LOCKED (5 page)

I awoke to a complete blur.
Through the muddled vision, I could barely make out what looked to be a court
room along with a judge's bench... thousands of thoughts ran through my mind
all at once, but one was immediately put to rest: I felt a sharp pain in my
head, so I was still of this earth. The room appeared to be made up of a light
brown and white color scheme; not too rare for a court room setting. Every one
of my senses was near-useless, and the only emotion I could feel was fear.
Sheer terror. I tried to turn my head, but I could only move it a few inches. I
could make out a few men clad in black suits sitting beside me. I was slumped
back in my seat, and tried to use every ounce of strength I had to move, but
couldn't raise myself. With my poor hearing, I thought I could hear yelling,
screaming. One final thunderous roar made my world tremble when I could make
out the shape of a gavel striking. I felt myself grabbed by two men, each one
grasping one of my arms. I was yanked away. I could feel all eyes in the court
on me, even if I couldn't see them.

As soon as I was dragged to
the back of the room, I blacked out momentarily. After I forced myself awake
again, I was thrust into a new, completely white room. It had the horrifying
qualities of an asylum, and all I wanted was escape. I was thoughtlessly cast
into the middle of the room, where I saw a person (most likely a medic, due to
their white garbing) hold a needle up. I tried to squirm away, but all that I
found myself doing was blacking out once again as the needle was shoved into my
arm...

My muscles were my own
again, but blackness was all I could see. I immediately forced my eyes wide
open, only to squeeze them shut as the light painfully poured into my eyes. I
rubbed them violently and quickly to allow myself to see. The first thing I did
was run my hands over my body to find what was wrong with me... but I found nothing.
I clenched and relaxed my fists repeatedly to make sure every inch of my body
was working once more.

How the hell did I get here?
All that ran through my head were the events that happened while I was reading
that book, and afterwards... the demon, the courthouse, the injection...

Once my eyes were functional
again, I took a terrified look around the room, not sure what would throw
itself at me now. The room I was in reminded me of the last I saw, only instead
of being in a padded cell; it was architecture I had never quite seen before.
The room was rectangular, and probably a good forty by twenty feet. The walls
were about fifteen feet high, but were laid about twenty feet short of the
ceiling, which contained nothing of value except bright, intrusive lights. The
walls were once again an encapsulating pure white... off to my side was a
sectioned-off shower area which was currently being used. I could barely make
out the figure of a man through the blurry glass.

In front of me were two
doors. Before taking the chance to open one up, I took a look behind me to make
sure nobody was watching. Safe. I turned the knob on the left, and... an empty
room. It was the size of an average bedroom, and completely devoid of anything;
just an empty, white room. In confusion, I turned back and opened the other
door. Inside this room was an area about twice the size of the one I was in,
and it had four doors, as well as another shower in the corner. There was a man
in the other corner, garbed in a white robe. He didn't say a word, and only
stared at me with lonely eyes. I stared at him back, but my eyes screamed
disbelief. I ran forward to the first door on the left, and my heart jumped
into my throat. Another empty room! I ran to the next door over, another empty
room! The next door opened up to an area twice as big... but had eight doors.
More lonely men here, all garbed in white. God help me, I'm trapped!

I threw open door after
door. My hopes were dashed and built up with every door opened. My eyes were
absolutely blinded by the white without escape. I finally stumbled into a room
with... sixty-four doors. I could only tell because each room doubled the
number of doors that the previous had. The scale was humbling, overwhelming. There
were probably a few dozen of the hopeless men in here, and I threw every door
open, my breaths becoming heavier and faster, panic gripping me. I threw open
one last door, and all that I knew was that the room I opened was NOT white.

"GOD DAMMIT!" I dropped
to my hands and knees, and hyperventilated right there, head hanging low,
facing the floor. I couldn't care less who was watching. I had been stuck in
that hellish maze for hours; I had every right to release my tensions.

I raised my head slowly, and
blushed a bit when I found a number of people watching. I looked all around me,
finding a perfectly normal lobby. Well, it seemed to be a lobby combined with a
library. Greek pillars were erected to hold up the building. Their history was
new, as there were no bold scratches or patches upon them. Odysseus had been
long gone from their fictitious sights, and this humble home was their new
inspiration. I could see all the way up to the domed roof, covered in twisting
maps of glass, a cunning sort of geometry in their structure; every edge and
curve recited formulas of old to explain their exquisite creation, all forming
a map to lead the way for future generations. The color scheme was once again
white, only it was a more relaxed, natural sort of white, reminiscent of
marble, the very same marble that the Greek pillars also offered to those who
wanted their design. Off to my right seemed to be some sort of waiting room
full of chairs that had no occupants. That room was tan with red borders, but
didn’t jut out from the plain white too much. Off to my far left was a doorway
beyond a series of very short steps alongside a handicap ramp. In front of me
was a secretaries’ desk; a middle-aged, red haired woman occupied it. Behind
her was a twisting stairway that went to the upper floor. I stood up on my feet
again, and looked around cautiously. The door that I just came out of was
attached to a complete wall; that is, it wasn’t built halfway to the ceiling as
the others were; it was proud to be the first that blocked the other prisoner’s
view to freedom. I took a few steps forward, and couldn’t help but be curious
of what was upstairs. I slowly walked by the secretary, eying her suspiciously,
but she didn’t even seem to notice me. I relaxed a bit, and started my ascent
up the stairs of the same marble-white that the columns were.

