Rooms Read online

  They reached a large warehouse that he had noticed soldiers leaving just moments before and yanked him inside. It was dark inside except for a few small overhead lights. They threw him on the floor and spoke in angry tones to each other. Rad couldn’t understand what they were saying, but he knew he was in danger. Both men had bloody patches on their clothing. They’d been injured in one of the blasts, but the wounds didn’t seem serious. He also noticed that they had similar armbands with unusual lettering on them. One pulled out a gun. He was swinging it around as they yelled at each other.

  Rad looked around. Fear and adrenaline rushed through him. ‘How could this be the Room?’ His life was in danger here. These were real people in the middle of a real war in a real world. But then he remembered his fright and flight response during the second level of the Room when his life was in danger there. He’d made it through that. The thought grounded him and gave him focus. He breathed and began to search for a way out. He wondered if he would have to kill to survive.

  Then Rad made a decision. He turned back towards the two men and spoke as firmly as he could, even though he knew his voice shook slightly. “Do either of you speak English?”

  They both stopped for a moment and stared at him. One had a sneer on his lips and spittle coming out of his mouth from the force of yelling. He shouted something at Rad and waved the gun in his face. Then he turned away, and the two continued their angry tirade.

  Rad wished he knew what they were saying. It might help, but he didn’t. So he continued look for another way out of this mess. He noticed a small vehicle located a short distance away along with some other pieces of machinery that he might be able to hide behind. A little farther in the distance he could also see a small crack of light entering the building. It might be a door.

  He was deciding what to do when another massive detonation rattled and shook the ground. The two men grabbed on to each other as they lost their balance for a moment. This was Rad’s chance.

  He sprang to his feet, ran to the car, and slid behind it. Shots rang out. He’d made it, but he could hear the two men running towards him. He moved as fast as he’d ever moved and ran to the next piece of equipment, looked around for some type of weapon, and found a large iron bar on the ground. With the bar in hand, he cautiously glanced around the barrier at the men running his way. There was no way that they knew he had a weapon, so he grasped it as tightly as possible and focused his attention on the one with the gun. Once the men were near enough, Rad jumped out and swung the bar in a downwards arc as hard as he could. The bar cracked against the man’s hands. He yelled in pain and dropped the gun. The other paused for just a moment. This gave Rad the chance to jump for the gun and grab it. He wrapped his hand around it and pointed it at the men. Their eyes changed from hatred to fright as Rad had them move towards a door to his right. He pushed the handle down. It opened, and he saw a room inside with no other exit. He signaled the men inside, shoved a heavy piece of equipment in front of the door and placed the bar behind the handle to lock them in.

  For the moment, he was safe, but outside he could hear the destruction continuing. Nowhere was safe. He ran towards the crack of light that he’d noticed before. It was an exit – a street lamp lit the night outside the door. He glanced out, opened the door, and sprinted towards what he thought was a park a short distance away.

  But he didn’t make to the park. He stopped, frozen in his tracks. Just as he had started to run through the noxious smoke from the bombs, an emotional shock hit him. All around him lay thousands of people, parts of people, blood, cries of agony - total bedlam.

  In the middle of all that, he saw a small, young girl running wildly among the bodies, screaming, and crazed with fear. Without thinking, Rad ran towards her. Her clothes were torn and shredded. She was alive, but where was her family? He caught her and held her. She struck out in terror and tried to pull away, but he held her close and did his best to let her know that he was not trying to hurt her. She slowly stopped struggling, but her body continued to tremble as she cried and shrieked in his arms. Inside, he, too, screamed, ‘My god this is sick!’

  He kept his arms around her, and she finally turned her head and buried her face in his chest. Her tears soaked his clothing, and her loud cries of desperation echoed inside his body…as terror rained down on the city…in the dark.

  21

  The Room: Level 3

  AmeriCorp

  Rad awoke with a rush of emotion - his eyes wide - his body, gasping for air. Panicking, he quickly glanced around, he saw that he was no longer in a war zone and between breaths, he hissed, “Shit! Where the hell am I now?”

  He was sitting against a wall in an alley of a very different city. Someone had just been checking his pockets. They moved away when they saw him open his eyes. Others shuffled by, glaring down at him, and still others sat in makeshift shelters and were avoiding looking at him altogether. What all of them had in common was that they all seemed to be destitute and poor. Their clothing was worn and patched and had obviously not been cleaned in a good while. Many had hair that was matted and thick with oil, and some were obviously ill while others seemed in decent enough health. All of them carried the heaviness of suspicion or wariness on their faces.

  Then Rad glanced down at his lap where, only a moment before, he had held the young child against his chest. His heart lurched, and he again suffered the agonizing despair that had accompanied that horrific event. He could still hear her cries and see the mangled bodies lying helter-skelter about him.

  Then, without respite, there was another assault on his senses. He was suddenly hit by the strong and sour smells that permeated the alley. His body reacted on its own. His eyes watered. He bent over, and retched.

