Chapter 3 - On The Run

Alarms immediately went off. Even though it was morning, the red lights in the skies and on buildings overpowered the sun as they oppressed me. Tears blurred my vision as I continued to run, and the sounds of the alarms seemed as though they grew louder with each step I took.

I couldn’t let it stop me. I couldn’t turn back. I couldn’t ask for help. I didn’t even know where I was going, and it wouldn’t be long before the local authorities came after me too. For the moment, I just wanted to hide.

Suddenly, I was yanked by my backpack as someone pulled me into an alleyway. I tried to elbow them but they caught my arm.

“What the hell May? Why’re you outside?” Came Rina’s frantic voice.

“Me? What about you? And why did you pull me like that?” I tried to wipe my tears as I pretended to flail around, hoping she wouldn’t notice. I couldn’t tell her. Rina loved mother, so how could I tell her that I abandoned her?

‘It was her own fault, if we’re being fair,’ Came the familiar voice, or so I thought, but she was nowhere to be seen. Did I imagine it?

Rina turned me around to face her, she was taller and stronger than me so it didn’t take much effort really. “I’m sorry if I startled you, but do you know how panicked I was when I saw those articles this morning? Since I’m a Class 1 D2 citizen, I have special clearance to go where I want, even under a lockdown. I tried using it to my advantage to sort this situation out but I was too late.”

That’s right, I forgot about that, out of all five districts only District 2 citizens are divided into two classes. There are the class two citizens who come from a wealthy background and live their lives in luxury, and then there’s class one, those who are not only wealthy but related to top government officials in District 1.

I calmed down a bit upon hearing her explanation, so she was trying to help me. Maybe she’ll believe me this time. I’ll tell her the truth. I can’t keep it from her.

I opened my mouth to speak but Rina beat me to it, “I mean this really wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t spout that nonsense last night.” I gaped at her, my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water as I tried to speak, to say something to defend myself. She rubbed her temples as she left out a long, frustrated sigh. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. Soon the government will hear about this too. Where’s Mrs. Z? If you’re running, she shouldn’t be far behind, right?”

Rina wouldn’t believe me. I don’t even know how she’d react if I told her what happened. I should’ve panicked when she asked me this, but I didn’t.

“She told me to get away while she distracted the people who came after me,” I felt strange as those words left my mouth. I wasn’t a calm and collected person, I was a nervous and panicky person. But that lie, I said it like it was nothing, and Rina believed me.

“I see. I’m sure she’ll be safe then. Mrs. Z was always a quick thinker when the situation called for it. Let’s try to hide out for a bit until everything calms down and we’ll rendezvous with her later,” she smiled at me reassuringly as she told me this. I couldn’t agree nor disagree, she was my mother, but I knew her as well as a stranger did. A pretty face with an equally pretty smile, that’s all.

I nodded in agreement, fully aware that there would be no rendezvous. “By the way Rina, I understand how you’re outside and the alarms didn’t go off, but how did all of those people get to my house without setting off the alarms?”

We pondered on my question for a bit before Rina answered, “Maybe he bribed the local authorities? That guy’s name was Edward Viola, right? I’ve seen him around D2 a few times, if he has a good financial backing, then it wouldn’t have been hard for him to pass a few cyber-bucks their way.”

“Anyway, let’s not worry about that for now. We need to find somewhere to hide,” she held her chin as she thought for a while. “Oh! We can go there. Follow me.” I didn’t have much of a choice as she grabbed my hand and pulled me along with her.

Time seemed to move still in that instant. The alleyway we were in wasn’t very bright but it had an eerie glow to it caused by the blaring red lights. There, I saw my reflection, not a hint of sadness was on my face anymore. I sought mother’s love for twenty-five years, knowing full well that she would never love me. Even if the last bit of love I had for her was betrayed, I should’ve still felt something. You would expect my emotions to be all over the place because of this, but they weren’t.

