Post by Darknezz on Feb 22, 2009 14:50:31 GMT -5
It all started like a normal day. I got up, reluctantly, at five in the morning, my mother getting me ready for school. I rode the city bus from the mall and walked the half mile up to the school from where it stopped. Everything as normal.
By the time I got there, though, something felt wrong. Usually, I started the day in PE, which meant going to the locker room to change. The first bell rang and all of the students went to class. I waited by the locker room, but the door never opened. The rest of my class and I just went to the gym.
Usually, there was a proctor standing outside of the gym to make sure no one was breaking school rules. She wasn't, that day. No one thought much of it, thinking she may just have been sick.
The gym opened and we all went inside slowly, sat down in our usual places on the floor and waited for the coaches. Two substitutes showed up instead, and again, no one thought anything of it. The coaches made it a habit not to show up.
So, we went through the class, and everyone proceeded to their second period classes. That feeling of something wrong got stronger and stronger as time went by, until the bell rang, and I just pushed it aside while I walked to my class.
My geometry teacher, Miss Geurtin, was there that day. I was relieved to see a friendly face - she was nice, if not the best of teahcers - but that wrongness never lifted. In fact, it was probably strongest during her class.
The bell for the next class rang, and I was off to the other end of campus. I saw my third period teacher, Mister Carroll, crossing to the front of the school. As I passed, he caught my attention, handed me a note and then just went on his way.
I opened the note immediately, thinking it had to be important. The only two words it said were the only two words that could have scared me that day. The teacher and I were both fans of a show called Doctor Who, and the two words written on that paper, in the series, signaled the end of the world, and my teacher didn't play around like that. He was a serious man, and I knew I had to get out when I saw "BAD WOLF" written on that discrete note.
I walked to the edge of the campus before I called my mother, nearly in tears, saying that she needed to come pick me up because the bus wouldn't be there for hours yet. She told me to call my grandmother, who lived a lot closer. So I did.
My grandmother found me at the end of the street, and then took me to her house. I explained the situation, as best I could without seeming like a nut, and she took me home.
I don't remember exactly what happened next, but I woke up in a class room, a blanket over me, with a woman in a purple suit going around the room and taking people out. I wasn't sure what class room I was in, but I knew it had to be the trailers on the west side of campus, farther away from where I wanted to be than any other part of the school.
"Wake up," the lady said to me in a sweet voice. I remained still, not opening my eyes. "Hm. I was told very specifically to get this one, but it seems there isn't enough room left, so I'll just have to come back."
She left swiftly, and once the door was closed, I got up. The teacher of the class was one I had seen around the campus before, but I didn't know his name. Tall and thin, wearing a button-shirt and slacks with a tie, he looked like he was a twin of Mister Carroll today.
The room was lined people sleeping under similar blankets to mine and kids sitting upright in their chairs. I didn't know what was happening, but I knew it wasn't good, and I left as soon as I was able.
Outside the room, I saw the woman still striding towards the east of the school, where I knew she must have a car parked. I tried to avoid her as I made my way back to the north end of the school, but she saw me and started to chase. Her high heeled boots prevented her, and I was able to get to the other side of the school without any more trouble.
A man in a black suit replaced the proctor on the north ramp outside of the school and I knew it must be one of her goons. I went back up to the western end of the school and around it entirely. I opened my phone, preparing to call my mother, when I noticed that it was only 7:12 AM. School had just started, but I had been knocked out during third period.
I rushed back to the gym and got someone to let me in. The coaches were still gone. My friend, Omar, was walking laps around the gym as was usual. I caught up to him and started to tell him about what was happening, quietly and pausing every time we passed one of the coaches.
He agreed to help me get back to my home, even if it meant ditching this evil place. That's when I noticed; The feeling of wrongness was gone and hadn't been there since I awoke under that blanket.
The bell for second period rang and Omar and I took off running toward the edge of campus, out the east exit this time, and the woman was nowhere to be seen. Mister Carroll was walking towards his car, and when I stopped him, he had a look of terror on his face. He said, "Oh god, they got him, too!" He jumped into his car and sped off.
Omar and I ran down the hill, awaiting the bus to the city. I wasn't going to call my grandmother, this time, because that's what reset the clock last time.
