The Game

Chapter Two

Hadley had never ran that fast before. She rushed past the metallic Zone 3 sign and sprinted to Mrs Casey's shop. The furiously scorching heat did not affect her swift pace.

She took in a deep breath once she had arrived in the store, and wiped a bead of sweat which had formed on her forehead.

"Mrs Casey?" She called, "Mrs Casey are you in here?" Her tone was desperately urgent. Her eyes searched around the store with increasing anxiety.

"Mrs Casey?" She repeated, looking through the items in the shop for a clue. Hadley walked past the counter and touched the till. It was warm. This meant that Mrs Casey was near.

She ran out of the counter and exited the shop, her breath haggard in her lungs. Her eyes searched the horizon of black buildings with urgency. The black, modernized buildings were nothing like her humble abode.

Instead, The Academia, the professors who ran the country cut money back in the less intelligent regions and only modernized the zones. Grade 13's Zone was the most advanced. Hadley heard that residents Zone 13 could time travel. But that was not the case.

Hadley breathed a heavy sigh. Mrs Casey's body could malfunction in any second, death was near; and she could of prevented it.

She walked sadly and sat on the cold gravel floor. The weather had eased slightly and a warm breeze filled the air.

She sighed again and twiddled with her thumbs helplessly. She needed to go home for dinner, but Mrs Casey was priority.

"Mrs Casey!" Hadley shouted as loud as she could. Her raspy voice scratched against her ill-lubricated throat.

There was no reply.

Hadley looked down on the cobblestoned pavement and closed her eyes. She tried to find a possible solution for Mrs Casey's disappearance.

Mrs Casey's IQ would probably be around 49 to 50 Gamapoints. That meant she must have definitely contracted slow, slurred speech and dyslexia. She had already established that.

She must have qualified for Grade 2 and the authorities must have already moved her down to Zone 2!

Hadley turned round to face the tower at the centre of the zone. 12:42 the digital clock read. The next train left in 18 minutes.

She quickly gathered herself and sprinted to the train station which was a couple of yards away. When she had had arrived at the elite station she held her breath and cautiously looked over her shoulder.

It was midday and thiefs were operating at their peak. A week ago Hadley had heard that a woman's Gamapoints were all taken from her. Her body malfunctioned and she died on the spot. Authorities had already come to freeze the woman's body and ask her relatives if they were willing to pay for her life. None of them could, so she was disposed.

Hadley shuddered inwardly. That could Mrs Casey now, the lower zones were most dangerous and unpredictable.

She wandered around the train station timorously. Dozens of refugees were moving down from Grade 3 to lower grade. Security guards swarmed around them and covered their faces. Through the miniscule gaps between the bodies of the guards, Hadley could see that most were unconscious. Their eyes were lolled back into their heads and their skin was soaked in sweat. She guessed that the unconscious beings were heading to Grade 1. They were probably going to be rewarded with a couple of Gamapoints and forced to be slaves or labour workers.

Hadley took a glimpse at the other half of the spectrum. The barely unconscious were struggling to keep their eyes open. However, their skin looked healthy and was filled with a hearty flush.

She had already deduced that they were under a form of anesthesia. The unconscious were weaker but the others were battling the stupor.

"Excuse me miss." A scratchy voice said. Hadley hesitantly turned around to face the man. He was wearing a guard's uniform and she instantly felt secure.

There was a minute's moment of silence before the guard spoke again.

"Where are you going miss?" The man smiled forcefully.

Hadley nodded slowly, despite the man's respectable attire, a tiny fragment of her being felt apprehensive.

"I'm looking for Jane Casey, her code is 0342115." Hadley read clearly. Everyone in the city had an assigned code that identified them from the rest of the population.

The man's head shook up and down before he tapped his pale, groomed finger on the crisp paper.

"Yes, it says here she was transported to Zone 1 two minutes ago.

Hadley nodded swiftly and thanked the man before sliding past him.

She took another glimpse on her watch and gasped, her conversation with the man had taken a couple of minutes and she had already missed the train. The next vehicle came in 20 minutes.

Her fingers trailed against the metal railing and she surreptitiously observed her surroundings. A woman walked past with a small child, their clothes were torn and yellowed with age.

"Help." The woman croaked desperately at a man in front of her. Her dark eyes glimmered, shining in the blazing white sun.

The child hung on the hem of her skirt and pulled fixedly, his calloused hands withered in fear. The woman covertly plucked the skin on the boy's back and pinched it, digging her finger nails into his skin.

She leaned closer to the boy and spoke to him quietly,

"Don't ruin it for me, boy. I'll make sure your family will  have no food for a week. Silly pests, you are are, littering the grounds of our city. I'll make sure your family dies. After all, I am me."

She adjusted her counterfeit grey curls and bit her lips until they became shaved and shard-like. "Help, I'm running out of gama-" She paused for effect and a dark haired man hastily ran up to her and his sweaty hand lingered at her palm. He anxiously stared  into her icy blue eyes and nodded. Hadley stared at the woman's orbs  for a moment longer. She had never seen such pellucid eyes before. She could imagine flecks of ice floating on the pale sea of liquid in the iris. Hadley stared thoughtfully. If they were a shade lighter they would be translucent. 

The woman's teeth gleamed at the man and she held his hand firmly. Hadley knew that she wasn't a vagrant from the beginning, even before she scolded the child. Her skin was smooth and wasn't browned through labourious work in the calescent sun. The way she carried herself projected class and a good upbringing. Hadley deduced she must be affiliated with The Academia . 

After the man had volunteered the Gamapoints, the woman smiled and dragged the boy behind a  tall glass building. Hadley's eyes followed her trail, the woman ripped on her wig and beggar's attire, revealing a smart blue and white suit and  slicked her white blonde hair  into a strained ponytail.

"That is better." She said approvingly, pulling down on the hem of her suit with her fingertips. She smiled forcedly at the trembling child and forced her hand into his.

"It will be an easy way out, give me your hand." She dug her fingernails into the child's palms and extracted all his gamapoints. His lifeless  figure collapsed on the ground and his eyes lolled around in his head. His eyes stopped moving and stood still in the centre of his eyeballs, his pupils large and sunken. Hadley had guessed right. He was dead, and the authorities were to come soon to collect the body.

The woman left surreptitiously and headed towards the train. Hadley looked on the floor where she had been previously standing. A light blue cloth lay on the floor.

She picked up and touched the soft material,"I.E" was monogrammed in silver thread

Hadley looked up thoughtfully, "I.E". She liked the way it sounded on her lips.

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