The Test, a Short Story

The Test

I ran. I am not sure why they are chasing me. I just know I have to run. I am running through streets of Seattle, twisting and turning through alleyways, jumping over fences, but I can’t lose them. The sun is down. People are chasing me.

I did not think the piece of paper that I found in the chess book that I checked out from the Marysville Library would cause so much trouble. I had escaped by bus since they had followed me to my house. I then went to Seattle. When I had left the bus I saw them and discovered that I had never lost them.

I shake my head. No time to think about what had happened. I have to focus on keeping my life, and that requires being in the present. Not in the past. The piece of paper in my pocket has some kind of great value or purpose. Why else did they follow me this far?

After getting of the bus I had planned to go to my mother’s house and hide there. I was going to wait there for a few days until my pursuers would lose interest, though I hoped they would not even have to do that. That was before I discovered that I had never lost them. If I maintained that plan I would not only risk my own life, but the life of my mother as well. So there is only one option at the moment. Keep running.

I now think that I have limited endurance; I should have fallen over by now. Maybe it’s the adrenaline. I should better keep running until I am in complete safety. I will probably fall over whenever I stop. I will probably not be able to run again for a few hours soonest. No, I will run. Run until it kills me.

__________________________________________________________________________

I get to see another day after all. Nineteen year olds should not have to imagine their death.

I look around the concrete room that I wake in. My memory is a blur for a few moments. Why am I here again? Then I remember. I had been running for my life around Seattle from some men that wanted some paper I had.

The Paper! I suddenly think. I pull it out from my right pocket jeans.

I unfold the paper and start reading it. It simply reads:

-Seattle: 47.631750, -122.309389

-Chicago: 41.98018, -87.27225

-Boston 42.32630, -70.93920

-Denver 39.63985, -104.87191

-Insider

This is the most confusing thing I have ever read. Four cities and coordinates for each one. All of this fuss for something as simple as this? What are those coordinates? Secret military bases? It does not matter much to me. I am simply angry at myself for not reading this earlier. I would not have risked his life for this. I fold the paper back up and shove it back into my pocket. I then turn the situation around. They followed me for this?

I stand up and start to walk. My legs are very sore. I continue anyway. What had made them so sore? Probably the running. I do not care about that anyway.

I think I hear something. A hum maybe. It must be my imagination playing tricks with me. Then, a few minutes after I put away with the thoughts about the humming noise, I hear it again. Louder this time. It is coming from the window. Strange, I did not notice a window there before.

I stand up, my legs hurt like before, but I still walk slowly to the barred window. It was now that I notice that I am in some kind of basement, because when I look out the window I see a field that is as high as the bottom frame of the window. About ten feet away there is a drone, it is stationary. This drone is humming. So that’s what the sound was. I am relieved.

Suddenly the drone starts flying. Staying a few inches above the ground. It continues this until it reaches the window. I resist the urge to pull back from the window. The drone lands again. I decide split second to reach out to the drone. I turn it so that it will fit through the bars.

When I pull it into the room. I look for a switch on the bottom. I am disappointed to discover that there is none, but I find something else taped on the drone instead. Another paper. Before I am able stop myself I find myself removing the paper from the drone’s underside. I unfold it. It is folded with the same square fold as the paper with the coordinates. This one has no such numbers though. It simply reads:

GUARD THE PAPER WITH YOUR LIFE!

That is the most disturbing thing I have ever read. It tells me to guard this paper with my life. That is absurd. Then I remember. The other paper, the coordinates. That must be the paper the new note is talking about. Could the note be for me? Nothing else makes much more sense. I have to make a choice. Guard the list of coordinates, or give them over and save a lot of pain.

I am struggling over what to do when the ceiling opens a few feet in front of me. I am sweating like a polar bear in the desert. Who was coming down?

First comes his legs. He is wearing dark blue jeans. Then the man falls down and lands on his feet. I then recognizes the man. My pursuer. I panic. The paper! I shove both papers into my left back pocket.

“Give it to me,” the man says with an angry tone.

“What in the world are you talking about?” I ask. I am sweating twice as hard now. I am trying to act like I know nothing about the paper, but I hardly sound convincing.

“Stop playing these games. I want it, and I want it now!” The man yells. It was time for me to make my choice. Whether to give it over and avoid a lot of hurt, or to keep it and obey the note that was delivered by the drone. I am torn. What is so important about the list anyway?