I got on the bus and Omar went back to the school. He said something about not wanting to fail his classes. I got to the mall and switched buses, then ending up outside of the apartment complex that I called home. Walking to my apartment, I saw a person dressed in a purple suit and nearly screamed, until I realized it was just our neighbor on his morning run.
It was 9:34 when I got to the apartment and I told the story to my mother. She didn't believe me at first, until she saw how scared I was, something she didn't see often.
There was a knock on the door and the peep hole revealed the woman in purple. I told my mother to quietly gather necessities, we had to leave.
"We know you're in there, come on out," said the soft, sweet voice. Almost enchanting. I reached for the door knob and almost turned it before I realized what I was doing.
I grabbed the paprika shaker from the cupboard in the kitchen, and when my mom was ready to go, I opened the door and spewed the spice into the woman's face. She stepped back and shrieked, we noticed two men in black running for us. My mom and I made it to the car, got it started and drove away while the men gave up and tended to the woman in purple.
I called my dad, fearing these people would already be on their way to his house and work place. He heard my story and didn't believe it until my mother told him that she encountered the woman in purple. He told us that he would leave and convince my brother to stay hidden.
My father, mother and I met up at a gas station, some hundred miles or so from the school. Our next action had to be planned out. We decided that calling the police would do no good, as we had no proof that something was happening. Our decision was to flee the state.
We drove north, to Oregon. My grandmother lived up there, in the middle of nowhere. We'd be safe there. So we hid for two months, until a woman in purple came knocking on the door. It was a different woman, but that suit was the same, and she had the same enchanting voice.
The three of us fled out the back, into the forest behind the house, hoping to evade them. We waiting until sundown to return to the house, only to discover my grandmother and her husband gone. The house still neat and tidy, everything as it was before we hid, except those two.
I didn't sleep well that night, and when I did, I dreamed some times of the first woman, some times of the second, and some times of both, but every time, the only words they said were, "I'm coming."
We decided to flee across the country to Virginia. None of us knew anyone there, it was unlikely the women in purple would find us. We stole a car every time we passed a state border, to cover our tracks, and once we were in Virginia, we hid in a homeless shelter for two weeks.
We decided that it was time to contact the authorities, and we finally went to the police station to tell our tale. The police didn't believe us at first, but said it was their duty to try to protect the people.
They sheltered us like they would people in the witness protection program and had a team of men watching the home round-the-clock.
When that first woman showed up, none of the police radioed their HQ. After the fact, we figured they had been taken down by men in black. When she showed up and there was nowhere for us to run, we finally gave in. They took us.
After that, it was all a blur. I remember a facility, completely unpainted, where they tried to find people to jam wires in to. After a few months of secretly searching for anything and avoiding the wires, I figured out that they were wiping the peoples' brains clean and then turning them in to a processor, similar to ones used in a computer.
They were all linked together, and every time they added a person, they increased their power. I still don't know what they were using them all for, but I do know that by the time they were hooked up to the wires, they were already dead. Not physically, their bodies and minds still functioned, but they were no longer people. They had no control over what was happening.
I escaped the facility by finding one of the suits and hitching a ride in one of their trucks. I saw my mother and father hooked up to the machines as I left, the blank stares on their faces driving me to tears. That image is burned in to my head now, and I see them when I close my eyes.
After three years of being a man in black, I worked my way in to the higher levels of the facility. I still couldn't figure out what they were doing with all that processing power, but I did find files that referred to what they were doing as Project Zeus. I never found any files related to my brother, and I knew he had to still be out there somewhere.
Eventually, I found my way in to the center of the organization. I still don't quite understand what was going on there, but I do know that they were trying to build some kind of a super weapon. I was contacted by a woman in red when I found my way in to the center of the project with priority clearance one.
This woman in red was determined to take down the company responsible for the project. She claimed that there was a way to reverse the process and give everyone back their minds, and that she needed someone with priority clearance one to do it.
I followed her instructions for two weeks while we waited for the right time. Eventually, everything was ready to reverse the process. I would have my mother and father back, and we'd be able to live together without fear of this company again! I couldn't be happier.
And then, I found that the red-clad woman lied to me. When I activated the programs that were supposed to give people their minds back, all of the data from every computer in the facility was erased and the people that were hooked up to the computers died, their minds stopped working, their bodies shut down.
The woman in red told me to get out of the facility, they were going to blow it up. Grief stricken and fearful, I ran out of the compound and the buildings exploded.
