...INTO THE FIRE
"Prisoner 4331 Thomas Fields, you have been rehibilitated by Midwest Penetentary. You are now a free man. Grab your belongings and exit our facility." A guard said in monotone over a speaker as he looked upon the ex-prisoner through a plexyglass window.
Thomas's handcuffs were removed and then he was handed the belongings he had come in with... 20 years ago. A wallet with twenty dollars still inside, A cellphone, A half a pack of cigarrettes, and his street clothes, a Black jacket, Gray shirt, Cargo pants. . . it was all just how he had remembered it.
When Thomas came out of a dressing room, he was quickly pointed out the door from men with rifles. "So thats it? Im done? No Taxi?" Thomas asked. "I dont have anywhere to go!"
"Not our problem Mr. Fields, but you need to leave now." Said one of the guards.
Thomas walked outside, the bright morning sunlight temporarily stunning his vision. Then the world around him started to come into focus. He blinked twice and could not beleive his eyes.
The street where a bus had delivered him to prison all those years ago was gone. instead there were single rail tracks. and running along the tracks was some sort of monorail transit system. The trains were small, but moved incredibly fast! One wizzed by faster than Thomas could blink. Another was parked outaide the prison, waiting for passengers.
Curious, Thomas went up and approached the strange train. The platform he walked up was electronic, and sensed Thomas's presence by illuminating the floor around Thomas's feet. The door to the train changed colors like a traffic light as Thomas stood in front of it.
A computerized female voice spoke. "Thomas Fields, Now boarding."
"Wait, how does it know my name?" Thomas asked openly to anything listening. He got no vocal reply, Instead the doors chimed, and a green light appeared on them and they slid open, allowing Thomas to step inside.
Inside the train car, sat two more people. An older woman, and a younger man, both of them paying no attention to Thomas as he came aboard.
Thomas quickly found a random seat next to a window and began to look out of it. The doors shut and locked with an audible click. The train chimed and the Female voice returned. "Now departing Midwest Penetentary, Next destination is Europe Islands."
Thomas's head poked up. He was suddenly confused and panic stricken. "Wait, where are we headed!?"
The train jolted to speed, and before Thomas knew it, the entire landscape outside the train had turned in to one giant blur.
"Where is this train headed!?" Thomas cried out in panic.
"Europe Islands!" The old lady shouted back, annoyed. "Didn't you hear?"
"Where is that?" Thomas asked. "Like... Europe, across the ocean, Europe?"
"The Europe Islands!" The old lady repeated. "The French Island, the Spanish island, The Polish island... Everyone knows this!"
"I can't go to Europe!" Thomas panicked.
"It only takes 30 minutes!" The lady snapped. "You can head wherever you want after that!"
"Like an elevator?" Thomas asked.
"A what!?" The lady exclaimed. "No one uses elevators anymore!"
The younger gentleman who had been quiet thus far finally let out an intrusive laugh. "It's quite obvious where this man comes from. We picked him up at the prison."
Thomas spread his arms like he had nothing to hide. "Yes." He admited. "I just got released."
"Savage!" The old lady spat and turned her attention away snobbishly.
"How long were you in there?" The man asked, taking a sudden interest.
"20 years to the day." Thomas claimed. "Don't worry, it wasnt for anything violent. I committed bank freud."
"You robbed a bank?"
"Yes, sort of. I robbed them through their computer system." Thomas tried to explain.
"So, You have been inside Midwest Penetentary for 20 years. No news of the outside world?" The man asked.
"Yeah, nothing. They kept us pretty locked up. nothing from the outside got in."
The man got excited at that. he came and sat down right across from Thomas. He grabbed Thomas's hands.
"Hey what are you doing!?"
"Checking for something. . ."
"Checking for what!?"
"Hot Damn!" The man exclaimed with a wide smile on his face. "You don't have a tracking chip!"
"A WHAT!?"
The lady suddenly became interested in the conversation again, leaning over to talk to the man. "He dosnt have a tracking chip? Really?"
"I guess they didnt issue them to prisoners." The man said.
"But I thought they chipped everyone." The lady sounded confused.
Thomas slammed his fist down. "Can you PLEASE fill me in here!? What are you all excited over my hands for!?"
"Well. About a decade ago, everyone in the world was issued a tracking chip, implanted in your hands, if not there, your neck, or your ankle. It was supposed to be for protection of the global terrorism threat that was gaining strength, but once everyone was chipped, we found out it was just a way to monitor us. Now they know where you go, who you see, what you buy... They know all of it in real time for everyone on the planet- Well, not EVERYONE apparently."
"They will find him and chip him." The lady chimed in, negatively.
"And you can't just remove the chips?" Thomas asked.
The man sighed, and scratched a scar on his own wrist between his index and thumb. "They know the second you tamper with it. Some have tried, Im surprised you didnt see them in prison."
"They didnt let me out much. But what does this mean for me now? No chip? Are people after me?"
"Maybe, Maybe not." The man said. "If they are after you, they will be waiting for you at the next stop. If not, Id say you got about a day before computer intellegence starts to detect an anomaly within their system. But not having a chip essentually makes you completely invisible to them. You could be a strong weapon for the resistance."
"How do you know so much?" Thomas asked.
"Because I am one of the men who designed the Worldwide system."
"Maybe I should have just stayed in prison." Thomas said.
"Maybe you should have." The man agreed.