Slum Enterprise - Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

The shipping docks were like being inside an iceberg. Arctic mice chewed everything into pieces to make cozy nests. The remaining army of lab technicians left the zone of interest with one goal in mind, leading Lee, Murphy and Scott back to the rendezvous point. They were all silent, nobody knew what to expect in the coming hours. 

The zone was completely destroyed, sales cogs laid everywhere knocked out, the HR SWAT began to wake up and wonder what the hell had happened.

The HR SWAT had let headquarters that was moved to the CEO building another kidnapping had occurred. The CEO was furious and called in the heavy guns of SWAT members. Since the last kidnapping the CEO had hired a 3rd party militia.

Men in gas masks painted to look like skulls and black combat gear secured the destroyed zone and spoke with muffled voices into walkie talkies. They picked up the badly beaten HR SWAT and dragged them over to the temporary infirmary unit. The unit was a mobile tent that also acted as an interrogation room. 

Everyone rounded up was to be treated for bodily harm and thoroughly interrogated for details on what had occurred. Some technicians were not so lucky and were left behind. The militia captured them immediately and discovered that the rest were heading to the shipping docks with VP in hand. Soon the militia would swarm and surround all that was left of the lab technicians inside the abandoned docks.

Sitting around a small barrel fire Lee had a wave of depression shake him. 

“It was all a lost cause, this act of violence was only to send a message, to inspire the rest to break down the barrier, but would it work? It was more complicated than that.” Lee thought in silence.

“The barrier they were trying to break down was a phantom barrier, a ghost, something that didn't exist. A wall of their own creation. The scary part was that the common worker/employee were the ones enforcing the barrier. The collective were keeping each other in check. It was a sensitive ecosystem that served to punish anyone who stepped out of line. Most of the people enforcing the phantom barrier didn't even know that they were the enforcers. Scott was an enforcer, Murphy, and even himself. Smoke and mirrors were keeping everyone in the dark and in line. If no one knows what is really going on, then no one can plan against it. That's the sinister function of the Life System. Control the masses by keeping the collective in the dark void in which we all bounce around in our flying orbs.” 

“Everyone is trapped in a quantum grey zone of purgatory. This was Lee’s idea of the dystopian nightmare, the nightmare was true, he was living it now. A place where people who are deemed capable, ambitious, and even happy are the exact opposite deep down inside. Everyone circles in the outer N4 "survival"  orbit, the mask is on full display broadcasting happiness while deep inside despair eats them away.” 

“No one knows how to combat it, the ones in power made the Life System complex and took away the tools to navigate the eternal rot of the soul. The ones in power have diminished all the desire to even traverse the hellscape that is reality. People see the never ending great wall and say why even bother, I don't have much time anyway, might as well enjoy what I can and distract myself from the rest. But once they start to distract from their true selves, nothing of true beauty and joy can enter ever again.”

“Luxory and vice rule the land and skewed the minds against the truth. What the human race has learned in the last 100 years is that they captured lightning in a bottle. The best thing to do now is set the bottle of lighting on the dusty shelf and sit back and watch it glow because that's all you're going to get. Nothing more will come. Right now our generation is getting the weak sound of thunder and tiny raindrops from a storm long passed. It's dark and we are lost.”

A man sits in a favorite recliner in his living room. The windows were locked tight. The outside glass had rain drops sliding down in the cold air. A shelf of finely labeled jars in the living room take glances from the occupants inside the house. The man on the chair says to the house occupants, "I've caught lightning in a bottle.” Some of the people smile with fake enthusiasm while others make no expression to the remark.

“Why did they come?” The occupants ask themselves. If it stops storming, now would be a good time to start the goodbye process. 

They walk around trying to find their personal belongings in piles on beds in empty bedrooms. They ask again if they even like the man sitting on the chair they came to visit. The man sure had a lot of special interests but this jar exhibit might be going too far on the insanity spectrum. 

As the party host (the man in the chair) explains the special jar and its inner workings and meaning the party goers can't even smile anymore. 

The guests say their goodbyes and leave the man. He doesn't mind being alone, especially since he still has the jar with lightning in it.

The party guests ride home and play sad rainy music to match the mood of the evening. The party was a disaster, extremely awkward and not fun at all in terms of interesting conversation. 

They arrive home and recap on the night, this could be the last time they ever attend one of the man's parties. They sit on expensive couches and living room chairs and stare at a jar of lighting of their own, the pocket screen. The void of sadness is swallowed up by a square shaped jar.

The man back at the house admires the battle between darkness and light. The only light source is the lightening jar on the shelf. It lets off a yellow flashing glow. His shadow is projected on the wall behind him with a strobe-like effect. Then he stands from the chair and walks to the shelf and grabs the jar. He shakes gently up and down as you do when you catch fire flies. The jar began to glow bright, almost blinding him. The light could be seen past the window shades if someone were to stand on the street corner and watch the house.

The glow illuminates the man's face as he cracks a huge smile of satisfaction and relief. 

Relief from the horrid world that causes paralyzing fear outside the walls of the house. He gets a warm, deep feeling in his stomach which radiates out to his extremities. Pure Bliss. “Lightning in a bottle,” he says to the void.

The small barrels fire burning damp wooden pallets and filtration paper barely give off any heat. The smoke filled the shipping dock, it was starting to get hard to breathe. 

