Chapter Seven

I knew it wasn’t a threat. That officer meant it. He would pull the trigger. They would never give killing a second thought if it involved anything to do with fidelity, just like five years ago.

When I woke up from the Reader Incident, it was already past midnight. The clock beside my bed flashed “01:44”  in its ghostly green light.

Noticing that I woke up, ST quickly walked over.

“What happened?” I asked weakly. I tried to stand up, but my whole body was sore and aching.

“Dude, you were amazing back there! I couldn’t even believe it. You destroyed the Reader!” ST was excited seeing what I had done.

“I… What…”

“The processor in the the Reader was so overheated trying to read you that it got fried. Then the temperature burned out some of its internal circuits. Smoke was coming out of it and you could smell burned metal and plastic. Then all the lights died off and you could hear the short circuiting inside. They thought it was just an internal damage, but suddenly the thing caught on fire for some reason. There was probably a panic and a medic smashed a bottle of ethanol onto it.

“The Higher Officials were enraged seeing that, and they literally shouted, ordering me to go. So I carried you back to the dorm. The whole evening events in the camp was called off, and the privates were sent to their dorms early. Every worker was summoned to the Reader to analyze what had happened.”

The memories gradually came back to me. I remembered battling the Reader for hours.

ST continued, “You know that Higher Official who was connected to you to read you? He fell on the ground when reading you. The other officials didn’t end the reading, and they waited to see what happened. Then both you and him began shaking and twitching and suddenly that guy stopped moving. His eyes were rolled back into his head, and his face was so pale as paper. The medics checked his vitals and reported that he was dead. There were some serious nervous damages in his central cortex.”

I still couldn’t take in all those facts. I just hid my memory from the Reader, which was never done before. Then I broke it with my own mind power. And I just killed a Higher Official indirectly.

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We were trained not to feel anything when we kill. I never knew back then that it was to prepare for future. I was just shocked; it was hard to take in that I killed a Higher Official. I never saw them as people though. They were not humans. They didn’t have a name, a character, a background, a family; they were just empty moving shells without a soul inside. Besides, it was technically not my fault, I didn’t force them to strap me onto that Reader, and I didn’t force them to go through my head.

There was suddenly a few loud knocks on the door. A voice barked “AN128 come out of the door! The Higher Officials want to see you!”

ST and I turned on the camera screen, and we could see outside there were two men. Both of them were tall and strong. They had an evil look on their face.

I was about to open the door but ST frantically waved his hand to stop me. He pointed to his nose and mouthed “On power”, but it was so dark that I could barely see clearly. I didn’t understand what he meant, but I followed what he said.

“If you don’t open the door now we will force our way in!” barked the other man.

Still we didn’t do anything. My heart was beating so quickly and loudly that I thought the men on the other side of the door could probably hear it. I didn’t know why they would want me.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and the door sprang open, almost off its hinges.

“AN128 where are you?” The men shouted.

I was transfixed on the ground, but suddenly ST stood up, and walked over. “Run!” He whispered to me but in an intense and commanding tone.

I couldn’t comprehend what was going on, or why ST was telling me to run. I was transfixed on the ground, not knowing what to do.

ST walked over to the men, hands raised, and said in the clearest voice possible, “Yes I’m here. What do you want?”

One of the men suddenly drew out a pistol and shoved it into ST’s stomach, he pulled the trigger and didn’t let go. 12 rounds were fired before the clip was emptied!

I stared in horror. They had just killed ST! The men were leaving, having accomplished their mission. I rushed over to ST. His face was distorted in pain, his hand on his sidearm pistol but he didn’t have enough strength to pull it out. He stared with anger at the men leaving.

Then I understood.

ST wasn’t trying to say “on power” when I was about to open the door, but “gunpowder”. He smelled gunpowder from the men with his acute olfactory system. He realized that there would be only one situation why the men would be armed, and it was to kill me. And I also understood that ST saved my life.

“ST, why? Why did you take these bullets for me? Why did you let them think you are me?”

“I’m sorry AN… I broke… I broke your promise… I’m so sorry for letting them know… I brought you in trouble…”

“ST what are you talking about? It wasn’t even your fault. ST stay with me! Stay with me! I’ll get you help.”

“It’s no use AN… I could feel the bullet puncturing my stomach… Death was written in the book of my fate, and tonight was the last page…”

“No ST, no!” I cried, “Help! Somebody help!”

The voice echoed off the cold grey walls.

“AN, one last thing… We are friends right… Will you forgive me…” A single drop of tear flowed out of his eye. It was the first time I saw him cry, and also the last.

“I forgive you ST… Of course I do! We are always friends!” I held his hands tightly in mine, as if I’m holding on to his last remaining bits of life.

Adrenaline pumped throughout my whole body and I cried in pain and despair. I pushed down the lockdown button and sealed the door tightly before the men could step out of the final exit.

“None of you are going anywhere! Except hell!” I shouted!