Closed Eyes

Music is an expression of belief. It is a painting of sound. As it swells and grows inside you, as it beams and uplifts you, as it strengthens and provides the mood and tone for you, it creates a new personal message in every single individual. I loved music, although most of it had been done away with in Calimet. The unchecked ability to create and express emotions as before was not allowed on such a large scale as in the USA times. Back then, one song could dominate the culture and create the mood of the country for months at a time, yet usually never more. Calimet could not survive if someone published a song that attacked it. The USA hadn't. There was a Sound Division in every branch of the military that one had to go through to publish a song. This made for some poorly made songs. Especially as I woke up on a Saturday morning from my alarm clock as a kid to them. It was quite depressing.

Rachel though, loved them. Almost every single one. Not for the words, not for the message, but for the instruments. She loved hearing the pianos, the guitars, the drums, and the smooth and slick bass with each one. She would just sit there with her hands dancing around as if she was playing the piano herself, tapping the air as if it was calling her hands to move. Her light shaking and finger movements when she pretended to strum a guitar were as beautiful to look at as anything, especially as she closed her eyes and leaned on me. When she would play the drums she would bop her head up and down rhythmically while tapping her foot and throwing her hands around at the different drums and cymbals she envisioned. Her eyes were always closed and her mouth was always curled upwards as she hummed away to some unknown melody. Her hair would dance as well, always moving one beat behind her head motion, yet still synced to the rhythm as it yielded to her passion and desire. Her love and happiness. Music had won her over, and as I waited for dawn the next morning, I wondered how I had.

Dawn came a lot slower than usual and sleep, being often too intertwined with fate, had decided to tease me and stay out of reach. Today was the day we were going to do it. We were going to escape this godforsaken compound. How? I was blind to it. I knew that the motorbikes were on the south entrance of the compound, and if I was able to sneak us out through the gate me and Rachel usually went through to get on top of the buildings, we could walk around to them. Then came the problem of escaping the gate that encircled the entire air strip and compound. I had not thought that far. Maybe if we could go to the far side of the air strip, the part that faced the east where there was no one really watching.

When dawn came I woke up the students one by one again. When I got to Kane's door and knocked on it, it opened almost instantly.

He looked me in my eyes.

"Tonight," I said quietly.

Kane nodded and gestured his friends forward. His friend Connor was the first to follow behind him. Connor was the least impressive of his friends. He had a quick mouth and spoke fast but otherwise he pretty unappetizing as a person. Scrawny to an extent, and the look of full confidence in all his movements gave off a weak vibe.

The other boy though, Kamil, was much more impressive. Besides his large frame and rather tall height, he was quite quiet and attentive. He discerned without saying much. I do not believe he liked me though. His Indian roots probably had something to do with it. He knew I had once been in the military, we had shot rockets into India during the revolution. We had killed civilians. I had killed civilians. During the time I had never thought that one day I might meet one of the people alive during the war in person. I mean, I had never thought to be in India. We did most of our military expansion remotely. I tried not to look or talk too much in his direction for fear of making him mad. I didn't want any conflict, I just wanted to leave.

Kamil gave me a look with one raised eyebrow as he left his room. What it meant, I didn't know. It could've been a death sentence or a forgiveness on behalf of his people for all I knew.

We walked towards the auditorium in almost silence. The 9 students were silent. Each one had struggled the past week to survive. They all held bruises on their bodies. They slouched in their walking to give some strength to being attentive. They were all attentive. They watched their surroundings as a precaution for anything. Death was always nearby for them it so seemed. The light patter of footsteps was the most audible sound in the hallway. The cool ground echoed the stress of every foot placed on it. The heartbeats of the students were no doubt the loudest thing in their minds. Staying alive was the biggest purpose, even if they didn't know what that meant.

The auditorium, having been filled with thousands of students only a week prior, was now limited by a hundred or so left. The number of guards finally came close to equaling the number of students. I let the students eat and stood there as instructed.

As I was standing I began to hear a whistling with a boom behind its sound. It was very distant and definitely out of the compound. It sounded like an aircraft, but not the same aircraft that the students had used to get here, but smaller. The booming noise was more subservient to the whistling. It grew in sound as it came closer and closer. The aircraft was going to land here.

I was not told that one was coming today. I didn't need to have been told, but word would have surely spread fast if it was told to us. I looked around me. The students had begun picking up their heads from their plates and looking up and around as well. I listened as it grew in sound and came towards the base. A small plane for sure.

