The Purity Project

Chapter 13

Lorenzo ducked into the tunnel after Tyler. He shrunk up against the wall, trying to catch his breath. They were in the city park, hiding under one of the bridges. They had been running for the past ten minutes. Lorenzo told himself that if the police had gone after them, then it meant that they hadn't found Jada and Halona. This gave a him a slight sense of relief.

"Stupid Mitch!" Tyler said angrily.

"What?" Lorenzo looked at Tyler in confusion.

"My uncle! He works with law enforcement and he probably found out the truth about us. He decided to sell out his own nephew!" Tyler picked up a rock and chucked it at the wall across from them.

Lorenzo winced at the loud sound it made. He glanced at Tyler, and through the anger, he saw that the boy was hurt. "If it makes you feel better, my grandma called the police on me once because I wouldn't do my homework," Lorenzo said, trying to bring humor into the conversation.

Tyler turned his head sharply, his eyes filled with anger. His face softened, then he gave a light chuckle. "Family is messed up, dude."

"I couldn't agree more." Lorenzo laid his head back and closed his eyes. A loud sound made him jump. "Wha-" One look from Tyler made him fall silent.

Tyler stood up and tip-toed out of the tunnel. He put his hand up, signaling for Lorenzo to stay back. Suddenly a loud bang went off and Tyler dove to the ground. 

"Tyler!" Lorenzo jumped to his feet to help his friend.

"No! Get out of here! I'm right behind you!" Tyler shouted as he pulled himself up.

Lorenzo hesitated, then turned and ran in the other direction. He panicked as he realized that there was no cover in the large park. He looked back and saw Tyler behind him, as well as multiple police officers. Lorenzo heard a loud siren and snapped his head back forward. A police car was crossing the park, heading straight for him. He froze in terror as the speeding car was about to hit him, but then something slammed him to the ground. He looked up and saw that it was Tyler.

"You're surrounded. There's no point in fighting. Now get on your knees and put your hands in the air!" a voice boomed from Lorenzo's right.

"Tyler, I don't think we're going to escape." Lorenzo looked at his friend, who was scanning the park frantically.

Tyler dropped his head and sighed. "I know, dude. If we don't get out of this, I'm happy that Jada and Halona are safe," he said as he fell to his knees and put his hands in the air.

"Me too," Lorenzo said as he put his hands in the air. Someone was by his side in seconds, handcuffing him. He waited to be pulled away, but nobody touched him.

"What is this?" Tyler shouted as a woman in a white coat approached him with a syringe that was filled with a purple liquid.

"A blessing," the woman said with a horrifying grin. She stuck the syringe into Tyler's ear and squeezed the liquid.

Lorenzo watched in horror as Tyler screamed in agony. His eyes shifted to the side, looking directly at Lorenzo. They were filled with tears. Tyler collapsed to the ground, motionless.

"What did you do to him?" Lorenzo shrieked. He tried to reach Tyler, but a knee slammed into his chest, knocking him to the floor. He tried to stand up, but a heavy weight dropped on top of him.

"You'll find out very soon." The woman lifted Lorenzo's chin, waving another full syringe in front of his face. Her eyes were black and soulless, and she smelled like death.

"No! Get away from me!" Lorenzo shouted, but the woman kept a firm grip on his head. He felt a cold shiver run down his body as she touched the syringe to his ear. He felt the sharp needle enter his ear, and he winced in pain. Then, a sudden burning sensation shot down his ear, and it was like a spiky metal ball pierced his brain. He screamed, writhing in pain and begging for it to be over. As if on command, his whole body went numb, and his eyes grew heavy. The last thing he saw before he succumbed to darkness was the droplets of blood falling from the syringe.

                                                                                              ...

Lorenzo eyes flickered open. He looked around and saw that he was in a cell. He spotted Tyler, slumped up against a wall. He tried to stand up, but an intense amount of pain shot through him. He collapsed to the floor.

"I'd take it easy if I were you. It'll take a little longer for the pain to go away," a voice spoke from the corner of the room.

Lorenzo squinted at the dark corner and saw an old man, sitting on the floor with his legs crossed. "Who are you?" His throat burned as he spoke.

"I'm nobody. Just a simple man that broke the law and has to pay for it," the old man said, his voice raspy.

Lorenzo turned his attention back to Tyler. "Ty, are you awake?" 

Tyler coughed, his head moving slightly. "My eyes are open, but my body feels asleep. So yeah, I'm awake I guess."

"What the heck happened to us?" Lorenzo asked, looking back at the old man.

"Step three of the purification, that's what," the man responded.

"Purification? You know about that?" Tyler shifted so he could face the old man.

"You don't? Of course you don't. You poor kids just got wrapped up into this mess." the old man sighed. "Heard about the Purity Project?"

"Well, sort of. We each know people that went missing because of the Purity Project, but we still don't know what it is," Lorenzo answered.

"The Purity Project is an experiment designed by the government to purify the people of Marolo. There are five steps to achieve ultimate purification. Step one, develop a special serum that contains micro chips that are invisible to the naked eye. Step two, test the serum out on some citizens. They needed to keep this discreet, so they captured people who had broken the law and were on the vigilante list. That way, if they were questioned by the public, they could say that they were just taking criminals into custody." The old man paused to let the information sink in.

"So that's why they took Braden and Malcolm," Lorenzo muttered. He glanced at Tyler, who's eyes were focused on the man.

"What exactly does the serum do?" Tyler asked the man.

"There are two sides to the brain. The left deals with logic, the right deals with creativity. The serum essentially shuts down the right side of the brain, changing it so that it only deals with logic. The government believes that if they complete this, then everyone will be equal, and people will be unable of thinking for themselves," the old man said, his voice filled with sorrow.

"What? How does that make things better? Diversity is a good thing!" Lorenzo exclaimed.

"Keep talking," Tyler grunted.

"Step three, provide the serum to those with paying jobs and their children. Step four, eliminate those who don't meet the guidelines and those who refuse to take the serum. Step fi-"

"What do you mean eliminate?" Lorenzo interrupted.

"Dispose. Destroy. Weed out. Kill. Whatever you want to call it. If you don't have a job or don't have enough money to afford the serum, you're dead," the old man said.

"They can't just kill poor and homeless people!" Lorenzo said in disbelief.

"Look, I don't understand their reasoning behind this. It's certainly awful. As I was saying, step five, activate the micro chips. That's the end of the Purity Project."

"How could they do such an awful thing? How could the President agree to something so evil?" Lorenzo shook his head.

"How long do we have? Till they activate the chips?" Tyler asked.

"One week from tomorrow. They've already started distributing the serum," the old man said.

"We have to get back to Jada and Halona. They need to know this." Lorenzo tried to stand up, but the pain made him collapse again.

"We're in no shape to travel today. We'll go tomorrow. For now, let's rest and get our strength back," Tyler replied, laying his head back against the wall.

"Fine." One more day. Then, they were busting out of here.