Discovery

The broadcaster was an older man, I'd say in his 50's at least. He had just a tint of gray in his hair, kind of like a solid gray streak running along the side of his slicked back hairdo. He had one of those typical, deep announcer voices that some of us love and some of us hate. I wasn't really that fond of it but it wasn't like it was a bother to me or anything. He told Tim and I about things that were supposedly going on in the rest of the country, such as laws Congress was passing and other "local" news with just random stories here and there. It was not the most exciting thing in the world, but it's not like we had a better option.

It was reaching the end of the segment for the night, around nine o'clock or so; but that's when things were just starting to heat up. We hadn't really done much with our day, let alone walk around and travel, we'd kind of given up in a sense on the whole hopefully finding someone thing. We were just going to let everything play itself out, for better or for worse. It caught my attention when the broadcaster was stopped mid-story and handed a rather large piece of paper; a poster.

This struck me as vague and peculiar so he had my attention more so than during any other part of the dumb old report. This is what he said:
"ATTENTION: THERE HAS BEEN AN EMERGENCY WARRANT PUT OUT FOR THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS..."
there was a dramatic, suspenseful pause...
"THESE TWO PERSONS ARE TO BE REPORTED TO THE FODFA IMMEDIATELY...TIMOTHY MATTALIANO AND ZACHARY REYNOLDS..."
The broadcast stopped. They were looking for me and Tim. We were wanted now. We knew about the FODFA, it stood for Federal Office of Domestic and Federal Affairs, and we'd had a run in with them before when this whole government came into place about five or so years back. They're no fun and they definitely take their job seriously..perhaps a little too seriously.

As the broadcast ended, Tim and I exchanged surprised, bewildered looks. What were we going to do? There had to have been more people out there than we knew of, especially if there was now a search warrant with both our names on it. We had never bothered checking other towns, we weren't sure that it would be safe. I mean, we both wanted to find other human beings, but we weren't willing to die stupidly for it. No way. No how.

But what had we done that we deserved a search warrant? All we've been doing for two years now is surviving. We haven't talked to anyone besides each other, haven't fed or housed anyone but the two of us, I mean really what would the government want with a couple of weirdos just trying to make it to the next day without dying? Maybe it was a mind game. They were just trying to mess with us. Maybe they had no idea we were even alive, and this was just used as a sort of "scare tactic" to make us want to "come out of hiding" when, really, we weren't trying to hide from anybody. But now that our names were out there, we weren't really sure what to do. Then, we heard sirens echoing somewhere in our background. Someone was close.

Even though it had been quite a while, I knew a police siren when I hear one, there is no doubt about that. I yelled at Tim to run as we quickly grabbed what belongings and rations we had and darted out of the house. Where we were it was mostly urban, so there wasn't like a forest we could just go run and hide in, we needed a secure place to lay low. Tim found some cover in a trash can down the street, however, I found myself continuing to run. There was no good place for me to hide.

I began to worry that I was going to lose Tim, because we had no other way to communicate with each other and we had never established a rendezvous site. But that had to be the least of my worries. I needed cover. Now. Finally, as if the opportunity just fell right out of the sky, I found an open sewer hole, not taking a second thought before plunging into the stench beneath the street.

I could hear the wail of the sirens coming closer and closer, as if they were able to track where I was, and who knows, maybe that was just what was going on. I wasn't going to just go down without a fight, though. Before racing down the ladder to the rat tunnels, I expediently attempted to cover my tracks by closing the whole, but it wouldn't seal all the way. I had to leave it.

At the bottom of the rat tunnels, the smell was horrible, but after a minute I was able to block it out thanks to my adrenaline (which, at this point, was pumping faster than the pistons in an engine). I could still hear the sirens however, but I never feared. I didn't attain any sense of worry during this time, I was calm. Anxious, but calm. I began making my way through the tunnels, although I had no idea where I was going. I just had the feeling I could never go back.

Just then, the lid to the hole was moved, I could hear the screeching along with footsteps that meticulously followed. The chase was on. Just as I began sprinting as fast as I could, I heard a moan. It was a desperate cry for help, to which I was going to attend to. It meant another person. Another body. Similar flesh and blood. Someone new. I knew my time was limited, but I had to find this person who was hiding amongst the shadows. Maybe, just maybe, they would have the answers.