Surviving The Thinning

5.

~Blake~

"I love you." I watch Louisa mouth.

"Lou! No! Let me go!" I yell.

The man closest to me pulls out his baton and hits me.

"Mr. Redding... She's gone. It's time for you to go to the Recreation Room." Mr. Glass says.

The guards let me go and push me out the classroom door and force me to follow my fellow classmates.

Passed.

There's no way. I didn't even answer most of the questions. There's no possible way I could have passed.

"Hey, hey! Congratulations, you made it! Frank Haller in EG Electric. Aren't you Governor Redding's son? I'd like to talk to you about your future!" A man says enthusiastically.

I look at him and walk away. Now is not the time to be talking about my future. I shouldn't even have one. It's me who's supposed to be going through the Thinning, not Louisa.

I walk further into the room and stop near the back wall where a TV is showing my father.

"You must be really proud." One of Lou's friends, Kellan, points out to me, glancing from the screen to my face.

I watch for a few more seconds, then leave, no longer able to watch that man spew more lies. The man who has caused me so much pain and cheated his way up to Governor. Tricking everyone around him into thinking that he is their equal and that he is just like everyone else.

He uses me to seem more relatable. I'm not a son to him, just an accessory to help him keep his power. He's a liar who comforts worried parents and reassures them that he understands their fear. Their anxiety stemmed from the Thinning. The thoughts of their children not being smart enough. Their kids never coming home again.

I carefully open the door back to the hallway and check both ways before closing the door behind me, taking off to try to find the control room.

I run, quietly, through the halls until I catch a glimpse of a guard. I move behind the wall and clutch my stomach to seem as if I'm in pain.

"Sir, please... Help me..." I mutter, acting like I'm hurt.

The guard walks up to me and places his hand on my back.

"You know, you shouldn't be in the hallway." He states.

As he tries to find out what's wrong with me, I turn and tackle him to the ground, taking his baton, as I do so. I take the stick and hit him until he's knocked out and run away.

I resume my search for the control room with caution and stop when I find the door. I hear footsteps and hide low against the wall behind the door.

I hold my breath as Mason King walks out and turns to the left and carries on his mission toward the Thinning room.

I look both ways and enter the room. There are big screens and electrical boxes everywhere. I make my way to the computer and see that Mason was the last person logged on.

His username was still typed in, but I needed the passcode in order to find my way into the system. Knowing I wouldn't be able to figure it out, I look around and come face to face with the main electrical box.

I open the little, metal door and look at all the various wires and switches before tugging on them, effectively taking out the power.

Before I could get caught, I run out of the room and bolt through the windy corridors of the school.

All that was on my mind was Louisa. I could only hope that they hadn't commenced the Thinning yet and that me pulling the power delayed it enough for me to think of a way to get her out of there.

I stop in my tracks when I see another guard walking away from the direction I was. I tiptoe behind her and tackle her to the ground, like the other guy I took down.

I subconsciously knew that my actions would be giving myself away, but anything to throw a wrench in my father's plans was too tempting.

As I go through the halls, knocking out any guards in my way, I decided that I was going to do whatever I could to get Lou out of the Thinning, even if it meant taking her place.

***

Finally updated!

I'm on winter break now and just got back from camp!

A psa for you all, skiing with a sprained wrist hurts a lot and is a bad idea haha!

Thanks for reading, voting, commenting and following! <3