Kane looked at me and I shrugged almost immediately as a response. The plane made contact with the landing platform as the ground beneath us began to lightly shake. The noise was very loud as it came slowing down just outside the doors the students had come in from. It finally made its stop and the engine was put to a halt.

Everyone watched the large door for when it might open. But it wasn't the first to open.

Dr. Berryman walked into the middle of the auditorium from her office. She walked hastily with dedication. Her hair was not as well put up as she would have hoped. She batted at it a little to try to push it down during her walk. She eyed some of the students and guards but kept the main of her focus to the hanger door.

She reached the middle of the room and paused.

"Students and Guards," she exclaimed in a rather happy tone.

"Someone has come to visit us," she said looking over to the hanger door.

All the students watched the door in amazement and excitement. Finally they would get to see the outdoors for the first time in a week as well as something new besides the same guards and white walls. Some chatter began to break out in small sections. It was very hushed and scarce but a lot more apparent than the silence that it broke.

"May I introduce to you, President Mackenzie Carder herself!" the doctor said as she motioned over to the door.

With a large audible clank of the lock and the rubbing of the door to the floor, the door began to open. The open air jumped through and the light poured into the room. Three silhouettes could be seen from the bright morning light that enveloped the room. One female being followed by two guards on each of her side.

She was quite short, only a good five or six inches above 5 feet tall. She walked in a very fast pace as she made her way over to the doctor. She made little acknowledgment of the two hundred people in total watching her every move. The president of Calimet was in the room with no expectation. She walked over to the doctor and gave her a hug.

"How are you?" the president asked happily.

The doctor embraced her and smiled, "As good as I can be President Carder."

At the mention of the name president, her smile faded and bit and she pulled back the hug a little earlier than the doctor was prepared for. The doctor managed to make it seem almost expected.

The president turned to face all of the students around her now, finally acknowledging their presence.

"Hello everyone," she said clearly in her presidential tone. "I have been told that you are the best of what is left."

She looked around herself slowly, shuffling her feet as she turned in circles, eyeing as many students as possible.

"Power is not an easily given commodity," she said. "In fact, it is what clouds the minds of most from how to actually achieve it."

She looked quite tired from the flight, but her voice said otherwise.

"This is why in order to become a great leader, power must be the least of your concern," she continued. "But," she said a little more towards herself, "you must never fear to use it if need be."

Her eyes darted to one student from the S group. She walked over to him in a slow pace, taking fifteen unnecessary seconds to reach him.

"If I told you to do something," she asked him, "that you would personally objectify to, in order to save the world and more importantly Calimet, would you?"

The boy looked at her with triumphant eyes, "on my life I would."

"But on someone else's?" she clarified.

"Ma'am," he said, "death does not scare me."

"I see," she said as she motioned one of her hands towards a guard to come to her.

"Doctor!" the president called as she put her hand on the shoulder of the guard that had come to her.

Dr. Berryman quickly responded, "yes madam President?"

The president looked at the doctor very slowly up and down.

"Show me that it is working."

The doctor walked up towards the guard, the leader of the S group I believed.

The president walked back towards the center of the auditorium which now had become silent in watching the spectacle.

"Get on your knees," Dr. Berryman commanded the guard.

He did as instructed.

"Bow your head and don't say or do anything unless I tell you."

He did as instructed.

The doctor looked at the boy who had become confused.

"What is your name?" She asked him.

The student responded proudly, "S-07."

"Good." she said looking back at the president for a brief moment. "Now kick your guard in the side."

She boy looked at the guard for one moment who did not move or look up at the boy. They both were still for a moment. Shaking lightly, the boy stood up and looked forward while keeping his hands at his sides. He planted himself in the ground and released his right foot into the S guard's left side. The contact was damaging, but only enough to bruise.

The guard fell to side slightly and put himself back in the same position, but breathing harder. His side was in pain no doubt but it should've been fine.

"Again," the doctor said.

This time the boy looked at her face and said nothing. He stared at her for a few moments before kicking the same side again a little harder.

This time the guard wheezed in pain as he fell on his side completely. He began gasping and clutched his side for a few moments. He slowly picked himself back up and stayed knelt.

The doctor looked over to the President who only stood there and shook her head.