Everything was so confusing right now, but for once my shoulders felt light. I didn’t need to try to earn mother’s love anymore.

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I don’t know where Rina was taking me, but we had to hide a lot to get there. We moved through the alleyways and hid behind cyber-cars and buses on our way there. I never explored D3 so I didn’t know there were so many drones and cameras about the place. If I had continued running, I would’ve been spotted and caught in no time.

“Over there,” she finally said as she pointed to a small white cottage. It was strange to see something like that in D3. The houses here weren’t fancy but they definitely had some class to them. The cottage just looked out of place in this area, how were we supposed to be safe here?

At least that’s what I wanted to ask her, but she quickly ran and dragged me behind her. There were five drones in this area so we had to be quick. Everything happened so fast. Rina pushed open the door, dragged me inside and locked it, in less than five seconds. I know we had to be quick, but damn.

Unlike all the other houses in this district this house wasn’t made of robo-metal but wood. We couldn’t adjust the temperature, turn the lights on or do anything really by calling for the menu. It was strange to me, the only manual thing I ever did in my apartment was open and close the windows and doors. Even the food was right in front of you with the tap of a button.

The cottage was dark and empty, I didn’t ask anything yet but Rina spoke up. “This is where my dad used to store some of his research data. He was fascinated about the how the houses were depicted in history books and decided to build this to store his stuff. It was a bit counterproductive though. His papers would get wet if rain fell and mold would grow on them. Bugs and other pests were strangely attracted to this place too. In the end, he had to move everything back to his office. I felt bad, he put a lot of effort into building this place only to abandon it, so I asked him if I could have it.”

Rina went on for a long time. Saying how she was going to open up a dojo here to train people like they did in history books. That she wanted to bring back some practices from long ago because things have become too complicated. She wasn’t wrong. Back in the days, people had ID cards with their photo, name and date of birth on it. Today we have an ID watch with a number, district and a photo. The government said there wasn’t a need for anything else.

What felt like minutes had actually been hours, and it had already gotten dark again. From the time we got here Rina just talked about her dreams. It felt nice, I felt as though she was my best friend again. It would be nice if we could become as close as we were back then.

‘Run,’ came her voice. I didn’t have time to react though. The windows were smashed in, and the door kicked down. Rina and I were surrounded as the local authorities filled this place one by one. They ordered us to put our hands in the air as they pointed their guns at us. We didn’t have a choice but to comply.

Slowly they approached us, two stepped forward with handcuffs, the black metal reflected a red light. ‘How did they find us?’ I asked myself as I did a double take, my eyes landing on the red light that shined on the handcuffs and back to my outstretched wrists. ‘Oh, so that’s how.’

As they reached out for Rina’s arm, she quickly grabbed the officer, smoothly taking their gun from them as she held it to their head. “Everyone clear the entrance now!” she shouted as her hand trembled to hold the gun. I’m sure everyone saw this; they were wearing those ultra high-tech infrared shades after all. But they didn’t take the chance and slowly, they parted down the middle. We took this chance and ran, when we were a few houses away, Rina hit the guy on his head with the gun and dropped him.

We heard footsteps chasing after us but we didn’t stop, we couldn’t. But where would we go? We had nowhere to run or hide.

“D4 gates,” the words flew out of my mouth before I knew it. Rina shot a quick, questioning glance my way but I wasn’t sure what to say, I didn’t even know why I said that. “Let’s split up. Head to D4 gates and try to get in. We’ll hide there for a while.”

She turned to look at me before she nodded and made a sharp right. I could hear the screams of the officers behind us shouting for people to follow her. It seems she understood the plan even when I didn’t. I don’t even know how I came up with that crazy idea, but for now I just have to make it to D4.

We were lucky they weren’t shooting at us, they couldn’t, not with civilian houses around. And not when I haven’t been deemed a criminal. If I was, my ID watch would’ve sent a shock throughout my entire body to immobilize me.

