In yesterday's episode Seth signed Johann’s Letter of Intent which all but guaranteed him to be heir to the throne at XenTek when Johann retires in twenty-four months. Johann told him before he takes the helm of the corporation he must “toughen up”. We are yet to find out exactly what he meant by this.
Today our protagonist, Adam Harkin, returns to get a bone-chillingly horrific message from the security guard they kidnapped from the future that changes everything for him.
A personal note: When I work on long fiction I tend to listen to music (softly in the background) that sparks my creativity. When I was working on the draft of Alarm Clock Dawn the one album I listened to most was Beirut’s The Rip Tide. This album will be forever intertwined with the novel in my memory.
I hope you enjoy today’s episode. Have a great Sunday everyone!
CHAPTER 9
“He's coming to!” Adam heard as he struggled to open his eyes.
A medical technician in green scrubs rushed to his side, resting his hand on his shoulder. Adam winced as his nerve endings awakened to a dull, all-encompassing pain. Adam then felt something cold on his back, and his head pounded as though he had the worst hangover of his life.
He was startled by commotion in the room. “Restrain him! Secure his arms and legs!”
As Adam managed to open one eye slightly, a blurry image appeared to be two medical technicians tightening straps across the legs of who looked like the security guard they had just abducted during the jump.
The guard was lying spread eagle on the examination table in a teal hospital gown. Adam spotted a blood-soaked triangular bandage behind his left ear.
“Where am I? Who the hell are you people? I must report back to my post at once or I will lose my job!”
The medical workers in the green scrubs continued to adjust the restraints, callously ignoring the questions, almost as though this was all routine for them. Once the guard was secured on the table, they left the room without another word.
“Ah, they must've taken out my implant,” the guard said to himself as he turned his head to the left in Adam's direction. “Hey, you!”
Adam was becoming more lucid with each tick of the clock.
“Y-y-yeah?” he managed to slur in his haze.
“You're the one I tackled in the craft. Wow, you look as bad as I feel. What's happening? Where are we?”
Adam tried to turn his head and sit up but couldn't. “I think we're in a lab at XenTek's headquarters.” Adam managed to glance up at the clock on the wall. “It's already after 5 p.m.?”
The security guard’s voice sounded frantic as he kicked his feet against the table in frustration. “I'm going to get fired. I'm already on first warning and I don't want to be sent to the camps!”
“Ohh! Please keep it down!” Adam’s head felt as though, at any moment, it would split open like a two-minute egg. “W-w-what's your name?”
“Captain Marcus Frederick, XenTek security.” Even though he was restrained, the guard's muscle memory caused him to snap to attention as he answered.
“Marcus, try to relax. You have nothing to worry about. It is now twenty years in the past, this is the year 2048. You probably aren't . . . ” Adam paused as a puzzled look flashed across the guard’s face, “ . . . or should I say you probably weren't even in grade school yet.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Is this some kind of joke?”
“No, it’s no joke. It's June 18, 2048, and XenTek has built a time machine. This mission was the first test of it. We traveled to your time and transported you back to ours.”
“Are you kidding me? We are twenty years in the past?” “Okay. Let's say I go along with this gag. If I've got my history right, 2048 is five years before martial law was imposed.”
A smile slowly developed on his face as his brain began to process it all. He was beginning to act as though he wanted to believe. “You're kidding me, right? This has got to be a freakin' dream!”
“Marcus, it’s not a dream. Why do you seem happy about this? What about your family and friends? Won't you miss them?”
“Family, friends? Are you kidding? All I know is work. You see, I had the nerve to get injured a few years ago. I was helping a buddy put a roof on his house and fell off a ladder and broke my back. The crazy thing is as I laid there in excruciating pain I thought more about the fact that I might lose my job than if I would ever walk again. I was out of work for almost a year. Insurance covered a little less than half of the medical bills. I couldn't pay my portion back as fast as they liked, was late on a few other bills, and before I knew it my credit score had fallen into the Orange range. Director Busby and his assistant, the fascist sonovabitch, designed a program called 'Second Chance' to keep us employees in the Orange range in their jobs and out of the camps. I was thankful at first but it didn’t take long to realize there were lots of stipulations—payback for this chance to rebuild our credit score. This 'Second Chance' program immediately came with a sixty percent cut in pay, just because they could. We were separated from our families and forced to live here at XenTek headquarters. They work us in rotating shifts of twelve or more hours per day. Director Busby said it was for the good of everyone. When I'm not working, I live in a twelve foot by twelve foot room that’s more like a cell. About the only plus is I get good food, clean water every day, and decent medical care. They make sure they take care of their investment, you see. The world outside is in complete chaos, no place to be anyway.”
“That sounds awful. What do you mean by chaos?” asked Adam.
“What's your name, sir?” asked Marcus.
“T-t-the name's Adam.”
“Adam, let me tell you why I'm so happy. In my time the natural world has been almost completely decimated. Food and drinkable water are very scarce. If you’re brave enough to venture outside, you have to wear a mask so your lungs don't burn.”
“But with the storms, it's far too risky go outside anyway. We live so much of our lives indoors most of the time. You don't even realize what season it is. In my time, over half of the world's population lives in poverty. Cancer rates are at epidemic proportions. It's like a jungle out there unless you're in one of the Green communities. If you're in the Red range, forget it. Reds are being arrested randomly every day. They're herding them into corporate-run prisons and being used for slave labor. The year 2068 sounds like a wonderful time to be alive, eh? You should be thankful you made it back to your own time.”
Adam was stunned. “Green communities?”
Marcus laughed. “Oh right, I keep forgetting. That little detail hasn't happened yet, either. Forgive me, I'm not used to this time travel business.” The guard paused to reflect, and Adam watched as his eyes grew angry. “I'd say about eight or so years ago Director Busby and his second in command, Dr. Harkin, announced their idea of consolidating everyone who had achieved the 'Green' credit status, separating them from the rest of society.”
“Wait...did you say Director Busby and DR. HARKIN?”
Alarm Clock Dawn is the first novel of a trilogy. The sequel entitled, Truth Is Stranger, will be published in the Spring of 2017.
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