Code Red

By Ritika Chand

It was the same dream.

The sky was covered in dark storm clouds that rained down their contents onto the

earth. Thunder crackled as a flash of lightning illuminated the road ahead.

A lone figure on the road watched as a red maglev car zoomed past her.

There was pandemonium inside the car. The levitation device had been

short-circuited after a blast of lightning had hit the car. The car with no wheels was

now skidding through the road at high speed and there was no stopping it.

The woman in the passenger seat was holding a crying ten-year-old girl in her lap

protectively as tears ran down her own eyes.

“Mom! Dad!” the ten year old child screamed. " Why is it not stopping?!"

“ Shhh Nicole.” her mom mumbled, as her own voice trembled with fear. She

glanced at her husband-the man in the driver's seat-who was trying his best to spin

the car away from the approaching cliff, but in vain, and clutched his arm.

“Daddy are we gonna die?” The child whimpered, as she clutched her mom's arm

tightly. Her face was moist with tears and white with fear or shock. Maybe both.

"Deary promise me you'll be strong." Her father whispered, clutching both her tiny

fists in his large ones. His own face had turned white with fear and his eyes were

bloodshot.

"But daddy-" she's cut off by her mom this time "Remember we always love you

and .." she takes a shaky breath, "I can't .." she cried as she furiously tries to wipe

her tears.

"Yes, we have to dear. Now! You know she won't survive or else!"

Lightning flashes again and lights up the cliff only seconds away.

Their doors of death were fast opening and there was nothing they could do to keep

it close.

They both kiss her on her forehead before her mom slides open the car door and

throws the child out seconds before the car plunges into a deep cliff.

The sound of thunder muffles the sound of the car crashing into the abyss but

couldn't muffle the blood curdling screams of the child left behind.

The figure in the white jumpsuit smiled as she watched the child cry.

"Murder," she whispered, before she blended in with the changing scenery.

This time they were in a house. The sound of the buzzer ringing had the man with

the blue shirt bolting for his laser guns.

"Mom where is daddy going with his gun?" The little girl asks her mother.

"To teach the bad guys a lesson" her mother whispers as she pushes the girl

towards an empty crate hidden in the corner.

"Hide there! No matter what happens don't come out!" She commands. Her eyes

held tears but she quickly wipes them away.

"Remember always be strong no matter what they do to you. Do not forget who

you are. Don't let them catch you."

With those words out in the air, she goes out to stand guard outside.

Soon shouts are heard along with the warping sound of laser shots. The sound of

approaching footsteps gets louder until they are in the field of vision of the child.

Five white jumpsuit-wearing individuals tower over her mom. One of them held

her dad in a vice-like grip. He was bleeding from his stomach. Blood was

splattered on the clean white jumpsuits of the men. Just like dirt in the utopian

society.

The little girl gasps and almost cries out as she watches the state of her father. Her

mom's whole body shook with anger or fear. She couldn't tell.

In one swift motion, she removes a knife and shouts "Close your eyes" before she

plunges it into the heart of the nearest soldier.

The little girl muffled her cries as she closed her eyes. She could hear her mother

crying out in pain and her father calling her name over and over again.

"Is that it?" one of the men asks.

"There should be one more.."

"Why did we kill them? Why not take them in like the others?" One of them asks.

"We already have enough. Besides their DNA resists changes. No use of them."

When the little girl opens her eyes she is face to face with the headgear of the

white suit man.

"What do we have here? Another scum?"

“Do we take her?” someone whispers “Or kill her?”

They force her out of her hiding place and dragged her towards the two bodies.

“Murder”

She looks into her dad’s eyes as he whispers “Murder”

The shadows grow darker and the whispers chanting murder increase. The white

suit men all smirk as they raise their weapons at her.

*beep* *beep*

The sound of the alarm wakes her up.

What the hell just happened? That dream was dif erent from the others.

What was that second dream?

What is murder?

She reaches across the table beside her bed to shut off the alarm but realizes it's

still beeping.

Huh?

Damn it stupid phone!

She receives the call as she slides off her bed.

A loud voice blares out from it “ Officer Vers. You have to come here in five.”

“Huh? What's the hurry Garrix? It's supposed to be half day today,” she inquires

while she opens her laptop and searches the Web for the meaning of murder.

“ I don’t think there’s gonna be a half day anymore.”

“What! Why?” Vers stops typing.

“A child was found dead on the streets”

“Okay? Why do you need me? It must be an accident”

“No..it's nothing like an accident. They have a word for it. They are calling it

Murder.”

