When the Chips Are Down (12 page)

“Good.  Get his keys,” Zachary ordered
, throwing the baseball bat to the ground.  Davie and Tommy began rifling through the officer’s pockets as Zachary helped Zane to his feet.  “Are you okay, man?” he said. 

“Why did you help me?” Zane wanted to know. 

“I heard that cop say your name. You were on TV this morning. We all owe you a huge debt,” Zachary said. 

“Got ‘em,” Davie said, triumphantly holding the officer’s keys. 

He handed them to Zachary, who
hurriedly unlocked Zane’s handcuffs.  “Thanks,” Zane said, rubbing his wrists.

“Come on.  We need to get out of here!  We’re
only a block away from the police station.  They probably saw what we just did,” Davie said nervously.

“They’ve got their hands full right now. You saw all those people breaking store windows and looting downtown,” Tommy replied.   Zane tried to walk, but stumbled again.  Zachary and Davie grabbed his arms and led him away from the station.

Zachary and Davie led Zane to end of the street and around the corner to a teal Ford Taurus parked on the side of the street.  Zachary glanced at Tommy who was standing beside them, staring off into space.  “Unlock the door!” Zachary barked.  Tommy came out of his trance and hurriedly unlocked the car door.  Zachary and Davie helped Zane into the back seat.

Zachary started the car and sped away.  “Where are we going?” Zane asked. 

“We want to go wherever you’re going,” Zachary replied.

“You do?” Zane said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. 

“When we saw the news this morning, we wanted to be the ones to start a rebellion, but
you’re
the one who started it.  If not for you, we’d still be walking around with our brains scrambled.  We want to help you fight The Man,” Zachary said.  Davie nodded.

Zane was taken aback. He did not expect to have followers.  “Well, I’m flattered guys, but I don’t know where to go from here,” he said, still a little disoriented.  He thought for a moment.  “Could you stop by my friend’s house?”  “Wait here,” Zane said when they had arrived at Rachelle’s.  Zane got out of the car and ran up the sidewalk. Now that the chips were turned off, he could have a real conversation with her.

Maybe he could convince her to come with them.  There was so much to talk about.  He was eager to know what she thought about all of this.  His anticipation was soaring as he knocked on her door.  No one answered.  Her car was in the driveway, so she had to be home.  He tried the doorknob and discovered it was unlocked. 

“Rachelle?” he called stepping into the living room.  “Rachelle!” he cried when he saw her lying on her side on the living room floor.  Zane rushed over, rolled her onto her back, and pushed her hair away from her face.  He let out a horrified scream and jumped back, running into an end table and knocking over a lamp.  Her eyes were fixed.  Her skin was an unusual color.  There was dried blood trailing from her nose to her upper lip. “Oh, god,” Zane gasped. “What have they done to you?”

Trent and Brooklyn sat across from one another in the armored van with their hands still cuffed behind their backs.  “Where do you think they’re taking us?” Brooklyn said, glancing towards the small back window of the driver’s section of the van.  Through it she could see a soldier in the driver’s seat.  He did not glance back at them.  He sat stiffly upright in his seat with both of his hands on the wheel. 

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Trent replied with his head hung low. 

“It just doesn’t make sense to me.  Slater spent hours
harassing and interrogating us.  Why would he just send us away all of a sudden?” Brooklyn wondered.  Trent raised his head. 

“He wouldn’t unless something major happened.  It probably wasn’t his call
. Zane must have succeeded in turning off the chips,” he said.

“Do you really think so?” Brooklyn said. 

“You know our boy could do it.  Things were awfully crazy at the police station.
  Those cops all disappeared like the end of the world was coming.  Maybe everyone knows about Dr. Eldridge.  Maybe there is total chaos now,” Trent said enthusiastically. 

“That would explain a lot, but it doesn’t explain where we’re being taken,” Brooklyn
replied. 

Trent shook his head.  “Now that the chips are deactivated, there’s no telling what will happen,” he said, seeing the fear in her eyes.

“What do you think will happen to us?!” Brooklyn exclaimed, “Do you think w
e’ll just be able to walk away scott free?  The government is still in control, and they can do whatever they want to us!  We’re their prisoners!  This would be a perfect opportunity for them to make an example out of us.” 

Brooklyn turned her head as she felt her eyes begin to fill with tears.  “Brook, I’m so sorry we got you into all of this,” Trent said woefully.

“You didn’t get me into anything.  It was my idea to go to Boise,” Brooklyn
responded, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. 

“I know, but you were only doing it to help Zane,” Trent said.

“I did it to help all of us.  Our own humanity is being destroyed by some greed
y, soul-less fascists.  If we don’t even have that, then what do we have?  Even though we may be doomed, Zane is still free, he can still find his brothers, and everyone knows the truth now.  If I had it to do all over, I would do the same thing. I just wouldn’t have gone to Burger Town with you,” Brooklyn proclaimed.

Trent smiled and she smiled back.  She had said the noblest thing he thought he’d ever heard.  He couldn’t imagine loving another human being more than he loved her at that moment.  “Brook, where did we go wrong?” he blurted. 

“What do you mean?” Brooklyn asked surprised. 

“You know…..high school,” Trent stammered.

“That was so long ago.  Who knows?” Brooklyn said.

“I didn’t know how to be a
good boyfriend. I spent way too much time with my friends.  There was never any time for you.  That was why you broke up with me.  I don’t even talk to those idiots anymore. I screwed things up between us,” Trent admitted.

“We were fifteen and sixteen
.  Of course, you didn’t know how to be a good boyfriend, and you didn’t screw anything up.  We’re still best friends,” Brooklyn said. 

