The Search

The Search(Eduardo CV) Most people thought that World War 1 would be the war to end all wars. They were wrong. It was World War four, the war for food, that ended them. In the aftermath of World War three, food had started to grow scarce, and in just fifty years afterwards, there was barely enough left for the big countries, the United States being one of them. In the midst of the war for food, people started to rely on anarchy, and by the end of it, there was no order. So, the U.S. (more like what was left of it) took charge and created a new system, everyone got food, but only a one-foot bar per day (they said it was all they could provide) and put surveillance everywhere to watch our every move, no questions asked, in exchange of peace and order.
When I opened my eyes, I don’t see her next to me. It’s not unusual, I just expected to see her today.
There’s a sudden knock on the door. I knew who it was since they always come at this time of the day.
“Your daily food, sir” said the robot while I opened the door.
“Yes, thank you” I said while grabbing the bar. I then closed the door, sat down on my couch, turned on the television, and started eating my food bar. Delicious as always I think to myself. The only thing playing in the TV at the time was the news, so that had to suffice. I didn’t really pay much attention to it, but it was something about people abnormally disappearing, I heard that much. It wasn’t really abnormal for people to disappear, it happened all the time. After I was finished, I went to work.
People don’t use money in this time, but everyone is obligated to work at least eight hours a day everyday.
I was really tired coming back from work. The sky was pitch black, so that made me even more tired. I could see my house now, but the weird thing was, the bedroom lights still weren’t turned on. I quickly dashed to the door, but when I opened it, it was all dark in there. She still hadn’t gotten there. Where the hell could she be?! I thought Is she maybe off with another man? But then I remembered what I had seen in the news earlier that same day. Could she have disappeared just like the others? With all of those questions in my mind, I just went to sleep and assured myself that she would be back home tomorrow. Hopefully.
The next day, there was still no sign of her. I then heard a knock on the door, and I knew who it was.
“Here is your daily food, sir” said the robot while I opened the door.
“Yeah, thanks,” I responded “by the way, can you tell me where my wife?”
“May you clarify?”
“My wife, where is she? You know, you’d think that with all of the surveillance you guys have here, you would know where she is”
“You should remember our agreement, sir, no questions asked”
“No, you see, I wasn’t the one that made that agreement. Now, can you tell me where she is?”
“No questions asked”
“Are you admitting that you are responsible for my wife’s disappearance?”
“No questions asked”
“No, you are asking me to follow you guys blindly, I’m not going to do that, not when it comes to her. Now tell me where she is!”
“I’m afraid I can’t comply”
“Look, I’m really starting to get mad, where is she!”
“I’m afraid I can’t co--”
I then threw a punch at him in anger. “Where is she!” I yelled.
He said nothing.
“Answer me!”
Nothing.
I then threw another punch at him and yelled as loud as I could “TELL ME!” He still said nothing. I then threw another punch at him, and another, and another. “TELL ME!” I said while punching him. “WHERE IS SHE?” My knuckles were now starting to bleed from the punching, but I didn’t care, I started to hit harder. “WHERE IS MY WIFE?” Blood from my knuckle was now splattering all over the robot’s face, but I just ignored the pain, I had to find my wife.
“Stop now or you will be restrained” said the robot. But I didn’t stop, I just kept punching and punching. But then, in the next punch I laid, a rapid and stinging surge of electricity surged through my body coming from my hand. The robot had electrocuted me.
A splash of water woke me up. I was sitting down in a very dark room tied to a very uncomfortable chair with a tall blonde man standing in front of me holding a bucket.
“No questions asked, remember? What were you trying to accomplish?” said the tall man.
“Where is my wife? Who are you? Do you guys have her?” I asked.
The tall man then got some kind of taser and electrocuted me with it. I felt the stinging surge of electricity pass over me again, but ten times stronger. I was burning all over the inside of my body. I let out a scream of pain.
“Don’t speak out of turn” said the man “And all I can say about that is that sometimes, ignorance really is bliss. Trust me, you don’t want to know”
“Where is my wife!?” I yelled.
He then put the taser on me again and electrocuted me. I let out another scream filled with pain and despair. But then to my surprise, I saw something in his eye that I didn’t expect. I saw that he was almost about to shed a tear.
“You don’t want to do this” I said. But he then put the taser on my body one more time and electrocuted me. I did not know that such pain was possible.
“Not everything is black and white! There is no good and evil! I have a family to raise!”
“You are a sick human being that tortures people for a living!” I said. He then got closer to me, put the taser on me as if he was trying to stab me with it and electrocuted me, and this time it felt much stronger. He calmed himself down and left the room. As soon as I heard the door slam shut, i try to get away. Try to figure out a way to escape. But then, to my surprise, the door flew open and in came a man whose face I had never seen before. His clothes looked strange, since they weren’t the ones that the government had outfitted for us, they looked kind of rebellious.
