The Wall (Extended) by S Mckee (best books under 200 pages .TXT) 📕

I was so glad to see my friend, so happy to be reunited with some semblance of normality but that was short –lived as Dansi cleared his throat behind me.

‘So......You guys know each other then.....That’s great....just great’, his voice trailed off towards the end but I am pretty sure I detected a tinge of jealousy in his voice. I smiled to myself whilst still in Quanes embrace. Maybe this little experiment could be fun after all, well maybe not fun but at least I could make my stay more bearable if I could make Dansi’s less bearable. The fact that I knew I had a hold over him made me feel like I could have a little fun.

My happiness that Quane was alive and with me was short lived because the final door was going to open any minute and I don’t think I could take any more surprises. We all stood in silence, Emelie was awkward shifting from side to side. I knew she was nervous; we all were for what we were going to endure. I had to be strong for her, for everyone; my adoptive mother always said I was the strong one but I never really knew what she meant until this moment. She said when I was younger I was always protecting my little brother, making sure he crossed the streets without getting injured, making sure he got right to his classroom door before I even got to mine; All the schools where in the same district within the Academic Hub so it never took me long to get to where I needed to be. She said I would be there waiting for him at three o’clock when all classes ended and the child curfew was due to kick in within the hour. I don’t remember any of this but then again who ever remembered their youth that well.

I missed my family so much when I lost them. I had been away on a field trip to the astrology Hub when the fire broke out. Apparently someone on the third floor of our apartment block had left the solar powered stove on at too high a setting and a fire broke out. The fire spread rapidly because the building was old and had no defences against the flames. At least that’s what I was told when I returned home to find the building only a pile of debris and ashes. It seemed suspicious to me, there were too many Zolites around at that time for it to be just your typical city fire. I was young, too fragile to question it at that point but now I’m beginning to wonder what really happened that day. I’ve been looking into it for the last few months but found concrete evidence that it was just a fire, it was too concrete like the facts had been doctored so no-one suspected, but I suspected. None of this means anything at all anymore, I can’t continue my investigation, I’m trapped in here sentenced to a life of poking a prodding, being a lab rat for our society so that they can live on, sacrificed for the greater good.

A hissing noise woke me from my day-dream, this was it the last door was opening, the last immune revealed, the violet door.

There was a boy standing in the doorway, well a boy in his twenties I would hazard a guess. He had blonde hair, very golden in fact, similar to the colour of my own even though it had become dirty with the events of the last nine days. They had only given clean fresh clothes since I woke up not let me leave the room to get myself washed. However, this boy in front of me was cleanly shaven and washed unlike the rest of us which I thought was rather odd. My thought didn’t stay there for long as a wave of familiarity hit me. This boy, I felt like I knew him, like I had always known him, like he was a missing puzzle piece I had been looking for but I wasn’t actually looking for it. It was just then I noticed he was also staring at me, wide-eyed like a rabbit caught in the headlights. He had a similar recognition across his face that matched my own. He composed himself very quickly in the blink of an eye, no-one would off noticed it unless they were staring intently at him which I was. He strolled over like the last 30 seconds and started to speak;

‘Hi Everybody, My names Luther and I’m an addict’

Everyone remained silent, stunned by what this stranger had just revealed. He laughed and continued,

‘Jeez guys didn’t think being immune made you lose your sense of humour. The only think I’m addicted too is cigarettes and so is half the population’

We all remained silent stunned that this boy could crack any semblance of a joke when we were all in such potential danger, trapped in what was essentially a giant cage.

‘Oooooookay.......looks like nobody here is a big talker so when you guys decide to get your heads out of your asses holler me’, He stalked back towards the direction of his bedroom.

I can’t let him just go back in there, I need to know who this boy is and why I feel like I know him and to be perfectly honest I was well aware that we all hadn’t made a good impression but I was too stunned at his initial introduction to actually voice any words.

‘Hold up!’, Shouted.

‘Sorry.....Luther, we are all just a little overwhelmed, you gotta give us a break we have just lost our family and friends to become prisoners of science, we kinda lost our sense of humour a while back’.

Dansi cut in, ‘Not me......we are all here for a purpose, a purpose greater than our own. We could find a cure for humanities biggest enemy, how could you all not want that’.

I swirled round, ‘Dansi have you ever actually stopped for a moment and actually thought.....How did the virus get here? Over the wall? Onto our streets?’

I looked around the room at everyone at this point,’ We were told the wall had been sealed up decades ago, no-one in and no-one out, so how could a virus that has been eradicated suddenly reappear unless it came from outside?, something is being hidden from us, the reason why the virus is back and they’

 I said pointing to the cameras,

‘know exactly how it got in or who got it in!, Yet we are the ones that have to suffer for society, we are the ones that have to correct their mistake. Maybe there is a greater purpose Dansi but it certainly isn’t ours!!’

Dansi remained silent only his jaw clenching, he was clearly angry with me but heck if I cared. His mind was so warped he would believe shit was edible if they told him it was. The room stayed silent for a while to the point where I almost swore I heard crickets but it was clearly my imagination. I was waiting for someone to speak but they all looked deep in thought now, shocked into realising that we really were completely and totally screwed. It was Emelie that spoke first,

‘Maybe.........

Text: Sarah McKee
Publication Date: 03-17-2014

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