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."

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.