Void
Chapter 1: Prologue
It’s dark, and cramped. I can’t see five inches in front of my face. All of the sudden I see a light, and a voice saying “I found you Pierce”. I got up and crossed my arms “Okay Vance you win”. I was happy at that time, but that was just a memory.
Now Vance and I both decided to work in the military force at different ranks. He is a frontline soldier, while I work in espionage. I sit in my chair at my desk, waiting for my next assignment. My assistant walks in and hands me a file “Your next assignment” she says before leaving.
I looked over the file memorizing important details. Then something catches my attention. The name Peter Wilkins sounded strangely familiar; I just wish I could figure out why.
Suddenly it hit me; Peter was my cousin whom I hadn’t seen for years. How could he get wrapped up with the information black market? He was such a good kid. By now he should be about 19 years old.
I can still remember his crystal blue eyes, peaceful enough to calm a raging lion. He had short red hair, and he was always broad shouldered. After all, his dad was one of the world’s best MMA fighters.
We would play in his house which was fancier than most, because you got your house depending on your job. We would play alien attack in his massive gold painted room covered in fancy paintings. We played together a lot, because we were neighbors and there was only 3 hours of camp a day.
The Ambassador didn’t like educating citizens. He would rather have us pick a job as children and go through three hours of training a day. The cleanliness of the camps depended on the job type. For example, the garbage patrol camp is filthy, but the military camp is clean as a whistle.
I walked down to the soldier barracks to talk to Vance. After explaining the situation he stood there with a blank look only able to say “How could it be peter?” I scratched the back of my head thinking of what to say. “I don’t know, but apparently he’s been doing this for awhile.”
I exited the barracks and walked to my car as it started to rain, which happens a lot since they sent the massive supply of water to the moon base. The rocket had a fuel leak and exploded. That sent the water into the clouds. I can’t really picture a clear sunny sky. It is always cloudy or raining.
I got in the car and tried to start it, but I noticed something. There was no rumbling, no engine trying to start. I got out and opened the hood of the car, and to my surprise everything was there, everything except the engine. “That’s just great.” I muttered under my breath. I started walking to the nearest X-port.
After about fifteen minutes a narrow tube-shaped car pulls up to the port and I sit in the cramped chamber. The car then zooms off at about 90 miles an hour from one port to another. Eventually the car gets to my stop and I struggle to get out of the cramped space. As I walk to my doorstep I become instantly drenched by the heavy rain.
I walked inside and took off my tie and jacket. I went to the kitchen and looked through the cupboards for something to eat. For some reason I avoid the fridge. I just had this bad feeling about it.
I sat in my reclining chair in the den, and turned on the science channel on the Comunivice. It was like a television, but can be used as a computer or landline phone as well. They announced that someone hadn’t lived the current life expectancy, which is 135 years old, and died at 53 years old. At the very least our Island went the longest amount of time without getting sick.
After watching some fairly pointless shows, that are surprisingly still showing, I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth thoroughly. I had a very bad dental record as a child. I went to my room and grabbed a book off my bedside table. I loved reading about the forest island Leprith. I was stuck on the city Island Acaroth. After a good hour of reading I fell asleep.
I woke up the next morning and went through my typical routine of getting up, eating breakfast, going to work, and waiting for assignment information. This was a typical day for almost anyone. It kind of feels like everyone is in a repeated rut that we can’t break. I hate it so much.
After lunch Vance runs up panting. “Pierce, they have Peter in custody!” he shouted taking gasps of air in between words. There was only one thing that went through my mind, and that was they caught peter. Immediately I rushed down to the interrogation room.
When I got to the I.O. room, which is the interrogation observation room, I looked to see one of my coworkers questioning peter. It was John, and he was one of the best we had. There was a problem though, every time John asked a question Peter wouldn’t answer. It wasn’t hard to tell John was getting impatient.
John had finally given up after half an hour. Peter always was good at being quiet. They decided to send in the next best interrogator who went through hours of training for things like this. It was a man named Jack, but here’s the thing he was wearing his required interrogation costume. He was wearing a Barney costume, and after singing that song for five hours the culprit is bound to either give in and tell or go insane.
Peter had been in there for three hours now. I fell asleep around two and a half. When I woke up I saw a man, not Jack but another wanted black marketer. He was holding a gun to Peter’s forehead. Immediately I ran out of the I.O. room and down the hall. For some odd reason I was handed a rubber duck by my secretary.