Lee wrung his hands together trying to allow friction to warm his hands. Scott and Murphy were really roughed up. Their clothes and faces were ragged with blackness and blood. 

No one spoke in the cold. Lee heard coughing and drips from the leaking roof all around. This was the most dangerous building to be in terms of structural safety and the predicament they were all in. The militia would soon be on its way. 

The VP of sales was tied up and snoring loudly from Murphy's temple blow.

“No use if he's dead.” Scott said to Lee. “Check on him.” Lee poked the VP. The VP wiggled and went back into peaceful dreams.

Lee's state of mind had entered in undocumented territory. The darkness surrounding him matched the darkness in his head. Lee firmly believed that this could be all for nothing. The CEO would only tell him what he likely already knew. He shivered with the thought. 

The slums served some purpose. Lee had had theories, he dare not say them out loud now to the group. Everything just happened so fast that he never had time to sit down and think it all through, the anxiety and fear prevented all that. “I don't want to be here long” he thinks.

“What's taking them?” Lee asks.

“They’ll come, they’ll make an example out of us yet. I hope everyone updated their resumes and put a few bucks away in the bank.” Scott said. There were a few laughing sniffles in the dim light.

There was only one viable entrance into the shipping dock warehouse. The group sat far away from it leaving an empty echoey tomb as a buffer. Lee heard:

BANG…BANG…BOOM.

The doors exploded open and the militia came rushing in. It was so loud that everyone covered their ears in pain, the echo didn't help. 

The smoke at this point was so thick nobody could see the militia surrounding them. There were only shouts and heavy feet moving in the dense smoke. The cocking of rifles with rubble bullets could be heard next. Then, the sounds of switches being flicked. Red lasers pierced through the smoke onto the bodies of the lab technicians.

“You are all under company arrest, place your hands behind your head and lay your faces on the ground.” The militia leader screamed. The group did what they were told.

In a flash all the lab technicians, Lee, Scott, Murphy, were promptly zip tied and handcuffed. The militia grabbed them and led them out of the docks to the nearest campus building. It was a science building with a chemistry lab. 

They went into the biggest conference room on the main floor that could hold 150 occupants. The militia lined them up against the wall one by one and pointed rifles 10 paces away like a firing squad. 

The conference room doors swung open and in came 3 executive assistants to the CEO. They all wore matching short skirts and plastery business attire tops with four inch black heels. One had red hair, one blond, the other black. They all had glasses and were the same height and weight. 

The assistant broke the firing squad line and snapped open three black binders simultaneously. The red head spoke. “Hm, aren't you all such dedicated employees? Look at what a fuss you all have made. My name is Miranda, the CEO’s head effective assistant. Nice to meet you all.” Even in all of this corporate niceties were still shown. 

“First things first, is the VP of sales here?” Miranda looked at the firing line of bodies. 

One of the militia members left and came back with a tall skinny human slung around his shoulders. He set him down with a thud next to Miranda. 

Miranda went over and kneeled to whisper something into his ear. As she walked past the fire line Lee could smell her perfume. The VP came too and was incredibly angry and flustered. He rose but did not say a word, Miranda stood up and patted him on the head like a little boy. The VP leaned back over and whispered into her ear. She nodded and smiled and turned and looked directly at Lee. Miranda walked over and stood and admired Lee’s face like she was trying to deeply read his mind.

“Hm,” she grunted. She leaned down and was now faced to face with Lee. Lee didn't say anything. She rose and turned to the militia officer. “Take him.” The militia officer pointed and another member produced a black bag and put it over Lee’s head. Lee was blinded with the thick cloth, at least it smelled clean. 

His world went dark. He could hear the outcry of Murphy and Scott next to him. Miranda said “Enough, silence those two and fire the rest, no severance.”

Lee was lifted by his arms and dragged quickly out of the conference room.

Lee was running in the Nature Reserve. It was the beginning of fall. He passed the prairies and approached the wetlands. He felt good today. His heart rate was low and could feel the oxygen being forced down to his legs with ease by his heart. 

“One of the runs I could run forever,” he thought. 

Lee's feet crunch on dead leaves and gravel. The sky was a deep blue, the air fresh with a hint of dormancy. In the wetlands, he was hidden from view by the browning reeds and cattails. He looked back down at his feet and then at the oncoming path and stopped and slid on the gravel. 

A giant white Herring was standing in the path. It stood straight up. Long orange legs with a thin slim white body which lined up through a long skinny white body and neck to the head with a pointy orange peak. The Herring was staring directly at Lee. He didn't move, he even tried to hold his breath but it was difficult to do so. 

It was silent all around beside the low faint buzzing of cicadas and crickets baking in the sun on the gravel path. Lee's mind went blank, he focused deeply on the bird. After some time the bird made a move. It spread its long slender wings and took flight across the lake towards the center island. Lee admired its flight movements. 

The bird landed on one of the protruding oak branches that hung low over the lake. 

“A prime fishing spot,” Lee thought. 

Lee continued to run, he did not stare at his feet anymore in fear of other animal encounters. While he ran the bird watched him until he went into a tunnel of trees and brush. Lee couldn't see the bird anymore, only the darkness of the forest tunnel that was engulfing him.