PROJECT SPARTA

CHAPTER 24

Xander climbed the shoddy ladder to the Nest to find Ezra already positioned searching for game.

"Hey, Ezra," Xander whispered. Ezra continued his aim through his scope and fired a round off.

"Got em'..." He brought his rifle down. He handed Xander a pair of night vision goggles that were hung up in the Nest. Xander's vision was consumed in an illuminated green that allowed him to spot the roaming animals. He hunted with Ezra for an hour or two, shooting down a handful of rabbits.

"Easy pickin," Xander said, bringing down his rifle and taking off the night vision goggles.

"Remember that first class when you shot better than Duke? Never had shot a gun and it just came naturally to you." Ezra got nostalgic fast.

"Thanks, but not as good a shot as Ashton." Xander, as usual, humbled the compliment.

"Everything comes naturally to you, Xander. You are going to be the best one of us you know..." Xander nodded a thank you.

"You know, I'm going to ask."

"Ask what?" They continued to unload and break down their equipment.

"What's been going on man?" Xander put it out in the open, to him that was the only option left because any theorizing only rendered more absurd conclusions.

"Well, I've been thinking a lot about things." Ezra's face slowed and fell to a sullen grimace.

"About what?" Ezra with his back against the wall took a moment and cocked his head over to look at Xander in the eye.

"You know what's going on here that no one will say? Xander... We are being lied to. They are using us and manipulating us...They are telling us that we don't exist!" Xander almost grinned knowing that Ezra was finally dropping his guard. Ezra wasn't the first Spartan to have a meltdown and he wouldn't be the last.

"We live in a dome buried in the ground for God's sakes!" Xander remained silent, waiting for Ezra to clarify.

"Nothing here is real, Xander. This place has fake walls, ceiling, weather, everything is fake! I'm not drinking the Kool-aid anymore, Xander. You might think this is just another meltdown but this is different." He aimed a look at Xander, one that conveyed the gravity of what he was saying. Xander presented the counter to his outcry.

"It's not Kool-aid. It's patriotism. All this around us?... of course it's not all real, but it's a real simulation. Would I call that a real sky?" he questioned, pointing up. "No, but I will call it a real screen that is showing the images of a sky. Your senses can be deceived, but you can be sure that what you are looking at looks the way it does."

"That means what we see is a lie and we are letting it deceive us." Ezra came back ever-defiant.

"You are focusing on the wrong part, Ezra. You need to look more broadly at things. If you focus too closely on every ridge of the puzzle you will never see it come together to form a picture," Xander offered.

"How do you know how to solve the puzzle unless you focus on the ridges?!" Ezra exclaimed, highlighting the differences in their personalities.

"It's a balancing act, Ezra. You have to be aware of both the small and the big. The zoomed in and the zoomed out perspectives. That's pretty much everything in life in my opinion," Xander said.

"Well not everyone's brain can do that, Xander."

Ezra remained shaking his head. Xander remained calm and empathetic, pressing a consoling hand on Ezra's shoulder.

"They are brainwashing us, Xander! This place is a scam and I'm tired of being a pawn in their war game with the Russians, North Koreans or whoever they can't get along with!" Under slouched shoulders and the darkness of the night, Ezra looked up with saddened eyes, almost as if they were going to cry. "Let's go home, Xander."

They slung their guns over their shoulders and climbed down the Nest. They walked home without a word, shoulder to shoulder, reflecting on the statements made. They were just two friends who had differing perspectives. They soon reached Ezra's silver house. Ezra appeared drained as if he had already checked out for the night.

"Goodnight Xander." Xander turned back to Ezra who was still an image of despair.

"Hang in there, we will get through this together..." Xander assured him.

Ezra feigned a grin and nodded before he entered his house.

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Xander laid in his bed and replayed the conversation in his head. It must have been three AM when he looked over at his clock, he still hadn't slept. Staring up at the fan, Xander's mind once again rotated around and around along with it.

Ezra what are you thinking? What am I going to say to him tomorrow? Or will I say anything? He's in a rut... he'll get out. He doesn't understand the reality of what we are doing, trapped in this dome. He can't see the bigger cause at play here. Nothing can change his mind. He's stubborn. Once he decides he is going to do something, he does it – no turning back. He sounded like he was going somewh—

At that thought, a deafening burst sounded outside his window that shook the pictures off Xander's wall. He shot up out of the bed, adrenaline pumping through his veins and confusion running through is mind. Another blast sounded, it was coming from down the street. Xander darted down the stairs and ran outside. His eyes ignited and his legs collapsed at the sight before him. Ezra's house was decimated to rubble. There, consumed in an explosion, were only remnants of the interior frame.

A roaring fire.

Burning rubble.

Inferno ablaze.

Debris littered the street and a foggy ash hovered overhead, coating the Spartans who were all gathering outside Ezra's house, struck in disbelief.

None of the instructors were there – just the horrified Spartans watching their fellow recruit burn.

Xander knew it was too late though as his eyes found something in the blaze.

A body charred to a crisp.

Xander's world went dark; face down in his hands, collapsing in the middle of the street. Ezra was gone, there was no surviving that explosion. And then he turned and something caught his eye in the distance. At the window looking out over the Compound was a silhouette, standing calmly, watching the scene below.

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