Monday, February 28, 2011

Chapter 19

19: Miles away, at the Johnson/McGee Copper Mill, a man stood overseeing the implanting of the chips.  The massive iron structure of the mill offered little shelter from the elements, but it suited his needs just fine for now.  The Defectors served as guards and a few who were doctors helped out as chip implanters.  A 38 year old female road worker wearing an orange vest was currently on the operating table.  The surgeon sterilized the back of her hand with a piece of gauze dipped in hydrogen peroxide.  He then took his scalpel and made a half-inch incision in the center of the back of her hand.  An assistant handed him one of the chips and he used surgical pliers to insert it into the incision.  After that, it was a simple matter of three or four stitches and her hand was bandaged up to keep it safe from infection while it healed.
  The man who seemed to be in charge, known only as Rend, smiled with satisfaction at the sight before him.  He was of a medium build and dressed like a fisherman with a camouflaged vest and blue jeans with leather boots.  "There are only a few chips left.  Then these pathetic sons of Adam will soon be completely vanquished and the sons of Ithodyn shall have a new home on this bright blue globe."
  One of the Defectors, apparently a grocery store bagger wearing a forest green apron, turned to Rend and asked, "Who is Ithodyn?"
  "My young follower, Ithodyn is your new master.  Here on Earth you have the one you call Lucifer, which means 'bringer of light'.  On Sypraxia, we have Ithodyn, which also translates to 'bringer of light'.  He has his own followers who are the equivalent of dark spirits here on Earth.  You all have so much to learn and I shall teach you."
  A red-haired woman in her mid-twenties who wore a flower-print cotton blouse and khaki capris seemed to be disturbed by this and began to head toward the exit.  "Grab her.  Bring her to me."  Two of the guards seized the helpless woman before she could get very far.  "My poor child, what seems to be the rush?"
  With a horrified look in her eyes and a defiant smirk on her lips she replied, "I don't owe you anything.  Look at my hands.  No chip.  I am still untaken and I will never follow you."  She spat on the floor.
  Instead of walking to her, Rend seemed to melt before everyone's fascinated eyes.  This rush of what looked like water moved closer to her and then formed up again into the man they knew as Rend.  "Fool!  The Untaken shall all die!"  With that, he gently lay his hand over her mouth which didn't seem like a threatening gesture, but the woman's eyes went wide as she struggled for air.  He calmly pulled his hand away and she fell to the floor dead.  He had drowned her.
  Just then a middle-aged male Defector dressed in a yellow buttoned shirt with a brown tie ran into the mill and knelt before Rend.  "Rise, my loyal follower."
  "I just got back from town.  It seems that many of the Untaken have made their way to a local amusement park and are staying at a hotel there.  There's no telling what they're planning."
  "Good work, son.  We need to plan an invasion of this hotel of theirs.  There is no way of knowing what sort of danger they might be if they band together."  Rend turned back to the corpse on the floor.  "Get this wretch out of my sight now!"

