Blaze – 4

You can read the previous part here: Part 3

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Sol Selegna, Americana

Rachel was half-asleep. The censorship office was the most boring place on Earth. Half of the workers weren’t doing anything and those who were weren’t doing it right. The first three letters and CDs were good, and then it went downhill for her as well. She had to sign the letters “Washington Irving” or “Irving Washington” to avoid being blamed for poor censorship. Alternatively, some people were signing the names of their enemies. The person to the right of her had just signed “Major A.A. Picklesburry pines for you dearly” after blacking out all of the letters. 

She walked out of the office, incredibly lethargic. Finally, she decided to read through Cara’s journal. Rachel started reading.

“Hi, Rachel,

Yeah, I bet you’re wondering how I know it’s you reading this. I checked this into a backpack and made sure it came out first on the baggage claim. I knew you would grab that. Anyway, seeing as you’re reading this, I’m probably dead. My clan probably assumed that this plan failed and threw me into the ocean to try to survive on my own. If so, I’ll take the easy way out, just like all of the others who have suffered the same fate. 

So I want to come clean here. Look, I didn’t really want to make this damn plan. I gave in to the pressure on me to do something, anything that cements our power. You were supposed to be the example of the brutality of the Warriors. I’m not actually in the Warrior clan, I was a Visionary. We were working against the Warriors. And this plan was going to end them.

The only way for you to survive is to hide. The Visionaries are going to cause a worldwide purge sometime soon, and you need to not be there. Do you know what a purge is? If not, a purge is when anything is legal for a certain amount of time, even murder. A fake announcement will be made about a purge, and then there’ll be a massive blackout so that nobody can contradict it. And then the Warriors will be accused. 

See you later!

Cara”

Rachel dropped the journal in horror. Cara was dead, and there was going to be a purge very soon. In short, she was dead. Just like Cara. Maybe “later” would be very soon after all.

Unless she managed to hide. Where could she hide? 

Rachel saw an open manhole in the middle of the street. She made sure that nobody was watching, and then jumped into the manhole. She landed in ankle-high water. She got out of the water and clambered into a side tunnel. Water was just starting to find its way into this one, so she assumed it was a lot newer. In fact, it might still have a cover. . .

She rolled a steel cover out from the side and closed the tunnel’s entrance, preventing any more water from coming in. At least until the pipes burst. They blew up with a bang and shot water into the tunnel. “Always wanted to die in a flooding tunnel,” Rachel said.

She sealed up the pipes with some waterproof cloth that she saw. She was safe. . .for now.

Unknown Location

Lieutenant Praetor sat at his desk. A private came up to him and said, “She’s dead, sir.”

“Who? The Rachel girl?”

“No, sir. The one we threw out. Cara. She was found dead at the beach,” the private said.

“Who killed her?” the lieutenant asked.

“We don’t know, sir. But it’s not often that the Robinsoned get murdered. . .,” the private’s voice trailed off.

“Pity,” the lieutenant said. “I was hoping she would slowly starve and never be heard of again.”

“Indeed, sir. Indeed.”

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You can read the next part here: Part 5