I was out of breath as I took twists and turns to try and lose the officers chasing me. Finally, I hid for a bit trying to catch my breath and ease the ringing in my ears. My break didn’t take long before they found me. “Over here,” someone shouted. I ran, I was going in the opposite direction but I had to get away.

My legs hurt, screaming at me to slow down as sweat dripped down my face. I’m sure Rina was having an easier time than me, not only was she athletic she could defend herself, I was neither. The ringing in my ears got louder and louder, but so did the noise all around me, it was like they were competing with each other to see who was the loudest. The alarms made my eardrums feel as though they were about to pop, the footsteps that followed behind me raised my anxiety, and I panicked as they got closer by the minute, their screams didn’t help either, and the growls were creeping me out.

Wait. Growls? Screams? That’s when I saw it from the corner of my eye, a zombie. Slowly I came to a stop as I turned around. It’s no wonder why the officers hadn’t caught up to me yet, zombies were attacking them. Maybe it was because I was trying to get away that I didn’t notice, but there were zombies everywhere. Blood and parts of people were lying everywhere. How could I miss all of this?

‘Because you didn’t want to see it,’ this time I saw her, she was standing right in front of me. I didn’t understand what she meant, I just wanted to get away so I didn’t have time to pay attention to my surroundings.

‘Don’t you think that’s a bit contradicting? It’s because you wanted to get away that you should’ve been paying attention. Do you even want to live?’ It felt as though she was mocking me.

For some reason, I got angry, “I was suddenly on the run because I dared to speak the truth and warn those I cared about! Not to mention the local authorities were armed and chasing me. I can’t even manage to keep a job for three months, there’s no way some like me could handle this situation when it was suddenly thrown at her!” I paused as I panted, still out of breath from running “And what do you mean ‘Do I want to live’?! Of course I do! It doesn’t matter if everyone thinks I’m a worthless failure, I still want to live!!”

Though the smile on her face never changed, as those words left my mouth, her smiled seemed genuine. ‘Then run,’ She disappeared as she said these words, and bullet flew past me grazing my cheek.

The officers no longer cared about public safety; in the time I was talking to The End, they had already received new orders. Eliminate the zombies and capture May Zepher no matter what. The only reason I knew that because the alarms kept repeating it over and over again.

I used the zombies as a distraction and ran. Unlike the first time, it was hard to focus on getting away. People were being ripped apart in front of me and stray bullets were flying everywhere. What was once a peaceful night in D3 had now become filled with red flashing lights and screams and pleas from the residents to save them and their loved ones. Gone was the calm ambiance and neon lights that filled the streets. The buildings that displayed a variety of information now show bloodstained warnings.

I was currently hiding in what used to be someone’s home. Dead bodies laid sprawled in front of me, and the entire house was a mess. Some officers had managed to slip out and follow me, so I was trying to give them the slip by hiding in here.

Once again, they quickly found me, “She’s in here!”

I didn’t expect to be found so soon, but I didn’t waste any time as I ran to the back of the house, directly in front a zombie. It was slower than me, and I couldn’t stop running. So I tried to run past it as quickly as I could, but it lunged for me, digging it’s nails into my leg in the process as it fell down. I didn’t let it stop me and soon I found my next hiding spot.

“In here!” Not five seconds had gone by, they didn’t even see me come in here, so how?! I was hiding in a garage this time; I made sure they weren’t behind me before I ran in here so how?!

That’s when I recalled how they first found Rina and I and glanced at the red, mocking glow. On my left wrist was my ID watch. No wonder they’ve been finding me so quickly. I scoffed at my own stupidity. I had always hated the thing, and now I hate it even more, if only I could get rid of it.

‘But you can,’ came her voice.

That’s right. I can. I picked up a shard of the broken car window that was strewn about the floor and then glanced at my wrist.

“I will live,” and with that I plunged the shard into my arm, biting my lip as I muffled my screams. A wave of agony washed over me as I tore the device out, leaving a bloody, pulsing wound.