I felt the caged animal
mentality ease away with every step. This strange place outside of the maze
seemed so much warmer, so much friendlier. I tried to piece together what was
going on in my head… was this some kind of hospital? It would explain all the
white. A prison, perhaps? The maze was certainly mind-bending and discouraged
escaped, and I did happen to see a guard near the exit…

Once I reached the top of
the stairs, I found a very small library of sorts. The shelves were absolutely
stuffed with books. The pillars downstairs were jealous of their antiquity, as
they contained literally thousands of years’ worth of history; Confucius’ wise
words, Benjamin Franklin’s words of patriotism, Nostradamus’ prophesies, and
even Mark Twain’s satirical tales. Off to my right was a small circular window,
with another woman beside it, whom I assumed was the librarian. In the center
of the room was a large fountain that seemed to spew purple and pink water, but
every time I turned my head and looked back, I could see envious green,
gracious yellow, shy blue, and the occasional holy white. Underneath the
colorful ripples, I could see the inviting glimmer of coins in its pool. After
one final look around the humble room, I began my descent back down the stairs.

I was in the lobby once
again. I took one slightly-less-than-cautious step in the direction of the room
that was now off to my left, but I felt my heart stop for a split second: Danni
was here. I stared at her in disbelief, only to have her run up to me, grab my
shoulder, and whisper into my ear.

“C’mon, I’m here to get you
out.” was all she whispered before yanking my hand in the direction of the
door. I didn’t even bother to try thinking about it anymore; it should all
explain itself in time, right? I started to pull my arm back once we reached
the door, as I feared the guard. I stared at him, mouth agape, as he literally
just let Danni and I walk out!

Outside was a city I
recognized as being
Burybury
. A wide, stupid grin
spread across my face faster than it ever had before. I breathed in and out
deeply to let the wonderful, polluted air into my lungs. I stretched out my
arms and legs some more, then looked around a bit to try to determine where I was
exactly. I took a few steps forward so I could turn around and take a good look
at the massive facility. Its size was astonishing, stretching far beyond the
horizon. I looked around once more, looking at the names of the marts and
family shops to see if I might be able t-

“Move!”

“What?”

“MOVE!”

REFUGE
WITHIN REVOLUTION

I whipped my neck around
only to find Danni run right past me. I was even more confused now than I was before,
but quickly found out that I didn’t have time to be: almost silently, a
helicopter rose from behind one of the smaller buildings about fifty feet away.
I turned to start running, and already lost sight of Danni; she must have gone
down one of the dozens of alleys or side roads. I chose one at random and
darted right for it, only to occasionally look behind me to see how close the
helicopter was. Just as I dreaded, it was silently stalking me at an alarming
pace…not in how fast it was moving, but how in how slowly it hunted.

Corner after corner, side
street after side street. It still slowly stalked, following my every move. And
what about all the people in the city? They seemed to fly into a panic too;
it’s not every day that you see a helicopter hunting a person on foot so
steadily… No matter how much I pushed and shoved people out of my way, thought
up everything I could to confuse that pilot, the damned thing just would never
be gone. I was filled with even more trepidation when a long stretch of road
with few people came into sight. I slowed down for a moment when I realized I
didn’t even know why I was running; I just did so because Danni told me. Or
maybe I pushed on because it was following me after I started running? Perhaps
I was drawing too much attention to myself? Either way, I had little time to
think. In front of me was a stairway leading down into the grim, malevolent
subway. I frantically ran to get inside, but then I heard the crazed whir of
machine gun fire behind me! I ducked down to avoid the inevitable storm of
bullets, and almost every shot missed except a stray few that hit my leg. I
grabbed my leg and screamed out, missing a few steps and landing on my side
onto the dusty concrete. I gripped it tightly without even thinking of how it
felt, almost with the same state of mind that a cut always feels deeper than it
really is. I stopped gripping it so tightly for just a split second to try and
assess the damage, but…it didn’t hurt. I was in shock. The gory wound was right
there, blood and puss oozing out. Without thinking, I brushed some of that
blood away, put the leg of my jeans back down (which still had dozens of tiny
bullet holes in it), and carefully put my weight on it. I felt nothing. I took
a deep breath before trying to walk on it, but ended up running once more as I
heard the whir of the helicopter’s gunfire again. I was a grim sight, a panting
figure running through the decrepit subway with a bloody and battered leg.
Nobody was down here; the trains had been inactive for years. Years’ worth of
dust collecting down here was forced into my lungs with every breath, but I
just kept running.

