Working Title

[Payne]

No kicking off of the shit? Meh. I'll be O.K. as long as it is pointlessly long, and has no "grand idea" that I can easily pick out, 'cause at least I can pretend I'm reading some real high quality literature right?

Seriously though, looking forward to the next part.

[Idem]

I was kidding, should kick off in a bit I suppose, I'll get to it ASAP

[Idem]

PART EIGHT




*PING*

   I awoke that morning to what I had thought was the study-going alarm, but realized it was Ronald,Äôs alarm, set up to beat the morning rush.  Mark awoke, along with Ronald.  In a drowsy fashion we ate breakfast nutrition that we had found in his decrepit cupboards.  I had an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach, however, and ate rather conservatively.  Everybody was silent throughout the meal, and I was the last to finish.

   ,ÄúWe need to hurry from here on out; when the bell tolls, they will look for us.  We will probably have great difficulty obfuscating our presence anyway, considering where we are going.,Äù Ronald said.

   ,ÄúAnd where is that?,Äù

   ,ÄúDistrict One, Joseph.,Äù

   Those three words alone startled me; we were going to the hierarchy.  The one district that I, nor anybody I knew, could even access.

   ,ÄúWhy?,Äù, I asked, ,ÄúWhy District One?  Are they allowed to go outside?,Äù

   ,ÄúNo.  Of course not.  But everything goes through District One before anywhere else.  The hierarchy checks anything and everything importing and exporting.  They know of the outside, but they don,Äôt give a shit about it.  Anyway, we leave now.  Pack what you need.,Äù

   All three of us packed our essentials (I saw Ronald pick up quite a few obscure objects as well, looked like some form of needles), and departed for District One.

   We both followed Ronald; he knew the complex like the back of his hand.  We avoided the main streets as much as possible, and weaved in and out of cramped alleyways.  The whole complex was eerily serene - I had never been out in its inactive state.  Ronald stopped at the end of a certain alleyway, and told us to stop as well.  He pointed to the ,Äúwall,Äù that separated District One from all other districts.  The obliquely black wall that kept any eyes from peering in, tall enough for even people standing on the highest rooftops to not see over it. 

   ,ÄúListen,,Äù said Ronald in a whisper, ,Äúwe have to be silent here.  There are the mics and cameras, which Mark can easily obsolete, but there are guards here 24/7.  The only *public* police in the whole complex, actually.  They are very prone to hear you, so I,Äôll only say this once:  keep quiet.

   But as soon as these words departed from his lips, someone came across us, happening by the entrance of the alleyway.  It was a guard, and as he stood peering from behind Ronald,Äôs shoulder, Mark and I gawked at him, hearts racing.

   Ronald turned around slowly, seeing how we were acting, and staggered back when he saw the soldier, directly in front of his face.

   ,ÄúWhat, exactly, are you doing out at this hour?!,Äù, the soldier yelled.

   Mark stepped in seeing how we were both dumbfounded, and said ,ÄúThere must have been a malfunction with the timer in District Three.  We usually come to this area, but seeing how deserted it is, we realize we must have woken early.,Äù

   ,ÄúI Haven,Äôt been informed of any--,Äù  The soldier was interrupted.  He clutched his chest, and then with a loud ,Äúthud,Äù, fell to the ground, instantly.

   ,ÄúRonald--,Äù I said

   ,ÄúYes, Joseph.  I haven,Äôt divulged everything I know about the medical field, you know.,Äù

   ,ÄúIs he--,Äù

   ,ÄúHis knowledge didn,Äôt pose a threat.,Äù  Ronald then bent over and plucked the small needle out of the man,Äôs chest, and concealed it.  He checked his wrist, and saw the other ammunition was still in a satchel under his sleeve.

   I was relieved that he wasn,Äôt dead, but Ronald blurted out frustratingly, ,ÄúThis ruins our plans.  The other guards will be aware of his absence, and will signal an alarm.  We,Äôre going in noisy.  Hurry.,Äù  He then ran to the entrance, and we followed.  By the time Mark and I got there, an unconscious guard was already by the entrance.

   ,ÄúGet this thing open!,Äù Ronald yelled.

   Mark then hurried to the entrance and inserted a device into the computer terminal, and after much hacking, he opened the gateway.  We headed on in, to District One.

   



   As soon as I got in, I observed the look of the place.  I was disappointed; the rumors I had heard of its grandeur and impressiveness was greatly exaggerated.  The buildings, or at least the work buildings, were taller and a bit more impressive, but the overall look of the place was same old, same old.  Same lighting (in fact a bit dimmer, because of the wall), same streets, same clean and kempt look.

