I pull the brown leather jacket around me tighter, the rain tumbling and rolling down the glass windows of various shops. Tall street lights illuminate the sidewalk and make the puddles glow in the light. My black boots splashed in the water with every step. The Half Moon was peeking from behind the clouds that are scattered across the sky. Every day was monotonous. Wake up, eat, work, eat, work some more, home, sleep. The only different thing about every day was the bar around the corner from my apartment building. New people and new conversations. I look at the blazing lights at the front of the bar. The open sign flashed red, green, and blue. I push the door open and shake off the water clinging to my short dark brown hair. I hang up my jacket on a coat rack next to a black one. I walk in and hear the usual upbeat music playing in the background. There were three people there, two of them were leaning against the dark wood counter talking and the other was a woman around my age eating a hamburger, grease dripping onto her hand.

The bartender was wiping the counter. I sat across from him, he smiled at me. I just nodded at him. 

“What shall I get for you Jack?” he asked

“The usual” I reply, he laughs and turns around getting the materials to make the sandwich and drink. Bart was the bartender, he had grey wispy hair and always wore a white apron. The sleeves of his light blue long-sleeved shirt were rolled up. He looked kind of like the classic Grandpa you see in movies, always smiling and laughing.

“For someone who complains about how everything being the same continuous cycle, and yet he still orders the same thing,” Bart says, spreading mayo on the bread.

“I've never had a sandwich as good as yours Bart.” there was a silent pause as Bart starts to make the sandwich.

“so, how is the office doing for you?” he says, breaking the silence.

“Oh just the same thing, but today was a little busier. Some lady was complaining how our prices were way too high. But I think she just wanted a refund without having to return whatever she was complaining about.” Bart placed down the sandwich and drink in front of me and leaned down on his elbows.

“What do you do again?”

“Oh, I just answer calls for the company”

“The computer company right?”

“Yeah” I pick up the sandwich and bite down. A bell rings near the door signaling that someone walked in. Bart walked away to greet the stranger. It was a man who looked to be a little over thirty. He was wearing a pair of blue pants and a plain red shirt. He sat next to me and ordered a beer. He looked pretty bad, with dark bags under his eyes and his blond hair was disheveled. ‘He probably broke up with someone I thought. I remember my last relationship, it was a disaster, she only wanted my money, nothing else. I felt like how this guy looked when we broke up. I sip at the drink, today it’s a little sweet and bitter, but I love the satisfactory fizz in it. I finish the sandwich and the club special, setting it on my empty plate, and all of a sudden the scene before my eyes changes. The wood counter turns to a black surface. And the people around me are wearing white suits with a dazed gaze. The man next to me looked the same as he did before but in a white suit and with a dazed gaze. Bart was smiling at me standing up straight. I stare at him in confusion, then I hear the sound of a chair being dragged behind me and the woman that was eating the burger stands next to Bart. She had short black hair that was to her shoulders and had no flyaways or curls, she had the same smile that Bart had, and was wearing one of those white suits. Her eyes were brown and she had Olive skin. I still stare at Bart in confusion.

“What you see now is the real world. They pump poison in your veins to keep you complacent. I just gave you the antidote, but it won't last. Will you join the resistance?” Bart says. I still stare at them dumbfounded. I was so confused, who was this woman and what was going on? And yet, I have always hated the same thing happening every day, this might be my chance to change! My Discovery must have shown on my face because Bart laughed.

“Follow me.” He said. He walked to the back and the woman followed. I quickly got up and followed. When I walked through the doorway they were gone.

“Wha-” is all I managed to say before the floor beneath me slanted downwards and I fell. I was being swept away through long grey tubes, I was yelling, my hands next to me trying to slow down. Then I saw the end of the tube, and it was rapidly getting nearer. I felt myself stop and now I was in a whole new room. There were tables, computers, and cables scattered everywhere. The woman was standing in front of me smiling holding out her hand. I take it and she helped me up.

“Hurry, you’re running out of time.” She is still holding my hand as she starts running. I try to catch up, but she is basically dragging me. She runs into a new room and pushed me into a chair. Bart is there and he is standing next to me holding a big syringe. Before I could respond to the scary sight of the long needle Bart stabs it into my neck. Pain shoots into my neck, and I feel myself tense up. But then I relax as this new world goes black.

