Delusional Read online

  “We connected to the nanobots in your brain wirelessly in just the click of a button with blue tooth 8.0, which has unlimited range. And technically, anyone in the world could easily obtain your IP address and other basic information and technically access the billions of tiny super computers roaming your brains.”

  Well that’s great. My stomach did a nauseating somersault. They could even mind control us right now if they wanted to. They could pick apart and manipulate every single one of my emotions. And no one can stop them.

  “But,” Jacob stepped in, noticing our startled expressions. “The software we are about to install in your brain will block those connections from happening, it will detect and destroy any malware that enters your brain, block malicious network signals, and instantly alert you by sending the information to you ICLs when it happens.”

  “That’s amazing,” I narrowed my eyes at the projector where Adrian seemed to be on some sort of loading screen, and drilled a suspicious glare into the eyes of Jacob. “Why don’t you install this in the brains of everyone at the White Knights?”

  “Well that’s the thing,” Jacob said. “This is the initial software for what we are calling Mind Defender 1.0.” He smiled, and I could see the creases around his mouth bundle together, “But since it’s the beta version, it still might have some glitches.”

  Glitches? What the hell? I took a deep breath for a moment, my mind finding it incomprehensible how this man could be smiling in this moment. A glitch in our brains? That can’t be good.

  “And since there seems to be no imminent danger to the livelihood of anyone in the White Knight organization, besides you guys. We thought you two might be able to test it out, we would monitor how it works, and any problems that arise will be patched immediately.”

  “Uh sure,” I responded hesitantly as Ethan continued to stare into the distance dumbfounded. I was well aware that if we said no, we would be forced into saying yes anyways. Immediately, after I responded Adrian motioned with his hands and the download began.

  “Download Complete.” The computer voice echoed off the walls literally milliseconds after it began.

  “Dammit.” Ethan held a hand to his head in pain. “My head feels messed up. Something’s, not right.” The eyes of Jacob and Adrian grew wide as their faces tensed with trepidation. Ethan glanced at me out the corner of his eyes with a smirk across his face. I could tell he wanted to continue tricking them, but if he did he would cause them both to have a panic attack. “I’m just kidding.”

  “Oh good,” Adrian exhaled. “But please tell us immediately if you feel weird, or if any alerts are sent to your ICLs.”

  That’s reassuring. They don’t even know if we are safe. They don’t know what’s gonna happen; we could die.

  “We will,” The words barely slipped out my mouth. I tried to stay away from the impassive stare of Jacob, which was creepily narrowed directly at me.

  “Yeah definitely.” Ethan sighed.

  “Now that that’s over with,” Jacob stated, a wild gleam returning to his eyes. He said it so nonchalantly, almost like downloading something onto our brains was just a nonsensical nuisance that was somehow necessary in life. “We can begin our discussion for the day. But first we have some good news.”

  “What is it?” I asked monotonously, in stark contrast to Jacob’s gleeful tone. His idea of good news is like a normal person’s idea of complete hell, or just sheer boredom.

  “We were able to move the date of your nationwide broadcasted interview up to September 18th at prime time.”

  “That’s just wonderful,” Ethan said, and I could hear the hint of sarcasm in his tone, but luckily no one seemed to notice.

  “I know,” Jacob continued, “And today, given that there is only a week till the interview, we figured it would be best to tell you guys the current global political situation. C’mon,” he ushered us toward the door, “follow us we have something to show you.”

  I mindlessly followed him out the door of their main office and out into the stone-lined walls of the White Knight compound. Instead of making the usual left, out into the main room, we made a right down the hallway and walked in silence until we reached a dead end marked with a ladder and sign that read: roof access. The hallways smelled strangely of timber, yet I could sense the odor from my own uncleaned body permeating through the air as I followed Jacob up the ladder.

  I stepped out onto the concrete and a sharp wind welcomed me sending a chilling sensation throughout my body. The part of the building that contained the main room bulged out from the rest of the roof. I inhaled the fresh air deep into my lungs, absorbing the almost unobstructed view of the beauty around us. The clouds blocked the sun resulting in a gray haze to lightly blanket the cresting hills that rolled on as far as the eye could see.

  I found myself staring at the lone dirt road that zig zagged in between the hills, leading to the only signs of civilization marked by the few rustic homes that stood in a sort of solidarity with the world of cattle and birds living around it.

  “This is the world,” Jacob stared longingly at the perfect tranquility that seemed to ring through the air around us. It was a calming feeling that penetrated my insides. “This is how the world should be.” He began to pace across the roof in quick, long strides.

  “This,” he pointed out towards the land around us. “This used to be the ubiquitous feeling of the world, until man arrived.

  “And with the arrival of man came a flurry of wars, destruction, and disruption. Men brought with it the greatest irony: love itself and our love of hatred are what drive us.

  “Love compels people to do radical, unthinkable things,” He stared out into the distance and I swear I could see a tear form in his right eye. It was sometimes hard to see underneath his rough, sturdy build, but Jacob was clearly broken on the inside and although he had likely tried to piece himself back together thousands of times, a little bit more of him shattered when his gaze connected with me.

