Outskirts

THE BEGINNING

She batted her eyes slowly at what was in the box.

"Rah-Rachelle?"

Mrs. Fay stood, slightly curious. She approached Rachel's back quietly and reached a hand up.

"Rachelle..."

Rachel's eyes quickly darted to meet Mrs. Fay's. Rachel was already gone. Her feet sprinted as if she was flying. She has never ran this fast before. Her heart felt as if it would beat so hard it would fly out of her chest. Her face was blood red.
She slammed the apartment door as hard as she could and ran to the basement. The stairs almost tore apart because she was racing down them so fast.

And then she slips.

She lands on her bum, but is quick to get up. She had to hurry. Her bus left in an hour.
She placed the box in a safe in a closet under her apartment. First, she opened it.
Inside was a metal sphere with six numbers on it. [48:36:03]. It was packaged carefully, with the letters ERF engraved on it. Her fingers were led to the back of the sphere, opening the back of it. A note was left next to complex wiring.

MICRO FUSION BOMB EDITION 204.3
RADIUS OF IMPACT is ALL OF EUROPE
SEEK SAFETY UNDER PARIS

She slammed the safe and locked it and ran upstairs. Worry left her head. This was for the better, right? Everyone in the ERF got a bomb. If everyone cooperates, the mission will be successful.
Her toned legs ran up the wooden stairs as she grabbed a backpack with personal belongings. It had buttons and keychains covering it to the point where you couldn't tell it was a backpack anymore. Her hands left the doorknob for the very last time.
A bus arrived at the stop across her apartment. She hurriedly got on and paid her toll, and sat.

"Rachel! Always in a hurry."

Her old culinary school teacher sat right next to her.

"Oh, come on. Nothing?"

Rachel glanced at him and looked at his weary eyes underneath a thick pair of glasses.

"Professor. It is of my upmost responsibility to tell you goodbye."

Her hands folded around his back as she released a teardrop onto his fine, jet black suit. He was left in awe, speechless.
Rachel was quick to pull the rope to stop the bus, as she strung her backpack over her right shoulder. She got up, and was ready to leave.

"Rachel, what are you-"
"I am sorry."

She darted off the bus and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Her breaths became deeper each second.

The Eiffel Tower was a ghost. Everyone passed it aimlessly. She looked at her watch hurriedly. Rachel sped up again to the first elevator. A security guard stopped her.

"Rachel. You are late."
"I-I know sir."

He opened the elevator with a key and they walked in. The doors shut with much force. He promptly opened a red box on the side of the elevator and put another key in. He selected -21.

They went down fast. She held on to the railing as they waited impatiently.
A series of slick, white doors greeted them. Each door was two feet deep, and weighed a literal ton. They stepped inside the first door and the guard clicked a button and the door closed. Her fingers ran across the sleek white walls.
They continued this process four times more, until they came to another elevator. This elevator had doors similar to the others, two feet deep. They stepped in and raced down another fifteen floors.

Finally, one more door was left and promptly sealed.

They entered a futuristic like cafeteria that held mothers and children and fathers and adults. She sat down at a table and waited and watched the countdown clock. There was still an hour left.

"REGISTRATION IS OPEN! PLEASE SIGN IN!"

A perky voice called out to everyone in the cafeteria. She sat in a small desk area, almost like a concierge desk at a hotel. Rachel walked over to the desk and came to the lady in the uniform at the table.

"Hello! Here for registration?"
"Yes."
"May I have your name, birth date, and ERF code?"
"Rachel Elisabeth Charron. Born on May Seventh, 2314. My code is 543-"
"Mhm hmmm..."
"764-"
"Mhm hmmm..."
"5618392"
"Okay! Found you. Here are your issued clothes, shoes, bracelets, earrings, cigarettes- well, only if you smoke, your laptop, books, and daily life things. You will be staying for... A sh-short amount of time!"

She handed Rachel a large suitcase and gave her a band to wear around her wrist.
"Hall one is where the rooms are. You are room 123. Hall two is shopping- you earn credits by working everyday. Hall three is food, hall four has lounges and bars and things like that. Hall four is work, Five is the hospital wing, and Six is the emergency shelter. You are in the Café, or the meeting place. Be safe and remember, ERF!"

She quickly settled into her room and changed into blue jeans and a hoodie that had ERF in generic lettering. Her body sat and rested, her sneakers sitting on the chair beside her. She heard an announcement on the intercom. "ALL REPORT TO CAFÉ"
She followed what it said and skidded to a halt by a chair with three empty seats beside it. She sat and watched the tele, with panicked news reporters all over it.

"A mysterious Union called ERF has threatened to bomb Europe, claiming to make the world better. The director of the organization was the one who created the bombing, the followers simply take cover. We understand Europe and its economy is falling apart, but to take lives? This is NBC news, broadcasting from Paris. Back to the studio. What will this call for..."

Small cheers were released. She didn't know how to feel. It would seem that killing these people would be harmful and pointless... But we are in your future. Children born in the year 2100 all were given a pill. A pill that would reduce stress and induce calmness. They were brainwashed into thinking the world was perfect.
There was a negative side to this. Three generations down, this pill has a side effect. It makes everyone terribly insane. There were families who evaded this because they knew the world would be in endless chaos if this happened. They formed a secret Union called the ERF. The Evasion of RF, with RF standing for the name of the DNA pill. Everyone in this group evades the pills and hides under the radar. No one knows about what will happen. When the bombs explode, that is when the side effects would have come into play.

"Hi."

A young boy sat beside Rachel, with bright green eyes and light blonde hair, raised into a quiff.

"Hello."

Rachel's face turned to the tele, her emotions impenetrable.

"What is your name?"
"Rachel Elisabeth."
"Heh, that's a beautiful name."

Suddenly this wall securing her emotions broke, his eyes penetrating her emotions.

"Thank you."