The Search for the Truth: Trapped

"So. What're you in for?"

My eyes begin to flutter open when I hear the sound of another female voice. My vision takes a minute, but when I come to I immediately recognize where I am.

"Nothing" I muttered, trying to avert eye contact. It was just the two of us sitting in the cell, but by the looks of it there were hundreds of cells, each with two people confined.

I knew where we were because it was what we were taught. Taught to obey the rules, or we'd end up in a place like this.

"Nothing eh?" She scoffed, swinging her legs over the top of the bunk she was assigned. "That's what they all say" she added, hopping down so that we almost face to face. The room was small, no bigger than an average jail cell. Instead of bunk beds, each person was assigned their own "bunk area"; bed on top, desk below.

I didn't answer, I didn't know what it was I wanted to say. Austin had always drilled it into my head to talk to nobody and trust nobody. I felt my body fill with panic; how was I going to survive without him? He had been my guide through everything; what happened to him?

"Did you see me come in with anyone?" I asked her finally, making eye contact. We both stood up, sitting down at our respective chairs across from one another.

"Nope. Was just you" she shrugged, looking out across to the cell in front of us. "Hey Fred, you see anyone come in with this little blondie?" Little blondie? Well, I've been called worse.

"Yeah- some guy. It doesn't look good for him, poor guy" the man named Fred shook his head. This immediately caught my attention.

"Where's Austin? What's happening to him?" I asked both my cell mate and Fred. Their expressions are unreadable for a moment before I recognize it immediately; pity. "Is- is he okay?" I asked, voice shaking.

"Look, blondie" Fred was standing up against the bars of his cell. "He must have been into some pretty bad shit, otherwise he'd be in here with the rest of us" he gestured to the surrounding cells.

"You can't tell me you were in for nothing" my cell mate confirmed. "Look, I get it- we're total strangers. But we've both been here for awhile- maybe we can help you out" she tried to reason with me. As much as I wanted to reject her proposal, I had to accept. What if Austin's life was in danger? What if he fell to the same fate as his father? My life would be nothing without him; I had to try.

"I came here with Austin" I began to explain. "We've been on the run for a few weeks now. Long story short, his father was killed because of some research he was doing. When we found the research, they found us and took us here" I sighed, looking at them for a reaction.

"Do you want the good news, or the bad news?" Fred asked me, and I felt my mouth go dry. When I didn't say anything, he continued on. "Good news is, he's most likely still alive. They'll want to know exactly what he knows before-"

"Before killing him" I finished his sentence for him. The words tasted bitter on my tongue, the very thought of Austin being killed made me want to vomit.

"What was so important in this research that had his Dad killed over it?" My cell mate asked me, and I made a mental note to catch her name.

"Before they took us away the only things we got from the research was a world war. World war three I think." I tried my best to remember exactly what Austin had said; I hadn't read the book myself. "An atomic bomb absolutely levelled the world; I'm not sure who was responsible"

"That would certainly explain a lot" Fred said, beginning to pace his tiny cell. For some reason, he was alone; that wasn't completely uncommon from what we learned in school. "But who would want to completely destroy the planet?" He asked the question we all wondered.

"Cancel culture" I replied. It was the only other thing I knew. I didn't know what it was, or what it entailed; I just knew it was at the source of the issue.

"Cancel culture?" My cell mate asked, confused. Fred however, looked horrified.

"Of course..." he whispered, taking a seat back on his chair.

''What do you mean, of course?'' My cell mate asked the question that began to burn in my mind. If this Fred knew something about cancel culture, why was he down here with the rest of us? Why wasn't he, like Austin, taken away to determine what he knew?

''Look, I may know a little more about this than I should'' he replied in a harsh whisper. ''But, if what you're saying is true, we need to find a way to get to Austin. And quickly'' he stops for a moment, before looking in our direction. ''Allie- do you still have the map?'' Ah, so that was her name.

“'Of course I do" Allie replied, but seemed rather apprehensive. "But we're not ready yet- there's still too many unknowns" she told him with a stern look. They looked to be in a staring contest, before I had no choice but to intervene.

"Okay, what on earth are you guys talking about? And Fred, what's cancel culture? You seem to know more than you're letting on" I practically whispered.

“We can’t be discussing this any further” Fred snapped, causing me to jump slightly. “Sorry. But it’s not safe” he added, before continuing.