I vaguely hear something, “This is the suspense of it all. Lives depend on his keeping the paper in his possession.” the voice says.

I will keep it. “No!” I yell back.

“What do you mean, ‘No!’?” The man says.

“I mean that I am not going to give anything to you. The paper stays with me!” I feel really confident at this moment. I am seemingly prepared for anything to happen. For the man to jump at me and pry it from my back pocket, for the man to pull out a gun and shoot me. I don’t know or really care. I only know one thing for sure. I will keep the paper. I will not let this man take it from me. Whatever the cost, if I have some kind ability to prevent people from dying, then I feel like I have no other choice than to use that ability.

I think I hear the voice again in the background. It is saying, “We finally found his strong point! He is going to succeed now! Pull him out.”

__________________________________________________________________________

The world around me slowly fades away. I am sitting in a gray seat similar to what a dentist might sit in patients in. I am wearing some kind of helmet.

I turn my head around the room I am in. It is fairly large. It has no windows. There is tons of electronic gadgets and gizmos everywhere. Then I focus on two people about ten feet in front of me, two people in white coats writing on clipboards.

One of them lowers his clipboard, “He did much better than last time. I think the new drugs are working!”

The other scientist does likewise, “Yes. I was impressed. It was not just the drugs you know.”

“You think the classes that he is taking are helping? We take away his memory whenever we run these tests on him. He remembers nothing until we give him back his memories.”

“The classes are supposed to shape his character instead of his mind. You know, the idea is that what he learned wouldn’t be affected if he lost his memories. I think it is working.”

“Believe what you must.” the man says with a sigh. There is a moment of silence before he asks her, “Is he awake yet? The drugs should have worn off by now.”

The woman looks over her shoulder towards me. “Yes. He is conscious.” she answers.

She then walks over to me, taps my helmet, and says with a grin, “You passed the test.”

Fall Writing

This fall I am planning to do some writing, much of which I will post here. I am going to finish the book that is titled now "The Mystery of the Journal" and also start a series for kids about animals. I plan to write the first book of the series this fall, before the end of October, and write the second one during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which is November. I plan to finish The Mystery of the Journal after I have edited the first two books of the kids series.

I also have a short story that I am now editing that I hope to post on this website soon.

Thank you for reading.

Book Ideas

I am posting some of my book ideas just to get them out of my head. I don't plan to use any of them until I have finished my book that I am working on now. Anyway, here they are:

-An AI program for the government has unintentionally stumbled upon top secret files in the database. Spyware. It unleashes the program to the world by email. It has no immediate effect on computers, but the AI can push the virtual button to destroy all of the computers he has infected. Mankind has to come up with an antivirus, or else the entire world will be devastated. Everything is run by computers, from water and electricity, to the machines that process the food we eat. A major problem they face in making an antivirus, is that they need computers to make it. Whenever the AI pushes the button, it is entirely hopeless. They have to come up with anti-ware fast. before it is too late.

-The world is no longer living, it is virtual. The entire rest of the world's population are put in deep hibernation and connected to computers. There is now a new world, a virtual one. Everyone is used to it, they do not even know that the places the live in are not real. That they are really people stuffed in boxes and connected to one main computer. Until someone leaves.

NaNoWriMo

I am now doing NaNoWriMo! I am working on a book I am calling it Saving the Doctor. Here is the description:

Augustyn is trapped in a space capsule near Pluto after an accident happened and killed all of his crew mates. James and Mariona will do their best to get communications with him and rescue him before an asteroid hits Earth. Augustyn is the only one who can stop it. Will James and Mariona be able to save him in time? Or will Earth be utterly destroyed by this cosmic object?


If you want to read what I wrote then go to: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W4ZniRl88bVVa9zRuGON-r3fWpELYqKIGSSrN7wwmeM/edit?usp=sharing

 I hope you enjoy my book.

Repost of Rein Chapter 1

There was some problems regarding the voices in Chapter 1, so I have edited it and re-posted it. I hope you find it easier to follow now. 

