Blackout (2050)

Chapter 2: Terrifying Truth

     Neither Gordon or Bob dared to read out the contents of the file. Gordon was able to read almost twice as fast as Bob, who was dyslexic and found the words almost impossible to read if he read too fast. What was in the file was one paragraph but it annoyingly had no spaces between each line so it felt too compacted for Bob and occasionally, he had to use a ruler just to figure out what line he was on. The two couldn't speak for two reasons: the first was that if they spoke, someone else could hear them and the second was because of the file's contents, which left them both speechless. Hypnotized by the computer screen, Gordon and Bob stared in disbelief in what they had just seen.

The Reason We Rebelled
     We've had some history with Echo Heightman. We were living in Peppermount when he came to our house and attacked us. I used the ray gun that I had invented to blast off one of his legs and one of his arms. Dina and I fled, hoping to stay away long enough for him to give up looking for us. We had about a month because Dina was pregnant. When we arrived in Paradine, my eyes set on a town called Blind Town. It was like a siren alluring me. Dina told me not to go but I believed that we could discover the secrets of Blind Town. Both Dina and I made friends and formed The Electro Society which then expanded to the whole town. My theory was that Mayor Gerald and the government was causing the power cuts to occur. It was then proven that this statement was true. One of our scouts observed the grid and saw that the grid was always guarded by five soldiers from the army all armed with lethal assault rifles used to kill anyone that got in their way. I've done some research and discovered that the past twenty mayors have done this. The thing I don't get is why the government continues to do this if there's no-one preventing them from not doing so. Whoever is reading this, find the USB somewhere in the world. If my son, relatives or closest friends are reading this, you want to find Fibio Saker in Peppermount.

     Bob now knew exactly what happened to his parents and why they died. Gordon's dad only told him that parents died by Echo but he had never known that they were the reason that he was a cybercop or that they had a ray gun or that they had formed the Electro Society. Both him and Gordon were flabbergasted and dumbstruck. Their eyes stared in disbelief. Their brains switched off, overwhelmed by fascination. "Woah," was all Bob could he in response to what he had just seen.
     "Do ya think we can find the USB?" Gordon asked Bob, who was still reading.
     It took Bob a few seconds before he answered Gordon. "Yes. But we have ta ask ya dad."
     "POPS!" Gordon shouted to his dad downstairs.
     "Yeah what?" replied Simon. "I'm busy reading the Blind Times!"
    "Do you think we can go on holiday to Peppermint?" Gordon asked, making sure to project his voice so that his dad could hear.
     "Do you know how much it costs to get there?" Simon responded, walking up the stairs.
     Bob quickly slammed his laptop shut, so hard it might as well have cracked the laptop's screen. Swiftly, Bob took his laptop and threw it carefully under the bed. "Around one hundred and eighty-one pounds multiplied by three which would equal five hundred and forty-three pounds for all of us," Gordon answered.
     "But it's for a good cause. There's a man called Fibio Saker who lives in Peppermount, who might know about the orange of these blackouts," Bob pleaded sincerely.
     Gordon corrected Bob, "Fibio Saker might know about the origin of these blackouts. We could stop these riots!"
     "But these blackouts are happening because of the mayor. Not because of this one gah!" Simon protested. "Listen. I'll lend you one hundred pounds but you two have to earn the remaining four hundred and forty-three pounds."
     "But that's not fair!" Gordon moaned. "Four hundred forty-three pounds?"
     "Someday you'll have to do this! Better start early!" Simon argued, walking out of the room.
     Gordon moaned testily while Bob sighed in annoyance. For the next hour or so, they both sat in the bedroom thinking about ways to earn four hundred and forty-three pounds. If they both chipped in their pocket money, it would bring their total amount of pocket money up to one hundred and eighty-one pounds, which was exactly a third of what they needed, still leaving three hundred and sixty-two pounds left. They had only one option left and this was the first option that they had thought of. "We have ta, Bob," Gordon told him.
     "I know. The thing is we could either lose all of our money or gain double what we have. That's why it's called Double or Nothin'," Bob replied, regretting their decision.
     Bob and Gordon knew that there were flaws. "If we are gonna be gambling, we need to be older. We can't just waltz in there and expect to get a warm welcome," Bob pointed out.
     "Bob. We don't need to be older. We just need to have the money. A toddler could walk in there with money and still be able to gamble. We just need to win," Gordon told him, with an unusual look of seriousness on his face.
     "You know how it is. Twenty rounds. We have to win at least ten for a guaranteed win. It's risky but we have no choice," Bob said. "We just enter Cassie's Casino, play Double or Nothin', then we skedaddle. You hear me?"
     Gordon nodded as a response then the two didn't even need to speak to fall asleep. It was surprisingly easy for them to sleep, which was ironic seeing as the riot against the mayor was still going on.
     As Gordon dreamt, he imagined waking up to see Echo standing at his bedroom door with a gun in his hand. Echo would have a sinister look in his bloodshot eyes, still stinging from the pepper spray and Gordon would wait with anxiety to see what Echo would do. Echo would pull the trigger but the bullet wouldn't hit Gordon. It would've hit Bob. Gordon would have immediately rushed to his friend's side and keened in pain and sadness for his friend's death then Echo would've shot him next.