Friday, February 25, 2011

Chapter 18

18: Once everyone was inside, the doors were barricaded shut.  The crowd was still exasperated by the display in the parking lot.  They gathered around the battle-wearied duo.  Barney turned first to Kenn.  "How do you know this guy here?"
  Kenn was breathing hard, but it wasn't just from his recent exertion.  He was in a heightened emotional state.  The crowd looked at him expectantly.  Finally he breathed a deep sigh and said, "This man killed my brother, Damion and injured me in a fight that we had years ago."
  Barney wanted badly to separate Kenn from Daniel, but still had some very important issues to discuss.  Next, he turned to Daniel.  He asked the question that was on everyone's mind.  "Are you a Defector?"
  Daniel was not as winded as Kenn and was just as calm as you please.  "You know I'm not a Defector, father."  There was a collective gasp from the crowd at this revelation.
  "Mr. Abbot, you're this fucker's dad?!" yelled Mina.
  Barney Abbot hung his head and took a deep breath.  "Yes, this is my son."  Nobody could believe this.  Everyone knew Barney from the commercials for Marble Cliffs Today.  No one knew he had a son.
  "This man is the Good Friday Killer.  He's a fucking serial murderer.  I've been searching for him for years.  How could you be related to him?" asked a flabbergasted Kenn.
  "I too have been trying to find him for years.  I knew I had to stop him, but he was always a step ahead of me," said a defeated looking Barney.
  "I know how you feel.  After he had killed Damion, he came to me and I didn't know what he had done.  I trusted him and he betrayed me."  Kenn pulled his left hand hard to his lap, yanking at the cuff maliciously and causing Daniel to stumble momentarily.
  "Yes, I have had a very dark past, but everything is different now," interjected Daniel.
  "Different because you got the chip?" asked Jeffrey, voicing the question that still had not been answered to the satisfaction of the crowd.
  "He didn't get any chip.  He's a fucking vampire!" yelled Kenn.  The crowd moved back at least another five feet.
  "But we saw you match him slug for slug out there," someone from the crowd pointed out.  Several heads nodded.
  Mina stepped in on Kenn's behalf.  "Kenn's not a vampire.  He has a reflection.  I've seen it."
  "Look!" shouted a frightened young girl in a frilly blue dress, pointing at a huge mirror in front of the hotel elevators.  Everyone looked at the place where the two men were sitting.  They saw Kenn, but there was no reflection of Daniel.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Chapter 17