“You got to get out of here” said the man. He then came to the back of my chair, cut the rope which I was tied with, and ran out of the room. I tried to follow, but when I got out of the room, I caught a glimpse of the guy who had tortured me coming back. I quickly stepped back into the room. Where do I hide? I thought to myself. I glanced all over the room. Where? Where can I hide? I look back and forth. He’s gonna kill me I thought I’m dead. But then, as if it had come out of nowhere, I saw a closet. I quickly made a run for the closet and got in as quickly as I could. But, I found out that it didn’t fully close. I was just about to go get another hiding spot but then the man that tortured me came in the room.
“Where are you?” yelled the man. “Please, come out, my family is in danger!”
I didn’t dare budge.
“Please!” he said. And then, I guess he realized that I wasn’t going to come out because a tear then came out of his eye “I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll kill you! And I promise you, it won’t be a slow death!”
I then made an accidental sound. He turned his head, he was facing me now. We were making eye contact. Can he see me? He walks towards me. He is five feet away from me when he stops. My heart starts beating harder and harder. I hear it massively beating. Can he hear it? He looks towards me again. His head is getting closer and closer to mine. But I wasn’t going to die, I was determined to live and find my wife.
I opened the closet doors as fast and as strong as I could, hitting him in the face, and I ran, ran away from that horrible place, faster than I knew I could. I quickly found my way out of the building into the street, that’s where I found the guy that untied me alongside a woman that looked far more injured than me.
“You made it out, good,” said the man “Lets go, or else they’ll catch us”
And he was right, because right then some guys in a dark armor suit came out of the building and ran towards us. We tried to escape, running as fast as we could. When suddenly I heard a gunshot, and the woman went down. For a sudden moment, I was happy, happy that she was dead so that we didn’t have to run slower for her. I was happy about death. What have I become?
We quickly lost them and rested in a nearby alley.
“Why can’t we just go to my house to rest?” I asked
“Because, that’s the first place they are going to look for you in” He responded.
“What’s your name?”
“Jack”
“Why are you doing this, Jack?”
“Because, I can help you, I know where your wife is.”
“Well where is she?” I said excitingly.
“It’s better to show you than to tell you” he said and then went to sleep.
I could barely sleep that night, but when I did, I dreamt with her. I had woken up with her beside me. I then kissed her and told her that I had missed her throughout the past two days. I didn’t ask her where she had been, I didn’t care. All I cared about was that she was finally beside me again, where she belonged. But that was all just a dream.
When I woke up, Jack was still sleeping. A tear came out of his eye and he whispered “My son”
I then waited for him to wake up.
When he woke up, we both quickly got ready for my final journey towards the truth. We had no car so we had to walk for what seemed forever. I had no idea where we were going, so I just followed Jack.
“We’re almost there” said Jack. And then I saw in the distance what I could’ve only imagined was it. I couldn’t wait any longer, so I ran as fast as I could towards the place. Now I was just a few feet from seeing her again. A few feet away from being with her again.
From the outside it looked like some kind of factory. But then I got inside and I found out what the place really was. I never would’ve guessed. The factory I was in, was where they made the daily food bars.
“This is where they take them. This is where they all end up” said Jack while entering the factory. And suddenly, something inside my mind just clicked, it all made sense. “I’m sorry to say this, but your wife is…”
“Dead” I said finishing his sentence. I couldn’t help a tear coming out of my eye. This was all for nothing. All that I had been through, all leading up to THIS? Right then, I understood everything. Many other tears now followed the other one. Knowing the horrible truth.
The factory doors then flew open and two guys in the dark armor entered. By the time I looked back, Jack was already on the floor, laying in a pool of blood. One of the two men grabbed me by the arms while the other stood in front of me. “You’re next” the one in front said. He then got a gun from under his sleeve and pointed it at me. A gunshot was fired next, and then it all went black.

“He’s dead sir” said one of the two men to his boss. It had been three hours since it had all happened.
“Good” said the boss while sitting in his desk.
“What are we going to do? It happened once, it’s bound to happen again” The man pointed out.
“It has happened before, and it will happen again, but everything will always turn out the same way” explained the boss.
“Can I just ask you something sir?” asked the man “Why do we do it?”
“Think about it, it’s the only way to both stabilize the population, and give everyone food, it’s logically the right thing to do.”
A robot entered the room. “Your daily food, sir” said the robot while handing the bar to him “Just how you like it”.
Then the boss took a bite out of the bar and bright red liquid came out of it. “Delicious”