I finally got to the door when I heard a gunshot. That sound made me hesitate to open the door. When I finally opened the door I saw peter’s dead body on the floor. I could only process one thing at the time, revenge. I was going to get revenge if it was the last thing I did.
The killer turned and pointed his gun at me, but not quickly enough. I was just fast enough to jam the small rubber duck down his throat and grab the gun. When he got the duck out of his mouth I filled his chest with the remaining bullets. “So that’s what the rubber duck was for” I said as it exploded with confetti.
I ran to the barracks to find Vance but he had already left for home. I decided to call his cell phone. “Come on pick up!” I said impatiently running home. He needed to hear this.
“Hello?” Vance said answering the phone
“Vance, peter is dead!” I said quickly and out of breath
“What how is that possible?” he replied silently “No time to explain go to my house and get the case file on the coffee table”
“Okay but I get one of your imported sodas.” I can’t believe he would say something like that at a time like this “Fine”
As I got to my house the place exploded. I couldn’t feel my legs. Not only was Peter dead, but now Vance was dead too. As I went through the wreckage I noticed a small barely detectable detonator in the fridge. I knew it was a good thing not to open it.
I heard sirens closing in and I knew I would be blamed. I could only do one thing, run. I ran to the port and got on a boat to the refuge Island Kuruk. Everyone on Kuruk isn’t allowed on the other islands because they are usually guilty or charged with a crime. The other reason I chose Kuruk was that someone there may know who is behind the death of Peter and Vance.
End of Chapter 1.
As the boat approached Kuruk I remembered that they took your picture so you couldn’t leave. I decided to abandon ship and swim to shore. They say the ocean is “infested” with creatures, but that’s just some made up fairy tale to keep refugees from escaping. Only two people escaped. However, they didn’t get far before they were gunned down.
I finally got to shore after 10 minutes of floating. I ran into an old decrepit shack to hide in until nightfall. It was a dusty old thing. There were cobwebs everywhere, an old piece of moldy cheese in the corner, a karaoke machine, and some strange symbols carved into the wall.
When night came I quickly ran from building to building getting as far inland as possible. I had heard a rumor that there was a secret underground tunnel in the middle of the island. It’s supposed to lead to the criminal underground. Maybe someone there knows who shot Peter.
As I got further in the Island got more and more decrepit. I could see ruins of shops and wreckage of houses. Tall buildings now only a few inches tall still hot from fire that occurred years ago. This was why the island was named Kuruk. Kuruk means hopeless.
I found the Centra Tower, which is the building in the center of every island. I walked inside looking for anything out of the ordinary, but there was nothing. I looked everywhere and found nothing. I walked up to a safe, which was clearly damaged internally, and opened it.
Inside of the safe I found a small black cipher book. It had songs similar to the ones at the shack karaoke machine. There may have been more to that shack then I thought. I decided to read the book.
It was a children’s songbook. Why would something like that be in a big building like this? Then I noticed one of the pages was bookmarked. It was an old song every child was told.
Nothing is right
With a bird’s first flight
It can soar and fly
Or fall and die
It can be fast and free
Or its life can end
With death’s liberty
Just around the bend
It was one of those creepy songs that had no meaning, but oddly it was required to be memorized by everyone. I always thought there was something strange about the lyrics. Although you have to remember it was made by the residents of the so-called master island Kempri. Some homeless man started singing it when the X-78 exploded, and then everyone joined in.
After I snapped back to reality I ran to the old shack and played the song on the karaoke machine. Instantly nothing happened. ”Waste of time” I muttered quietly. It looks like I was wrong about the machine.
As I left the shack I fell into a new hole in the road. When did that get there? After falling around 30 feet I landed in a vat of jelly…not cool. I climbed out only to have a gun pointed to my head.
“This is no way to treat a person who just fell into a vat of jelly” I remarked.
“Just get up and walk” the voice said pushing the gun’s cold barrel against my skin. Judging by the voice’s light and girlish tone I would say that my captor is female. When I turned to look at the person I saw a youngish girl, probably early 20’s, but I was expecting to see some teenager boy who will never hit puberty.
As we were walking I started to hear strange music. It sounded like rock or techno. I was never a music person so I wouldn’t know. I finally saw the source of the music when we reached the command center.
They had big speakers playing the music. You could hear it throughout the whole inner section of their base. It was extremely loud up close. They stuck a headset on me that everyone in the CC (command center) was wearing to communicate over the music. I could barely hear the music with the headset on, or are my ears still unable to pick up sound due to the loud music?