“But that is a sad close second compared to…..” his voice trailed off. 

“Trent, what exactly are you trying to say?” Brooklyn asked, leaning forward in her seat.  The sound of the
steel doors opening startled them.  Brooklyn jumped back in her seat.  The doors flung open, and the two soldiers stood in front of them. 

“Rise to your feet
and step out of the van,” one of them said.

Zane, Zachary, Davie, and Tommy were silent for the rest of their voyage.  No one knew what to say after Zane returned to the car and told them what had happened to Rachelle.  Zachary simply uttered, “I’m sorry, man.”  What else could they say?  Their moods suddenly shifted from triumphant and excited to somber.  Zane sat leaning his head against the window.  His heartache showed clearly upon his face.

Worst of all was the feeling that he had caused her demise.  Though he wasn’t sure how, Zane was certain that Rachelle’s death had something to do with his recent visit to her.  Perhaps she had seen his picture on TV and fought the subliminal messages to turn him in.  From what he witnessed in the barber shop, it was obvious the chip was not designed to foster independent thought.  Maybe if a person thought anything other than what they were told to think, it would cause the chip to short circuit…or maybe death to anyone who tried to think for themselves was a built in feature.

“Park over there under the trees,” Zane instructed when they had reached their destination. “Now let me walk up the hill first, guys, or you’ll get shot,” he said, climbing out of the car.  Zachary, Davie, and Tommy cautiously followed him. Zane didn’t want to go to Lars’s and he certainly didn’t want to sleep in his small, filthy dwelling, but he could not think of anywhere else to go.  He had always considered Lars extremely weird and high strung.  He took stupid risks, like breaking into houses.  Zane also found it incredibly annoying how he called everyone “brother” and “sister.”

“Lars, it’s Zane,” he called, marching up the hill with Zachary, Davie, and Tommy behind him.  He stopped when they had reached the top of the hill and called his name again. 

“Zane?” a surprised voice echoed back.  The sun was beginning to set.  Zane saw Lars’s shadow emerge from the woods.  He came running towa
rds him.    “Zane, it’s good to see you, brother!” Lars exclaimed, pulling Zane into a quick hug. 

“These are my friends Zachary, Tommy, and Davie,” Zane said, eager to break away from his grasp.

“Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, brother.  What you did today
was pure poetry.  You are a brave soldier in the war against Big Brother. Come on now.  We were about to build a fire and roast some hot dogs and marshmellows,” Lars said.

Lars led them to an open area near the woods where Marcus and Min were gathering sticks and dumping them into a pile.  They were all smiles when they saw Zane instead of their usual suspicious and paranoid expressions.  He had earned their respect.  A skinny, red haired man emerged from the woods carrying an arm full of sticks.  “Caleb!”  Zane cried. 

Caleb dropped the sticks, ran over to Zane, and hugged him.  “I forgot to mention Caleb’s been staying here for the past several days,” Lars said.

“
I was beginning to think I’d never see you again.  I heard about Trent and Brooklyn.  Do you know where they’ve been taken?” Caleb said.  Zane shook his head sadly. 

“We’ll talk about it, later,” Caleb replied, patting him on the shoulder.

“Find a log and take a seat,” Marcus said
pulling several packages of hot dogs and sodas out of a cooler and passing them around.  Everyone gathered around the fire with a hot dog on a stick. 

“These
wieners are great. Where did you steal them from?” Caleb said.

“Never
have you minded,” Lars replied. Lars turned on his portable TV and sat it on his lap.

“The news is coming on,” he said with a mouthful of food. 

“In today’s news, a mysterious computer hacker has taken the country by storm,” a reporter said.  Everyone jumped up from their seats and crowded around Lars.  “A very unkempt man, who identified himself as Zane Marsh
, reportedly hacked into the Helena local news station’s computer system to broadcast a video of himself.  In the video Marsh claims the microchips that were required by law to be implanted into the arm of every American citizen two years ago are in fact a form of mind control.  Marsh also allegedly hacked into the mainframe controlling the microchips, shutting them off.”

“Marsh also played a shocking video of a scientist by the name of Dr. Raymond Eldridge who was reportedly conducting experiments in order to prove this mind control theory.  His findings appear plausible at this time.  Dr. Eldridge recently died under suspicious circumstances, making this story all the more bizarre.  Many Americans seem to agree with Marsh and have taken to publicly rioting.”

The screen changed from the female reporter to a video clip of a large city where people were running wildly in the streets, breaking widows, fighting, and overturning cars.  “This was the scene in downtown Boise this afternoon after the Zane Marsh video was posted to UVideo and became a viral sensation,” the reporter continued, “The crowd was eventually subdued by a SWAT team, using tear gas and rubber bullets.  Similar situations have been occurring all over the country, proving to be too much for law enforcement to handle.  An estimated forty five percent of the United States Police Force has resigned from their jobs today.”

“The microchips are still down, prohibiting purchases of any kind.  Local food banks are donating food to those in need, advising everyone to take only what they need at this time so there will be enough food for everyone.  President Burke released a statement, saying the allegation that the microchips facilitate mind control is quote ‘unfounded, ludacris, and completely false’.  President Burke is issuing a press conference tomorrow to discuss the subject in greater detail.  We will continue to bring you updates here on Channel 12.”

“Wow!  You were right, Zach.  There are tons of people like us wanting to be part of a rebellion,” Davie exclaimed as he took another bite of his hot dog.  Lars turned off the TV, and everyone returned to their log seats to finish their food. 

“You’ve caused a revolution, brother!  Th
is whole country’s in chaos,” Lars exclaimed.  “Do you think people are rioting because they’re angry about the chips or because they can’t purchase anything?” Min wondered.