Chapter 1

The Quake

Rein watched from a cliff as a great red dragon blew fire everywhere on the town below. Houses burned, people screamed. Why was the dragon doing this?
He breathed a deep breath, the air seemed thin somehow, and very dry compared to the air he was used to.
Then he heard a voice from above him, it was so loud it seemed as though the clouds themselves spoke,

After these things the great beast will destroy the place where your heads rest, and where your cattle graze. Where your sons live, and where your fathers lie in their graves. It will all be destroyed. Do not follow the great beast as many will seeking for hope, though they will not find any, but stay in my words. Leave your homes, and go to the place I will show you

After what things? He wondered, and what was this strange thing in the sky. Somewhere in the back of his head, he recognized the voice. It was a very strange feeling, but Rein couldn’t identify it.

So he shouted, “Who are you?”

I am an enemy of the great beast who is destroying this city.

The voice soothed him. It was strangely comforting.

“If this is your enemy why do you not take action against it?”

The time will come when the beast will be gone from here forever. He will be sent to the Pit, where only the people he has deceived will go with him. Abide in me, Rein, and you will live with me forever in Paradise.

Rein stood high on a large cliff. About five hundred feet below him was a long lake, so long he could not see where it ended, so long it could have been a river, except for the fact the water was not flowing anywhere. Many people were jumping in the water. Maybe for a swim.

Suddenly the clouds seemed to fall on him. They continued down until they surrounded him like a mist.

I see you met the enemy. Said another voice different then the first. Not by the sound itself, but the 

feeling of it. Not that voices normally had feeling, but this one has much more feeling than it did sound itself. He could not see what the voice came from since the mist that had enveloped the world around him though.

“The voice from the clouds?” Rein answered this voice, trembling.

If that is what you call it, then yes, the voice from the clouds. He speaks lies to his victims, trying to lure them into believing his words.

“He seemed kind enough,” Rein told him.

That is his evil deception, and I see you are already being lured to it. Trust me, I have seen many people fall to him. It is devastating in the end.

“How do I know that you aren’t trying to do the same?”

I am sorry, I have to go now.

“How do I know who is right and who is wrong!?” he said, overwhelmed with the situation.

Trust me Rein. Trust me. I will not lead you astray. The first voice whispered to him. Trust me.

“How do I? I don’t know who is right and who is wrong. Help me,” Rein cried to the voice, “What is your name?”

“El-Rohi, and before your fathers were, I AM.”

Rein woke suddenly. It had been a dream. But the dream had seemed real, too real. It was as if he was there; and the weirder part was, it seemed oddly familiar somehow. He hated this feeling, he tried to think, but he could not find the thought he needed.

Rein got up out of his wide bed. Then he walked out of his room, he yawned and stretched his arms out. He breathed the fresh wet air around him, unlike the thin and dry air in his dream.

He walked through the hallway, doors beside him. He continued down a steep stairwell and into the kitchen. Where his mother was.

Rein Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The New Tutor

“Hello Mother!” Rein said to the woman standing, face away from him, at the counter. She was probably preparing food for the daily Grouping. As always.

“Hello Rein, I am just making food for the Grouping. As you might have noticed,” she kept up her work without looking away for even a moment.

“Yes, I did notice Mother,” Rein said to her.

“Go to the learning hall now, you don’t want to be late,” Mother said.

“Okay Mother,” Rein told her, “Bye!”

“Bye Son, see you at the Grouping,” she replied, still preoccupied with her work.

Rein grabbed a book off of the table. Then he rushed through a door marked Learning Hall.

Through the black wooden door was a large room. The room was completely gray. There was a switch on the wall by the door he had just entered. Rein pulled it. Instantly afterward the entire room changed. The grey room turned into a long grass meadow with hills as far as he could see. Then a man appeared. He was dressed in a long red cloak and also had red hair. Rein did not recognize this man. He expected his tutor. A tall lean man with back hair. Not this red head.

“Hello? Why isn’t my normal teacher here?” Rein asked the man.

“It is okay son; I am your new tutor. The other one had to be replaced. I have heard you are excelling in arithmetic. Good job. Now we start with our lesson.”

“Sure, but sir, can you introduce yourself to me?” Rein said.

“But of course I can,” the man agreed with a smile, “I am Lenard. Now on with the lesson.”

“Yes Lenard,” Rein obeyed.

______________________________________________________________________________

“That is it now. Okay Rein. Shut down the holographic room now. Good bye,” waved Lenard after the long lesson consisting of Language Arts, Art, and his favorite, Arithmetic.

“Yes sir,” Rein obeyed. He was sad to have to leave his new teacher so soon. Even though it had been a few hours, they seemed like minutes to Rein.

