Supernova

I've always hated the government

Date: June, 18, 2067

Time: 5:22 pm

Subject: I’ve always hated the government

----Jedidiah----

I pulled myself together and sat up. I was alone now; not in a Cube full of dog crates. I was in my own bunker. There were no doors or windows. There was a vacuum tube, a legit four inch thick bed, a toilet, and a shower. I noticed a camera in the corner on the ceiling and flipped it off. It felt like prison, but worse. Where was Elijah? We were so close to getting out. Where were the rest? I noticed the concrete wall begin to shift and a man in a grey commander uniform entered the room. He was your typical stereotyped commander. He was square-jawed, buff, stiff, and not a single smile line on his face. I debated on making a run for it and then realized all the square jawed guards with large guns outside the room and changed my mind.

I stared at the man waiting for him to speak. “Tried to leave eh?” He asked. This was a rhetorical question. I stared at him waiting for him to kill me or whatever. “Well, let me tell you son, this place is not a place to cross with. We have more men with guns than you’ve seen in movies. Here, you may get some needles poked in ya’ but you’re alive aren’t you? What does it matter if you are used as a weapon or not? Wouldn’t that make you feel cool? You just have to ride it out with dedication or you’re dead. You think you would really have a chance of surviving out there? You’re a kid. Once the food expires, you are dead. Once the water bottles are gone, you are dead. This is really the only safe place left, besides other countries, but we are disconnected from them now for decades. Hope is a figment of your childish imagination. You’re girlfriend is dead too. Thought you should know. She messed with the program to much. You’re friends who escaped were quite foolish too. They had tracking chips registered in them. They will be back soon. Really this isn’t so bad, you got a room, entertainment in the sectors, no zombies, the worst thing is possibly you dying, getting experimented on certain days of the week while you are put to sleep so it doesn’t even hurt. You may die in that process but oh well, you’re better of dying now before the world gets worse. Right?” He told me smiling a sinister smile and patting my shoulder. I lit it on fire and he winced. He pulled out a pistol and before I could react, shot my foot. I yelled and jumped back hitting the concrete wall behind me. He bent down and stuck his fingers in the wound removing the bullet. I howled in pain and grasped the thin mattress. He put a piece of cloth around it and a disinfectant drop. He smiled at me. “Don’t cross me.” He said patting my shoulder again. This time I didn’t light it aflame. I watched him walk out of the camouflaged door and it closed behind it.

Elijah was dead. I couldn’t believe it, but I did. He shot my foot just for lighting my shoulder on fire. No telling what he did for all the havoc she caused. I felt hot tears stream down my eyes. I sat up; my veins running with adrenaline. I punched the camera lens and it shattered all over the floor. I heard the door opening again. They were coming back to shoot me again probably. “Well, well, well, already causing mischief I see.” The commander’s voice said pointing a gun at my back. I turned around placing my stomach to the gun. I would do what Elijah would want me to do, even though I wanted to die, I knew she’d be angry at that decision. I slowly put my hand on the gun and chucked it across the room lightning fast. Guards began to rapid fire; my body was all aflame as I ran through the crowd. There bodies lit up like a fire with lighter fluid thrown onto it.  I glanced back and ran down the hall. Alarms began blaring when the hallway cameras caught me running. I turned down several paths until I found a staircase. It was a risky move, but I took the chance. I ran up the steps hearing boots barreling down up the below flight of stairs. My heart was beating out of my chest it seemed. I was a fast runner though; I always had been. I beat two records in eight grade. This year I was going to join track, but it seemed like that wouldn’t be happening. I kept running up several flights of steps passing by doors. I could feel my calves growing tired, but my mind was fully alert. I pursued up the steps until I reached the place where no more steps were. There was a manhole cover at the top I leapt up my fingers brushed across it.

This was the only time of my life I wished I was like Ezekial. I ran up and leapt off of the side of the wall trying to get my fingers into the crevice to open the manhole. They brushed it slightly more than the first time. The footsteps were growing closer. I wiped sweat off my forehead and leapt off the wall again. My fingers interlocked with the crevice and the manhole flung opened. I flailed one arm up almost loosing my grip and wrapped it around the first bar of the ladder. I let go of the manhole cover and slipped my other hand on the first bar of the ladder next to me other hand. I grabbed onto the second bar and heaved up my legs onto the first. I had horrible upper body strength and if it wasn’t for this adrenaline I would have failed epically. My body would pay for this if/when I got out. I saw the guards making there way up this flight of steps. They spotted the open manhole cover and I quickly pulled it closed and scrambled up the ladder. It seemed to go up for hours. I pushed myself forwards with every muscle I had.

I whined and grunted. I was going very slowly now. I couldn’t do it. I heard the manhole open and saw a man heaving up sixty feet below me. The surface awaited me. Only twenty more feet to go. Fear pulsed through my veins lighting me aflame. I shot down a sphere of flames down on the guards below me. They howled in pain and I scrambled up the ladder. Finally I reached the top manhole and pushed it open revealing the… middle of nowhere. When you’re in the middle of nowhere, you must run until you find somewhere. So I did. I wondered how many others escaped. By the looks of some dusted over foot prints outside this manhole, it seemed like many. I followed the tracks in search of anyone.

I walked for miles until I found them. They waited just like they promised. “Jedidiah!” Bliss exclaimed hugging me. I out of breath and still in shock patted her back in a sad attempt to return the hug. They had sat up camp like place in the middle of nowhere. It was like a small hangover cliff that they had been burrowing under waiting.Griffinand Ezekial ran past me like I wasn’t even there. So did Akemi.

“Where is Elijah?” They frantically asked. I stood there biting my tongue. I could feel the hot tears dabble my eyeballs. I blinked. I knew if I opened my mouth to speak I would cry so I just stood there. “Did you fucking leave her behind? You selfish bastard!” Ezekial shouted grabbing my shirt. I pushed him off of me and he swung at me. I dodged and anger pulsed through my veins. I lunged at him and Bliss ran up and pulled me back. I wanted to hit him so bad.

“Get the hell off me!” I shouted at Bliss. One good swing, that’s all I need. How dare he accuse me of that!

“No! The last thing we need is fighting, please!” She squealed. I sat down and so did Ezekial. We rubbed our foreheads in exhaustion.

“So where is she, Jed?” Ezekial calmly sighed.

“She… she’s dead.” I stuttered. I felt the tears play at my corneas again. Hold it in, you are a dominate male. Ezekial stared at me dumbly. He couldn’t believe it either.

“She… she’s dead?” He repeated in question form. I nodded unable to make words leave my mouth. Everyone sat in silence for awhile. Bliss was the first to cry. Ezekial moved over and rubbed her back calmly. She burrowed her face in his chest and cried. Ezekial’s face was blank and he wiped a few incomplete tears from his eyes before they could stream down his cheeks. I flipped my hair in my eyes and wiped my tears making it look like I was just fixing my hair. Akemi had his head burrowed in his hands not even trying to hide the fact he was crying; same with Aiden. He couldn’t hold it in. I shouldn’t be holding it in; I guess it was just a stupid male thing. Akemi never cared what people thought of him. I cared though, a lot.

We all slept there in silence in the freezing cold. I let my body be aflame all night to keep everyone warm. I knew it would extinguish once I fell asleep, but that wouldn’t be for a long time. I had way to much on my mind.