Chapter 19
Jenny knocked on the door outside the building. She’d gathered a small band of trusted friends. Some of them doubted her story of knowing where Callen was; how could she, out of everyone in the city, know what the authorities had failed to discover? When she knocked, and there was no answer they assumed a prank. Jay got the doors open by climbing through a window and popping the lock from inside. The group moved down the corridor to the storeroom - it was empty. Some of the recruits began to show their annoyance; they didn’t appreciate Jenny playing them for fools. Jenny assured them Callen had asked for their support. Her reassurances weren’t enough, and people began to leave. A door down the corridor opened. Everyone froze. Callen and Eve stepped into the light. There was a collective gasp. Callen walked to the group; he knew everyone. Some he knew well, some only in passing. He shook hands and high-fived and thanked them for taking such a risk.
“Do you guys know what I need you to do?”
All nodded. The recruits stood in awe of the most infamous man in the city. Together, including Callen, they numbered thirteen. Callen hoped it would be enough to give him the chance to spread his message one final time.
Klim’s afternoon lecture was well underway. In the days since Callen made the class famous, there had been nothing but routine curriculum covered. Klim was being watched too closely to be provocative.
A lone guard stood high in the back row near the door. He assumed his now familiar posture; standing near a back wall, close to sleep. Klim spoke of the evils of the Outlocked and the destruction they wished upon any form of civilised life. He talked of mutations in the years since the Outlocked had let their land be swamped by pollutants. How the people outside the wall did nothing to try and combat the growing level of toxins or diseases spreading and incubating killer pathogens amongst them. He underlined, at every opportunity, the city’s superior way of life. The performance was lacklustre, strictly textbook stuff, without his usual witticisms or seditious remarks.
There was a flash of light from outside as the door to the hall sprang open. Jenny rushed in and momentarily aroused the guard who paid her no more attention than to straighten his posture. He’d stood through enough lectures over the past week to know a late student was nothing out of the ordinary. Jenny found a vacant seat near the middle of the hall.
“Excuse me, excuse me, sorry, excuse me,” she said as she crab walked down a packed row of students. Sitting and dropping her books at her feet, she turned to Simone who sat in the seat behind.
“It’s over,” she said loudly. “They got him.”
“What?” Simone asked even louder.
With no regard for where she was, Jenny allowed her voice to be heard by everyone around her. She was out of breath, forcing her to speak louder, supposedly unable to control her volume.
“They grabbed him. He didn’t get a chance to say anything.”
Jay was sitting about four rows behind the girls, and though his position made it completely inappropriate, he joined the conversation.
“Who? What are you talking about? Who did they grab?”
“Callen,” Jenny called back over her shoulder in a loud whisper. “He came back to the university. They got his girlfriend too.”
“He’s here?” Jay asked as heads began turning left and right with shock at the breaking news.
“Near the quad,” Jenny called out. “The guards have him, waiting for the cops to come.” With that Jay jumped to his feet and rushed from his seat and out of the door. Others followed and the guard, now very much awake, spoke with excitement into his earpiece.
“What’s the status on Callen Helfner?” A reply came, unheard by only him, as his earpiece crackled to life in conversation.
“Nothing here.”
“I’ve got a report they’ve caught him. By the quadrangle.”
“We’ll check.”
“They’re holding him for the cops. The kids all seem to know about it.”
“Move and report. We’ll send a ground force.” The guard exited running. The news caused a run on the door behind him, with many eager to witness the next chapter in the saga of Callen Helfner. When the exodus slowed, Klim brought the hall back to order.
“Thank you, drama over, back to me, please. We were speaking of the poor state of health and the associated threat the Outlocked pose to people from our more advanced world.”
Klim was unaware of the door at the back of the room unlocking from the other side. The handle moved, and the door opened to the blind side of the Professor. Callen and Eve walked a few paces into the room, looking out. Every student in the hall erupted like they were at a sports ground cheering on their team. Klim turned to see Callen and Eve. He froze, not uttering a word. Callen stepped into the field of the viewer cameras bringing the students at home in on the celebration. Jay re-entered the hall. Callen gave him a nod and a knowing smile; the plan had worked.
Callen raised his arm for quiet. It came slowly after a few more seconds of celebration and name chanting. Callen grasped Eve’s hand tightly and took the microphone from Klim.
“I’m still here, and nothing’s changed. I’m not crazy; I was an attending student. Many of you know me. I’ve never failed a subject in my life. I’m telling the truth about being outside the city, so spread the word. Those freedoms exist, and they’re on our doorstep. Eve’s an Outlocked. The people the media dug up to play her parents have never lived in that building. It’s up to you to believe us or not but don’t blindly accept what they tell you. Search, listen, ask questions and get answers that make sense. Trust in facts and not opinion and when you have the facts, use them to form your opinion. I’m only one voice, but remember what I say about the people who lead us and the information they feed us - they lie. They’ll distract you with emotion, they’ll keep bringing up issues that have no value or importance to anyone, and they’ll use those emotive issues to hide decisions and laws being passed that affect everyone. Truth should never be found hiding in the fine print. So ask questions and challenge everything.”
