Jarod’s Room

Jarod was in bed, but only pretending to be asleep.  He was really watching the little red light on the camera in his room.  If his program was going to work then the light was going to go out just about…..now.

He rolled out of the bed and grabbed the pillow-man he and Angelo had spent the last week constructing.  Cut hair from the barber and paints smuggled out of the SIM Lab helped give the dummy a realistic appearance.  At least real enough to fool the sweepers, both the ones peering in through the doorway and the ones watching the camera feed.

A soft noise had Jarod turning.  Angelo’s smiling faced looked out from the vent.  Jarod grinned back and, after a final tuck to pillow-man’s blanket, joined Angelo in the ventilation system.

Jarod let Angelo lead the way.  Angelo knew the plan as well and Jarod did.  He should- he had helped create and supply it.  Angelo had had the freedom of the vents for years.  Raines mostly left Angelo alone.  As long as Angelo stayed out of Raines’ way, Raines would forget about him.  This let Angelo wander the underground world to his heart’s content.  Angelo was now using this knowledge to help Jarod escape.

The two men scurried through the air shafts as fast as Jarod’s ribs would allow.  The pain-pills the doctor had prescribed helped some, but the hunched over position he was forced to assume was agonizing.  Jarod knew they couldn’t stop for him to rest, though.  To stop now would throw them off schedule.

After about twenty minutes of climbing, crawling and rushing, they reached their first destination.  Angelo had created a lair in the shaft’s junction.  Four shafts ran off into different directions, creating a nice size cubby hole.  Jarod looked around, amazed.  Angelo had made a home and filled it with the kinds of comforts rarely seen in the lowest sub-levels.  Soft, fluffy pillows and thick, colorful blanket-type things made a bed in one area.  Beautiful pictures were taped to the wall and food and drink items were placed in another corner.  Angelo grinned at his friend’s expression.

“Tower.”

Jarod understood what Angelo meant.  All this stuff was from the Tower Apartments.  Jarod once heard Raines talking about the Tower.  And Raines was scared of the dark-skinned people who stayed in the Tower Apartments.  The fact that Raines was scared of anybody both amazed and terrified Jarod.  Amazed him because he didn’t think Raines was scared of anybody or anything.  And terrified him because if they had the power to scare Raines, then they really had Power.

While Jarod was busy taking in his surroundings, Angelo had scurried off to another area.  Pillowcases and towel littered the floor.  His goal, however, was the dark suit he had somehow managed to hang from a rivet.  Dark shoes and socks completed the outfit that he then brought over to Jarod.

Minutes later, Angelo was being followed through the air vents by a sweeper.  Both men had giggled like little boys when Jarod was changing clothes.  Neither one had worn anything but Centre-issued tunics for so long that they had had a little trouble figuring out some of the clothing.  It had been a very, very long time since Sydney had shown him how to tie a tie and even then he didn’t get it quite right.  And now it was vital that it was tied correctly.

A quick look at the wristwatch Angelo had also managed to find had them hurrying.  By now Jarod’s ribs were screaming.  But he knew that if they slowed down, if something went wrong and they got caught, then the pain in his ribs would be the least of his problems.  The mere thought of what could happen had Jarod, and Angelo when he picked up Jarod’s emotions, going even faster.  Minutes that seemed like hours later they arrived at their second destination.

A glance into the room below showed the men’s restroom to be empty.  Angelo loosened the restraining bolts and lowered the vent door.

“Come with me,” Jarod pleaded with Angelo.

“No.  Stay here.  Help Friend here.  CJ address.”

Jarod nodded his understanding and grabbed Angelo in a tight hug.

“Be careful and get out if things get too bad. Please.”

Angelo smiled and pushed Jarod toward the opening.  Jarod looked around the room one more time and then dropped to the floor below.  Even braced and letting his knees absorb the shock of landing did little to stop the pain from rushing through his body.  A couple of breaths later he was able to push the pain away.  A couple of nervous swallows later, Jarod left the restroom.

Jarod now Pretended to be a sweeper.  This was the most important Pretend of his life because his life truly depended on the outcome.  Sweepers were like sharks, they were drawn by the scents of fear and nervousness like the fish were drawn to blood.  His shoulders went back and his gaze grew dark and intimidating.  The computer techs from this level would be too afraid of this sweeper to even look at him.

The corridor was slowly filling as the 11pm shift change arrived.  Jarod joined the line at the elevator and, as he suspected would happen, the techs slightly shifted away from him.  When the elevator finally arrived, the techs let Jarod enter it first.

Deep inside his mind, in the part that was still Jarod, he gave a nervous shudder.  He was now in the most dangerous part of his plan.  If he ran into a sweeper that recognized  him, everything would fall apart.  Jarod was counting on the fact that that the suit would confuse anyone who might know him.  He might look familiar, but, hopefully, they would be unable to place him until it was too late.

The elevator reached the lobby level and the techs and Jarod exited the car.  Jarod nodded a greeting to the sweeper at the reception desk and continued toward the outer doors.  The skin and nerved in his back were tingling and his heart was racing.  The front doors opened in front of him and Jarod got his first breath of fresh air in over twenty years.  He knew he couldn’t stand there like an idiot, though, or the people rushing around him would suspect something.

The Centre’s layout flashed through Jarod’s brain.  He had to head towards the south-western edge of the property.  But the hugeness of the outdoors was almost paralyzing him physically and the overpowering his ability to even think.  For so long, his world was defined by wall, ceiling and doorways.  Out here, the sights, sounds and smells were attacking his senses.  He had to move forward before his nerve broke and he headed back inside.

Jarod walked across the Centre’s property.  After about thirty minutes he reached a road.  A dark-colored sedan was waiting by the side.  It’s lights were off, but the motor was running.  Then the driver’s side window lowered and a head popped through the opening.

“Welcome to freedom, Jarod,” a warm voice greeted  him.