17: At last, the convoy reached the amusement park.  The familiar smiling visages of Mortimer and Mirabel Marmot seemed extremely incongruent with the circumstances surrounding the group's purpose for being there that night.  Mortimer was a large brown furry animal who wore green denim coveralls and a brown felt top hat.  Mirabel wore a maroon dress and red shoes.  The park was organized into four little sections, each with a different theme.  The theme of the aforementioned My Minute Newt Children's Palace was child-sized things.  Every table, chair, building, ride and food portion was pint-sized for the tots.  Wildly popular among the two to five crowd.
  Mirabel's Den was geared toward little girls with attractions such as a toy animal stuffing kiosk where you could pick out your favorite empty, stitched animal shell, such as a bear, marmot, dog or lion and watch as it was filled with stuffing right before your delighted eyes and then stitched closed.  There were also lots of stores for things like backpacks, purses, tiaras, socks, shirts and such, with Mirabel's grinning face on them.  It was most notable for its award-winning bakery with birthday cakes available sporting any Happyville character of your choice as well as dozens of other baked goods.
  Mortimer's Warren was a building that was built to look like an underground marmot nest.  A marmot is a rodent such as a woodchuck or groundhog.  Each room of the building had a different nature-based educational interactive exhibit.  The rooms were connected by tunnels that an adult could walk through as well as smaller tunnels that children could crawl through which had one side made of a sheet of clear plastic so that parents could keep an eye on their children.
  The last section was the Eloquent Elephant with rides, a zoo and a gaming area.  Booths with all manner of games and prizes were strewn about.  There were rides ranging from teacups to roller coasters around every corner.  The most popular ride was the Beaver Dam log ride.  Riders knew they would get drenched.  There were also "Cooked With Love, Eaten With Relish" hot dog kiosks, gift shops, pizza booths, ticket counters and a gigantic video game arcade.  The zoo had sea life, birds, wildlife, and local animals like coyotes and javelina.  The Eloquent Elephant also was where the Hotel of Wonders sat majestically smack in the center of everything.  The hotel's exterior was built to look like a huge log cabin.
  Of course, no one would be enjoying any of these things except the hotel for some time now.  Gene would have to debrief his hotel staff as well as the current guests as to the ongoing situation.  Unfortunately, no one would be able to leave, as they were all now his responsibility.  The good thing was that summer vacation was almost over so there were only fewer than twenty registered guests checked in at the time.
  The park had closed at 10pm, so the rest of Gene's staff had gone home.  It was dark out and everyone was anxious to get into some form of shelter even if it wasn't their own home.  A crowd was quickly forming in front of the Hotel of Wonders.  In the parking lot, Mina noticed something that caught her eye.  "Kenn, that man over there has a green glow around him."  She pointed out a man who looked like he could be from the Middle East.  He had brown hair and wore a solid black t-shirt and black denim pants with black military boots.
  Kenn turned his head in the direction of the man Mina was pointing to.  Suddenly Stratford screeched, "It's him!" Immediately, Kenn recognized the figure before him and headed toward him, leaving Stratford with Mina.  Barney also seemed to take an interest in this strange man whom Mina saw a green glow around.
  Kenn got to him first.  "Daniel Reese.  What do you want here?"  He shoved him backward, but the man jumped impossibly high and landed on a nearby van top.  Kenn jumped right up there next to him.  Barney stood on the asphalt looking at the two of them.  The crowd kept their distance but gathered to watch the imminent brawl ensue.  They were amazed at the incredibly high leaps of the two men.
  Kenn crouched in a battle-ready stance while the man calmly stood straight as if nothing was going on.  Kenn lunged at Daniel, but fell straight down to the ground as the man swiftly sidestepped the attack.  It was as if he was toying with Kenn and had full confidence of the outcome of the skirmish.  Barney went to see if Kenn was hurt. Kenn leaped up and grabbed Daniel's ankles, causing him to lose balance.  Instead of falling though, he smoothly landed with his feet on either side of Kenn's ribs while Kenn lay on his back in a vulnerable position.  Barney then made a move toward Daniel, but with a single palm to his chest, he was propelled several feet backward into some nearby bushes.  It was never far from anyone's mind who stood witness to this fight, what Sandy had promised on TV about super-human strength from the chip implant.  Were these men Defectors?
  Using this momentary distraction, Kenn gripped Daniel's legs and threw him off his feet into a sitting position. Then he jumped twenty feet in the direction that Barney had landed and helped him to his feet.  As soon as he could ascertain that Barney was relatively unharmed, he flew toward Daniel with an intensity that was frightening. They locked arm and arm in a wrestling grapple with Daniel on top of the heap.  Kenn momentarily gained control and had Daniel pinned to the ground between his legs.  He aimed a fist at Daniel's head but Daniel was too quick.  Incredibly, Kenn's fist seemed to sink several inches into solid asphalt.  He was off balance and Daniel head butted him causing Kenn to reel backwards.
  "Dude, those guys are fighting!" exclaimed Lowe Freq.
  "I can't see a damn thing," complained Alexander.
  "Well shit, you ain't missing much.  It's pretty lame," commented Jeffrey.
  "How can you say that?  Did you see how high they jumped?" asked Carrionette.
  "Well OK, yeah.  But it's not like in the movies with, like, close-ups, different angles, you know.  Music, slow motion photography and all that shit that makes it more interesting.  It's just not the same in real life," said Jeffrey.
  "You're an idiot," said Lowe.
  Meanwhile, across the way, Kenn had fallen hard on his tailbone.  He was temporarily disoriented.  At this point, Daniel's hand shot out and gripped Kenn by the throat and swiftly pinioned him to the ground.  The fight was at an end and the prize went to Daniel Reese as Kenn struggled for breath.  In an unexpected turn of events, Daniel then released his grasp on Kenn and helped him into a standing position.  Barney made his way over by the two of them.  The three of them stood there for a while catching their breath from the battle.  It was Daniel who broke the silence.  "Kenn, Barney, I hope I haven't hurt you too badly.  I was merely trying to neutralize the threat you posed to me.  I have much to tell you, but we should all make our way into the hotel where we'll be safe.  I assure you, I am not a threat to anyone here.  I will even submit to being handcuffed if it will help you trust me long enough to listen to what I have to say."
  Curiously enough, it was Carrionette who said, "I have a pair of handcuffs."  She reached into her purse and pulled out a pair of furry pink handcuffs.  "Don't ask," was all she had to say on the subject.  Kenn moved to take them from her hand, but Barney stepped forward and clicked one cuff around Daniel's right hand and the other to Kenn's left.
  "What's this?" asked a perplexed Kenn.
  "No one should be able to do what we have all just watched you do.  It's nothing personal, but until we can trust you, I think we would all feel a lot safer with you like this," was Barney's reply.  Gene, the owner of the hotel had opened the front door of the hotel and the people filed into the lobby with a bevy of questions.  They gave Daniel and Kenn a wide berth.  Everyone was stymied as to the cause of this conflict between Kenn, Barney and the man called Daniel.  People were equally curious about the incredible feats of strength displayed by the two younger men in handcuffs.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Chapter 16