With that Callen was done. For a second time, the audience erupted as one. This time their stamping feet accompanied the chanting. They began with Callen’s name, over and over, but some had other ideas. A second chant drowned out the first. The words were simple, and like the stamping of feet, they resonated loudly - “They lie! They lie! They lie!”
Another of their group burst through the door and desperately spoke with Jay. They both turned with urgency towards Callen, screaming a warning over the chanting. Callen was swept up in the moment. He had his arms in the air and was chanting with the crowd. He didn’t see Jay frantically waving or hear him screaming.
Guards violently crashed through the door and fired laser shots. Callen’s shoulder exploded in pain. The impact spun him, throwing him back violently. He hit the floor. His shirt bloodied and his shoulder seared. Eve screamed. The crowd screamed with her as more shots came. The echo of the chant died in the mayhem.
A swell of protest built from the middle of the hall, away from the guards racing down the narrow stairs. Students pushed those beside them causing a human avalanche to spill from seats into the path of the oncoming guards. Panic let out. People screamed and clawed to stop being trampled underfoot. Callen and Eve disappeared as the unruly crowd became a mass of bodies in a crush for space.
Eve helped Callen to his feet, then pushed him through the lower door and out of the hall. Outside they tried to blend into the crowd, but the guards were too many, and Callen’s condition made him easy to spot. Holding his shoulder in pain, Callen and Eve began a foot race they couldn’t possibly win. They managed to find a stairway and strode up to a second level. They had the smallest head start. The guards had the benefit of thinking as one with the aid of their ear pieces. They began to coordinate their chase and easily countered every move Callen made. Their only support came from daring students who absent-mindedly obstructed the guards or risked their lives to impede them. Chairs and bins
became projectiles. Doors were slammed and locked the moment Eve and Callen passed. In a building with yet another long corridor, the chase looked over. Guards blocked both exits. Callen and Eve checked every room leading off the corridor, peering through the small security windows of each new door. One of the rooms had a fire escape, and Callen used Klim’s key. The fire escape led to an open-air stairway leading to the back door of the library. They burst through the door and moved into row after row of crystal readers, stacked shelf upon shelf. Here they could find answers to any question except one, how to escape?
Callen and Eve stopped for breath by a shelf. They crouched down to take a closer look at Callen’s shoulder. Eve tore his shirt. Callen flinched when his arm moved. Eve wiped away blood and tried to apply pressure. Callen grabbed a small can from his backpack, handing it to Eve who sprayed his wound. The synthetic skin did it’s best to knit his raw flesh, as it anaesthetised the skin and stopped most of the blood loss. The wound still oozed blood and Callen knew he’d need surgery. Eve encouraged him to his feet, knowing they weren’t safe. They peered over the lines of crystal readers housed in shelves. There were other students in the library, but the flow of guards into the building and their slow, methodical advance was obvious. The guards peered down shelf after shelf of readers, looking for their prey. The students working glanced up with curiosity. Some moved away quickly on seeing the guards with drawn weapons, some froze and stayed where they were, others remained completely oblivious to everything going on around them, their wireless inner ear buds streaming music.
Callen and Eve couldn’t swallow for nerves. They held their breath as the first of the guards neared. The guard searched as close as two shelves away before changing direction. Callen and Eve moved around a shelf to avoid him. They relied more on luck than planning. Another guard searched the line of shelves on their direct path. He approached quickly, his gun drawn and his finger on the trigger. Callen and Eve swivelled around the far end of the shelf as he neared. They thought their luck was holding.
“Oh my God, you’re that guy!” said a student with crystals in his hand and a list on his compupad for others. It was the last thing the boy ever said. His head exploded, spraying Callen and Eve in blood. All three hit the ground. Crystal readers above them splintered and broke apart under fire. A moment later a guard hovered with his gun at Callen’s face. Blood and flesh were everywhere, making it hard to tell who they shot. The lifeless, innocent student, who moments before had given them away, lay over them, dead.
“Got them,” one of the guards screamed. “Got them both,” he said with joyful enthusiasm, completely disregarding the life of the young man he’d just ended. The other guards gathered with their guns drawn. There was a great deal of back-slapping and celebration as they held Callen and Eve heavily to the ground and magna cuffed them. No one said a word about the dead, faceless student lying nearby; they all knew his death would be overlooked by their superiors and covered up in official reports.