  Recovering his equilibrium, as well as his dignity, Rad stood up very slowly. At the end of the alley, he noticed a street and walked towards it.

  As he exited the alley, he glanced up and saw large, architecturally benign buildings along both sides of the street - all with a similar structure and look. Throngs of people were passing by that appeared, at first glance, to be much better off than those in the alley. They were dressed in plain, unsullied clothes, walking, riding bicycles, or traveling on small three-wheeled vehicles with engines that spewed out noxious fumes. Some were eating at food stands that had sprung up everywhere along the street; others were rushing to get to their destinations. Many were going in and out of the nearby buildings.

  Rad’s clothes had somehow been altered since his last experience. He now wore a very simple pair of gray pants and a light brown shirt, very much like what the people had on around him. As before, he had no idea exactly where he was or why, but he had the impression that the people who lived here had an exceptionally busy, sterile, and sad existence. Not a single person was laughing or smiling. Very few were even talking, and then, of course, there were those in the alley…

  In the distance, he saw a metal rack that held several old style bicycles in various stages of disrepair. Some people were grabbing them, hopping on and riding. He thought to himself, ‘Why not?’ and walked over and chose one of the better ones and started riding. He recalled reading about and seeing images of these types of bicycles. They were nothing like his speedcycle, but they would allow him to look around and cover more ground than he could by merely walking.

  It took him awhile to get used to riding, but as he did, he traveled outside the city and noticed many small huts. They seemed to go on forever as he watched the same type of people that he’d noticed earlier going in or out of them, probably traveling to or from work. The homes were incredibly close together with clothing hanging between many of them, drying in the acrid air.

  As he continued on, he came to a part of the city that was entirely different. There were parks that were green and neatly landscaped with very large and shiny buildings interspersed within them. The people entering and leaving those structures carried themselves much differently and were clean and very well dressed. They were even us
ing a different means of transportation. They were coming and going in small flying vehicles.

  Rad noticed two men and three women leaving one of the buildings. They all got into a flying machine and took off. He followed and was able to keep them in his sights as they flew back towards the heart of the city.

  He’d been peddling as hard as he could and had just entered the main part of the city again when he noticed that the vehicle was slowing down. It landed on the roof of one of the nondescript, tall buildings, and he pulled to a stop and gazed upwards. He hadn’t noticed before, but the top two floors of each of the buildings in this part of the city had more windows and looked more livable than the floors below.

  Rad sat there on his bike and realized that everything that he’d seen up to that point had only caused him to have more questions. He thought back to when he had first regained consciousness in the alley and decided that he might find some answers there if he looked more carefully.

  On his way, the one thing that he was able to decipher was that this world had a deeply engrained class structure. Down the alleyways, he gazed at the people that he had seen when he first arrived. These people didn’t go in or out of the buildings and had dirty rags on for clothes. They huddled in the many side streets and alleys, and their only transportation, as far as he could see, was their own two feet. They were settled into the heart of the city – not moving out to where most of the others lived in the small huts.

  Arriving back at the alley, he found a young woman who looked to be about his age huddled inside a brown, ragged box with her young daughter. They were sitting on top of a tattered cushion. He moved closer, and her eyes focused nervously on him. She scooted back into the box even farther; although, it didn’t seem that she did it as much out of fear as out of caution. Her eyes and demeanor were brave and defiant as she grabbed a piece of wood that lay on the ground nearby and waited to see what Rad was going to do.

  He raised his hands in a gesture of appeasement and tried his best to seem non-threatening. Then he spoke to her. “Don’t worry. I…I just want to talk. I have some questions that you might be able to answer. I won’t come too close. I promise.” He smiled at them, and the daughter gave a shy smile back. The mother noticed but remained cautious and serious – her gaze unwavering, as she watched Rad’s every move.

  “What kind of questions? Who are you, and why did you walk into our alley?” she asked in a strong, derisive voice.

  Rad could tell from the way she spoke and carried herself that she was probably educated. It was confusing. “You speak well, like you’ve had an education, yet you’re living here in a box with your daughter. How can that be?”

  “I am well educated! Don’t you know anything?”

  “I’m new to your city and trying to understand what’s going on?

  “New? What do you mean new? People don’t just travel in or out of any city in AmeriCorp.”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t know about your home, this AmeriCorp, and I did just get here. I came in from outside the city. I’ve always lived a lonely life and thought I’d come in to see what was going on.” It was a guess on Rad’s part about how he might not know about her home. His ruse might not work. He’d know soon enough.

  The woman thought for a moment and then said, “I’ve heard about people like you who live in the mountains west of here. I never believed it, but now I’m thinking that maybe there’s something to it. Your name is Rad?”

  ‘Whew,’ Rad thought to himself, giving a silent sigh inside. “Yes. Could you tell me more about what’s going on here, and can I ask your name?”

