I don't know how much we ran in those streets. I don't remember if we ever talked while
running. Astrid was silent. So silent it was making me anxious while running. From a point,
I was following her. she turned left and stopped in front of a garage. She grabbed her bobby
pin from her hair and started unlocking a lock on the garage.
"we need to keep moving" I said trying to get her to talk.
"they will find us the whole city is filled with cameras but this street"
"how do you know that?" I asked but she didn't answer and opened the lock and went
inside.
"what is this place?" I looked around and saw way too many boxes.
"our parents were more careful than they seemed. Everything that people outside shouldn't
know about our family is in this garage" Astrid said.
"like what?" I said while she was searching a box in mom's name. "Astrid"
She took a file out from mom's box. "look" Astrid said and I looked at the papers on the
ground. "mom was supposed to be a leader. When she was about to become 18, this
happened." She said and handed me two death records.
"internal bleeding" I read in both of the papers. "now look at these" Astrid grabbed some
papers from her bag. "you are researching the totem bearers?" she nodded and handed them
to me.
"internal bleeding, sudden death, internal bleeding, internal bleeding" I read each paper.
"they are 4 of the totem bearers. One of them was left till yesterday. Something has
happened and it happened when mom went to that meeting" Astrid said.
"did they come after mom?" I asked and she shook her head. "they came after me" she said
and I looked at her confused. She stood up and moved a box and a locked door was under
it. she opened the lock with her pin and we went down the stairs.
"what the hell" I said when I saw the storage under the garage. She took a paper out from
a box and gave it to me.
"they came after me" she said sitting down on a box. I read the test answers and looked at
her. "our dad is dead because of me" she said with tears in her eyes and I sat in front of
her.
"hey don't do that. It isn't your fault. None of this is your fault. We're gonna find mom
and we will get out of here" I said and hugged her tight.
We waited until night to get out of the garage. We locked the door and went on the streets
again. The screens of the city suddenly turned on.
"citizens of Detroit, the testing day has arrived earlier than before. all the factions 17 year
olds will have to take the test tomorrow." Madam president said.
"why the sudden testing?"
"I don't know" Astrid said looking at the screen in anger. "let's go" I said and grabbed her
hand and we went. My hand was hurting and I kept touching it.
"are you okay?" she said worriedly and I nodded. it was hurting so badly I kept touching
my hand and suddenly I stopped walking because I heard and felt something.
"what is it?" Astrid said.
"I think I know why the testing day is sooner"
"what are you talking about?" Astrid looked at me and then at my hands.
"because our trackers will work 24 hours before testing day."
"trackers? We have trackers inside us?" Astrid said in a high tone and I grabbed her arm
and touched it. "doesn't it hurt?" I asked and she shook her head.
"Astrid. I think they are using me to find you" I said slowly so she could digest it.
"I will take the tracker out I know how to stitch your arm. I" she was saying that we heard
sirens.
"I have a target on my back. I will go in that way I want you to run. Don't stop. There is a
cruise going for research outside of Detroit. I was going to join them. go and don't look
back" I said
"I can't lose you too" she said crying and I hugged her and slipped something in her pocket.
"you won't lose me. I am always here. Tornado twins forever" I said and let go of her hand
and ran in the street. That is how we were. We protect our family and our family protects
us.
Two cars stopped in front of me and one behind me. Marcus got out of the cars with his
special unit.
"if you had waited, I was going to come take the test myself tomorrow" I said
"hands in the air" a man shouted. God I hated men in black. They literally had no
intelligence. Shouting and not thinking for one second. A man put a gun on my head. My
twin feelings were telling me Astrid was still here. They started hitting me but another car
came. A classier one. Mitchel got out.
"madam president wants the boy unharmed" Mitchel said and Marcus nodded to his men
to stand down.
"I'm sorry about your father" Mitchel said while they were forcing me into the car.
"I'm sorry for my father for trusting you" I said and sat in the back seat. "we got the boy"
Mitchel said touching the device in her ear.
......….
Astrid's arm started hurting and she ran faster towards the cruise that was leaving. She ran
towards the ship and jumped on it the moment it was moving.
"hey kid. Who are you?" a man said standing in front of her with a list. She took a look at
the list.
"I'm Oliver" she said and he raised his eyebrows.
"unisex name. ask my parents." she said and suddenly remembered that her dad had died.
"alright, don't you have a test tomorrow?" he said and Astrid hid her arm behind her.
"I'm 16" she said and he nodded and went away. Astrid grabbed her pack and opened it
searching for something to take out the tracker.
"why couldn't they track me?" she said to herself and searched her bag. She found a
necklace inside.
"dad" she smiled and put it on and closed her eyes.
After searching for a while, she got tired and cold. She hadn't eaten anything in hours. Cold
breeze of the sea was making her sleepy. She put her hands in her pockets and sensed
something. she took it out and looked at it. it was a USB in a waterproof bag.
She grabbed her head in her hands and remembered the moment her dad got shut and the
guards beating Ian. she put the USB in her pocket and zipped it. her arm started hurting
badly all of a sudden.
Mitchel took Ian to a control room with a big LCD and Madam president was inside the
room.
"Hello Ian" she said and he looked at her.
"the women of your family either are smarter or luckier" she said going close to him. a
man came in. "the teams are ready to scout the city" he said and she nodded.
