and once again, Happy New Year my beloved citizens. Let the celebration begins!"
The crowd roared hysterically when about 23 flying engines emerged from the roof of the statehouse. Each aircraft released garish smokes of different colors into the air, scintillating the dull and lifeless sky. The hologram projector paused for a few seconds to the image of the woman before it is replaced by a posting in which it read,
"23 Engine 2200-UFE89 will be rewarded to the 23 winners of this year's annual game. Good Luck"
"Another ploy" I heard the huge guy beside me mutter under his breath. He is about 7 feet tall, towering over my height and everyone else in the crowd. I look up at him and recognize the same face that I saw earlier in the ice cream shop. His face seems to have a permanent scowl on his rock hard looking face that very much reminds me of an elephant's skin. I unconsciously scratch my face, feeling my interest leap out of me.
"You joining this shit? " He looked down at me. I glance at his golden eyes for a few moments before continuing to observe his unusual skin. He doesn't seem perturb about my interest in his skin though, he's probably inure to all of the attention it gets. But I couldn't help it, It's one of a kind, I wonder what they did to this one...
"Oh...you're one of them" he stated flatly, lips pursing in realization. My eyes shifted from his neck to his chapped lips and then up to his eyes, I shook my head.
"No. And no. How do you say so?" I asked. The ice cream vendor started walking away from the crowd while I followed behind. Getting out of the cramped assembly with Mr.Ice cream vendor seems easier when the people voluntarily step aside to let the lanky scary looking man saunter.
" You look normal and you have that look of fascination" his voice is low and croaky yet loud, the type of voice that makes the room vibrate even with the slightest attempt.
My mouth formed an "o" shaped as I nodded. Who would be fascinated by his skin but those people who made him look like that?
"Oh I'm not. It just happened to strike an interest in me" I wave a dismissive hand. I noticed his thick brows furrowed even more at my statement. Our pace slowed down as we reached the end of the mass and back to the sidewalk where stores are lined up on one side. Most are pawnshops containing old and vintage items from the 21st century, some are tech shops that sell and fix gadgets, and others are just small food stalls and thrift stores.
"Don't really care anyway" he gruffly said, sighs and glances down at me with a blank look before looking straight back to the street again.
It only took 5 minutes to walk from the busy pedestrian area to the sidewalk. When we both reached the corner of the street , I came to a halt. An alley by my left leads to the place where I stay. From where I'm standing right now, it looks like one of the alleys a person would never walk alone at night, the one you only dare to glance at while passing by.
"See you around man" I said, placing two pats at his forearm before walking away. I Didn't miss the low growl as his feet started stomping his way across the street, which I assume, back to his ice cream shop.
I shrug and ponder about what occurred moments ago. My mind drifted back to the ice cream vendor's statement before. He wasn't mistaken, the tournament is a ploy. The government officials are assholes. They failed to control the population and pollution, they care too much about their image to explicitly execute people, and their only way to minimize it is through the annual games.
Now as what I said, they didn't explicitly mention anything that includes being brutally killed, however the tournament does not contain any rules at all. So obviously , amidst the competition everybody would commit anything to top the game, and what would be the first thing you'll do to defeat an opponent? Eliminate them as soon as possible. All of that for a flying aircraft, but possessing one counterparts invincibility... privilege... power.
Thousands of people join the tournament each year. If you are one of the few smartasses, well one that is me... duh, then you wouldn't wanna get associated with any tournament contestants, don't even talk with one for the sake of your already horrible life. But other people are born for violence just as much as people like me are born for knowledge. Survive the tournament, and your name will be forever embedded on the walk of fame. No double entendre by the way, they really do have their version of walk of fames for the winners.
Tournaments last for a whole month. By the end of it, if you are one of the winners, you'll get your said reward, which for this year, is the newest aircraft. Some confirmed that you'll also get the opportunity to work for the government for a few months to a full year. Now working for the government is another story I yet to experience to tell, but rumors says is is once in a life time experience, everybody dreams of it.
I smile as I finally reach my front door. It is a boring brown old door that goes unnoticed by anyone, the knob is so rusty that no one would even dare to touch it with bare hands... except for me because I obviously need to twists it to get inside.
I step inside and scan the small room. A sofa is placed by the left wall, a dining table and two old chairs are placed at the corner by the right wall, and a few papers are scattered on top of it together with the three paper cups that have dry coffee stains on its corners, the coffee that I drank earlier this morning and has been the only thing in my stomach the entire day. I'm barely hungry though, I'm too tired and stressed to even think about food right now. I've been hiding from those people, and searching for someone at the same time for a whole month now. At first, there was this sense of excitement and anticipation in having to connect William's traces on where he was last seen while outsmarting these bunch of stupid scientists, but these days they are moving smarter and quicker, and my tactics are getting old and futile to them.
I sigh as I drop myself on the chair and pick up a piece of paper I had been staring at for 30 fucking days now. It was the letter that William left me.
"Search for what cannot be seen"
This one sentence with 6 words, and 25 letters has been driving me insane. Never have I ever felt this stupid my entire life.
"This is unbelievable" I whined out of frustration and slammed the paper back to the table. Punishing the paper with my frustration won't lead him back, whining won't give me answer.
I sigh for the umpteenth time this day and close my eyes. Maybe if I take a break and sleep for a few hours I'll be waken up with a new wave of courage and maybe... finally, an answer.