Chapter 1: Prologue
It’s dark, and cramped. I can’t see five inches in front of my face. All of the sudden I see a light, and a voice saying “I found you Pierce”. I got up and crossed my arms “Okay Vance you win”. I was happy at that time, but that was just a memory.
Now Vance and I both decided to work in the military force at different ranks. He is a frontline soldier, while I work in espionage. I sit in my chair at my desk, waiting for my next assignment. My assistant walks in and hands me a file “Your next assignment” she says before leaving.
I looked over the file memorizing important details. Then something catches my attention. The name Peter Wilkins sounded strangely familiar; I just wish I could figure out why.
Suddenly it hit me; Peter was my cousin whom I hadn’t seen for years. How could he get wrapped up with the information black market? He was such a good kid. By now he should be about 19 years old.
I can still remember his crystal blue eyes, peaceful enough to calm a raging lion. He had short red hair, and he was always broad shouldered. After all, his dad was one of the world’s best MMA fighters.
We would play in his house which was fancier than most, because you got your house depending on your job. We would play alien attack in his massive gold painted room covered in fancy paintings. We played together a lot, because we were neighbors and there was only 3 hours of camp a day.
The Ambassador didn’t like educating citizens. He would rather have us pick a job as children and go through three hours of training a day. The cleanliness of the camps depended on the job type. For example, the garbage patrol camp is filthy, but the military camp is clean as a whistle.
I walked down to the soldier barracks to talk to Vance. After explaining the situation he stood there with a blank look only able to say “How could it be peter?” I scratched the back of my head thinking of what to say. “I don’t know, but apparently he’s been doing this for awhile.”
I exited the barracks and walked to my car as it started to rain, which happens a lot since they sent the massive supply of water to the moon base. The rocket had a fuel leak and exploded. That sent the water into the clouds. I can’t really picture a clear sunny sky. It is always cloudy or raining.
I got in the car and tried to start it, but I noticed something. There was no rumbling, no engine trying to start. I got out and opened the hood of the car, and to my surprise everything was there, everything except the engine. “That’s just great.” I muttered under my breath. I started walking to the nearest X-port.
After about fifteen minutes a narrow tube-shaped car pulls up to the port and I sit in the cramped chamber. The car then zooms off at about 90 miles an hour from one port to another. Eventually the car gets to my stop and I struggle to get out of the cramped space. As I walk to my doorstep I become instantly drenched by the heavy rain.
I walked inside and took off my tie and jacket. I went to the kitchen and looked through the cupboards for something to eat. For some reason I avoid the fridge. I just had this bad feeling about it.
I sat in my reclining chair in the den, and turned on the science channel on the Comunivice. It was like a television, but can be used as a computer or landline phone as well. They announced that someone hadn’t lived the current life expectancy, which is 135 years old, and died at 53 years old. At the very least our Island went the longest amount of time without getting sick.
After watching some fairly pointless shows, that are surprisingly still showing, I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth thoroughly. I had a very bad dental record as a child. I went to my room and grabbed a book off my bedside table. I loved reading about the forest island Leprith. I was stuck on the city Island Acaroth. After a good hour of reading I fell asleep.
I woke up the next morning and went through my typical routine of getting up, eating breakfast, going to work, and waiting for assignment information. This was a typical day for almost anyone. It kind of feels like everyone is in a repeated rut that we can’t break. I hate it so much.
After lunch Vance runs up panting. “Pierce, they have Peter in custody!” he shouted taking gasps of air in between words. There was only one thing that went through my mind, and that was they caught peter. Immediately I rushed down to the interrogation room.
When I got to the I.O. room, which is the interrogation observation room, I looked to see one of my coworkers questioning peter. It was John, and he was one of the best we had. There was a problem though, every time John asked a question Peter wouldn’t answer. It wasn’t hard to tell John was getting impatient.
John had finally given up after half an hour. Peter always was good at being quiet. They decided to send in the next best interrogator who went through hours of training for things like this. It was a man named Jack, but here’s the thing he was wearing his required interrogation costume. He was wearing a Barney costume, and after singing that song for five hours the culprit is bound to either give in and tell or go insane.
Peter had been in there for three hours now. I fell asleep around two and a half. When I woke up I saw a man, not Jack but another wanted black marketer. He was holding a gun to Peter’s forehead. Immediately I ran out of the I.O. room and down the hall. For some odd reason I was handed a rubber duck by my secretary.