"bring me Norah Palmer alive." She said and he went out.
"let's be honest. The only people this community needs are you and your mother. Healers'
faction is filled with doctors like your dad and well, the chosen ones don't contribute to
society"
"this society can't understand the chosen ones. They bring light into the darkness."
"listen to yourself Ian. the chosen ones didn't save the world and create order. Warriors,
leaders, inventors and healers did."
"the totem bearers did." Ian said. Mitchel received a call and went to the president
hesitantly.
"drones have identified the subject" she said and the cruise was shown on the large screen.
Ian looked at the screen in shock and looked at Mitchel with begging eyes. "close in on the
target" president said.
"no no. HEY. I will do anything. Please.." Ian said crying.
"negative. cannot get any closer to the ship. the wind is strong. we only have one option
Ma'am"
"do it" she said without any hesitation and turned to Mitchel. "enter the launch codes"
"Mitchel." Ian said scared. "Mitchel please I'm begging you." Ian cried shouting.
"it's an order Mitchel" she said and Mitchel entered the code and pressed the red button.
The ship exploded in front of his eyes and he looked at the screen lifeless.
"tornado twins forever" he remembered her face. her smile. When he would get hurt. The
first time they learned skating. "I've got you brother"
"No" he shouted and attacked the president but the guards gave him electric shock.
......…
Ian woke up from a nightmare. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. The door opened.
"Ian Palmer. It is time for your test" a man said and he looked at him emotionless and then
at the walls of the cell he had been staying in for the past 6 months. He got up and grabbed
his glasses. They took him 13 levels up and he reached a room.
"clean clothes. No one can know where you had been for the past 6 months" the man said.
He put on a buttoned up light blue shirt and a tie. He looked at himself in the mirror. he
took everything off and went into the shower. He took the razor and shaved his head. He
went out and put his clothes on. A paper fell from the coat the man had brought for him.
he opened it.
"your mother is safe for now" -T
He smiled bitterly and grabbed a match and burnt the paper in the sink of the bathroom. He
put his shoes on and took off.
He went through the roads he hadn't walked in for months. He went in the bus and everyone
was looking at him. he got off in front of the testing area. He walked slowly with big steps.
He looked beside himself and saw a smiling Astrid. He smiled weakly and she disappeared.
A girl came with his dad and stood next to him. they were wearing pant suits. He was the
only one who was completely alone. He remembered the shot in his dad's head. His eye
flinched.
"Thea Handerson" the woman who took the test called and Thea went in after kissing her
dad. Ian looked down, Tobias put his hand on Ian's shoulder.
"stay firm like your parents" he said and Ian looked up and swallowed the lump in his
throat.
"Leaders" the woman said in the microphone after Thea took the test and Thea shook hands
with the leaders' faction including her dad and stood next to him.
"Ian Palmer" the woman called and Ian started his test.
Everyone was focused on his test. He closed his eyes.
"public or private you already have invented our whole army tech so"
"I'm ready" he said and they started the personality test and brain simulator.
Curiosity, simplicity and perseverance. The qualities an inventor needs.
"inventor" she said and he got up and went towards the inventors and they shook hands.
Madam President went on the stage and Ian looked at her.
"Congratulations on your tests. 6 months ago, the city went into chaos because of a deviant
faction. Our army is still patrolling the city every night to capture the defectors that went
against orders and protected them. in order to keep the peace and order, we have decided
that every faction will be supervised by the leaders' faction and will answer to me and the
vice president directly."
Ian chuckled and the room was in chaos. None of the factions wanted to be controlled by
another one. But when the head of the inventors' faction stood up to say something, the
android soldiers stood in front of the inventors' faction and their LED turned red.
Ian looked at the head of the faction and he sat down and the president continued:
"any person going against the rules, will be executed" she said and went down the stairs
and outside the building.
The androids' LED turned blue and they walked away after the warriors' faction. The head
of inventors stood there and was saying something to his wife. Living with whispering
parents, Ian had good ears for eavesdropping.
"we have developed those androids. They are going to turn out tech on us and watch us so
we can't do anything?" he said and she squeezed his shoulder.
Ian walked after the others in his new faction. He walked in the same pace as them. they
reached a building and he went into the dorm. He closed the door behind him.
He opened the buttons of his shirt and folded the shirt on the lines. He put on the clothes
inside the closet and grabbed a razor and shaved his head again. He looked at his face in
the mirror and went outside of the bathroom.
There was a TV in the room with a laptop and a notebook. He grabbed the notebook and
saw next to the window and leaned his head to it. The coldness of the window on his head
made him less anxious than before. he opened the notebook and started writing.
"this is the world we live in. chaos is the law of nature. Order is a dream that only occurs
when it is combined with corruption and betrayal.
the sound of the bomb and the bullet don't leave me head but I have to wait. I have to wait
for her to make a mistake.
human beings are incredible. They rely on each other's mistakes. It has been millions of
years that humans have walked the earth. But we still haven't learned.
order is not what we need. It is just our impossible dream and need for power over others"
He wrote and closed the notebook and stared outside. He saw androids and soldiers
patrolling the city and looked at the LED on the android's head. "let's see" he said and
grabbed his laptop and started typing and he was blocked out.
"blocking a Palmer out from his own tech is a bold move Madam president" he thought
and started typing on a new page.