That was the end of my troubles with the women in purple. But now I had a woman in red to deal with. That's a story for another time, I suppose.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tell me what you think!
By the time I got there, though, something felt wrong. Usually, I started the day in PE, which meant going to the locker room to change. The first bell rang and all of the students went to class. I waited by the locker room, but the door never opened. The rest of my class and I just went to the gym.
Usually, there was a proctor standing outside of the gym to make sure no one was breaking school rules. She wasn't, that day. No one thought much of it, thinking she may just have been sick.
The gym opened and we all went inside slowly, sat down in our usual places on the floor and waited for the coaches. Two substitutes showed up instead, and again, no one thought anything of it. The coaches made it a habit not to show up.
So, we went through the class, and everyone proceeded to their second period classes. That feeling of something wrong got stronger and stronger as time went by, until the bell rang, and I just pushed it aside while I walked to my class.
My geometry teacher, Miss Geurtin, was there that day. I was relieved to see a friendly face - she was nice, if not the best of teahcers - but that wrongness never lifted. In fact, it was probably strongest during her class.
The bell for the next class rang, and I was off to the other end of campus. I saw my third period teacher, Mister Carroll, crossing to the front of the school. As I passed, he caught my attention, handed me a note and then just went on his way.
I opened the note immediately, thinking it had to be important. The only two words it said were the only two words that could have scared me that day. The teacher and I were both fans of a show called Doctor Who, and the two words written on that paper, in the series, signaled the end of the world, and my teacher didn't play around like that. He was a serious man, and I knew I had to get out when I saw "BAD WOLF" written on that discrete note.
I walked to the edge of the campus before I called my mother, nearly in tears, saying that she needed to come pick me up because the bus wouldn't be there for hours yet. She told me to call my grandmother, who lived a lot closer. So I did.
My grandmother found me at the end of the street, and then took me to her house. I explained the situation, as best I could without seeming like a nut, and she took me home.
I don't remember exactly what happened next, but I woke up in a class room, a blanket over me, with a woman in a purple suit going around the room and taking people out. I wasn't sure what class room I was in, but I knew it had to be the trailers on the west side of campus, farther away from where I wanted to be than any other part of the school.
"Wake up," the lady said to me in a sweet voice. I remained still, not opening my eyes. "Hm. I was told very specifically to get this one, but it seems there isn't enough room left, so I'll just have to come back."
She left swiftly, and once the door was closed, I got up. The teacher of the class was one I had seen around the campus before, but I didn't know his name. Tall and thin, wearing a button-shirt and slacks with a tie, he looked like he was a twin of Mister Carroll today.
The room was lined people sleeping under similar blankets to mine and kids sitting upright in their chairs. I didn't know what was happening, but I knew it wasn't good, and I left as soon as I was able.
Outside the room, I saw the woman still striding towards the east of the school, where I knew she must have a car parked. I tried to avoid her as I made my way back to the north end of the school, but she saw me and started to chase. Her high heeled boots prevented her, and I was able to get to the other side of the school without any more trouble.
A man in a black suit replaced the proctor on the north ramp outside of the school and I knew it must be one of her goons. I went back up to the western end of the school and around it entirely. I opened my phone, preparing to call my mother, when I noticed that it was only 7:12 AM. School had just started, but I had been knocked out during third period.
I rushed back to the gym and got someone to let me in. The coaches were still gone. My friend, Omar, was walking laps around the gym as was usual. I caught up to him and started to tell him about what was happening, quietly and pausing every time we passed one of the coaches.
He agreed to help me get back to my home, even if it meant ditching this evil place. That's when I noticed; The feeling of wrongness was gone and hadn't been there since I awoke under that blanket.
The bell for second period rang and Omar and I took off running toward the edge of campus, out the east exit this time, and the woman was nowhere to be seen. Mister Carroll was walking towards his car, and when I stopped him, he had a look of terror on his face. He said, "Oh god, they got him, too!" He jumped into his car and sped off.
Omar and I ran down the hill, awaiting the bus to the city. I wasn't going to call my grandmother, this time, because that's what reset the clock last time.
I got on the bus and Omar went back to the school. He said something about not wanting to fail his classes. I got to the mall and switched buses, then ending up outside of the apartment complex that I called home. Walking to my apartment, I saw a person dressed in a purple suit and nearly screamed, until I realized it was just our neighbor on his morning run.