  She avoided the name question for now and said, “Okay, we’ll talk, but we’ll have to be careful and watch for the tiny eyes.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You don’t know about those either? They’re tiny mechanical devices that continually move about the city by the thousands. They monitor and record us. They are the eyes and ears of the AmeriCorp Government and the PoliceCorp. We have to be constantly on guard. If you see me move my little finger like this, we’ll need to change the subject and talk about something benign. Just follow my lead. Also, I think you should take that shirt off and put this on. You won’t look as much like you’re a Worker then.”

  “Okay.” Rad couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘Their government was spying on their own people?’

  The woman must have changed her mind about giving her name. She said, “My name is Jana. I’ve been an Outcast for about three years now. My husband stayed in the Worker’s group. I haven’t seen him for a long time.”

  “Jana, do you mean that you chose this life instead of working in the buildings and living outside the city in the huts?”

  “Yes.” Jana’s daughter snuggled closer to her and seemed to be listening intently to their conversation.

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Well…” Jana stopped talking and raised her little finger. Rad didn’t look around, and they started talking about how warm it was last night. He noticed a small hum coming from above his head and couldn’t help but feel somewhat violated knowing that his every word and movement were being recorded. The tiny device hovered for a few moments, moved down in front of his face, and then flew off.

  Rad exclaimed, “Shit! That felt gross!”

  Jana commented, “You get used to it… Anyway, we all live in AmeriCorp – a country that is basically one big corporation. Everything, and I mean everything, is about money and business. Human rights have gone by the wayside as well as most of our freedoms. I believe that the Outcasts – that’s who we are - actually have the most freedom. Yes, we’re poor, and our lives aren’t easy, but if we’re careful not to create any problems for the government, they pretty much leave us alone.”

  She continued, “There are basically three levels to our society, and every city in this huge country is designed in the same way. There are the Elite, the Workers, and the Outcasts. The Elite are in the corporate government and at the head of all the smaller businesses and corporations. They are, to varying degrees, extremely wealthy and will do anything in their power to stay that way and remain in the Elite. The Workers are just what you would think. You probably saw them on the streets, and they work for the corporations. Their wages are just enough to allow them to live and purchase the goods they need from the corporate businesses. They’re not wealthy by any means, and their lives are heavily controlled and sadly very short. They work long hours, and their freedoms are limited. There are some other groups such as the PoliceCorp and the MilitaryCorp that work with the Elite to help them maintain control over everyone. Then there are the Outcasts. The Elite would like to see us disappear, but they put up with us as long as we stay out of their way. If we’re seen mixing with the workers or out of our hideaways during the day, we’re picked up and never seen again. The Outcasts are people who have made the decision to not be part of the corporate society. As I said, in some ways, I think we have the most freedom, but it’s a dangerous and very difficult existence.”

  Rad sat, listening. He remembered reading something about this time, but living it and talking to Jana made his stomach turn. This was Earth, and this seemed to be what was once called America. He remembered from his readings that that country used to tout its freedoms and its people’s individual spirit. ‘What the hell happened?’

  “Could you tell me a little more about the Outcasts?”

  “Of course. The Outcasts are made up of the leaders and thinkers that disagree with the corporate government as well as people who, through little fault of their own, have become homeless. In our history, the Outcasts’ ancestors tried to change the path that this country was traveling down before it got this bad, but they were unsuccessful and most of them were rounded up and eliminated. However, now, there are a lot more of us again, and we also have quite a few sympathizers within the other levels of our society, even the Elite.”

  She hesitated a moment as if deciding what she should say next. “There’s
more that I could tell you about what is going on, but you have to know that I’m putting myself and you in great danger by saying anything at all. I trust you to a certain extent because I’ve never met anyone quite like you, but I have to be honest. I don’t trust you completely.”

  “I understand. I’d feel the same. One more thing… I hate to ask, but I’m terribly hungry. Do you have any food that you could share? I rode all around the city today on one of the bicycles that I found, and I’ve been awake for a long time. It wouldn’t have to be much…”

  “I think I can help.”

  ***

  Daveed was in the PoliceCorp control room as his communication device beeped at him. He picked it up and noticed that a new video had been tagged. He clicked it and watched two people talking – a man and a woman. They were outcasts. He knew their location, and they seemed to just be chatting about the weather, but the video had been tagged because the computer’s database didn’t recognize the man. He was classified as an “Unknown.” In all the time that Daveed had worked for the PoliceCorp, this had never happened. He notified his supervisor, and they immediately sent a PoliceCorp vehicle out with three officers to find the man and bring him in.

  ***

  Rad had changed back to his worker shirt and left the alley on his bicycle. He found a small park nearby and was eating. The food was simple, but it should sustain him. He was grateful, and he could sense his energy returning. He couldn’t help but wonder about all that Jana had told him. This country was a place where its people suffered in silence, were worked to the bone, and whose lives were incredibly limited. The wealthy and powerful controlled almost every aspect of their lives and lived with very little concern for either the Workers or the Outcasts.

  At that moment, Rad looked up from his food. One of the tiny eyes was again hovering over him. Then he saw a large flying vehicle traveling in his direction about a hundred meters from where he sat. On the outside, he made out the word, “PoliceCorp”.