-*-

I sit up straight, look around me, and see bare

Black walls and flooring. The roof was white and there was a single light on the ceiling. I look down and see that I'm sitting on a cot with a thin white sheet over me and I'm no longer in the white suit I was wearing earlier. Instead, I was wearing a black hoodie, blue jeans, and white socks. I swing my legs to the side of the cot and stand. I nearly fall down dizzy, black dots dancing across my vision. Once I regain my balance I take a closer look at the cot. It wasn't really a cot, it just was a black flat surface sticking out from the wall. A thin mattress on top of it, and I see black boots similar to mine on the floor. I put them on and felt a little happier having something familiar to have in this strange world. I still can't believe that the world I used to live in is not what I thought it used to be. I sit on the cot thing and rub my neck. A small bandage was there and my neck was still sore. There’s no door in the room, neither windows, just a vent that is on the ceiling the size of my shoe. I sigh, maybe they were tricking me and now I'm a lab rat. I’ll probably be experimented on with radiation or something like that.

        Then the wall in front of me moved upward and Bart was standing there folding his arms. He was slightly scowling like he heard bad news, or was just mad at me. I shakily walked up to him, my palms were getting sweaty and I quickly wiped them on my pants. Bart then flashes a smile at me, but it looks forced.

“Sorry we had to do that, the temporary antidote was wearing off and we had to give you the permanent one,” Bart said. I just nod, hugging myself. Bart leads me to the same room I saw earlier, the tables and computers were pushed to the sides of the room and the cables were heaped up in a pile on an empty table. There were couches scattered around the room, and a glass panel hanging from the ceiling. The same woman I saw earlier was standing with some others in a circle. There were about 15 others standing in a circle and at least 5 more lounged around the room. The woman I saw earlier walked up to me and grabbed my arm and dragged me to the group.

“My name is Jenny! Jenny Parkinson!” She was hopping up and down. “But just call me Hiro!”

“Why Hiro?” I ask.

“That's my middle name,” she answers. I am now standing with the group in a circle, I nervously wave at them.

“This is Jack Long!” I look at her dumbfounded, only Bart and my coworkers knew my first name, but not my last. My last name was HUGE. my dad was a famous geologist and my mom was a well-known hero. She disarmed a gunman at a mall and walked away unharmed. I never gave people my last name because they would bombard me with questions pertaining to me being part of a rich family. I hated it, it reminded me of how my dad would never even glance at me. He would rather be looking at rocks all day than spend time with his son.

“We have been needing you in the resistance for a long time, no pun intended.” A guy across from me said, he was wearing a grey tank top and camo pants, his big arms folded across his chest. He had his brown hair in a military buzz cut. He had a mischievous smile painted on his face.

“That's Billy,” Hiro said.

Hiro continued to introduce me to everyone. Spud was a short man who wore big glasses and a plaid shirt. He had long red hair and icy blue eyes. He was the computer geek, though I had a feeling that would change. Cello was the brains of the missions, he had messy blond hair and was fairly skinny. Cannoli was the cook, he was a large man and was bald. But had a black bushy mustache. The carrot was a tall silent woman. She had short orange hair. she was part of the stealth team, along with bruiser who looked like a carrot but his hair was long and green. Later I learned they were twins. Barbie was in charge of our gear, and she somehow fit fashion in there, she had short blond hair that went to her jawline, with green eyes. Smirk really liked to build explosives, he had light brown curly hair and dark brown eyes. He was wearing brown overalls that were way too big. Amazon was in charge of the letters and packages, she was about 5’8”, and she was fairly fit and tan. She had long black hair with a strip of it dyed purple. Bub was the leader of our group. He was bald and had a little stubble around his sharp jawline. Joker was the medic, he wore a black mask and black clothes, apparently, he got injured so badly on a mission that he isn't recognizable, so, therefore, the mask. Fifi was a teen and seemed to have a bubble gum addiction. She had bright pink short choppy hair and wore sunglasses... Even though we were underground. There were identical twins named bitter and sweet. Sweet looked like she could kill you, and bitter looked like she could ever harm a fly. Everyone around me was around my age, except Bart, bub, and Fifi. I don't even know the age or gender of joker. 

When we were done with introductions Hiro then said,

“Guys we can finally do it!!” screaming in my ear and shaking me violently.

“Hiro, don't scare the poor guy,” Bub said.

“What can we do now?” I ask.

“Destroy the government” Fifi bluntly stated like it was nothing. I nearly choked on my spit and started to cough violently.

“Wait, you're joking right?” I said once I could breathe properly.

“Nope,” cello said, “we want to destroy the government because people will then stop living in a world that isn't real. We destroy the source And we can go back to a normal world.”

*La fin*