Bluebird Chapter 9

Bluebird Chapter 9

An Ongoing Story by Selomon

[Bluebird is an ongoing sci-fi fantasy story. Read Chapter 1 HERE]

Sounds of two men arguing rose through the darkness. The back of my head was aching. I tried to move my arms, but they were tied together. That’s when I realized I was tied to a chair. My eyes struggled to open. It was too dark and blurry to see anything.

“He’s awake,” I heard one of the men say.
“About damn time. Go tell General Braddock,” a gruff sounding man said.

Footsteps walked past me. I heard a door open and close. The other man moved closer to me. My eyes began to adjust, and I saw his outline.

“Who are you?”
“My name is Carth,” I said with a weak voice.
“Why are you here?”
“To get away from the fucking aliens dude,” I said a little harsher than I meant to. 

“One of our men saw you hiding behind a tree, spying on us. What were you doing? Planning something?” Demanded the man.

My eyes began to clear up and I noticed he had a dark, gray goatee. He was tall and pot-bellied. His face was weathered and wrinkled. He snarled at me and said, “Were you sent here to help someone escape? Who sent you?”

If this was a safe place, why would anyone want to escape? I thought to myself. I looked at him and told the truth.

“No, I thought this was one of the safe spots. Why would I try to break anyone out? We’re supposed to be at war with the aliens, not each other!”

“Then why were you sneaking around?” He asked, getting angry.

“I was just making sure there weren’t a bunch of aliens taking over dude,” I replied dryly. 

“Don’t call me dude!” the man yelled right in my face.

The door opened and heavy boots strolled in. It was an older man with short gray hair and a gray mustache. He wore a fancy army uniform with a chest full of medals. His hat came off as he sat down in the chair on the other side of the table.

“I’m a busy man. I have over twenty thousand men under my command spread out all over the country. There is no time for me to deal with bullshit. So let’s make this short and tell me who you are and why you’re here,” he said, staring me in the eyes.

“My name is Carth. I just came here because I thought it would be safe.”

General Braddock leaned back and lit a cigarette. I wasn’t a smoker. The smell gave me a headache. He took a few puffs in silence.

“Did you come here alone?”
“Yes,” I replied.

“On foot?” he asked sharply.
“Yes.” 

He stood up without saying anything. The smoke moved around his body. This man looked down on me and put his cigarette out on the table right in front of me.

I knew it was a tactic he was using to exert power and control over me so I said, “Well that’s stupid. Now you just have a burn mark on your own table. What happens if the president comes to see you and sees this. You’ll just look unprofessional. You’ll probably lose out on a promotion. And for what?”

“Enough!” he yelled. “I will just get another table and replace it.”
“I don’t know if you’ve seen it out there. But Ikea doesn’t exist anymore. You got to think about these things. They have consequences,” I kept on going. 

“Get him the fuck out of here!” the general yelled at the two guards. 

Before I left he said, “We’ll be watching you smart-ass. If you try anything, you will learn the true meaning of consequences.” 

“Yea, well…” I began before the largest of the two guards slapped me in the back of head. 

“Move it,” he yelled while pushing me toward the door.

“Find him a room in section D,” said General Braddock.

My burning wrists finally got some relief when I was cut free after being led out of the first door. They told me to follow them and I was led through a few more doors that all looked the same. Heavy metal doors that were dark green with little slits in the middle of them.

Armed soldiers were everywhere. Some posted near specific doors, others patrolling the hallways, and outside were a few walking around. They each had a stern look on their face.

Everyone else looked sad and hopeless. Most of the civilians were dirty with tattered clothing. None of them attempted to even look in my direction. I was beginning to realize what Dr. Foster was trying to tell me. Still, something was telling me I needed to be there.

We came upon a set of doors that had “Section D” written on them. The two men leading me each took a position on each side and faced me. One of them nodded and said, “Here’s where you’ll be staying. Find an empty bunk.” 

“Is there any way I could get some food and water?” I asked. 

They looked at each other and laughed before the man with a goatee said, “Everyone eats once in the morning and again in the evening. You’ll have to wait a few hours.”

“But you guys took my stuff. Maybe you left it. I don’t even know what happened to it!” 

“Listen good, we don’t know what happened to your stuff. Just find a bunk and then you can head outside or wait in one of the common areas,” he said.

I walked into the room and he closed the door behind me. The walls were painted in a bland yellow. There were twenty rows of bunk beds on either side of the room with another row in the middle. No one else was in the room.

I found one on the bottom that had nothing on it, not even a sheet, and sat down. This was not what I was expecting. It looked like a prison on the outside and felt like one on the inside. 

Anxiety wanted to say hello, but I wasn’t going to sit there and chat with it. The moment I got up, one of the doors swung open and a guard threw my backpack at me. It landed in front of me with a light thud.

The door shut without any words being spoken. They had taken all of my food and water. There were a few pieces of clothes, but it was otherwise empty. I needed to find out why I was there and quickly, because this place was hell.

I sat my backpack on the empty bed and found a door that led outside. None of the guards seemed to care. It was cloudy out and the mood all around was very somber.

[Read Chapter 10 HERE]