  Adrian then began to speak. Every single time they talk to us they have this clearly rehearsed script that they follow, that only makes the moment more monotonous and awkward. “Whether it’s the love of money, love of power, or love of life itself; there are always a select few humans that will let nothing come between them and their selfish needs.

  “And President Ash is not the only person who has mind controlled his people, he was just the first.” Adrian motioned his hand outward and a map of the world was projected from his ICL. “Red countries are currently in armed rebellions or civil wars. And the rest of the countries are on a scale from light green, which is completely free, to dark green, which means the government completely mind controls the people.”

  My eyes tried to focus on the map, letting the plethora of colors befuddle my mind even more. At least 30 countries were red like the United States, Brazil, India, Portugal, New Zealand, and many more. Besides the red countries almost the whole map was filled with shades of dark green. Countries like China, Russia, the Philippines, Iran, Pakistan, and about ten or so more were the darkest green with dozens of countries colored in shades of varying dark, vomit colored greens. Just looking at the hell, that had encapsulated the entire world, and infected every single country induced a stomach churning feeling in me.

  I squinted, trying to search the map for just one country that was represented with a shade of anything remotely light green, but there was none. The whole world was either experiencing some sort of mind control, or they were fighting for freedom from the new regime that they will never get.

  “This is crazy,” I said baffled.

  “This is our new world,” Jacob looked up at the map in disgust, and then stared back out at the beautiful landscape around us. Looking around at the pure serenity could almost trick you into forgetting the hell that the world was going through. He silently pointed at the country of Bolivia and a video played with an overview of the country to the side.

  The men marching uniformly were so skinny that thei
r guns hung loosely off their shoulders. They continued to march, almost hypnotically, towards the loose crowd of rebel soldiers who were scattered in the torn, decaying buildings.

  After ten seconds, he clicked on another country. It was the People’s Republic of China, an ironic name for a totalitarian dictatorship. At every block, the face of a stern man was pictured on large flags that flapped rhythmically in the wind. Thousands of people walked in neat, single file lines as they navigated through the city streets.

  Jacob continued to pull up videos of the everyday occurrences in more and more countries, further proving that the world had gone to shambles. Further proving that the darkness inside my mind was ubiquitous, and inescapable. There is nowhere to run. There is nowhere to escape to.

  “Two years ago,” Jacob said, “The United Nations completely fell apart. Even the highest council on Earth could not escape the wrath of mind control and corruption sweeping over its members.

  “After the U.N. was dissolved the set of international rules, that guarantees certain rights for all citizens of the world, became obsolete. For the first time in world history, there was no one to challenge the power of the great emperors of the world. For the first time in world history there were no technological or political boundaries separating man from completely controlling the actions of each other.”

  He paused to shake his head, maybe in disapproval of the world or himself. “You would think at this point, that the dictators of the world would finally be happy, after all they finally can achieve complete and total control. But they are addicted to power. And like any addiction, its insatiable appetite keeps starving for more and more.

  “And now the only place they can get that power is from each other. And right now, the people of dozens of countries across the world in Africa, Eastern Europe, South Asia, Latin America, and just about every region of the world are currently fighting each other in the most intense power struggle for world domination that humanity has ever seen.”

  Jacob paused. He rubbed the dark circles and creases underneath his eyes and he shook his head. Finally, after regaining his composure, he continued. “So just remember during our own internal power struggle, that our civil war is nothing in magnitude compared to the world war taking place right now. And my question isn’t which side will win control of the other, but will humans or technology rule the world?”

  “What’s even the point then?” Ethan exclaimed the sun casting a glare on his quickly fading cuts and bruises. “Why go through all of this effort if it’s all out of our control?”

  “That’s what they want you to think.” Jacob responded. “They want you to just give up at the mercy of their power. That’s why we must at least try to make a difference. That’s why we must try and take back America, and then maybe we can start to fix the world.”

  “I wish you were right.” I responded, sitting down on the roof to stare out at the rolling green hills. “It just all seems impossible.”

  To that statement no one responded, and the only sounds that could be heard was the low whisper of the wind, the melodic chirp of the birds in the distance, and the echoes of my own lonely voice in my mind. I could feel a little flicker of hope light up my insides for the slightest amount of time, and for a nanosecond I found myself believing what he was saying.

  But when the flicker of hope burned out into a pile of cold ashes at the base of my heart, I couldn’t help but think that it all was truly over. Everything was gone. The goodness in the world had forever been reduced to an irrecoverable mess of ash and rubble.

  I glanced over at Adrian who narrowed his thick eyebrows as he stared down at the grooves in the roof, and at Jacob who looked out at the grassy field with a twinkle in his eyes, almost like it was all his kingdom in some delusional dream.

  I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe the impossible idea that we could somehow bring humanity, who is buried thousands of feet underground, back to the surface of the Earth.

  I wanted to rescue the world before it perishes forever.