"Again!" the doctor yelled, "and if he is able to pick himself up without help this time..." she stopped and shook her head. She quickly walked over to me and grabbed my arm and dragged my gun barrel to the boy's head.

"If you fail, you will be shot," she clarified.

She had trained my gun on the poor boy who began to shake lightly. He looked over to the knelt guard sadly and scared. The guard picked his head up a bit to look at the boy and nodded his head, giving some sort of approval.

The boy planted himself a third time and wiped his eyes which had begun to water. He grunted and yelled loudly as he drove his foot into the guard's side at an alarming rate. The impact threw the guard onto his side instantly. He began to yell as his ribcage seemed to have been impacted. This was no longer just a bruise.

I looked over at the doctor who smiled at the boy who had now begun to tear up more. She looked at the President.

"Impressive," the president said looking at the guard who had stopped moving on the floor. Internal bleeding. He was to be dead for sure. The boy began to sob quietly to himself.

"But that is not all I have to show you President," the doctor continued as she motioned for a guard who sat at a door.

"Bring her out!" The doctor said.

The doors opened and there came two guards carrying a limp body, helping it walk to the middle. The body had long black hair and was bruised all over. My Rachel.

They dragged her to the center of the room and dropped her on the ground. She collapsed with a loud thud.

My insides began to boil and burn. My heart ached and screamed, but my face remained still. My eyes might have twitched a but as I watched her struggle on the ground. She picked her head up to the doctor.

"What did I do?" she cried.

I winced through every syllable.

The doctor knelt down next to the trembling girl on the ground. She reached inside of her shirt and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Stealing," the doctor said loudly to everyone, "especially my stuff from my own office is defilement."

She was holding a map of the compound. Rachel had tried to get a map of the compound for us to escape better. Why didn't I think of that?

"Did you really think you would escape that easily?" the doctor asked.

Rachel looked at the ground and spat on it.

"Of course we cannot have this kind of treachery in this place," the doctor continued. "Of course, madam president, she was not working alone either. Among my upturned things, which I keep safely remebered for this kind of thing were a few files."

The doctor looked at me, "Your files."

I looked at her and said nothing, heart racing and burning and crying and angry. My breathing had turned irregular and my hands began to shake as I saw Rachel there. Perfection was a mess on the floor in my place.

"Bring me B-24," she asked coldly.

I took Kane by the arm and dragged him forward without looking at him.

"And his friends," she doctor said.

One by one I brought them forward. Connor, then Kamil, then Becca, and finally Emma. I put them down to kneel in front of the doctor.

"You each had your files upturned and I wonder why," the doctor said.

She eyed them all. Rachel wanted to know who we were going to escape with but she brought them down with her.

The doctor looked at me, "What do you say ZZ-09? That students in your group have been conspiring with this guard under your nose?"

I said nothing.

"Well?!" she yelled.

"It is unfortunate," I finally responded.

"Indeed it is," she said. "But all can be forgiven."

She walked to me and dragged me over as I had dragged the rest beforehand. She stood me in front of Rachel first.

The doctor's eyes locked onto mine. She examined them slowly. "You must prove yourself to the president today soldier." She pointed to my love on the ground.

"Shoot her," she said.

Rachel looked up at me and we locked eyes. I began to tremble and shake. I was going to die this day because there was no way I would shoot.

I turned around and faced the Doctor with the barrel of my gun.

"No," I said grabbing her head and pointing my gun at it. She struggled to leave my grasp but once the gun touched the side of her temple she stopped moving.

"What do you think is going to happen boy?" she asked. "I do not fear death, I welcome it. The second you pull the trigger you will be shot down along with all these people that you couldn't."

She half smiled as every guard in the auditorium had pulled their guns to face me, prepared to shoot.

As she finished her sentence, Kane jumped up and ran at the president and grabbed her in his arms before anyone had time to pull their guns up toward him. A few bullets rang out as he reached her and collapsed onto the floor with the president in his arms. There was some blooding spilling from the side of his leg as a bullet had hit his side.

The shooting stopped.

He had a knife in his hands, a hunting knife with some dried blood on it. He angled it to her neck as he had her in his grasp.

"But I don't think that you'd be willing to let her die," he cried out in his pain.

The doctor's eyes widened as she put out her hands at the guards to stop firing.

They put their weapons down to their sides.

"So you do have a weakness," Kane said to the doctor.

