An Inch Of Infinity (Short Version)

CHAPTER 4~The Alley Jackpot

On my way, I hear a commotion in a back alley way. I ducked behind a corner of a brick apartment complex, nearly dropping one of the apples. A squad of Keepers were arresting three adults, two male and a female. BANG! Correction, the Keepers are arresting two people, one male, one female. Neither even seemed startled that their friend just got shot. In fact, they hardly seemed to notice as he slumped to the ground with a hole in his head. The shooter then pointed his weapon at the other man and prodded them forwards.

"You lied all this time!" the women screamed at the Keepers. She was put into silence cuffs. They hit your nerves just right, sending a signal to your brain and it will silence every sound you try to make. Not even clapping your hands would make a sound because it makes your brain stop right before it happens. I should know, I make them all the time ,and I know that there is a pressure point where the links and the swivel connect that will unlock them. I just might make a good rebel myself I think. Speaking of which;

"Shut your mouth, Rebel. You had this coming for a long time." snarled the head Keeper through his voice changer. His distinctive mask looked like a fencing mask with a red streak across the top left corner to the bottom right. Red like blood, over his eye.They left with the rebels, both of them cuffed. They still were trying to make noise because they were thrashing about and the Keepers were slower than their normal marching speed. I guess they didn't understand that they really stop all noise. Or maybe there are really people who don't give up hope. Just look where that got them.

After they were gone I snuck into the alley. I stole the dead man's shoes and jacket. There was rubble everywhere. The Keepers must have bombed the shack they were living in. That's another reason we have so many beat up buildings. I pulled a small cooking pot from a pile of rocks. Its handle was gone, but it still must've been worth something.

Then I grabbed a cloth sack I found flattened against the brick wall of a nearby building, pressed there by the wind. I stuff the bread and apples into the sack. I find lots of firewood, and a compass. This place is a true goldmine. A ring I found might be worth twenty loaves of bread if I can find someone without the money to find a brand new one. That oughta be easy enough. Nobody has good money, and I can drive a hard bargain.

I found a big chest with a hole blown out of the side of it. Inside I found a large bundle of carrots, a loaf of bread that seemed to have taken some of the explosion based on its black exterior, and a burlap sack filled with oats. Farther in the remains of the shack, I found the gaping hole that once must have been a window. The glass was blown out and one of the two stained and ugly grey curtains was on fire. I pulled down the good curtain and wrapped it around all I found. I then stuffed the rather heavy bundle into the cloth sack. WHAT A HAUL! I think to myself. I've never had this much, even when I snuck into a market stall and stole all the money and food I could find. I feel a warm glow in me as I think about it.

I looked around, but couldn't find anything else. I turned to leave, but a sheet of yellow, almost white paper caught my eye. I grabbed it. It was thick like poster board but easily flexed, like a map. I turned it over, it was a map. One of the corners was on fire, so I had to snuff it out.

I squinted in the flickering,low lighting, but just as I was about to read it, the curfew bell rang out across the block. I scrambled up and I ran down the alley. I grab an empty cardboard box as I leave the alley and I race down the street. I take a sharp right around a corner and freeze for a second. I can hear no Keepers. I take off again, repeating the process four times. On the fifth time, I do hear Keepers. Quickly, I throw the box over myself and scoot against a wall. After ten or fifteen agonizing minutes, the Keepers march fades away to nothing. This happens twice. I run again and again, until I arrive heaving harsh breaths at my container.