Eyes on Me

♢ Chapter 1 ♢

Art Cred: A Dystopian Return by Nathan Casteel

As I make my way to City Hall, I'm careful of the Projector's security trucks riding through the neighborhood, looking for more children. I take the same route every day, from my old house to City Hall. Every day the same thing happens. I'm seen. I'm caught. I escape. Sometimes this process can be tiring, but I won't stop until I get what I want.

Today has to be different. Today, I'm going back to look for Amp. He has to be there somewhere. I know that it was a long time ago that we met, but nobody else had a vibe as Amp did. He knew what the Projectors were doing to children, which means he must've been like me. Halfway through my route to City Hall, a Projector car rolls by unexpectedly. I rush to hide as best I can, but I hear the screech of tires and know it's time to escape.

"Hey, kid! Stop there! We don't plan to hurt you, just come with us!" I hear one of the guards scream.

I look back just to realize that they were running after me at full speed. I zip through the recently grown forest area, dashing through the leftover debris from the asteroid hit. Suddenly my tagged leg got caught up in a thick vine from a nearby try. I end up falling to the ground. The guards are approaching closer and closer.

"Why'd you run, kid?" I hear the guard speak again before everything goes dark.

***

"She ran you said?" a deep voice speaks.

"Yes, sir." the familiar guard voice spoke.

"Well, check her leg was she ever tagged?" the deep voice speaks again.

"We checked and it seems she was only ever prepared for the tagging. But she was never tagged by her assigned nurse, sir."

"Is that so? Let's wake her up and get her ready to be tagged. Don't we have a history with this run away? Was the nurse never found? Why was no one punished for this foolish mistake?"

"I- uh I don't know, sir."

"Well find out and let me know ASAP."

When I finally have the strength to, I open my eyes to find myself restrained on a metal contraption. My eyes scan the room to find a man standing over a pot of something boiling. He dips a metal rod into the substance and then walks over to me. I don't speak as he does. I know what's happening but nothing manages to escape my lips. He pulls down the ripped pants that I had on, and places the burning hot metal on the side of my thigh. My body jerks from the pain, as a scream finally rips from my lungs. The man repeats this action four more times until my identification number and label is imprinted on my leg.

The room stays silent while he wraps my leg loosely. When he finishes he unties me from the table and walks out of the room. "What a weird man." I think to myself. I attempt to stand but the pain from my leg causes me to fall on my knees. I manage to pull my body up using the metal bed. Just when I finally am standing again, I hear male voices down the hall. The voices are approaching quickly and the door is just wide open. "Should I just run?" I think. I hop over to the other side of the door, the side the voices are coming from, waiting for the voices to pass. The voices get closer. And closer. Until they turn into the room I'm currently attempting to hide in. Three tall boys walk into the room, not acknowledging my presence.

"Hey, where's the new girl supposed to be?" The dark skinned boy with dark hair spoke first.

I attempt to leave the room without drawing attention to myself, but as I hop my shoes clatter against the ground and cause noise. The boys turn around but I've already made it out the door and into the hallway.