Up ahead I could see light
bleeding down into the subway. I ran straight for it, and back up into the
world above. Once my feet were on the pavement once again, I heard nothing out
of the ordinary, which is why I kept on running. I saw an abandoned apartment
building up ahead, rusted and corroding.

Perfect.

I flew inside, choking on
dust once more. Everything was a rustic brown that made me feel that if I
touched it, it would crumble. Nevertheless, I ran right up the stairs. I must
have dashed up two or three steps at a time, and would have tried to find a
corner to stay in for a while at a higher floor, but that helicopter's hunger
led it straight back to me. I stopped right in my tracks when I saw it hover,
just as silently as before, to the window I was near. Finally, its master spoke
with a megaphone.

"COME OUT, RESISTANCE
IS USELESS!"

I've never heard that cliché
before... I stayed right where I was standing, ready for anything. At that
moment, a bitter countdown started. I heard a computerized female's voice
announcing each second that I assumed I had left.

"Five...four...three..."

I flew into a panic, and
crouched down into the nearest corner.

"two..."

I pulled any objects that
were near against myself.

"one..."

I was thinking about what I
might end up leaving behind, without ever knowing what I had done wrong. My
parents, my school, Danni...

TICK! TICK! TICK! The last
sound I remember hearing was an extremely high-pitched whistle, followed by a
deafening blast of concrete flying in a million directions. Without a single
thought, I sprinted for a window. I didn't know exactly what was happening, but
I knew I shouldn't find out soon and that the window was my only form of
escape. I didn't even realize how many floors I had come up; that realization
came AFTER I had jumped out. I saw a fiery ball consuming part of the building
below me. I knew that's where the helicopter's strike landed. Through the
flames, I could make out what appeared to be a large tub of wet cement. A
blessing? I was processing all of this while I was falling. I shut my eyes
tight when I felt myself falling faster, feeling the heat from the fire ball
below and smelling ash. I blacked out again just as I felt flames singe my
skin...

After what seemed like
hours, my mind was my own once more. Every sense was muddled, except for my touch,
considering I found most of my body covered in something pebbly and slimy.
Having not remembered yet any of the events that happened before, my eyes shot
open and I freaked out for a moment before realizing I was covered in... wet
cement. Not wanting to find out why the cement hadn't hardened by now, I
stretched out my arms to reach the edge of the container and pull myself out of
the muck. It clung to me and I couldn't quite get all of it off. I pulled
myself partially out of the container but immediately pulled myself back in.

My city was in shambles.

Soldiers patrolled the area,
and I couldn't tell whether they were friendly or not. A helicopter was also
patrolling the blue-gray sky that was hinting of a coming storm; I couldn't
figure out if the craft was the same from before or not. Every one of the
soldiers was busy rummaging through rubble; it seemed like they were looking
for something. Without warning, I was yanked out of the wet cement by the back
of my shirt.

"Hey, look at what I
found!" I heard my captor yell out in a friendly tone to his fellow
soldiers. I struggled half-heartedly, relieved that they all had easy-going
smiles on their faces. He put me down and patted my back roughly. Each one was
laughing at me, and I couldn't really blame them: I was absolutely covered in
wet cement. I chuckled a bit too, and someone grabbed my shoulder and led me
elsewhere.

"
NicetomeetyousirmynameisEddyI'llexplaineverythingontheway
!”
I was impressed by how quickly he could force words out, almost as fast as a
narrator listing side effects on a commercial for medicine. His wide steps were
almost as quick as his tongue; I was too busy playing catch-up to even get a
good look at him. He looked up at the helicopter patrolling, waved one of his
long arms, and it obeyed his call. It made a swift descent, just quick enough
for the both of us to jump inside. I hastily wiped off the cement that hadn’t
dripped off to the best of my ability. Just as quickly as we had jumped in, we
were airborne. I finally could get a good bearing of his features: very dark
skin, bred of African origins. Each of his limbs and fingers were long and
spidery, accommodating his height; he must have been at least six-foot-six. He
wore an engineer's goggles, perfectly round and covered in oil and grime. His
khaki clothes were torn, and his blindingly white teeth flashed every time he
spoke. 