Kane motioned over to his friends at Rachel, who I had told him about. Becca and Emma picked her up and began to walk her over to the door at the end of the hanger. I looked over at him.

He nodded and we both began to slowly walk to the edge of the hanger with the doctor and the president in our hands.

"We are going to leave now," Kane said, "and you will let us leave or they will both die."

"Where will you go," the doctor laughed, "you will be hunted until you all die."

Kane looked over at her, "We have survived this long in your little haunted house."

We kept on inching our way closer to the hanger door, with Connor and Kamil watching the outside to make sure that the coast was clear. The guards slowly walked closer and followed us, having their guns trained on us without shooting. They were watching the doctor for any commands she might give.

Once outside, Kane looked at me and said, "We have to release the doctor first because the president is more important."

I looked at him curiously.

"Trust me," he said, "we'll make it to the edge of the compound faster with just the president faster."

I let go of Dr. Berryman who stumbled onto the ground and into the hands of a few guards who were nearby.

We all gathered and walked with Kane as we got closer to the gates at the east edge of the compound.

"You're making a mistake," the president whispered to us. "There is nowhere for you to go."

"We'd rather take our chances out there than in here," Connor told her.

The guards were getting closer to us, hoping to grab the president.

"Move back!" Kane yelled. He stopped moving and brought the knife closer towards the president's neck and began to dig in a little.

"Or I swear," he said, "I will end her right now! I'm not scared!"

The doctor stood behind a few guards as she began to speak, "are you sure?"

She motioned for the guards to stop moving for a moment. "Prove to me you're not scared to kill her, I don't believe you."

She was calling his bluff.

He stopped inching away and looked her in the eyes.

"My name is Kane, Kane Hope," he said, "that is my name. I do not fear it but you do. I am not scared, and if you dare not to believe me, send your guards to move to me now and you will see your precious Calimet's leader gone."

They locked eyes for a moment and shared a moment. There was silence at they watched each other's expressions. Even the president herself was a bit confused.

The air tasted clear and the forest a few hundred yards beyond the gate looked beautiful to the eye. It shone in its freedom.

We reached the gate and it opened for us.

"Now," the doctor spoke as we began crossing the gate, "You must leave the president or I will tell the guards to shoot."

"You wouldn't," Kane said.

"Boy," she said, "Beyond that gate there is no guarantee of her safety and I don't know if I can save her. You will either let her go or everyone will die an unfortunate death right here."

Kane looked over to me.

"Do you think we can make it to the forest from here?" he asked me quietly.

I looked at the hundred meters or so we had to run to make it.

"They'll start shooting right when the president is in their hands," I whispered back.

"We have no other choice," Kamil said, "We will run."

Becca spoke up, "This girl can't run Kane, I don't know if she'll make it."

I walked over to Rachel who had her head drooped a bit and embraced her. She began sobbing as we interlocked.

"I'm so sorry David!" She cried into my shoulder. Every tear and tremble in her movements shook my entire body. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." she kept saying into my shirt.

I began tearing up and let go of her.

"Let her go," I told Becca and Emma.

As they slowly let Rachel fall I reached for her legs and her back with my hands and pulled her up into my arms. I grunted as I pulled her body off of the ground and turned around to look at Kane.

"There's no other choice," I said.

"We could take the president with us," Connor said. "Doctor Berryman is bluffing, she won't shoot."

He looked over at the guards who were watching us.

"Once we reach the forest, we will let her go, but not until then," he yelled.

"Unfortunately," Dr. Berryman responded, "you don't have that choice. You leave her here and now, or you all die with her. And I'm getting impatient."

Connor walked over to Kane. He knew we were going to die. We were just prolonging the inevitable.

"Kane," he said looking at the gate we were about to pass through, "I'm sorry I broke the glass window when we got here," he said his head drooped down.

"What are you talking about?" Kane said.

"When we got off the plane, it was because of me. I broke the glass, I started this. We should've never gotten off that plane."

Kane tightened his grip on the president, "What does that have to do with anything? We're about to leave anyways..."

"What's the point of leaving," Connor said cutting him off. "I mean, what is there out there? They'll send people after us to kill us once we reach the woods anyways."

His voice began to elevate and the doctor overheard him.

"If you come back," the doctor said, "I promise you that you won't be killed," she said to him.

He was shaking and trembling.

"Connor don't, she's lying!" Kane said.

