Julian's+Future+Earth+Story

//Enlightenment//

“Oh my,” said Henry, “Isn’t this just wonderful.”

“Yes,” replied John, “for I have not experienced such pleasantries since at least yesterday.”

“This is truly the epitome of bliss,” replied Henry.

“Absolutely,” responded John as they continued to stare at the television on a small desk nearby.

“If all of heaven could be concentrated into a small digital square of various circuits and boards, then it would be this TV,” said Henry.

“Of course replied John,” who seemed happy although began to give off a subtle vibe of discontentment.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” said John. “It’s just that watching TV has grown somewhat repetitive.” Henry’s joyful face suddenly cringed as he stumbled out of his chair and stared at John in horror.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just that we constantly watch TV, perhaps there’s other activities we can engage in,” said John. Suddenly there was a bizarre subtle beeping noise in the room. It began to get progressively more intense until John clutched his temples and began screaming. Henry, who was incapable of doing anything, just watched him fall to his knees and then collapse. John had died due to a small type chip embedded beneath his forehead. It’s designed to kill whoever begins to demonstrate a remote amount of independent thought. At that moment, Henry began to question why the government would install such an unpleasant machine within everyone.

The beeping noise started up again. He realized he needed to act quickly or suffer the same fate as John. Henry took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed himself in the forehead at a 20-degree angle. With both hands he jerked on the handle of the knife as hard as he could in an attempt to pry the chip from under his skin. It flung out of his forehead and slid across the kitchen’s nicely tiled floor. Henry struggled to remain conscious as he looked for something to bandage his head with. He stumbled upstairs and found a t-shirt, which he wrapped around his head as tightly as possible. Citizens were only allowed to leave their homes with permission from the local protection station. Now free of the chip Henry knew if he stayed the authority would come and kill him without hesitation. He needed to get outside. With a head start, Henry rammed the door as hard as he could, breaking the lock and causing it to swing open. He ran across the deserted remnants of what used to be a large highway and into the woods.

After sprinting for 5 minutes he decided to slow down, but continued at the same pace when he heard distant sirens. Moving through a dense forest proved difficult. Henry had to endure getting cut from head to toe by sticks, branches, and thorns. His sprint slowly deteriorated into run, which turned into a jog, then a walk, and finally a limp. After roughly two and a half hours Henry was overwhelmed by lethargy and lightheadedness. He gradually stopped moving and eventually collapsed. “How unfortunate,” Henry thought to himself as everything became black. “I’m being hunted just for thinking.” He fell asleep

The next day Henry was awaken from a deep sleep by the sound of a helicopter’s rotor blades slicing the air. It had a massive spotlight scanning the forest floor for any signs of life. Henry struggled to stand up. Everything from his perspective was extremely blurry. He leaned against tree and slowly brought himself to his feet. He tried to outrun it, although it was too late. The spotlight was centered directly on him. Henry darted into the woods as he saw ropes extend from the helicopter. He realized that the only way to not be found was to blend in. So he laid down and began thoroughly covering himself in mud. Officers slid down the ropes. By the time they reached the ground Henry was almost completely indistinguishable. They split up and began searching in three different directions. Henry crawled out of the mud and discretely began moving away from the officers. Eventually he gained enough distance from them to rest. The helicopter search was called off due to the uncertainty of finding him at night.

The next morning Henry felt terrible. He had lost a substantial amount of blood from the wound on his head, and was extremely malnourished. However, he also felt enlightened. Henry was beginning to view society from a completely different perspective. He understood that the government condemned independent though because it could threaten their power. He realized that if enough people questioned the authority there could potentially be a rebellion. Henry was eager to preach his new knowledge, but he couldn’t. All he could do was survive.

Suddenly, Henry heard a noise similar to that of a car on a highway. He turned around and saw a large armored vehicle whizzing through the forest. It was hovering about a foot above the ground and smashed through any obstacles it encountered. Henry dived out the way and the machine passed him. Without stopping it twisted around and headed straight towards him once again. He was mortified; there was no way to avoid it. The machine rammed Henry and sent him sprawling backwards. He tried to stand but one of his legs was completely mangled. Several officers stepped out of the vehicle and headed towards Him. “I respect your diligence,” said one. “but you must be silenced.”

“You can’t deceive people forever,” replied Henry. “They’ll become skeptical of the government’s supposedly genuine effort for peace.”

The officer hesitated. “Hopefully,” he said. “It’s hard living with the guilt.” The others looked at each other in confusion. He took his gun out of its holster, slowly raised it towards Henry, and fired. As the officer walked away a tear slowly ran down his face.

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