Lessons in Loyalty

Only the feeling of Amber’s soft hand caressing the bulge of my thigh bleeding through the hole in my jeans could steady the shaking while we sped down the empty night road. As I glance in the rearview, I see the lights of the enforcers flashing in the distance. “Faster,” Amber shouts! But despite my lead foot, I can feel my old 3029 rustbucket beetle slowly coming to a halt. “Shit,” I muttered with a sigh of defeat I edged my beetle to the side of the road, “We aren’t going to make it …The battery is dead,” I regretfully announce.

The enforcers surround us armed solidifying our capture “DEAD OR ALIVE!” The Supreme Ruler’s screams still on repeat in my head. I take a look at the enforcers blocking every possible escape with 30 rounds aimed for the kill, and I almost begin to hesitate. Every inch of me is screaming; I want to run for cover and never come out. I take a second look this time, not at the enforcers nor their flesh-ripping firearms. This time I look to Amber thinking only of the ocean in her eyes, her blonde waves that always seemed to cup the rose in her cheeks in untamable layers, those lips so red and full apples were envious, and that voluptuous physic how it meets my every touch with a craving for more. “Are you ready?” I ask with one final kiss before exiting the car. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” Amber mumbled as she too exited slowly with hands raised.

Immediately after exiting our vehicle, the enforcers cuff us, throwing us in the backs of separate cars. I can hear Amber weeping, and I can’t tell whether it is for me or herself but the pain is all too relatable regardless. The enforcers drive all-white new 3040 SUVs with a white leather interior and bars dividing the front seats from the back to separate themselves from the criminals. Yet, these cars were different and instead of the usual metal separation bars, there seemed to be some sort of force field. Almost as if Amber could read my thoughts, we locked eyes knowing then we were being taken for rechipping. We knew at that moment our choice was dead because alive and ignorant could never again be an option. “I love you,” Amber mouthed before rushing the nearest enforcer and being swiftly met with a bullet between her eyes. “And I love you,” I whispered as my voice cracked with tears, shaky with regret. They disposed of her body through instant cremation, turning her to dust before my eyes as if she never existed. I never meant to fall in love.

In school, we are taught that before Ugali there was only fear and confusion. Our ancestors lived on divided land many believed to be called countries, and these “countries” were constantly at war with one another, but everything changed once the Ugali came. The Ugali saved us from ourselves by joining the people under one rule and giving them rebirth through the placement of civilIzation chips. Civilization chips were put in place to remove the stress of decision-making. Thanks to the placement of our chips, arbitrary choices like occupation, family, friends, health, and dwellings were all assigned at birth. Children in Ugali society are grown by surrogates then assigned to parents based on their skills and personality traits, and children are raised and trained to take on their predetermined lives. The Ugali saved us all by putting the order in place of freedom or at least that's what we were taught, but in time we all learn the truths passed off as fairy tales.

I emerge from the SUV still cuffed attempting to swallow my cries before ordering the removal of my restraints. “Yes, ma’am,” Enforcement Officer Vlad stated with a salute followed by their removal. Pulling my thick ginger coils into a bun at the top of my head, I snatch the first tablet I see going straight to work on finding out once and for all who the man with the locket was because now things are personal. When the Supreme Ruler assigned the job of hunting down the man with the locket to me, I was so proud to receive recognition for all the hard work I had been doing in the enforcer dispatching department. Funny, I never once thought my hunt for the elusive locket man would lead me to the love of my life nor to lose her. The Supreme Ruler chose me to head a secret division of enforcers to hunt and end the leader of the rebellion against Ugali society- a man known only as “The Locket Man”. The Locket Man was considered a revolutionary by some but a criminal extremist by most for his radical mission to discontinue the Ugali chips even going as far as removing them for his followers. Amber was the right-hand gal to The Locket Man which made her the perfect target for surveillance. Amber had already had her chipped removed so tracking her wasn’t an option. I had to get close, and after months of research, I finally found her known whereabouts and inserted myself into her life. I never planned on becoming Amber’s girlfriend, and it was supposed to be just another assignment I never planned to care for her at all. The man with the locket was the cause of all of this yet I still found myself more and more enticed by his promises of freedom, because although my search for him led to the death of my beloved Amber, the Supreme Ruler was truly to blame. Scrolling through the evidence file on my tablet, I come across my smoking gun, a photo we must have missed previously. It was Amber smiling that warm all-encompassing smile she always wore after a successful protest. I had seen this photo before but I couldn’t help but linger as I wondered how someone so beautiful could throw her life away for a cause she’d never see a resolution for. “Milly focus baby,” I hear Amber sing playfully, the way she did when I went down the rabbit hole that is my brain. Shaking my head back to alert, I take another look at the photo. This time, I zoom in on the crowd behind the smile I’d spend the rest of my life missing. Looking closer at the photo, I noticed a woman with jet black waist-length dreadlocks, almond skin, freckles that littered only half of her face, and eyes as green as the jade heart-shaped locket she wore around her neck. My mind raced with questions, ”Who is this mystery woman?” “Was The Locket Man The Locket Woman?” but most importantly why was the Supreme Ruler holding her hand. With more questions than answers, I hopped in the passenger seat of Vlad’s SUV prompting him to head in the direction of answers.