16: The band's van was chugging along behind Bill's truck and Kenn's car.  Carrionette pointed out the window at a natural geological formation illuminated by moonlight.  "Wow, look at that pretty plateau!" she exclaimed.
  "Isn't it a butte?" asked Jeffrey.
  Alexander was wearing his 'IQ=QQXdB' t-shirt.  "I've got blisters on my fingers," he complained.
  Lowe was wearing his favorite t-shirt which was black and proudly proclaimed in bold white lettering that 'Asian midget trannies are people too'.  He looked at Alex's hand and suggested, "You need to develop some callouses".
  "Yeah, do some calisthenics!" joked Carrionette.
They passed by a discarded hubcap lying on the side of the road.  "Hey, we should have picked up that hubcap.  It might have fit our van," said Alex.
  "We already have, like, three different kinds of hubcaps on this beast.  Besides, we need to get to that hotel," answered Jeffrey.
  "Dude, what is going on?  I thought we had a show tonight.  What is all this and why are going to Happyville?" The band's only female member, Carrionette, didn't know if she was more angry or confused.
  Jeffrey wasn't any less perplexed, but as the leader of the band, somehow he felt obligated to placate her troubled mind.  "I'm not really sure what's going on, but these people have my mother.  Somehow my stupid father seems to think that a bunch of people holding handmade poster board signs are our tickets to getting into that copper mill."
  "You never told me you were related to the A guy.  What is it between you and him anyway?"
  "He has never respected me as an adult.  He always treats me like I'm about to burn down the house if he doesn't control every aspect of my life.  You notice he didn't ride with us even though there's plenty of room in the van? He's got his precious black truck.  He's had that damn thing since I was twelve.  It's like his manliness personified or some such crock.  Whenever I screw something up he says, 'That's why you don't drive the black truck,' or his favorite, 'That's why I drive the black truck.'"  Jeffrey used a mocking tone on that last line.  "Before today, it had been over three months since I'd spoken with my parents."
  "Shit, dude.  That sucks."  Alex also seemed to have some issues with his parents.  "My dad's favorite joke is when someone asks if they can borrow something, he always says, 'Mi caca es su caca.'  I mean, it was funny the first time he said it, but give it a rest, man.  It just sucks because he never gave me shit.  You know, just because my dad got lucky and married my mom who is the heir to that damn nut company, he thinks he's all that.  My grandpa was Ignacio "Pepe" Rivas, founder of Ignacio's Pistachios with those 'Cracking open and discarding pistachio shells says nothing about the shells themselves, but it says everything about pistachios,' ads.  I could be rich, but my dad wanted me to earn my own way through life, the stupid pendejo."
  In the passenger seat, Lowe Freq had his own input on the current topic of discussion.  "My parents always told me that an old Chinese saying goes, 'The nail which sticks up gets hammered.'  Always yelling.  I used to call my dad, Old Yeller.  They tried to use money as their power against me.  It was their weapon of choice against my individuality.  Whenever I don't please them, they threatened to take me out of their will.  They want me to only marry a Chinese woman.  They've disapproved of all my girlfriends.  'Do you want my grandchildren to have round eyes?'  Boy, they bug the hell out of me.  Dude, how long until we get to this damn hotel?"
  Jeffrey could see the gates to Happyville Playland off in the distance.  "Not long now.  I can see the My Minute Newt Children's Palace lit up like a mystical world of happiness right up ahead."

