The magenta ink stained my
fingertips as I took the paper from the printer and held it out before me. My
room was tiny- small- I was high risk so I didn’t get much- not that I hadn’t
managed to- collect my own resources. Home -for me- was a small 1-roomed square flat in the
Establishment tower blocks. I was lucky enough to have a window in my room, the
building I lived in had- at one point before the Establishment been a hotel- so
the view outside wasn’t so bad- the Establishment saw that as a negative. It was like anyone who didn’t like the city-
the industrialised world was wrong. And as punishment for being intelligent
enough to have my own opinions I had been plonked on the Ark hill overlooking
the city like a mountainous grass verge - but I didn’t mind- I was on the
ground floor. Like me being able to see the grass and sky was a punishment to
them – in my eyes it was nothing but a bonus.
It let me see what was out there – beyond the dirty money and cruel
concrete compounds. That’s all the city
was really a giant concrete compound, enforced by the Establishment- and money-
for all those rare few who were able to bribe them. Usually the bribes didn’t
go well – unless there was an ulterior motive, the Establishment would take the
money and then execute whoever had tried to pay them off. The more money you
had the more drawn out and painful the execution would be – sometimes- I
thought they deserved it...
It was dark and blustery when I stepped out late that Wednesday night; the wind rattled the long in need of repair windows. It was past curfew I had to be careful if the patrols caught me then that would be it for my plan- and my life.
The streets flashed after
dark with bright white searchlights that
hugged every inch of the city’s night-time streets. The lights pounced from
wall to wall trying to find whoever had broken curfew, sometimes an unlucky
head looking out of a window would catch a bullet-or laser. Most of the
searchlights were for show- to make people think they were being watched- so
they wouldn’t be disobedient- even the rats knew to stay away from them.
Startled by the light they’d squeal as it blinded them and leap from their night-time
feasts as though someone had put a rocket up their asses. Deep in the thick of
the Establishment buildings security was tighter than the rest of the city, and
the searchlights faster. Some of them even disintegrated the people they caught
in a mass of torn flesh and nerves nothing would be left of a person but a
small puddle of blood and singed concrete. But that was probably a better way
to go than the Establishment lasers. The city centre was teaming with them,
even from a distance I could see them like a storm of light crashing through
the city. Even with the patrols I was safer in the dark...
Anyone watching wouldn’t have
known what I was doing, I was a speck a small shadow crossing the room from
side to side corner to corner shelf to shelf, shelf to desk, desk to desk.
Pulling a swish of rectangle magenta from a hidden pocket and losing it in a
secret place, only for eyes that wanted to see it. It didn’t even take a minuet, within seconds
I was back in the corridor fulfilling the integral part of my plan. It was
important for the others that they themselves made the initial discovery so
they could come to their own conclusions. They needed to view the poster first
before they even found the cards, and for that reason I pulled out the magenta
tube I had stuffed inside my coat and unrolled it. Between the passage door and
the basement reading room of the library opposite the winding metallic stairs
was a dead end nothing but a solid Establishment blue wall. It was there I
slapped the crease free Magenta poster up in the dead centre clear to all who entered in whatever direction they came from. Job done I turned on my heels and let my shadowy footsteps echo out of the building.
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