   Ronald knocked out a few more of the guards at the other side; it was tricky getting two of them at once.  We ran through a few alleyways; this district seemed slightly smaller than the others, because it didn,Äôt take long to get to the end of the glass canvas that separates the complex from the outside.  I wondered ,ÄúIs this what he wanted to lead me to?,Äù, and then I realized that I had never gone to the edge of any district, to look outside.  I went up to the edge and peered out inquisitively. 

   I was taken aback at what I was looking at; the canvas of the sky, the canvas of the ground, and the canvas of glass between me and the other two.  All three were blank, most surprising to me being the ground; a great stretch of glassy brown sand, and a black road splitting it in two.  Seemed more desolate than I had imagined, and a tear seeped out of my eye.

   ,ÄúI know what you,Äôre thinking.,Äù said Ronald, ,ÄúBut that road leads to more than dirt.,Äù

   Mark also seemed intrigued, but took Ronald,Äôs words as truth, along with me.

   Ronald then directed our attention to our right, and then we saw the exit to the outside; a gate to the outside.  Many trucks were around it, and there were people (not scientists) going to and fro, bringing boxes of supplies from *their* trucks to other trucks.  It seemed there was a special driver for all designated purposes.

*BLEEP*

   The work-going bell tolled.  I panicked temporarily, but Ronald ran towards the trucks as soon as he saw no one was looking.  We followed and he helped us up into the cargo hold, but hesitated from going in with us.

   ,ÄúI,Äôm staying here.,Äù

   ,ÄúWhat?,Äù I asked, ,ÄúI thought you wanted to depart from this place!,Äù

   ,ÄúOn second thought,Ķ no.  I thought this might be the final time I would get people outside, but no,Ķ my purpose is here, at the complex.  They will catch me after this, yes, but I will stand up to their tactics, and they might eventually kill me,Ķ  they are not torturers.  I might be able to spread Discord here some more, and that is my purpose.,Äù

   ,ÄúBut--,Äù

   ,ÄúHush, I need to leave.  Unless you are having second thoughts, don,Äôt say anything.

   I kept silent.

   ,ÄúThey have already began to look for you locally, that,Äôs for sure - but they will soon alert the outside of fugitives.  This truck will stop at the nearest town.  Hide behind some boxes in here, and get out when it stops there.  But do not stay there long.  Go as far from there as possible, and do what you think necessary.  You work for yourself now.  I,Äôm sorry - I can,Äôt go on.  I must leave.,Äù

   He then ran, and that was the last I saw of Ronald Burns.

   Mark and I hid behind some boxes, and I heard some shoving around, but then the truck started up.  I felt it moving, and we went down a steep downward slope out of the complex.

   As we got further down the road, it got harder, and knowing nobody was looking, I came out from behind the boxes, as did mark. 

   And there we saw the great glass dome, getting smaller and smaller, with the label ,ÄúBourns Studies, Incorporated,Äù plastered on it.

[Payne]

Hey, thats the kind of shit kicking off I want to see!

Just wondering if the deadline pressure is getting to you a bit. I only ask 'cause there are a couple out of place words in there. No criticism.

Liberally at the end of sentence four, paragraph one doesn't really fit, it suggests the guy was shoving food in his mouth like there was no tomorrow.

A couple others, but I'm not liking the idea of looking like a grammer nazi.

[Idem]

I don't mind, of course; I'll fix 'em up, but thanks.   

EDIT

Oh - I got two words mixed up.  I was thinking "liberally" meant its opposite, for some reason.

[Payne]

 

Liberal for Conservative

It's funny that the only time the words have any meaning is when you take them out of a political context...

[Idem]

Liberal for Conservative

It's funny that the only time the words have any meaning is when you take them out of a political context...

That is if you consider the Democratic party "Liberal".   

Otherwise it has meaning.  (The founding fathers were liberal, etc etc)

[Payne]

Yeah, I, as always, was putting it in context of U.K. politics. In any case the L was capitalised in my lil' non-funnay.