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Chapter 15

15: Mina turned to Kenn and shared something that had been plaguing her mind since she first noticed it.  "Hey, Kenn.  Why do you spell your name with two n's?"
  "Well, as you know, Kenn is short for Kenneth.  I just always thought it sounded like something from the Bible.  You know, 'Whosoever kenneth unto me, kenneth as unto the Lord.'  No one talks that way anymore so I dropped the E-T-H from the end and was left with Kenn.  There is a madness to my method," he said with a lopsided grin.
  Mina laughed.  "I'm sorry I asked.  There's been something else that's been bugging me.  I'm not sure if it means anything other than I'm tired, frazzled and really confused.  When I saw Sandy on the TV, she had a red glow around her.  I thought it was just car lights or something.  I didn't pay too much attention to it at the time."
  "I don't remember anything like that," was Kenn's reply.  His eyebrows flew upward as he shrugged.
  "Anyway, I saw that same red glow around every one of the Defectors.  Well, not the ones in line to get into the copper mill, but the ones guarding who had bandages on their hands.  That can't be a coincidence.  What do you think it means?  I mean, please don't tell me you couldn't see it.  I'm too young to go nuts."
  Kenn chuckled a bit at that.  "I don't think you're nuts, but unfortunately again, I didn't see any kind of glow around anyone at the copper mill.  Maybe you're sensitive to spirits like Stratford here is."
  "I don't think so.  I've never noticed anything that ever made me believe in ghosts or spirits."  She paused for a moment and seemed to remember something.  "Sensitive to spirits.  I've heard that animals tend to be able to see things most people can't.  Is that how Stratford is able to tell you things he couldn't possibly know?"
  "Yes.  He's really my brother's parrot."
  "Oh, you have a brother?  Where does he...does he live with you?"
  "He was killed years ago.  His name is Damion.  Anyway, since he died, I've been taking care of Stratford."
  "Oh, that is so sweet of you.  I'm so sorry about your brother.  Were you close with him?"
  Kenn's eyes clouded over and he remained silent for a while trying to concentrate on driving.  Finally he regained enough of his composure to speak again.  "Yes, we were very close.  My mother always used to say, 'Two eggs fried in the same pan are hard to keep apart.'  I've never told anyone this, but since he died, we've been closer than ever."
  "I wish I had met Damion before he died.  He sounds like a good guy."
  "In a way, you already have met him."  Mina just looked at Kenn waiting for the other shoe to drop.  "You see, it is Damion's spirit who finds his voice through Stratford here."