I finally got to the door when I heard a gunshot. That sound made me hesitate to open the door. When I finally opened the door I saw peter’s dead body on the floor. I could only process one thing at the time, revenge. I was going to get revenge if it was the last thing I did.
The killer turned and pointed his gun at me, but not quickly enough. I was just fast enough to jam the small rubber duck down his throat and grab the gun. When he got the duck out of his mouth I filled his chest with the remaining bullets. “So that’s what the rubber duck was for” I said as it exploded with confetti.
I ran to the barracks to find Vance but he had already left for home. I decided to call his cell phone. “Come on pick up!” I said impatiently running home. He needed to hear this.
“Hello?” Vance said answering the phone
“Vance, peter is dead!” I said quickly and out of breath
“What how is that possible?” he replied silently “No time to explain go to my house and get the case file on the coffee table”
“Okay but I get one of your imported sodas.” I can’t believe he would say something like that at a time like this “Fine”
As I got to my house the place exploded. I couldn’t feel my legs. Not only was Peter dead, but now Vance was dead too. As I went through the wreckage I noticed a small barely detectable detonator in the fridge. I knew it was a good thing not to open it.
I heard sirens closing in and I knew I would be blamed. I could only do one thing, run. I ran to the port and got on a boat to the refuge Island Kuruk. Everyone on Kuruk isn’t allowed on the other islands because they are usually guilty or charged with a crime. The other reason I chose Kuruk was that someone there may know who is behind the death of Peter and Vance.
End of Chapter 1.
As the boat approached Kuruk I remembered that they took your picture so you couldn’t leave. I decided to abandon ship and swim to shore. They say the ocean is “infested” with creatures, but that’s just some made up fairy tale to keep refugees from escaping. Only two people escaped. However, they didn’t get far before they were gunned down.
I finally got to shore after 10 minutes of floating. I ran into an old decrepit shack to hide in until nightfall. It was a dusty old thing. There were cobwebs everywhere, an old piece of moldy cheese in the corner, a karaoke machine, and some strange symbols carved into the wall.
When night came I quickly ran from building to building getting as far inland as possible. I had heard a rumor that there was a secret underground tunnel in the middle of the island. It’s supposed to lead to the criminal underground. Maybe someone there knows who shot Peter.
As I got further in the Island got more and more decrepit. I could see ruins of shops and wreckage of houses. Tall buildings now only a few inches tall still hot from fire that occurred years ago. This was why the island was named Kuruk. Kuruk means hopeless.
I found the Centra Tower, which is the building in the center of every island. I walked inside looking for anything out of the ordinary, but there was nothing. I looked everywhere and found nothing. I walked up to a safe, which was clearly damaged internally, and opened it.
Inside of the safe I found a small black cipher book. It had songs similar to the ones at the shack karaoke machine. There may have been more to that shack then I thought. I decided to read the book.
It was a children’s songbook. Why would something like that be in a big building like this? Then I noticed one of the pages was bookmarked. It was an old song every child was told.
Nothing is right
With a bird’s first flight
It can soar and fly
Or fall and die
It can be fast and free
Or its life can end
With death’s liberty
Just around the bend
It was one of those creepy songs that had no meaning, but oddly it was required to be memorized by everyone. I always thought there was something strange about the lyrics. Although you have to remember it was made by the residents of the so-called master island Kempri. Some homeless man started singing it when the X-78 exploded, and then everyone joined in.
After I snapped back to reality I ran to the old shack and played the song on the karaoke machine. Instantly nothing happened. ”Waste of time” I muttered quietly. It looks like I was wrong about the machine.
As I left the shack I fell into a new hole in the road. When did that get there? After falling around 30 feet I landed in a vat of jelly…not cool. I climbed out only to have a gun pointed to my head.
“This is no way to treat a person who just fell into a vat of jelly” I remarked.
“Just get up and walk” the voice said pushing the gun’s cold barrel against my skin. Judging by the voice’s light and girlish tone I would say that my captor is female. When I turned to look at the person I saw a youngish girl, probably early 20’s, but I was expecting to see some teenager boy who will never hit puberty.
As we were walking I started to hear strange music. It sounded like rock or techno. I was never a music person so I wouldn’t know. I finally saw the source of the music when we reached the command center.
They had big speakers playing the music. You could hear it throughout the whole inner section of their base. It was extremely loud up close. They stuck a headset on me that everyone in the CC (command center) was wearing to communicate over the music. I could barely hear the music with the headset on, or are my ears still unable to pick up sound due to the loud music?
