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All characters in this short story are fictional, any similarities to real life persons are truly coincidence and should not be taken seriously.
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Alright before I start I should let you guys know, that this story is pretty deep. Read first, ask questions later, the plot develops as time goes, so if your not really into suspense thrillers, don't read. The story isn't finished yet (and with my attention span it probably never will be) so what ever chapter I stop at will leave you with a sense of incompleteness. I hope it doesn't confuse you and I truly hope you finish reading before you comment. As always enjoy the story and tell me what you like/didn't like/or want to know when your done.
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Author Notes: Song's listened too while writing:
Mutt - Rumours
High Contrast - Seven Notes In Black
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Update as of March 17, 2011
Story up to Chapter 3 is complete.
Chapter 4 is in the works
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Chapter 1: Sleepwalker
Spoiler
Sleepwalker
Websters Dictionary:
sleep·walk
verb \ˈslēp-ˌwȯk\
Definition of SLEEPWALK
intransitive verb
1: to walk while or as if while asleep
2: to proceed in a passive often lethargic manner <sleepwalked through the workday>
CIA’s ID Guide for Undesirable Human Cases:
sleep·walker
1: A class of individuals who experience paranormal cases of consciousness while in state of rest.
2: A class of individuals who are invalid to the concept of society. These individuals will often exist through their life spans as sleep like mindset and will only assist society if forced.
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Hello. If you’re reading this, then I am one of the last few sleepwalkers on the face of the planet. You may be asking yourself right now, if you’re a sleep walker, how do you exactly know that you’re a sleep walker. It’s simple really. I was identified.
My name is Jason Ramos. Classification ID, JR2031. ID’s are usually formed by the person’s initials and the order in which they were identified. Thus my initials are JR, and I am the 2,031 person to be identified.
It was an odd sense of clarification, being identified. I finally understood why I never truly fit into societies mold. Why, when asked what I would be when I grew up I simply shrugged and gave no answer, because there was no answer to give.
My parents are invalids as well, though their concept of invalid actually contributes. My mother is a mute and is deaf in one ear. She cannot speak and can rarely hear well, but she communicates with others using a personalized computer that sends signals to her brain. Her purpose is to simply be a lab rat for the rest of her life. Sadly she’ll never know this, because if she ever had a higher thought than how to ask for food, water, or sleep, they’d send a sharp single to her brain to destroy it, thus suppressing her.
My father is paralyzed from the waist down from a construction accident that happened way after I was born. He is restrained to a wheel chair for the rest of his life but still is active in the community as a freelance handyman.
The rest of my family, my siblings, are normal everyday people just those of you reading this information now. They’re not in danger of dying, nor are they in danger of being stalked in their sleep. They merely exist as product for future continuation of our species.
Now you may be asking yourself, where does all this lead too? Well… It started like this.
Sleepwalker
Websters Dictionary:
sleep·walk
verb \ˈslēp-ˌwȯk\
Definition of SLEEPWALK
intransitive verb
1: to walk while or as if while asleep
2: to proceed in a passive often lethargic manner <sleepwalked through the workday>
CIA’s ID Guide for Undesirable Human Cases:
sleep·walker
1: A class of individuals who experience paranormal cases of consciousness while in state of rest.
2: A class of individuals who are invalid to the concept of society. These individuals will often exist through their life spans as sleep like mindset and will only assist society if forced.
---
Hello. If you’re reading this, then I am one of the last few sleepwalkers on the face of the planet. You may be asking yourself right now, if you’re a sleep walker, how do you exactly know that you’re a sleep walker. It’s simple really. I was identified.
My name is Jason Ramos. Classification ID, JR2031. ID’s are usually formed by the person’s initials and the order in which they were identified. Thus my initials are JR, and I am the 2,031 person to be identified.
It was an odd sense of clarification, being identified. I finally understood why I never truly fit into societies mold. Why, when asked what I would be when I grew up I simply shrugged and gave no answer, because there was no answer to give.