Friday, February 11, 2011

Chapter 14

14: Bill drove his black pickup truck with Barney in the passenger seat.  Mina rode with Kenn and Stratford, while Jeffrey and his band drove in the band's equipment van to the Happyville Playland Hotel of Wonders.  Bill was deep in thought about his wife during the nighttime drive.  The moonlight through the trees spelled out its calming poetry on his dashboard as he made his way closer to his destination.
  The moon had always held his fascination.  The day's events had left him with an empty place in his heart, but somehow the moonlight was a comfort to him because it reminded him of how he had met Sandy years ago.  He had only been five years old, living as the child of rice farmers in South Korea.
  It was the day of the Korean celebration of Chusok, during which families go to the graves of their ancestors to honor them.  It was similar in concept to the Spanish Day of the Dead.  Bill, whose Korean name is Ahn Young Su (Koreans put their family name before their given name), hated Chusok because he had to wear a traditional Korean silk robe called a han bok.  It was full of bright greens, purples, yellows, reds and blues which he thought made him look like a girl.
  His entire family had come to his house since his father was the eldest son of his deceased grandfather.  The women had prepared all the traditional food offerings.  There were rice cakes (dok), dumpling soup, pears, bowls of rice, and a reddish orange fruit called persimmons as well as the traditional Korean rice wine called mokoli.  There were also incense burners, candles and photographs of the beloved deceased.  Everyone made the annual walk to the grave site.
  During the long walk, little Young Su, which translates to "Chief", was daydreaming.  He looked up in the wide blue sky and saw what looked like a white rock in the sky.  He had never seen anything more beautiful in his life. He tugged on the sleeve of his mother's han bok and asked in Korean, "Mother, what's that rock?"
  She looked down at him and said, "It is the moon.  See the rabbit?"  Instead of the man in the moon that Americans see, Koreans see a legendary jumping rabbit of traditional folklore, within the heavenly orb.
  That answer didn't make sense to Young Su.  He was taught that the sun came out during the day and the moon came out at night.  He had seen the moon a thousand times at night, but never imagined that it could come out at daytime.  He hoped this would not be the only time he ever saw this.
  When his family reached his grandfather's burial mound, the adults offered the food, burned the incense and bowed to the grave.  The children were made to bow as well.  Young Su saw that nearby was another family who was honoring their ancestors also.  This was no new sight during Chusok, but then he saw her.  There was a little girl adorned in her own han bok, but when she wore it, it didn't look so garish.  On her it was a flower of adornment.  Pure beauty.  In one day, he had discovered the two most gorgeous things he had ever seen: a daytime moon and this girl.  It was the luckiest day of his life.  When he had finished bowing, he went to her.
  She had also finished bowing and was standing under a tree.  He asked her, "What's your name?"
  She looked at him and giggled and smiled.  "Lee Hae Yoo," she replied, then blushed and giggled some more.  It was the most glorious sound he had ever heard.  They spoke together for almost an hour before the adults had completed their honoring of the dead.  From that point on, Young Su looked forward to Chusok every year so that he could see Hae Yoo.  She lived in the next village.  When they were old enough, he went to see her whenever he could.
  His father died of stomach cancer when Young Su was seventeen and, since he was the eldest son, his family came to his house in Tangjin to celebrate Chusok.  His father had been buried in the family's plot of land right next to his grandfather's burial mound.  Young Su took his responsibility very seriously to honor his father's grave, but he was not going to let that shackle him to this provincial life.
  He had grown up planting and harvesting rice in the water-filled paddies, getting leeches on his legs.  He swore that he would not raise his children that way.  Throughout high school he worked at a local noodle stand and saved his money so that he could go to college.  All through college, he saved his money.  He and Hae Yoo dated all through their college years and got married once they graduated.  He had studied business and she studied accounting.  They had plans to start a business of their own, but the Korean economy was in poor shape.
  When Hae Yoo became pregnant with Jeffrey, the two of them decided to move to America to make a new life for themselves and raise their child.  His mother hated the idea and tried to talk him out of it, but their minds were made up.  They knew that their business would have a much better chance of succeeding in the land of the free.  The only thing Young Su regretted was leaving behind his father's grave.  His younger brother took on the annual responsibilities at Chusok.
  Their baby was born in the summer of 1979 at the Sierra Dophlet Memorial Hospital in Marble Cliffs, Arizona.  Young Su and Hae Yoo had started their modest little Asian grocery store and it was beginning to get recognized.  Just as many foreigners do when they arrive in the United States of America, the land of opportunity, they gave themselves more American sounding names.  Young Su was now William and Hae Yoo was Cassandra.  They named their son, Jeffrey and it never even occurred to them to give him a Korean name.  That little store of theirs kept growing in popularity and size over the years.  Their son also grew through the years.
  And now Sandy was gone.  This thought brought Bill out of his reverie and he struggled to hold back tears.  There would be plenty of time to grieve in his hotel room tonight.  There was much to do before then.  Bill concentrated on driving for now.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Chapter 13