It was 9:34 when I got to the apartment and I told the story to my mother. She didn't believe me at first, until she saw how scared I was, something she didn't see often.
There was a knock on the door and the peep hole revealed the woman in purple. I told my mother to quietly gather necessities, we had to leave.
"We know you're in there, come on out," said the soft, sweet voice. Almost enchanting. I reached for the door knob and almost turned it before I realized what I was doing.
I grabbed the paprika shaker from the cupboard in the kitchen, and when my mom was ready to go, I opened the door and spewed the spice into the woman's face. She stepped back and shrieked, we noticed two men in black running for us. My mom and I made it to the car, got it started and drove away while the men gave up and tended to the woman in purple.
I called my dad, fearing these people would already be on their way to his house and work place. He heard my story and didn't believe it until my mother told him that she encountered the woman in purple. He told us that he would leave and convince my brother to stay hidden.
My father, mother and I met up at a gas station, some hundred miles or so from the school. Our next action had to be planned out. We decided that calling the police would do no good, as we had no proof that something was happening. Our decision was to flee the state.
We drove north, to Oregon. My grandmother lived up there, in the middle of nowhere. We'd be safe there. So we hid for two months, until a woman in purple came knocking on the door. It was a different woman, but that suit was the same, and she had the same enchanting voice.
The three of us fled out the back, into the forest behind the house, hoping to evade them. We waiting until sundown to return to the house, only to discover my grandmother and her husband gone. The house still neat and tidy, everything as it was before we hid, except those two.
I didn't sleep well that night, and when I did, I dreamed some times of the first woman, some times of the second, and some times of both, but every time, the only words they said were, "I'm coming."
We decided to flee across the country to Virginia. None of us knew anyone there, it was unlikely the women in purple would find us. We stole a car every time we passed a state border, to cover our tracks, and once we were in Virginia, we hid in a homeless shelter for two weeks.
We decided that it was time to contact the authorities, and we finally went to the police station to tell our tale. The police didn't believe us at first, but said it was their duty to try to protect the people.
They sheltered us like they would people in the witness protection program and had a team of men watching the home round-the-clock.
When that first woman showed up, none of the police radioed their HQ. After the fact, we figured they had been taken down by men in black. When she showed up and there was nowhere for us to run, we finally gave in. They took us.
After that, it was all a blur. I remember a facility, completely unpainted, where they tried to find people to jam wires in to. After a few months of secretly searching for anything and avoiding the wires, I figured out that they were wiping the peoples' brains clean and then turning them in to a processor, similar to ones used in a computer.
They were all linked together, and every time they added a person, they increased their power. I still don't know what they were using them all for, but I do know that by the time they were hooked up to the wires, they were already dead. Not physically, their bodies and minds still functioned, but they were no longer people. They had no control over what was happening.
I escaped the facility by finding one of the suits and hitching a ride in one of their trucks. I saw my mother and father hooked up to the machines as I left, the blank stares on their faces driving me to tears. That image is burned in to my head now, and I see them when I close my eyes.
After three years of being a man in black, I worked my way in to the higher levels of the facility. I still couldn't figure out what they were doing with all that processing power, but I did find files that referred to what they were doing as Project Zeus. I never found any files related to my brother, and I knew he had to still be out there somewhere.
Eventually, I found my way in to the center of the organization. I still don't quite understand what was going on there, but I do know that they were trying to build some kind of a super weapon. I was contacted by a woman in red when I found my way in to the center of the project with priority clearance one.
This woman in red was determined to take down the company responsible for the project. She claimed that there was a way to reverse the process and give everyone back their minds, and that she needed someone with priority clearance one to do it.
I followed her instructions for two weeks while we waited for the right time. Eventually, everything was ready to reverse the process. I would have my mother and father back, and we'd be able to live together without fear of this company again! I couldn't be happier.
And then, I found that the red-clad woman lied to me. When I activated the programs that were supposed to give people their minds back, all of the data from every computer in the facility was erased and the people that were hooked up to the computers died, their minds stopped working, their bodies shut down.
The woman in red told me to get out of the facility, they were going to blow it up. Grief stricken and fearful, I ran out of the compound and the buildings exploded.
That was the end of my troubles with the women in purple. But now I had a woman in red to deal with. That's a story for another time, I suppose.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tell me what you think!
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