VIRUS (Completed)

Day Seven

Day Seven

I hurriedly ate my breakfast and headed for the door. I wanted to explore the place completely. I jogged down the street heading for the perimeter. Someone had said that the place was about two miles long with the same width.

The wall in front of me was about sixty feet high and I could see guards at the top patrolling it so I knew the wall itself was quite wide. I knocked on the wall with my fist. It was concrete and I wondred how it had been put up so quickly. I had only been gone for six days.

"Who are you?"

I felt a knife against my throat and didn't dare move.

"Max Jonson."

The knife was removed and I turned to see a guy my age slip the knife into a holder on his belt.

"Sorry about that but we have to be careful around here. I'm Tim by the way."

"Er, nice to meet you, I guess. Why do you have to be so careful?"

"In case you were an intruder."

I looked at the wall.

"I don't think anyone can get in this thing easily."

"Yeah but in case someone does...."

"Then what?"

"We'd kill them."

Wow. These guys were serious.

"Why is an intruder such a big deal? I'm still confused."

Tim looked annoyed.

"Because General Whitcom says so."

I nodded like I understood but I wondered why the general would think it such a big deal. I still hadn't met the man and I hoped that when I did I would get some answers. I walked along the perimeter leaving Tim at his post. 

Several buildings had been torn down to make room for the wall and every so often I came across a ladder bolted into it. That was so the guards could get up and I started to question why we would need guards. Surely the mutes weren't that bad. I turned and spotted my mom making her way toward me.

"Hey mom!"

"Max, I've been looking all over for you," she said looking at me sternly.

"Sorry, I wanted to check the place out a bit."

"Yes, well, I told the general that you would be at his office at 9:00 and it's already 9:13. General Whitcom doesn't like it when someone is late."

I had been wondering who this guy was and so I eagerly asked her where to go and headed that way. As I passed the houses on the street, I noticed several kids playing outside and wondered if they came with their parents or if they were alone.

I soon arrived at the house my mom had pointed out and I was ushered into an office. Several guards were pacing about and there were surveillance cameras everywhere. General Whitcom was sitting at a desk with papers strewn everywhere.

He looked to be about in his mid-forties and definitely had the commanding officer look to him. His very presence radiated that he was in command and I knew he wasn't someone to fool around with. I timidly cleared my throat and he finally looked up at me from the paper he was scrutinizing.

"Mr. Jonson, how kind of you to finally join me. Please, have a seat."

I sat down in the leather office chair and waited for him to address me further.

"Julia--your mother told me that you wanted to go and rescue someone."

"Yes...."

"You know, it took quite a bit of work to track you down. We thought they had taken you to a different facility but they had just taken you basically to your back yard. Finding which room you were in wasn't the easiest thing to do either. Why do you wish to rescue this girl?"