Ralphie lowered his shoulders, bowing his head. Tears crept into the corners of his eyes, and with great concentration, he held them back. The crowd let out a soft applause that was quickly silenced by a short array of gunfire that could be heard in the distance. A couple of guests stood up from their seats to get a better look. Ralphie gazed out into the distance. He could see orange flashes flare up amongst the grass. “Everyone, please get safely inside,” Ralphie said, speaking into the microphone. People started pushing their way out of their seats. One couple that got knocked over was quickly helped up by other guests.

  Ralphie didn’t know what to do. The gunfire sounded far away. He could see some of the undercover Spades rushing to the noise. Petey walked up to Ralphie, his face flustered, “Ralph, what's going on?” Ralphie turned to face Petey. “I don’t know. You go into the house, and I will figure out what I can.” Ralphie began to run towards the noise, flattening the grass as he did so.

  The tall grass made it very hard to spot anyone. But the grass provided him with good cover; he didn’t have a gun. Ralphie ran as fast as he could towards the noise. There was no other plan other than to see who they were dealing with. If it was the Blues, then there was no doubt they were here to kill each and every one of them. He crouched down as low as he could to try to avoid detection. The grass was rough and scratchy as he sifted through it. He was close to different sounds of gunfire that were within twenty feet of him. There was a faint smell of smoke in the air that seemed to linger. Stale and pungent, it seemed to spread across the plains. Ralphie heard a scream within earshot, and he froze. Remaining as still as he possibly could.

  Ralphie's heartbeat was beating so fast that he could barely hear anything else. As he steadied his breath, he could hear more and more. The sound of hundreds of feet scuttling, shifting their way through the grass, became apparent to Ralphie as it had been previously masked by the sound of gunfire. Ralphie was surrounded by hundreds of people, unsure who they were. They were all heavily armed and rained around an onslaught of gunfire. Ralphie noticed that dirt was flying around him. He had to run back to the house, where he was grossly outnumbered.

  Just as Ralphie stood up to hear the loud crack of a gun poised directly at his head, he felt a large body slam him to the ground. The man who had tackled him had a hard black mask with the eyes punched out, and an orange bandana wrapped around the face of the mask. The man had vivid green eyes that stared at Ralphie momentarily before raising his gun into the brush and firing a couple of retaliatory shots, painting the grass red. Ralphie was pulled to his feet, shocked by the man's strength. Before Ralphie had the chance to say anything, the man pushed him to the left before letting out a muffled, “Run west.” Ralphie attempted to argue before a bullet whizzed past his head.

  As Ralphie ran, he realized the extent of the gunfire. Shots rang out in every direction and were increasing in frequency. Ralphie ran into the house yelling, “West...” before he tripped over a large object, tumbling to the ground. He reeled in pain for a second before realizing that he had tripped over a body. There was no one in the house, but it was covered in blood. Several bodies lay motionless, scattered with bullets. Their blood was still spilling on the floor.

  Ralphie frantically ran around trying to identify any of the bodies. He recognized a couple of them, but no one he knew very well. An ill relief fell over him before he noticed a man lying in the corner of the room. The man was laboriously breathing.

  “Hey,” Ralphie called out to the man. The man rolled over to face Ralphie. It was Frank. He had three bullet holes: two poking out of his abdomen, one in the chest. Ralphie ran over to Frank's side, but it soon became clear that Frank could not speak anymore. His hands were shaking vigorously. “I’m so sorry, Ralphie whispered before one of the doors burst open. His hands shot up in the air for a brief second before relaxing slightly as a masked man wearing a white cloth lowered his gun.

  “Ralphie,” Jedd said, his voice piercing through the masks. “We have to go,” he said urgently.

  “Where is everyone?” Ralphie asked. Jedd looked around at the bodies piled up on the floor. “Not here,” Jedd motioned for Ralphie to follow him. The pair ran back outside. This time, the house was surrounded by a couple of dozen masked men. Their guns poised and fired into the grass. Ralphie looked back as they ran the opposite way; several Blues were popping out of the grass before being shot by the masked men. “What's with the masks?” Ralphie asked before realizing that they were in the shape of a Spade.

  They were hard masks that pointed towards the top, made out of some kind of metal. The end of the mask cut off right beneath his nose, exposing his jaw. Jedd let out a grinning chuckle as he turned around, taking several shots at the blues that were attempting to follow behind them.

  “It was about time you met the Spades Military." Ralphie realized that the Spade was a much bigger organization than he had previously thought, with enough size to rival CelTec.

  Jedd gestured to the road where five black cars lay parked on the dirt road. “We're taking the third one,” Jedd said.

  Inside the car were six other masked men, each wearing different colored clothes. One of the men handed Ralphie a mask and a cloth. “Put this on so you can blend in with us,” the man said.

  Ralphie looked back outside. There were several dozen men, all fighting the Blues as they popped out of the grass. Men were dropping faster than Ralphie could comprehend.

  “Why are we still waiting here?” Ralphie asked calmly.

  “We're waiting on a couple of people before we can get out of here,” Jedd responded. He seemed unusually relaxed. Ralphie watched in horror as more and more Spades fell until a couple of masked Spades hopped into another carrying a woman in a blue suit with a mask on.

  All the cars left at the same time. Ralphie watched as the Spades began to disappear as they faded into the background.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Are we just going to leave them there?” Ralphie asked

  The man who had given Ralphie the mask grunted before saying, “That's the job.” The man's voice was rough, as if it had been scraped by nails.

  Jedd was busy with a tablet that he had pulled out from between the seats. He sat there for a couple of minutes tapping on the tablet as it whirled around with various sounds before he eventually looked up at Ralphie.