  It is what I must do.

  Chapter 10

  I felt a light tap on my shoulder as I rubbed my eyes lazily to get myself awake. At first, I only saw the outline of his tall, sturdy body, until finally the fog encapsulating my eyes receded, giving way to his beauty. Colton looked at me with a smile as he mouthed, “It’s time.”

  My body instantly jolted up out of bed, even though my brain was still very much sleep. I was having trouble processing his words as they slowly muddled through my brain. “We have to go.” He repeated, this time forcefully shaking my shoulder, to get me to fall out of my daze. There was a panicked look in his eyes, yet he took on an oddly calm disposition.

  “Colton what is happening?” I tried to keep my voice low, but I couldn’t help but snap at him. Adrenaline began to course through my body, which quickly caused my brain to kick into gear, however, my heart began to pulse rapidly as my entire body reacted to the heavy tension weighing down the air.

  “Natalie,” He stuttered, and he grazed his strangely cold hand down my bare shoulder, until it landed in my trembling fingers. Luckily, I had my own room, so he didn’t have to worry about waking anyone else up. “This is our only chance. If we don’t leave now, then we will forever be trapped here.” He glared at me, and then at the door. I could feel his body pulling mine with him, and I almost couldn’t stop his enticing energy from alluring my mind into yielding to his will.

  “But what happened?” I took a deep breath, a wave of shock suddenly overcoming me as I realized that the time had finally come. The moment that Colton had been hyping up for days was finally here.

  “Jacob, finally found out what I was doing.” He inched closer to me, and the glass film covering his eyes appeared as if it was about to break. “He finally detected that I was interrupting the signal between the microchip embedded in our skin and the computers in this compound so that we wouldn’t be tracked when we run away. And now,” There was a look of pure terror strewn across his face. His ripped muscles were tense, and his face ghostly pale. “He’s going to kill me the next chance he gets, whether, that be in a minute, or in the morning.”

  Colton paused, and a suffocating silence permeated through the air. The silence somehow only magnified the chaos ensuing in my mind. In that moment, my mind felt like an inflated balloon raring to rupture, and the second it does all the knowledge and life inside me would instantly dissipate into the world and leave me forever.

  I stared up into Colton’s eyes, searching just for one speck of hope to grasp onto. However, I could feel my body innately conform to his, as he leaned in and our lips connected, giving me one last taste of happiness. “Natalie,” Colton wrapped his arms around me to smother me in his warmth. “If we don’t leave now I will die.”

  I wanted to scream in protest. I wanted to latch onto his body and prevent him from ever leaving me. I wanted to hold onto that one moment, that one feeling I get when I feel his lips are against mine and reside in that bliss forever. But in that moment, all I could do was mindlessly follow him as he tip-toed towards the door.

  Are we really doing this? I looked down at my legs, which were hastily, almost robotically moving forward, and at Colton, who had his eyes fixated on the faint light just up ahead. There was a new tenseness to his body that made me feel uncomfortable, and there was somehow a subtle shift in his demeanor that rendered all those warm, nostalgic feelings inside me to be forgotten.

  Tomorrow, which could be in mere hours, Ethan and I have our interview, which will bring us out of the shadows and in the light of the public eye.

  Now we are running away from it all.

  Colton pulled me forward out into the main room where Antonio and Ethan, and the short, yet broad frame of Dulce stood waiting for us. We all silently exchanged anxious glances as Colton patted his hand against his chest. Did he just tell them that we are leaving now too?

  I wondered how Dulce felt about all this. She was always the most nervous about
leaving, she was always the one that hoped that things would somehow work out here.

  I sighed, letting my eyes mull over the moon’s rays, that shined down through the skylights above, casting a thin film of heavenly light upon the darkness around us. Without anyone in it, the main room was a hallowed skeleton of itself.

  “ICLs,” Colton whispered, shooting a serious glare into all of us.

  With the adrenaline coursing through me beginning to take over my mind, I took out my ICLs and tossed them on the ground. If we even stepped outside the door at these hours with our ICLs on White Knight Officials would be notified. Plus, it’s not like we had to worry about hiding the fact that we left. When the TV crews arrived at 6 am to set up, the rest of the White Knights would wake up to the reality that we were gone. Jacob and Adrian will have to find a way to move on without us.

  Colton pushed the glass door open slowly, being careful not to make any sudden movements. A chilling air blasted my face causing goose bumps to dot my skin as a harrowing thought entered my mind.

  There’s no turning back now. I stepped outside and looked up at full moon that hovered ominously overhead. My entire body was beginning to shiver, with both fear and a nervous excitement. My life changes forever once again, right now.

  At first, we all walked in silence, still trying to soak up the magnitude of the moment. We walked in defiance away from the White Knights, away from safety, and out into the wilderness.

  The moon was ever omnipresent in the sky, its radiant glow extending to even the farthest reaches of the blackness. Without it the land beyond would be smothered in a blinding darkness, but with it the cresting hills and water in the distance were covered in a faint glow.