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Chapter 3

AJ awoke, the red from last night sprawled across the bed next to him, her arm draped over his chest. Carefully, he moved her arm off of him so he could get out of the bed. When she moved he paused at the edge of the bed, afraid she might wake. He watched as she rolled over just as asleep as she was before.

Quietly he made his way to the small offshoot of their main living space. A shower head and a toilet filled the tiny room. He closed the door and proceeded to relieve himself thinking about all the fun he’d had the night before. The girl he was with was certainly willing to please and have a good time. As he reached to flush the toilet he caught a glimpse of his hand, gone was the solid red that usually adorned his palm; the red was blinking at him in a consistent slow flicker.

“Shit!” He muttered to himself. “Fuck,” He repeated and moved to where Nick lay sleeping with the red he spent the night with.

“Nick,” He whispered and shook his friend trying to wake him without jostling the girl next to him.

Nick groaned and tried to roll away from AJ but with the girl next to him he couldn’t move far.

“Nick,” AJ whispered again a bit louder. This time the blond man opened his eyes to look at his friend. AJ simply held his hand up to show Nick the consistent blinking.

“Shit,” His friend sat up quickly looking around as if expecting the guards to come for AJ that instant. “What are we gonna do?”

The girl in Nick’s bed was starting to stir which scared both of them even more. If one of them woke up and saw AJ’s hand than it was unlikely they would keep it to themselves. There were rewards for turning in a blinking red trying to evade his fate.

“Get them out!” He demanded as he made his way back to the bathroom, closing the door and sitting inside.

Nick went about waking up the girls and gathering their missing clothing. “Time to go girls.”

“But it’s the middle of the night,” one of them spoke while looking at the clock on the wall, one of the only things hanging on the wall. Since most of the domiciles were located below ground level there were no windows to see the sky outside, everyone depended on the clocks that were set up everywhere within the city to know what time of day it was.

“Don’t care,” Nick stated as he opened the door to the hallway.

He listened as the girls muttered insults in his general direction along with the promises that they would be telling all the other reds at The Odyssey about him and his friend, neither one of them would ever get laid again.

Nick rolled his eyes; he knew how true their last statement was for AJ who was hiding out in the bathroom unless they did something. Nick stuck his head into the hallway and watched the girls continue to wherever it was they would go. His eyes also scanned to see if any guards were coming towards their room.

“They are gone,” he called out to AJ when he finally shut the door behind him.

AJ emerged from the bathroom, his eyes focused on the palm of my hand. He couldn’t believe his time was up. A beeping noise started to come from the speaker on the wall in their room and at almost the same instant from AJ’s personal communicator.

“Fuck, it’s really happening.” Nick muttered. They always knew it would, everyone knew in Endwise when you were a red you didn’t have much time left. If he remembered correctly from his school days, the reds were around the age of thirty in Old Earth years.

AJ snapped out of his trance and looked at Nick. “I don’t want to die.” Tears were actually forming in his eyes. “Shit, I’m a big pussy like you after all.” He tried to joke to help stop his own tears. What was he supposed to do now? A voice rang out over both speakers telling him exactly what to do.

“Citizen,” AJ and Nick recognized the voice of the Luminary’s second in command, Howard. “The guards have been alerted to your recent change. Please say your good-byes to your loved ones.”

The two were quiet as they sat in their room. They were both straining their ears to listen for the boots of the guards coming down their hallway. AJ could hardly sit still, his leg continued to bounce furiously. Nick looked at his friend and sighed.

“Let’s do it,” AJ suddenly spoke.

“Do what?”

“Let’s meet that blue tonight and get out of here.” AJ started to pace the room, revived by his new line of thinking. “I want to take my chance. I’m set to die anyway.”

“I’m not,” Nick protested but the look in AJ’s eyes stopped him from going into that statement any further. “What do you suggest we do?”

“You don’t do anything,” AJ insisted. “When they get here just tell them you don’t know where I am. I will meet you tonight at the northwest part of the arena,” He opened the door and started to look around.

“Jay,” Nick called out as his friend went to step outside. “It’s the northeast.” He hoped AJ heard him; he was already out the door and moving down the hallway. Nick decided to climb back into his bed and wait for the guards to show up. He was going to have to put on a performance of a lifetime; he’d never been good at lying.

He was sure he had drifted off to sleep at some point because the next thing he heard was loud banging at the door. “Citizen.” A deep voice on the other side of the door called out.
Nick yawned and stretched as he approached the door and opened it. The guards pushed their way into the room and surrounded him. He held up his hands, palms flat out so that they could see he was still very much purple. Still, they scanned him to find out his identity and probably how much time he had left.

“You room with a red?” the head guard asked him looking at the empty bed nearby. It was apparent that this was not married couples housing.

Nick nodded.

“Where is he?” Males and females were only allowed to live together if they entered a marriage agreement.

Nick shrugged his shoulders. “We were at The Odyssey. He met a woman. Probably went home with her” he lied.

The guards searched the sparse room; they were done in mere seconds as there were not many hiding places. Under the bed, the bathroom and the one wardrobe they shared was all that could hide someone. One guard brought over AJ’s communicator and handed it to the head guard.

“Why didn’t he take his communicator, by law of the Luminary it is required that all citizen’s carry their communicators with them at all times.”

Nick looked around nervously and shrugged. “He’s a red; probably thought there wasn’t much else you could do to him for not taking it.” Nick knew he was boarding on impudence but it was somewhat truth. What more could they do to a red but kill them, since they were allotted for death soon anyway why should they care?

He could tell the guard in front of him wanted to smack him for speaking that way but another guard moved closer to him and started speaking in whispers in his ear.

The head guard smirked at Nick. “It seems your friend is on the move. Someone reported seeing a blinking red wandering through the streets earlier tonight.” The guards started to file out of the room until only Nick and the head guard remained. “If he returns here, you will be rewarded for turning him in.”

“With what?” What could it hurt if he played along? Besides he was itching to know what another person’s life would be worth.

“The Luminary will grant you another year as a purple.” The man smirked and followed his comrades outside slamming Nick’s door shut in the process.

Nick sat on his bed and stared at the door. “Damn.” He lay on his bed hoping that his friend would make it hiding until that night when they planned to leave this place for good, or sentence themselves to death in the toxic wasteland they were told awaited them outside.

Chapter End Notes:

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