Storming into the Ugali Supreme Ruler habitation hall is bold, to say the least, but I had questions and after ordering the death of the only person I have ever truly loved meant I’m owed some answers. I entered the habitation hall with weight in my boots careful to convey both my seriousness while maintaining the appropriate amount of respect “Who is this person and why are you holding her hand?” dangling the photo in front of her face inquisitively. “That is my sister,” she said with a sign of sentiment crossing her face. She takes the photo from my hand studying the enhanced version of the two holding hands amongst a sea of people. “So… The Locket Man is your sister?” I asked sheepishly. “No, The Locket Man is not my sister. He was her husband, and this photo was taken the last time I saw her alive,” spat the Supreme Ruler scornfully as she began to tell me the true nature of this uprising. She shared her story of two inseparable sisters and a man named Kenny who tore them apart in ways they never could’ve imagined. Kenny aka “The Locket Man” was a defective. Defectives are children who didn’t meet the proper requirements to be assigned a family so they are instead raised in group homes and trained to become enforcers. Being a defective and thus an enforcer meant Kenny would not have been permitted to marry, especially not to the future Supreme Ruler. Kenny and Supreme Ruler’s sister Liz fell in love despite it being forbidden while the sisters toured a defective group home during their ruler training. According to Supreme Ruler, Kenny began filling Liz’s head with conspiracy theories that eventually led to her relinquishing her position and running away to join his cause to fight the Ugali regime. After running away Liz missed her sister, and she invited the Supreme Ruler who at the time was only her little sister Eliza to see one of their protest for herself, hoping to bring Eliza to their side and end their feud once and for all. Unfortunately for Liz and Eliza, the Ugali had a different plan. While attending the protest, Liz was assassinated. After seeing the murder of her older sister Eliza couldn’t go on, and she removed her chip and her sister’s, placing them both inside a jade locket Liz had worn since childhood. Eliza assumed removing her chip would end her life, but instead discovered that the removal of chips was the key to unlinking the Ugali control center thus returning the ability for individual thoughts. Kenny was ecstatic when Eliza shared what she’d learned and insisted on taking the locket as proof that the Ugali were no longer just using chips for assignment purposes, they were removing our abilities for thought processing. Eliza denied Kenny’s claim to the necklace but despite her best efforts, he was eventually able to steal it and run away leaving only pain behind for Eliza.

With all this new information, I finally knew exactly what needed to be done so I thanked Supreme Leader then rushed straight to the technology tracking lab. If Kenny still carries the jade locket with the chips inside then I can still track him, so I begin my search by reactivating the chips then press locate. DIng- music to my ears the computer has tracked the location. I send the coordinates to my phone and rush from the building straight to my car, driving down the road I notice a jade green flag marking the entrance to the refugee camp Kenny has created to hide those who have had their chips removed.

Pulling into the camp the bumper of my SUV is met by the bellies of a large scruffy gentleman wearing a jade locket around his neck and a small woman who although familiar I couldn’t quite make out just yet. I exit my vehicle leading with my weapon. “You finally made it,” she taunts, sending my ears into alert like a hound. I immediately holster my gun, switching my gaze from Kenny to meet the owner of the voice so similar to that of my love. I can’t believe my eyes as I focus my sights on the woman standing next to Kenny.

“A-am-amber I thought you were da-da-de...” I stutter confused and unable to continue.

“Dead?” Amber smirked.

-Gulp- “I saw them cremate your body what happened?”

Amber began telling me about her plan with Kenny to fake her death and lead me here in hopes that I would remove my chip and join their cause after learning the truth of the Ugali’s mind control. “You should know me better than that,” I mumble, shaking my head. I look up and lock eyes with Amber who has ste7pped in front of Kenny like a shield. We each begin towards our holsters. “I guess we end this as big as it started,” I say as I aim for her head. “Call it a lesson in loyalty,” Amber responded coldly, aiming right back.