My parents are invalids as well, though their concept of invalid actually contributes. My mother is a mute and is deaf in one ear. She cannot speak and can rarely hear well, but she communicates with others using a personalized computer that sends signals to her brain. Her purpose is to simply be a lab rat for the rest of her life. Sadly she’ll never know this, because if she ever had a higher thought than how to ask for food, water, or sleep, they’d send a sharp single to her brain to destroy it, thus suppressing her.
My father is paralyzed from the waist down from a construction accident that happened way after I was born. He is restrained to a wheel chair for the rest of his life but still is active in the community as a freelance handyman.
The rest of my family, my siblings, are normal everyday people just those of you reading this information now. They’re not in danger of dying, nor are they in danger of being stalked in their sleep. They merely exist as product for future continuation of our species.
Now you may be asking yourself, where does all this lead too? Well… It started like this.
Chapter 2: Identification
Spoiler
Identification
It was an ordinary day in my neighborhood. The kids were out playing, the adults were squabbling over the latest global news, and I was up enjoying my daily recreative past time, gaming.
I had recently discovered this game on the PC that had me hooked from the start. Stellar graphics, insane plotline, interesting characters, and the most unique weapon and playing system to date, however as I played I noticed quickly that the game was draining me. I would get hungrier more often than normal, and I hardly slept. My life was slowly spiraling into the game to the point where it was just the game, and me. And this was how they found me.
They entered the house quietly, only rousing my father so he could open the door. They spoke with him momentarily on the possibility that I could be an internet terrorist, something he refused to believe adamantly; they persevered however. Producing fake proof on the level that not even he could deny, he begrudgingly lead them to my recluse abode. Laid out on my bed with my laptop on a power fan I was in the middle of an intense gaming session, my character, and anime female, was doing several backflips to dodge a couple of magical attacks that my opponent had casted. Too entranced in my game I hardly noticed them enter, or the fact that they were in my room for several hours until I had finally noticed my stomach growl.
Getting up from my laptop I finally noticed them. I could tell they were from the government, by their crisp black suits, and well kept hair. Their tinted sunglasses prevented me from seeing their eyes and their shiny black suits reflected the glare off my specially designed desk lamp. All in all my first meeting with Agents J and Q was most terrifying indeed.
I slowly turned to fully face them, mostly to show that I was not going to struggle with anything they had to do with me. The actual thought of struggle was gone the moment I noticed a tiny almost unnoticeable bulge in the side pocket of one of the agent’s pockets.
“Do you know why were here?” asked Agent J simply. I guess they really didn’t have time for joking around when they were on the job, so I shook my head no as a reply. No need to lie and try and become a hero, that’s how you ended up dead or worse.
“Were here to ask you a few simple questions, how you answer them will determine your future, so answer them quickly, and correctly. Do you understand?” I shook my head yes.
“Good. When was the last time you registered to vote?” Okay, truthfully, I blinked at this question. Vote? I can’t even drive legally, let alone vote. What are these guys getting at?
“Um, I’m not legally of age to vote…” I replied simply. I could tell they weren’t satisfied with the answer by the slight shuffling of their stances. It was pretty easy to get used to these guys considering I watched action movies and animes all the time, I guess that kind of stuff does pay off after awhile.
“We did ask for your age, we asked when was the last time you voted?” Okay… what was the difference they were trying to make here? Sure I used to participate in those old mock voting sessions when I was in elementary school. I guess that’s what they meant.
“Um, the third grade I guess. It was a mock voting session so I don’t know if it counts”. The agent nodded an affirmation of my answer allowing me to breathe a bit easier.
“When was the last time you registered as an active member of society, via community service, or an occupation of sorts?” I winced internally. I was never one for helping out my fellow man anymore than the next guy.
“Never, I guess, I’m not really one for community service. My only skill is web designing so unless you know someone around here aside from my pops who needs a website remodeled, then I’m out of luck”. That was a bad answer. I could tell by the way they shifted their stances slightly that they were not happy in the slightest. The two looked at each other before nodding as Agent Q reached into his pocket while Agent J asked me one last question.