  “Do you have the gun with you?” Jedd asked. Ralphie shook his head. He had left it at home; it didn’t feel appropriate to bring a weapon. “I left it at home,” Ralphie responded.

  Jedd punched some things into the tablet. “That's no problem, we will get it for you.”

  Ralphie interrupted him, “Where are we going?” he asked.

  Jedd paused for a second as he continued to enter things into his tablet. “Well, seeing as CelTec seems to be attacking all of us, we're all going to split off for a little bit. At least until it is safe. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you where you are going. But I am sending you to an old friend of mine and an even older friend of your parents. You will be quite safe with him. He has been wanting to meet you for quite a while. I also want you to bring your father's dreamcatcher. It might be your father's gun, but it is riddled with your mother's handywork. The man that I am sending you to is probably the only person who can figure it out.”

  “Who is he?” Ralphie asked curiously.

  Jedd looked out the window, “Another inventor, for his safety, I will not speak his name.”

  It was unnerving to Ralphie how calm Jedd was. He treated the Spades like a job. One that he had been in for a very long time. Jedd didn’t seem to be phased by any of the events that had occurred. Ralphie realized he had been in this fight for a long time.

  They came to a large facility that was disguised as a mill from the outside. There was no doubt that a series of mirages covered the size of the facility, as it felt much bigger inside than it looked. The car entered what seemed to be a tunnel. But Ralphie was unsure. Everything outside turned pitch black, and after a couple of seconds, one of the Spades turned off the lights within the car. Everything was so dark that Ralphie couldn’t even see the outline of his hand. He was amazed that the driver was able to navigate.

  Eventually, they came to a stop at an orange light that seemed to float in the air.

  “First stop,” the driver called out.

  “Ralphie, that's you,” Jedd said, sliding the door out and hopping out. Ralphie took a step out onto some kind of dirt before looking up and seeing a Spade come out from the darkness underneath the orange light. He was holding the blue backpack, its stitching spun out, coming undone, but still held its composure. The Spade handed it to Jedd before nodding and disappearing.

  Ralphie noticed the jagged rose pattern on Jedd's hands and wrists. Ralphie barely got the chance to say anything before Jedd handed him the backpack. “The gun is in there,” Jedd said before he pointed with two fingers in a direction away from the car. “Keep walking straight that way until you get to the end. You will know you're in the right place because there will be men waiting for you there.”

  Ralphie grabbed onto Jedd’s shoulder, “Where are you going?”

  Jedd looked back at the car briefly, “I have some other tasks I have to complete, don’t worry, we will be in touch.” Jedd hugged Ralphie briefly before turning back towards the car.

  “How do I know what to do with the gun?” Ralphie asked?

  “At the end of the hallway, they will give you instructions. Also, face that direction, the light will turn off soon. Jedd pointed once again in some abstract direction in the dark. Ralphie faced the way Jedd pointed, beginning to walk forward. He heard the car pull off behind him; the sound echoed before fading away. After a couple of seconds, the orange light flicked off, plunging him into darkness. Ralphie keeps walking forward, losing his balance briefly at the loss of light. He walked on for some time, noticing several different changes in air temperatures. Doubt crept into his mind. Was he going the right way? Where would the Spade take him? Who was this man whose name was so secretive?

  Eventually, he saw the faintest orange light that grew exponentially with every step he took. As he got closer, he noticed several shadows that morphed into men all covered head to toe in black. This was a sure black and not the deep blue that the Blues wear.

  “Am I in the right place?” Ralphie asked one of the men.

  The men didn’t say anything, but instead nodded. Ralphie noticed that there were dozens of white desks surrounding the men. The desks have several huge monitors that are all displaying various graphics. Ralphie didn’t understand any of it.

  Two of the Spades walked over to Ralphie, “Arms out,” one of the Spades grunted. The Spades patted Ralphie down before then rummaging through his bag. The men then took a couple of steps back before another man walked up to Ralphie, holding a large face mask made out of a clear, hard plastic. There was a spongy foam that cushioned the sides. The Spade stretched it over Ralphies face before securing it snugly.

  “How does that feel?” the Spade asked. Ralphie nodded before asking, “What's the point of this?” Ralphie asked. He didn’t get a reply. There was a long dangling tube that was attached to the front side of Ralphies mask. Four Spades that Ralphie had not seen before took a couple of steps forward before they all motioned for Ralphie to follow them.

  The Spades brought Ralphie to what looked like a small pod. It was cylindrical and only had enough room for Ralphie to stand in. There was only a couple of inches above his head. Small square panels surrounded the inside of the compartment. One of the Spades grabbed Ralphie's arm, pulling it out. He then applied an alcohol wipe that felt cool to the touch. The Spade then grabbed a needle from underneath one of the panels and plunged the needle into Ralphie's arm, causing him to wince. The spade then closed the door, trapping Ralphie. After a couple of seconds in darkness, some of the panels began to slowly blink white.

  “What the fuck have I gotten myself into?” Ralphie thought to himself. He felt his heart beat as the container around him began to vibrate. Ralphie could feel his weight shift to his back as he began to rotate. The lights shifted from a slow blink to getting faster and faster.

  Ralphie felt the oxygen rush into his mask as a quiet hiss released from his mask. Ralphie began to feel a dizzy, euphoric high, “What's happening?” Ralphie shouted out, although he doubted that anyone could hear him. Ralphie felt the rumbling vibrations grow as he felt himself shift back to an upright position. But at this point, the corners of Ralphies vision that had been slowly dazzled with a fuzz of colors closed in on his vision. Red water began to slowly creep up from the bottom of the pod. Rising steadily. It was warm and viscous, reaching up to his chest before covering his head. It solidified around him, restricting his every movement. He could feel it slowly solidify around him. Before long, he couldn’t see anything besides the dazzling color in front of him.”