13: Bill had been thinking about the whole situation.  "My son, you are correct.  We are outnumbered if we remain just ourselves.  If we have the power of numbers, we will have a better chance of helping your mother."
  "Dude, you're the 'Have an iced A' guy.  Everyone knows you.  Why don't you talk to the Untaken and see if you can get them to help us?" asked Carrionette.
  "All I know for definite is that we've got to get away from here before some serious shit goes down," said Lowe Freq.  William Ahn walked around the gathering of the Untaken until they were between him and the Defectors.  One by one, people started to turn toward him, recognizing him from the television commercials they had all grown up watching.  He got up on a large rock and raised his hands to silence the masses.
  "My friends.  Those of you who have chosen to remain untaken.  These are confusing times.  These people, whether they are aliens or not, have kidnapped my wife, Sandy, better known to you as the 'Have an iced A' lady.  They have used her to speak to us of peace and kinship.  I don't know what is truly going on, but we all need each other right now.  There is an unknown threat here and we, the Untaken must band together to face it."
  Someone from the crowd had a question.  "How do we know there's a threat?  Yeah, so they used the A lady to talk to us.  A few broken eggs is only circumstantial evidence of an omelet."  Some in the crowd laughed nervously and all looked to Bill for his reply as if he had all of a sudden become the spokesperson for the Untaken.
  "They didn't just ask my wife to speak for them.  They made it look as if she had either been murdered or committed suicide and then they kidnapped her.  They cannot be as peaceful as they claim to be if that is what they are capable of.  I don't know exactly what threat they pose now because they wouldn't even let us into the refinery to talk to them unless we pledged our allegiance to their cause.  They're hiding something and I think they are a danger not only to this town, but possibly to the world.  Why would they have cut off our communication if they had good intentions?"
  "So what do we do?  Those people over there getting chips implanted in their hands are our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers."
  "Yes, they are, but they have chosen to align themselves with the Nocent and so potentially can become a threat to us as well.  We need to get away from here and seek shelter.  Our homes might not be safe."
  "But where do we go?  These people work with us, go to school with our children, live right next to us."
  A man in a grey, pin-striped suit made his way to the front of the crowd and stood beside Bill.  He was another familiar face to the citizens of Marble Cliffs.  "You are right.  We can't go back to our houses at this point because we don't know how safe we are at home anymore.  As most of you know, my name is Gene Crowley.  I am the owner of Happyville Playland.  In light of recent events, I am willing to open up the park's Hotel of Wonders to the Untaken to be a safe haven and refuge.  You are all welcome.  We should all get there as soon as possible so that we can barricade it against any threat.  I'm with Bill in saying that we're all in possible danger."

Friday, February 4, 2011

Chapter 12

12: The first of the humans had already gotten the chip implanted, jumping on the chance for super-human strength. A long line now stood in front of the monstrous steel structure which used to be the center of prosperity for Marble Cliffs, the Johnson/McGee Copper Mill.  Another group of people had also gathered outside the ore refinery with hand-made signs with such slogans as "The few, the Untaken," "Innocent 4 Life!" "No chip 4 Me" and "Proud to be Human."  They were shouting, "Hell no, we won't go!" and "I'm as strong as God made me!"
  The people in line were indistinguishable from the people holding signs, at least on the outside.  The employees of various companies aligned themselves with either side.  Families were split according to their personal choice. Both sides had construction workers, college students, business men, sports players, etc.  It all came down to who wanted to have this so-called super-human strength and who was suspicious of the whole shebang.  Many had questions and wanted to know more before picking sides.
  When Mina, Kenn, Stratford, Bill, Barney, Jeffrey and his band got there, tension was already forming between the two factions.  They even had unofficial names for the groups.  Those who had the chip were called the Defectors and those without were the Untaken.  A few small skirmishes broke out here and there, but for the most part, this had been a battle of words so far.  As time drew on, both groups became larger while a gorgeous Arizona sunset provided a stunning backdrop somehow both dramatic and soothing at the same time.  Riot police began to show up even though communications had been shut down.  Someone must have gone back to town to inform them of the growing situation.
  "We've got to get inside and see if we can find Sandy," said Kenn.
  "We've got to find out who the hell these people are and what exactly is going on here.  What is this chip shit? Am I the only one who is the least bit curious about that?" asked Jeffrey.
  "One thing's for sure, none of us should get that chip unless we find out more about these people," said Kenn.  There was a general consensus in the small group that the chip was not a good idea at this point.
  "Why does everyone keep saying 'these people'?  They claim to be aliens from another planet.  Let's at least try to acknowledge that something out of the ordinary is going on here," said Lowe Freq.
  The small group made their way to the front of the line and got as far as the gate.  Defectors, who had bandages taped to the backs of their hands to cover up the surgical scar from the chip implant, were guarding the entrance and allowed none except those who sincerely professed allegiance to the Nocent to pass.
  "Fuck!  Maybe we should try to break in," proclaimed Alexander.
  "Are you crazy?!  That would be tactically disadvantageous.  We don't know how many of these aliens there are.  We don't know how many Defectors there are and we have no idea if my mom's even here.  What we need is a plan.  We need to get the Untaken together and see if they can help us.  This isn't just a knock knock, who's there situation we have here.  We're in a serious battle of some sort that I think none of us really understands yet," exclaimed Jeffrey with an uncharacteristic passion which made everyone look at him and the circumstances in a new way.