"Look at the forest child!" the doctor yelled, "you won't make it. Come back. Look, I'll even tell the guards to put their guns down for you. You can still make it through the competition, all you have to do is to get the president back to us."

As she finished the sentence Connor looked down.

"Connor..." Kane said, "Don't listen to her, she's lying, she'll kill you!"

"All I want is the president's safety," the doctor reassured him.

Connor looked at Kane in the eyes, who was still holding the dried bloodied knife to the neck of the leader of the country.

"Connor," Kane said, "Look at this knife, remember what you said when you found it? We made it through this together and I promise you, we will make it out together."

"He cannot promise that to you boy!" the doctor yelled, "you know this."

Connor turned towards the guards and the doctor.

"Can you reassure me that my friends will live if I give you the president?"

The doctor smiled, "I can do no such thing, but at least they'll have a chance."

"Okay, okay," Connor said turning towards Kane. He was but 5 feet from his friend and he slowly began walking towards him.

"Kane, give me the president," Connor said loudly.

I put Rachel on the floor and drew my gun at Connor, "Over my dead body. Do not move a muscle or I will shoot you."

Connor stopped moving.

I looked over at Kane, who looked at me with wide eyes. He was trying to say something, but quietly. He was frowning at me.

I looked at Connor. What was going on?

"You wouldn't," Connor said slowly walking towards Kane.

I held my gun at him but didn't dare shoot unless Kane would give me some look of approval.

Kane began to back up slowly.

"Connor stop!" he yelled. "She's using you, don't you get it!?"

"Kane!" Connor yelled back, "just let her go! She has nothing to do with this."

They kept on moving. Kane slowly backed up and Connor followed. My gun was ready at any moment to end his life, but something kept me from it. Kane's face did not express the same shock as mine.

After about 10 feet of movement by Kane, the doctor whispered something to her guards, who began to raise their guns.

"Now!" Kane yelled as he dropped the president and began running towards the forest.

I instantly dropped my gun and began pulling Rachel forward through the thick brush. Life was a blur. The grass was as tall as my sides as I ran through them, bullets flying overhead. I looked to see that the president had made it to the guards safely. Rachel lagged me behind but I ducked in to the grass as a bullet pierced through my left shoulder and dropped me.

"David!" She screamed through her tears.

I began stumbling around on my knees as I dared to move forward. I had barely made it halfway to the forest, I wouldn't make it much further. Still, I clenched my jaw and pulled Rachel with me who had gained some speed on her own as we dodged through the grass.

Another bullet hit my foot throwing me off balance and onto the floor.

"Get up!" I heard a voice yell at me.

My vision was blurry as a man pulled me further through the grass towards the forest. He was strong and with Rachel's efforts, we ducked behind a large tree.

I tried to focus my vision on the man. I squinted to see his darker coloration. Kamil. He ripped a part of his shirt and grabbed my shoulder. I winced in pain and let out a yelp.

"Hush!" he said as he grabbed the fabric and began to tie my shoulder up with it. He brought it underneath my armpit and tied it there so hard that pool of blood that had been pouring down my shoulder had finally started to slow.

I looked over to my left side where I heard more yelling. I squinted hard to see if I could make it out. It was Kane. He was crying as he pulled himself behind a tree. His leg was wounded as it was covered in blood.

Two other people were there with him.

"No!" he yelled.

"We have to go get him!" he said trying to go back towards the compound. They held him back from moving and he struggled with them. He was weak though and couldn't escape their grasp.

My vision blurred again. My head began spinning and the sky began turning purple. I tasted metal in my mouth.

"You're gonna be okay," Kamil said.

I looked around the tree as I saw guards running in our direction from the compound. They were about halfway to us and gaining ground.

"We have to move," I croaked.

I grabbed onto Kamil and tried to stand up to some success.

"No!" I heard Kane yell again at the people holding him back.

I looked back at the guards to notice that they had stopped. They looked at the ground to see a boulder or something. I squinted. It was a body.

"We got one!" one yelled back.

"Someone get the dogs!" another yelled.

I looked around at our faces. There was one missing.

Rachel was here, she hadn't been shot. I took a breath of relief. Kamil was with me. Who was it then?

I looked at Kane and squinted at the other figures. It was Becca and Emma holding him back.

I took a moment and closed my eyes again. My head encircled itself with pain.

The limp body was Connor.