''When I came here, I didn't let on that I knew as much as I did'' Fred explained, pressing his forehead against the bars. It wasn't hard to hear him, though the constant murmurs of conversation throughout the other cells was certainly a distraction. There were no need for guards by the cells; everyone knew the consequences if they did anything out of line.

“'How were you able to trick them?'' I asked curiously. If he was able to do that, why wasn't Austin?

''Same way you'd best a lie detector I suppose'' Fred replied quietly. ''Once you get to understand how they ask their questions, you can answer them in a way that makes you seem inconspicuous'' he added, backing away from his cell door once more.

''They allow us one hour of yard time per day. We should talk then'' Allie informed us in a whisper, and I couldn't have agreed more. If we were going to discuss what Fred knew, we couldn't do it so openly.

                                    ***

''Yard time, cell area number three begins now''

The cell doors began to open, the loud buzzing sound piercing my ears. One by one, we all stepped outside of our cells, and formed a lineup to head outside. Nobody said anything, they just walked through the long halls The walls were a dark shade of blue, and were always well kept. From my basic understanding, they did not wish to create a negative environment, not unless your views disagreed with theirs. With this wing of the building, they were convinced they could change our views to align with theirs.

“Alright, so tell us exactly what happened when you guys found the house” Fred asked, as we took a seat at a picnic bench in the furthest corner of the yard.

“There was a book. A book that contained the reason why our world turned out to be the way it is. About sixty years ago, there was world war three. An atomic bomb levelled the world- probably eliminated a good portion of the population. We didn't get much further, other than discovering the reason for the bomb  being something called cancel culture. With the book, we found a heart shaped necklace. It was beautiful, and the initials T.W. were on it” I pull the necklace carefully out of my pocket, looking around to make sure none of the constables could see.

“Is there anything in it?” Allie asked, taking it from my hand and examining it carefully. She opened it and is just as disappointed as I was when I discovered there was nothing inside.

“How much more of the book do you think Austin read before you were caught?” Fred asked, ignoring the necklace completely.

“ I'm not sure- he didn't really have time to verbally tell me everything anyway” I said with a sigh. “He was always very secretive about his research.” I suddenly felt stupid for not asking him more about it. We spent weeks together on the run, and I had no idea the reason why in it’s entirety.

“If it is indeed cancel culture, we have to find Austin, and we have to find him now” Fred said with a frown. “Allie, I know we’re not ready, but if we don’t act now, blondie’s friend is as good as dead” he looked into her eyes, and just by the look on her face I could tell she must have agreed.

“How do we get to him? Where is he being kept?” I asked Allie once she pulled out the map Fred had been referencing in our cell earlier. She kept it hidden from view, and pointed to a spot on the map.

“Here. In one of these three interrogation rooms.” She pointed to the room the furthest away from where we were.

“Okay, and how do we get there?” I asked, looking around the yard. There weren’t many smiles, or people even together. Most people sat on the grass, presumably collecting their thoughts.

“If we can just get out of this yard, we can sneak down this hallway; through the tunnels in the walls” Allie told us, and Fred nodded in agreement.

“We just need a distraction, and then you two can sneak off” Fred told us, and both Allie and I shook our heads.

“No. No, we’ll find another way” Allie pleaded. It was clear she and Fred were close, probably spending all of their time here together.

“There is no other way, there’s no time” Fred reminded us, and we both knew he was right. Austin was slowly running out of time.

Before either of us had anything else to say, Fred walked to a picnic table in the middle of the yard, and stood up, raising his hands in the air.

“People should have rights!” He yelled. This certainly earned everyone’s attention. “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion! We don’t have to all agree to make a peaceful and successful society!” He continued to ramble, with each word the constables got closer and closer to him.

“Come on, we have to go now” Allie whispered, tugging me in her direction. We both watched the scene unfold before us; Fred was going to be taken god knows where, just to give me a shot at finding Austin.

“Through here.” Allie pointed to a small door that seemed to end up within the walls.

“Why is this door here? To encourage people to break out?” I asked quietly, a little confused.

“I don’t know- these people don’t really have reason for anything” Allie grumbled, and I knew she was referring to our government.

We walked for awhile, crouched over and in silence. The passage was surprisingly well kept for a path in the wall; it made me wonder whether this was by design.

“… we won’t be asking you again.” A male voice roared. “Tell us where the research is” we heard the voice ask; this had to be where they were keeping Austin.

“Austin!” I made the mistake of yelling. Immediately, I put my hand over my mouth; oh shit.

“Sam…” I heard Austin whisper. “Run.”