Thrive - Remastered

Chapter 8

It was dark and cold. Maybe that was just how he felt. The metal doors slid closed behind him. He was helpless to do anything but watch. The last thing he saw of the world he once knew was himself. His reflection on the two-way glass shielding those who knew the truth.

       Even more than the Director, and whoever was on the other side of the glass wall with him, Robert hated the reflection of himself. He hated how weak he looked, how pathetic they made him before they threw him out.

       With a hiss, the doors touched. A gentle sizzling sound permeated the air as the Wall’s electric grid was once again started.

       Robert knew there was no trying to go back. Climbing or beating on the Wall was out of the question. Enough electricity ran over the Wall’s exterior to fry any living thing twice over. Digging under the Wall was also out of the question. The Wall ran a quarter mile underneath the ground to dissuade any would be human gofers.

       No, there is no going back once you’ve stepped outside of the Wall. All there is, is forward.

       Robert lifted himself off of the hard dirt ground. He wobbled as a grunt escaped his lips. They had worked him over good. His core felt like a rib or two had been bruised or broken and his face throbbed with every motion.

       But he hadn’t given them anything. For that he was proud.

       They didn’t get anything out of you, but look how far that got you. Thrown outside of the Wall. There’s still hope. Maybe someone will read the books that you did; maybe he’ll find the note and understand.

       Robert took a step forward and then another. Everything was pitch black on this side of the Wall. The moon and stars were hidden by clouds. Robert gave his eyes a moment to adjust before he walked any further. Even with his pupils adjusted to the dark around him, Robert could see no more than a few yards in every direction.

       As he moved forward, the hum of the electrified Wall behind him lessened. With every step, the only world he knew fell away. Within a few minutes the hum was lost altogether and silence settled in with the darkness.

       Robert moved along at a steady pace. His body was already exhausted from the interrogation. Every few minutes Robert would stop and try to scan the darkness for any kind of tree patch or rock outcropping. Something, anything that would provide shelter for the night. There was nothing.

       Only the night and the dirt ground spread out in every direction. Robert took a deep breath immediately regretting the decision as his ribs reminded him of their current state.

       Fear of the unknown began to overpower his rational, take-charge attitude. No one inside the city had any idea what was beyond the Wall. Nobody that left the city, ever came back.

       Hushed speculations had always been talked about when someone was released beyond the Wall. Everything from monsters, to toxic gases, to the possibility that there was a society of outcasts that had made their own society. No one knew for certain. All the speculation was exactly that, speculation.

       Robert could practically feel fear’s coldness ink through his veins. The night was far from freezing but it was still cold enough to make him wish he had a jacket.            Arms crossed over his bruised mid section, Robert forced himself to keep moving. With every step he said a silent prayer that some kind of shelter would make its presence known through the night’s darkness, yet every step brought disappointment.

       Robert looked behind him: the Wall was gone, lost to sight amongst the inky darkness. All that remained now was the desert-like landscape of the unknown world beyond the Wall.

       Head held high he pressed on, to what, he didn’t know. What he did know now was that he wasn’t alone. A metal clicking began to penetrate the air, a noise that reminded Robert of a pen being tapped on a desk.

       Robert stopped mid-step. Squinting he willed his eyes to see past the darkness around him. It was useless, however the noise was coming closer. Robert bit his lip debating whether or not to call out to the noise. The noise that could mean his salvation, or his death.

       Directly in front of him, Robert saw a single red light slowly drifting towards him. The light rhythmic tapping of steel on steel hummed from the red light.

       Robert took a hesitant step back, “Hello?”

       The red light didn’t offer a response.  It was close enough now that Robert could make out its shape in the darkness. It wasn’t a human, it was a machine. Dark steel plating covered the large cube body of the machine. The machine hovered a few feet above the ground and stopped only a yard in front of him.

       Nothing except for the humming and steel ticking could be heard over Robert’s beating heart. Blood pumped through his veins at dangerous speeds as adrenaline flowed to every part of his bruised body.

       Robert felt his muscles tense ready to run or fight.

       Steam hissed as compartments from each side of the machine’s square body opened and long circular cylinders sprouted forth, cylinders crackling energy that resembled far too closely the shock batons the guards in the city used.

       Robert had seen enough. Muscles tingling ready for flight he turned to run. He could hear the machine hum to life behind him, just like the electrical Wall had when he was released outside of the city. Robert only made it a few awkward feet. His previous wounds made it nearly impossible to weave or zig-zag through the darkness. Before he was cut down by the beam of energy shot forward by the machine, Robert’s last thoughts were pity, not hope, for whoever found the truth. The same truth that had led him to his death.