A World Split In Two

Chapter 3: Our Generation Rules The Population

Zack paid them no attention, it wasn't worth it. Besides the flash drive was done loading, time for his hard work to pay off.... YIKES! Looks like there were cameras everywhere. They watched as Miss Rosh shut all the room's lights off, slammed some, carelessly left open, doors shut in her usual cranky manner. This was followed by her finishing her nightly routine by shouting curses out at the passing troops, and asking why they didn't take one of the older boys with them. She then finished with leaving the group home's door unlocked and hanging a sign on the outside, with a kidnapping promotion. Zack honestly wondered why the government hadn't arrested her yet....

Then again she did terrify all the boys, into subordination, and it's not like any kidnapper would ever dare show their face anywhere where the fearsome hag even stepped foot.

After the guys fast-forwarded through the boring stuff, like Miss Rosh sleeping for the next three hours, they noticed at exactly 1:06 A. M. she just vanished. They watched this a few more times to confirm that at 1:05 she was there and at 1:06 she just was gone.

They flipped to the next camera to see if the older boys that were missing that day were also gone, and sure enough at exactly 1:06 in every single room all the older boys vanished. This news of course sent everyone into a panic. What would happen if Miss Rosh never did return? Sure, she was an evil witch, but that didn't change the fact that she paid the bills, or at least made sure the government did.... Also it wasn't the first time she had attempted to frame them for murder.

Knowing that they should report this, they quickly called the police, but the line was dead. This caused Zack to wonder if all the grownups vanished. Like all the kids in the group home Zack did not have parents-- yes he's aware everyone has parents, but the group home boy's parents were either dead and/or just bad people that decided to ditch their kids with an old hag. Anyway, Zack didn't really like any adults, as they were all hardened and cruel from the years of war that also ruined their childhoods. There was just one problem, If the grownups were gone who would fight the Ralams, a few other kids must have thought of this as well as a bunch of muddled whispering filled the room. Muddled whispering which quickly turned to panic.

"Guys!" Zack shouted, getting everybody to pipe down, Bones and his group aside, who were still sniggering stupidly over something. "Let me just hack into some other security cameras." True, this probably should have been harder than Zack made it sound but, thanks to all the runaways the group home had, Rosh had seized access to certain city cameras.

"But won't that just get us into more trouble?" asked a particularly unintelligent kid.

"Yeah, once the adults find out Miss Rosh is missing they will blame us," suggested another boy. "Remember how they sent Carlos's brother to military boarding school, just because Miss Rosh claimed he stole her cheap earrings."

"But guys, we called the cops," Zack said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. No response. "THE COPS ARE ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO ANSWER! Something is obviously wrong."

Thanks to Zack's words of wisdom, A. K. A. common sense most of the kids agreed that just a little checking would be ok. He quickly signed into the police station with Rosh's password (Bacon1234 again) giving him access to all the security cameras within the next sixty miles.

Why Rosh needed sixty miles of surveillance Zack didn't quite know. In all honesty any dude that made it sixty miles from the group home was most likely dead, dying, or never coming back. This was of no current concern to Zack though. What the surveillance cameras now showed was something much more unsettling than a delinquent tween.

It didn't matter which camera he looked at. He quickly flipped through dozens as the group of guys surrounded him, watching the screen in eerie silence. They watched as every single adult figure they could see--whether it was a troop of marching soldiers, or the occasional gang of garbage marauders--disappeared at exactly 1:06.