"Sorry 'bout before, I
had to get you out of there fast. I'm Eddy, and you’re Leo! Leo Deleon!"
he extended one of his long arms. I smiled, and extended my own for a friendly
shake.

"How do you know me…?
And would you be so kind as to tell me what the hell this is all about?" I
asked, bitter sarcasm dripping off my words.

“I know you since you’re
important!” he beamed.

“Uh huh…and everything
else…?”

"Ooh... that one's a
long story. You wouldn’t happen to have a minute or two, would you? No ideas of
going anywhere?" he looked out the side of the helicopter at the
tremendous drop below, having a likeable tone of wisecracking... I was beginning
to like this guy.

"Let's start with the
basics," I held up my hand to count on my fingers, "the demon."

"I can't—“

"The courtroom."

"I don—“

"The maze and the...
whatever it was at the end of the maze. Kind of a library and business building
hybrid."

"Calm do—“

"The
helicopter..."

"THAT WASN'T U—“

"THIS!" I spread
my arms wide so Eddy wouldn't miss the destruction of the city around us.

"SHUT UP!" I
couldn’t see them through the dark red lenses of his goggles, but if I could,
I’m sure his eyes shone with anger for the brief moment before he laughed it
off. He started digging through his pockets, and pulled out a folded piece of
paper.

"Does this guy look
familiar to you?" he asked after unfolding the paper and holding it before
me. It showed the profile of a man with his name under his picture. I almost
leapt out of my seat (not the best idea when in a moving helicopter) when I
recognized the name and person.

"That's that political
slimeball
! I—I talked to this guy before," I pointed
to the image of the suit-and-tie I talked to before when I was with Danni, “and
HE had his name plastered all over the place." I pointed to the text that
said "Devon Miller". Eddy bit his lip.

"What'd he say?
Miller?" Eddy asked. I hesitated for a minute before answering.

"Well, uh... he talked
a bit about voting for himself... tried to get a friend of mine to vote
and..."

"Did you bring home or
take anything he gave you?" Eddy gave me what I could tell was a stern
look through his tinted lenses.

"Yeah, I drank
a..." there was utter silence between the both of us when I realized what
had happened. Once again, I almost leapt out of my seat.

"WHAT WAS IN THAT
DRINK?!" I barely missed grabbing him by the collar.

"CALM DOWN, CALM DOWN!
Ok, deep breaths..." he rested his head in his palms for a moment before
pulling out a handheld, squarish device from his pocket. Its screen lit up, and
several documents popped up in a three-dimensional image before he put it back
into his pocket. I was very impressed, but didn't really have time to gawk.

“Ok, so first things
first…Miller’s been a politician around here for years and years, getting the
experience to go along with it. He can basically sweet-talk anybody into
getting what he wants. He’d been buying out all the districts and land he could
for as long as he’s been in politics, reason for that being that is that he
gets the district’s manpower after buying them out with the way things are;
y’know
, construction workers, doctors, scientists, you get
the idea. He uses all these guys to help him build REALLY experimental…
‘institutions’. Prisons or hospitals like the one you were in. They go up fast
as hell, too. Miller works those men ‘round the clock. Nobody else bothered to
stop him from eating up all the land (really couldn’t stop him, for that matter)
since there’s no unified set of laws.” he inhaled deeply before going on
another long-winded dialogue.

“I do need to bring another
thing up before I go on, though. The guerillas had been around for a while
before Miller came into play, but the two got along well enough. They just
stayed out of each other’s business, and everything worked out okay. Neither
had a reason to bother with the other. Now, that’s before the guerillas heard
about the disease in Europe. They heard about the incident first, before any of
us. They have better lines of communication; they get everything straight from
their sources all over the world. Nothing is censored there to stop ‘
em
from panicking, unlike us living in the cities. Funny
enough, that’s just what the guerillas did: they started trying to destroy
every airport, sea port, ANY way of getting in so the disease can’t come over
here.” he inhaled more deeply than before.

“Miller obviously had a
problem on his hand. No matter what he’s done in terms of scummy ethics, he’s
still no fool. It was a better idea to just barter with the guerillas rather
than take ‘
em
head-on. He thought that the best idea
would be to show ‘
em
a vaccine just in case the
disease came over, just to show ‘
em
that everything
would be ok. Now, seeing how quickly he ordered all of his little hospitals,
prisons, and so forth to be built, it’s no wonder that he forced the scientists
that were under his thumb to whip up something in a matter of days. They needed
someone to test their vaccine on at this point, so they chose one randomly. The
one chosen was…” Eddy nodded and made a gesture towards me slowly, keeping eye
contact with me.