The Reduction

CHAPTER TWELVE

James

    A burning bright light pierced James' eyes as he came to a halt, shielding his eyes.
He could hear the shouts from the government soldiers getting louder and louder as he hesitated to look at the light. In a split second, he heard a car door open and a girl's voice say something muffled. He stood frozen from panic and then he heard the muffle again. Once the girl got out of the car and covered the blinding headlight, James knew he had gotten himself into even deeper trouble.

"James?" She asked after she removed something from her mouth. As her silhouette got closer, her figure became recognizable. The shouts from the soldiers were getting louder and James knew that neither of them could afford to get caught.

He snapped to Zara's wrist, whipping her around as he pulled out his knife, pressing it firmly against her delicate throat above a black bandana loosely hanging. A big man sprung out of the car and pointed a gun at James threatening to shoot. James didn't have time for this, he knew he had to get away and this truck was the best way to do it.

Without a word, James shoved Zara towards the back door of the truck opened it, and threw her onto the backseat. The man who turned out to be Danker, surprised by his 'little man' acting this way, snapped his attention toward the yells of the soldiers. They were super close and everyone was running out of time.

James dashed into the passenger seat and buckled up. Danker still pointing his gun at him, hesitated and stayed standing outside the car.

"Get in! I won't hurt her unless you get us fucking out of here!" James shouted at Danker while pointing his knife towards the silent Zara. Danker instantly gave in and the car zoomed away, leaving the soldiers running after in its dust.

********
Not a word was spoken between anyone the whole 3 hours of the drive. James had finally put his knife away after the second hour because he liked the way Danker got uneasy with him, giving him a constant glance every thirty seconds. It made him feel powerful. Zara would occasionally make eye contact with James through the passenger mirror that dropped down in front of his face. Her eyes seemed colder than before but still gray, the rest of her face remained unreadable because of the bandana she covered it with.

Throughout the whole ride, James stared out the window thinking about his life before the community and when he first met Zara there.

She was someone who always stood out to James in the crowd of runaways, prisoners, and rebels. She always seemed so pure and innocent compared to the others. She even was like this back at the school they went to together. All the girls at his school always wanted to become popular and were always wrapped up in their future; but not Zara. James remembered how she would never talk about the issues going on in the world but focused on more playful things. While other girls talked about how Jimmy's little brother got reduced last night, she was giggling about how cereal could be considered a soup. James knew that she wasn't stupid, her grades reflected that, but he could tell she didn't want to face reality. She just always seemed different to James, and he kind of liked her for that.

The day she came over to him in detention really spiked his attention and ever since then, he's kept an eye on her. When she suddenly disappeared from school he got a little worried about her. She seemed to be the last person who was different; suddenly stripped away from his life. Just like everyone else with who he tried to connect.

The day he arrived at the community he was emotionally recked as he was escaping his past. As a new member, he was assigned an occupation. He first would be a gardener because of the short supply of workers, but he wasn't good at it and always seemed to get distracted by the ladies always bending over. Therefore, the Operator tried to reason with James and give him a job he actually was good at.

After asking about all Jame's tattoos and finding out that he did them himself, James got the job as one of the community's tattoo artists. The shack he worked in was small but was perfect for James. He constantly had people coming in for tattoos. Mostly men branding their woman's name on themselves and asking for something to cover it up when they break up.

James got to meet most of the people in the community and actually loved the job to the point where he would spend the night thinking of and drawing new ideas and designs on paper or himself. He started off with a few scattered tattoos on his arm but eventually developed a full arm sleeve.

His office also had a small window that looked out to the park of the community. Every now and then he would catch a glimpse of Zara and her boyfriend at the park. It made him jealous that even in this type of world Zara was living in, she could still find a way to be an ordinary kid and have time for a relationship. Though he envied her as it seemed like she would never leave her house. He would wonder why she was so sheltered most of her days in the community. 

The first time he saw Zara was when she was in the training center. The whole building got shut down whenever she used it, for supposed safety reasons. One night, James was in the building right before shut down to grab his stuff out of his locker. As the guard ushered him out he got a chance to see Zara sparring with a dummy, doing way better than he could've ever done. As he walked by she briefly stopped to exhale heavily and run her hand through her hair, catching a glimpse of eye contact with him. Containing a straight face, she shifted her focus back to the dummy and struck it with one powerful punch to the side of the head making it lose balance and fall to its side.

That memory provoked a question in James' head. Why didn't she defend herself when he pulled a knife on her? He snapped back to focus once the truck stopped in front of a small motel. Something very cold touched the front of his neck while a firm hand pushed his shoulder back against the seat.

Zara pressed the knife a little more firmly into his skin causing James' heart to drop. Muffled in the bandana, Zara's words were slow and forceful.

"Don't move unless we say so. We brought you here because you owe us for keeping you alive." Her piercing gray eyes stared straight back at James through the mirror hanging down. James shifted his gaze to the left to reveal Danker pointing a handgun at his side. He started to regret getting into the truck.