“Do you still maintain any form of education of any kind that could be considered beneficial to your sake or to the sake of mankind?” I frowned at this question. Knowing these guys they probably already researched my education, so they already know that I most likely dropped out by now. Well I’m officially screwed now.
“No”. They nodded in understanding as I sighed and waited for my fate to unravel. There was no where for me to run when Agent Q strode forward and asked for my right arm. The fact that my window was locked from the outside to keep me from leaving in the dead of the night was a moot point advantage for them.
Revealing my arm, he turned it over to expose the milky white underside before producing a small ink stamp. I could easily tell that the ink wasn’t washable and probably was just a cheap imitation until the real thing showed up. He placed the stamp to my skin, and I could feel it chewing through the fleshy protection. I cried out in pain as the Agent held my arm in a vice grip. The other Agent walked up and held me down as I had begun to struggle against the pain. Finally, he pulled it away, and I could see the blackened skin underneath. It was an Identification number.
JR2031. I had been, identified.
After they left I sat there in quiet contemplation. My father, a figure I hardly see anymore due to unknown reasons, had rolled himself up the small flat escalator that we have for his use to my room. I had barely looked up to acknowledge him before he had placed his hands on my shoulders. I could feel his sorrow as he stared at my identification number, he himself had one before he was able to escape the system, but he was never able to rid himself of his number, the blackened letters staring him in the face day in and day out for the rest of his life.
We sat there quietly before tears began to stream out of my eyes. It had finally hit me. I was no longer considered an active member of society. I was now, a Sleepwalker.
It was an ordinary day in my neighborhood. The kids were out playing, the adults were squabbling over the latest global news, and I was up enjoying my daily recreative past time, gaming.
I had recently discovered this game on the PC that had me hooked from the start. Stellar graphics, insane plotline, interesting characters, and the most unique weapon and playing system to date, however as I played I noticed quickly that the game was draining me. I would get hungrier more often than normal, and I hardly slept. My life was slowly spiraling into the game to the point where it was just the game, and me. And this was how they found me.
They entered the house quietly, only rousing my father so he could open the door. They spoke with him momentarily on the possibility that I could be an internet terrorist, something he refused to believe adamantly; they persevered however. Producing fake proof on the level that not even he could deny, he begrudgingly lead them to my recluse abode. Laid out on my bed with my laptop on a power fan I was in the middle of an intense gaming session, my character, and anime female, was doing several backflips to dodge a couple of magical attacks that my opponent had casted. Too entranced in my game I hardly noticed them enter, or the fact that they were in my room for several hours until I had finally noticed my stomach growl.
Getting up from my laptop I finally noticed them. I could tell they were from the government, by their crisp black suits, and well kept hair. Their tinted sunglasses prevented me from seeing their eyes and their shiny black suits reflected the glare off my specially designed desk lamp. All in all my first meeting with Agents J and Q was most terrifying indeed.
I slowly turned to fully face them, mostly to show that I was not going to struggle with anything they had to do with me. The actual thought of struggle was gone the moment I noticed a tiny almost unnoticeable bulge in the side pocket of one of the agent’s pockets.
“Do you know why were here?” asked Agent J simply. I guess they really didn’t have time for joking around when they were on the job, so I shook my head no as a reply. No need to lie and try and become a hero, that’s how you ended up dead or worse.
“Were here to ask you a few simple questions, how you answer them will determine your future, so answer them quickly, and correctly. Do you understand?” I shook my head yes.
“Good. When was the last time you registered to vote?” Okay, truthfully, I blinked at this question. Vote? I can’t even drive legally, let alone vote. What are these guys getting at?
“Um, I’m not legally of age to vote…” I replied simply. I could tell they weren’t satisfied with the answer by the slight shuffling of their stances. It was pretty easy to get used to these guys considering I watched action movies and animes all the time, I guess that kind of stuff does pay off after awhile.
“We did ask for your age, we asked when was the last time you voted?” Okay… what was the difference they were trying to make here? Sure I used to participate in those old mock voting sessions when I was in elementary school. I guess that’s what they meant.