He walked over to a tree behind him and pulled a branch down on the tree behind him. In a split-second, the beautiful fields and trees changed back the grey room right on front of his eyes.

Who was this new teacher?

______________________________________________________________________________

It worked, he was in. Lukas would now gather the things he needed, and then leave. He only wanted to stay two weeks at max. Any more could be dangerous. Of course, the technology had decreased a bit since the Quake, but they still have some high end security.

He walked the streets of this underwater city, Shalohim. Soon to be destroyed. By the great Dark One, RokshaFa. The one who would finally end the schemes of the man named Gazilleon. Or as the Great Dark One called him, the cursed Gazilleon.

But why did his master have to kill everyone. Innocent lives. No, as RokshaFa had said before, “Innocence is the lamb for the slaughter.” Everyone, man woman, adult or child. They all would die.

“All for the Great Dragon’s will,” he whispered, “All for his will.”

______________________________________________________________________________

James ran as fast as he could. He had to warn his master. Otherwise He would die. Along with everyone else in the world.

He knew RokshaFa was up to something. Master Gazilleon would not listen when he told him. Hopefully he would listen now, since this was a r

eal threat, not just an assumption. If Master Gazilleon did not listen, they were all doomed, but if he did listen, there might be a possibility of survival.

James ran even faster. He had to get there on time. Had to. As his life depended on it, because it did depend on it.

He heard something rustling in the seaweed beside the road to his left. Probably nothing. He kept running until the tall wall came into sight. When he saw it he ran all the more. He could not keep this up much longer. So he slowed to a walk. He had time didn’t he?

The rustling returned. Louder this time. Hopefully it was nothing. Hopefully.

A man dressed in black garments jumped out of the seaweed. He held a rife.

“I am sorry slave. You know way too much,” the man said with and deep voice. He aimed the long rifle at James and increased pressure on the trigger.

Black.

Rein Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Beginning of the End

“The world is in your hands now, oh great Dark One,” said Lukas, bowing towards the man dressed in black sitting in an equally black kingly chair. RokshaFa. Lukas had no idea why his master was so obsessed in the darkness of black. Or why he had some strange rituals that he did to worship his master, whose name was not to be spoken in his presence.

“It is not as secure as you may think!” the Dark One said, “Gazilleon still exists. When he dies I will not have any risks of losing all I have gained from the last years.”

“What do I do about it, great Dark One?” he inquired, now trembling in his bow.

“Find him you idiot! Bring me him dead,” he yelled. Then he said softly grinding his silver teeth, “If you manage to survive yourself, that is.”

“I will bring him back Dark One, I swear,” Lukas pleaded.

“No you will not! If you think like that you will die in the effort,” he shot at him sharply. The noise was so loud and sharp it pierced his eardrum until it almost cracked. Lukas winced a little, but not too much, it would be terrible if the great Dark One noticed.

“I have come up with a plan,” the man dressed in the shade of black continued, “Ever since all the inhabitants of this world tried to drown themselves a whole thirty years ago because of the Quake, but they were rescued by the cursed El-Rohi and now the people still live. The water is inhalable now, but I can reverse His effect, everyone will drown. Unlike thirty years ago, they will die, along with Gazilleon. With this plan we do not even need to find the cursed man.”

“But-” Lukas blurted out. He immediately regretted it as he spoke.

“No argument!” he said with his ear-piercing scream again.

“Yes, yes oh great Dark One. I won’t argue,” Lukas trembled uncontrollably.

“But I need you for my plan,” he continued telling Lukas, “For my plan to succeed I need to find out how to decay the water until it becomes normal again, and for that I need samples of the water from the deepest part of the ocean.”

“Yes, but how much do you need to get a good idea of what you need to counteract the water, or should I say, air?”

“One hundred gallons from the main city. It will be trickier than you think, it is like air, not water anymore.”

“So I am supposed to-” Lukas paused, he did not want to regret saying anything offensive to his unforgiving master, maybe he should have stayed with ShabbaFa, at least he was a bit more gracious.

“Yes master Dark One, RokshaFa. I will get one hundred gallons of air from the bottom of the ocean.

“Good, you will pretend to be a stranger in the main city of the men underwater, Shalohim.”

“Yes sir Dark One, I will do so,” he acknowledged.

Lukas stood up and walked out of the room, through the wide oak doors and out towards the world outside. This was the beginning of the ending of the city called Shalohim.