Though even liberalism (as opposed to Liberalism) seems to be losing ground to apathy these days.

~~~And if I keep digging this hole for myself, I'll end up in Austrailia...

[Idem]

PART NINE - eh - Sunday, probably.  I'm going to go over the whole thing and edit, perhaps eliminate some unnecesarry words, awkward crap, etc etc, I think I may have made a logical error somewhere...

Might be Saturday.

[Payne]

PART NINE - eh - Sunday, probably.  I'm going to go over the whole thing and edit, perhaps eliminate some unnecesarry words, awkward crap, etc etc, I think I may have made a logical error somewhere...

Might be Saturday.

Must be a lot of editing goin' down. It's coming on tuesday now...

[Idem]

I know, today sometime.  Sorry.  Should have said something.

[Triple Zero]

i have read, and liked it so far. Idem, do you have any idea already where the story will end up? have you planned some wrap-up for the story-arc or is this one of those "i'll think up something as i write along" kind of projects?

[Idem]

"i'll think up something as i write along" kind of projects?

More or less that.

There may be key points that go along in the story that I have had in my mind since the beginning, but even some of those have changed drastically.

[Idem]

PART NINE


As we rode in the back of the cargo hold, we gazed out onto the endless road and sands, as the sun lit harshly on it.  It was refreshing, and as a welcome relief from the past few weeks, I felt at peace.  As I observed the canvas of sand, I recognized that we passed by three other complexes, diamond-like domes glimmering in the sand.  I could not make out their names, and they were few and far between; I could only guess at how many there were total.

   After a while, the first signs of other civilization became visible.  First, there was a small shack, hardly large enough to fit a car in.  Then, a few more rusty iron shacks, and a few other, larger, buildings.  We went back behind the boxes after seeing the first person, for fear of being seen or caught.

   Finally, the truck halted.  Frightened because of our disorientation, we did could not decide whether to run or stay put.  Our minds were made up, however, when the driver removed some boxes that were near us - and after he left, we silently scurried out of the truck, and went around to the other side of it. 

   We shielded out eyes due to the brightness of the garage - it was massive, plain white covering it,Äôs ceiling, floor, and walls, and several fluorescent whites lit the place with their incredible brightness.  The exit was very well illuminated as well, and we dashed towards the stairs leading out so as to escape the light.  The streets were quite bright as well,Ķ but there were many people out - something we had not anticipated.  We were startled at first, thinking escape was impossible, just looking around and waiting to be pointed out, an individual saying ,ÄúThere they are!,Äù, but observed that no one had so much as glanced at us.  Mark pointed this out, and said to be scared would just be to arise suspicion - so we unhurriedly walked down the street.

   Then, it occurred to us - for I am assuming Mark thought the same - that we had no plan at all.  We had no idea what to do in this world, and knew that the state was probably out to get us - Bourns, or whatever name it was going by.

   As we were walking, I took time to observe the place - it was similar to the complex, in that the entire floor was asphalt, and there were many buildings.  However, the asphalt was better-lit and obviously better-kept.  In fact, the entire place was cleaner-looking, and the buildings had windows, which were also lit.  The place seemed so alive; the air was cleaner, and more chatter was heard.  The annoying ,Äúthuds,Äù from the demolition district were no longer to be heard, nor the awkward smell of the health district.

   Soon, our hopes were lifted as we saw a refreshment area, crowded with well-dressed people and covered with neon signs.  We could not help but give in to temptation - the place was crowded, and we needed to sit, eat, and drink.

   I was euphoric because of the subtle differences of the bar, in contrast to the one in the complex,Ķ Looking back on it, it seems foolish to have been happy because of the cleanliness and variety of people.  And I noticed those Ronald spoke of - females - were there as well,Ķ I was curious.

   But Mark made it clear there was no time for standing and gawking around, and we sat at the bar.  We ordered a few drinks, and got down to business.

   Handing me an electronic device, he said ,ÄúNotices have not gone out yet; but they will soon.  People here will be looking out for us, after they find out that we are not at the complex.  We must depart this area.  When we get to a place further away - much further away - we need to find ways to change our appearance.  This device will only last you so long. ,Äú

   I nodded, understanding what he said perfectly, and agreed to everything.

   ,ÄúWe must part ways, however.  If we have learned anything from the complex, it is that if one of us breaks, we will all fall.  If we live in the same city, or even know where each other is at, there is a possibility that it could ruin everything.,Äù

   ,ÄúBut what are we to do in this world?,Äù  I asked.

   ,Äú,ĶThat is the one thing I can,Äôt tell you.  We both are on our own from here.  I don,Äôt even know what I am going to do - I have been thinking of so many other things.  I have no idea about what this world is, and how it differs, except that it looks prettier.  I don,Äôt know.  I need more time to learn and think.  But thing is, we can,Äòt do that together.,Äù

   We sat there for a long time, and I tried to forget anything unnerving, and just relax, but I couldn,Äôt.  It got worse when he parted with a simple ,ÄúGoodbye.,Äù and left.

[Payne]

Yes. I like the element of "you're free. Its up to you to stay that way. BYE!"

I felt a little like that when I understood the B.I.P.