The Magistrate: Prelude

These aren’t a collection of cautionary tales about going against your government. This isn’t a social commentary about what could go wrong. This is a simple statement. Karma is real. The energy you surround yourself with determines a lot about how your life goes.

We don’t have a lot of time. I can’t explain it all. This is what you need to know.

My name is Jeff Tranum. I am a… was a high ranking officer amongst the ranks of the newest magistrate. Can we walk and talk at the same time? We REALLY don’t have time to stand around and chit chat here. Our mutual contact, Ruby Prieto, has told you what I have, correct? Yes, documents that are important, but has she told you what they’re in lieu of? Well let me enlighten you. The magistrate is trying to dull the general population. Yes, as in make them dumber. It’s all here in the paperwork: the “experimental drug,” patents, the “plans for improving the irrigation systems,” throughout the country, and how could we forget the “drinking water initiative,” sign offs. This is very important information. See the people you’re delivering it too and I… we started this revolution as a precautionary sort of thing, ya know? We didn’t think it would get this far. Hurry. We have to get away from the lights. If they don’t already know what I’ve done… they’ll figure it out soon.

Let’s duck into this alleyway. The more we serpentine the more space we put between us and them. I knew we shouldn’t have trusted that snake. Most people didn’t hear the totalitarianism in, quite frankly, most of his speeches. I did. I noticed it and preached it to anyone that would listen. Unfortunately there’s about 90 that listened. If that. Man, this alley is longer than I thought. We need to make a turn soon to make sure we keep putting distance between us and them. So many times during those dreadful speeches I had wished I could broadcast my thoughts to the world. Let the populous hear the “I will take the stress of blank off your hands,” as “I will be in total control.”

Ok, before we cross the street, do you have a flashlight? Shine it over in that area that way. No closer to the bus stop. Ugh. No shine back. We’ll have to go a bit further. Something must have stalled them. No matter. Let’s get a move on. I hope the others are ok. I didn’t get a “danger,” text so I imagine it's car trouble. Ruby never did pick the nice cars. We better hurry to make sure we can get to their 20. That’s “location,” in rev speak. You'll learn it as we go. We all kind of did.

Last leg kid. Stay with me. Soon it’ll just be you. To ensure the files get to the right person

Ugh. Man I never quite get used to coming through this underpass. It's so decrepit and mephitic down here. It smells like someone left bags of fast food down here in astonishing quantities. As far as I’m concerned that smell means we’re in the clear. Thank God too. I was never positive we’d make it. I just… I staked it all on maybe. Once we get to the end of this hallway there's going to be a manhole. No one likes the sewer but it's kept us safe so far. I’ll help you pry it open but it's all you from there on.

As we bent down to open the manhole I heard shouting. I knew we had been made. Somehow it seemed unreal. How could they have caught us? We took every precaution along the way. As the bullet tore through the back of my skull and out of my forehead it was a whole new world. I suddenly saw it happen in a third person perspective. I watched myself die. As soon as I did there was a ceasefire. The new resistance agent who’s name I never committed to memory was a double agent. I watched them walk away with the documents unharmed. I watched as we failed. The era of the final magistrate had begun. We couldn’t… I couldn’t stop it.

That being said… karma is a bitch. Bad things WILL happen to good people. You have been warned.