Vers pauses as she glances at the search results:

Error 536

Code Red. No such word exists.

Do you mean accident? Mishap?

*****

Vers pushes past the civilians crowding over the accident scene.

No. she corrects herself. Murder.

There was chaos everywhere. People all over were whispering ‘murder’ and what

it meant. Billboards and news channels were flooded with the news all over. People

were in a state of panic. Soon there would be a lockdown mode issued that is

reserved only in case of major accidents or natural phenomena.

She finally reaches the spot where the patrol cars were parked.

It wasn’t hard to find the body after that.

She gasps as she takes in the several knife wounds inflicted upon the child. Most of

them are deep enough to lead to bleed out.

How did this happen? Who did this?

Vers clicks some pictures and removes her body scanner.

Scan results:

Death due to severe blood loss.

Cause:

Several deep wounds. Look self-inflicted.

Accident object:

Knife

“Vers! Here!” Someone calls out.

She tucks in her scanner and turns towards the voice. A man with gelled black hair

and a muscled physique waves at her.

She makes her way over to him.

“Did you see it?”

“Yes.”

“It's horrible right?” He motioned for her to follow him.

He points towards a man with messy brown hair and smart glasses. “That guy says

he knows who’s behind it.”

“Really? How come?”

“Dunno. Doesn’t seem from around here. He was the one who called it a

murder.”He scratches his head. “Know what that means? Or heard it before?”

Vers freezes but quickly shakes her head. “No.”

“I am telling you I was too late to save him! It's them! They murdered him!” They

heard the brown-haired guy scream and bang the desk.

“Alright gentleman. This is Officer Vers. She will be asking you the questions from

here.” Garrix winks at her as he whispers “ Call me if he gives you any trouble”

Ignoring him, Vers puts her hand forward and shakes his hand.

“I am Vers. Nicole Vers. Pleased to meet you.”

“I am Zack Reynolds. Likewise.”

“Alright since we are past the formalities. Who are you actually? And how do you

know this was a murder?”

Zack narrows his eyes as he takes in her expression.

“You seem to be quite familiar with this term. Heard it before?”

Vers freezes again but shakes her head.

“I know a lie when I see one.”

Murder. Be strong. White suits. Two bodies. Murder.

“Who are they?”

“Let's go somewhere secluded and grab a drink. You might need that.”

***

“So you are saying that we are lab rats for a bunch of scientists hired by the

government, whose memories have either been erased or altered?”

They had decided a cafe was the best place to discuss top-secret stuff. So here they

were, inside a crowded coffee place sitting by the corner and chatting freely as if

they were talking about the weather.

“Yes. They wanted to get rid of the criminals, underworld groups and the ones who

were the scum to their utopian future,” He whispers the last few words as he senses

the waitress approach.

“Two cappuccinos frappes and pastries”

“All our memories?” Nicole whispers back as the waitress goes away.

My memories were altered?

Zack shakes his head. “No. Only the violent ones or anything related to crime,

violence and trauma.”

The car crash was fake? My parents were murdered by white suit of icials?

“Then who are you? Are you along with them? Why did they kill the boy?” Nicole

taps her foot anxiously as she glances outside the crowded cafe.

“I was a scientist on another project but I heard some information about this

experiment and soon found out the list of papers regarding the experiments.” He

pauses and looks away, before shaking his head and continuing.” I found that

child-my nephew’s name under threats to be eliminated”

Nicole lets out a shocked gasp.

“That was your nephew? But why?” she mumbles. ”How can a child be a threat?”

“He had started to get his memories back.”

There was a pause as their orders were served. Zack grabbed his cup and started

sipping his coffee as Nicole continued the conversation without touching any of the

food.

“What do you mean? How did they know?” Nicole sits up straight.

“You have chips embedded in your brains to monitor such things. Plus our

everyday search history.” Zack mentions the fact calmly as he takes a bite from the

pastry. As if that wasn’t surprising at all.

Code red. Error. No such word exists.

“So you mean the chip can control our movements too?”

Zack nods. “They made my nephew kill himself.”

“But that’s a first in our town. We never had such cases before. Surely he couldn’t

have been the only threat?”

“The first yes. But not the only one. Some people’s DNA resist long-term

changes.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let me ask you. Did you have any violent dreams recently?”

A cold shiver passed down her back as she meets Zacks’s eyes.

Nicole finds herself nodding unconsciously.

“Then Nicole Vers they will come for you too.”

By Ritika Chand