“Um, the third grade I guess. It was a mock voting session so I don’t know if it counts”. The agent nodded an affirmation of my answer allowing me to breathe a bit easier.
“When was the last time you registered as an active member of society, via community service, or an occupation of sorts?” I winced internally. I was never one for helping out my fellow man anymore than the next guy.
“Never, I guess, I’m not really one for community service. My only skill is web designing so unless you know someone around here aside from my pops who needs a website remodeled, then I’m out of luck”. That was a bad answer. I could tell by the way they shifted their stances slightly that they were not happy in the slightest. The two looked at each other before nodding as Agent Q reached into his pocket while Agent J asked me one last question.
“Do you still maintain any form of education of any kind that could be considered beneficial to your sake or to the sake of mankind?” I frowned at this question. Knowing these guys they probably already researched my education, so they already know that I most likely dropped out by now. Well I’m officially screwed now.
“No”. They nodded in understanding as I sighed and waited for my fate to unravel. There was no where for me to run when Agent Q strode forward and asked for my right arm. The fact that my window was locked from the outside to keep me from leaving in the dead of the night was a moot point advantage for them.
Revealing my arm, he turned it over to expose the milky white underside before producing a small ink stamp. I could easily tell that the ink wasn’t washable and probably was just a cheap imitation until the real thing showed up. He placed the stamp to my skin, and I could feel it chewing through the fleshy protection. I cried out in pain as the Agent held my arm in a vice grip. The other Agent walked up and held me down as I had begun to struggle against the pain. Finally, he pulled it away, and I could see the blackened skin underneath. It was an Identification number.
JR2031. I had been, identified.
After they left I sat there in quiet contemplation. My father, a figure I hardly see anymore due to unknown reasons, had rolled himself up the small flat escalator that we have for his use to my room. I had barely looked up to acknowledge him before he had placed his hands on my shoulders. I could feel his sorrow as he stared at my identification number, he himself had one before he was able to escape the system, but he was never able to rid himself of his number, the blackened letters staring him in the face day in and day out for the rest of his life.
We sat there quietly before tears began to stream out of my eyes. It had finally hit me. I was no longer considered an active member of society. I was now, a Sleepwalker.
Chapter 3: Renumeration
Spoiler
RenumerationSeveralyears had passed and I had practically forgotten about the incident. The onlything that remained was my number that was a constant reminder to those aroundme that I no longer existed; I was merely a shadow in broad daylight. Sure youcould see me, but it wasn’t like you paid much attention to me.
The longer Idealt with it, the longer I got used to it. Eventually I realized that my lifewas still the same as before, and so I returned to my world of games, anime,and blissful ignorance. Truthfully I’m not surprised that I had forgotten.Sheep have short attention spans, and that’s what sleepwalkers were considered,sheep; Useless animals that only give when their forced to give. They hold novalue to the animal kingdom aside from their wool, and even then it has to beprocessed and cleaned before it’s even useable.
I figuredthat after a certain number of years that they had forgotten about me, so I letmyself go. I dropped into a deeper pit that I had originally dug, slowly losingmy own emotions in my desire to forget my past, and my eminent future. Myfather was always there for me though, I could tell my behavior hurt himmassively, he only wished for the best and here I was destroying myself pieceby piece. Sometimes I wished I could just die, that way I wouldn’t be a burdenon him any longer. Sometimes, I should really watch what I wish for.
By now youcan tell that I’m smarter than most people give me credit for, I actively usemy brain for something other than gaming, which I can probably attribute togaming. We sleepwalkers are emotion beings, incapable of using rational thoughtwhile in our emotional state, we have to exit it and enter a state ofemotionless rationale. It is the only time in our lives where we can trulythink and become human beings. However it comes with a price. Each time weenter this state we drop further into our state of uselessness. And the longerwe stay in this state, the worse the regression is. Each time it is moredifficult to enter this state and after awhile we’ll need additional ways toenter it.
It is arisky business, but for the sake of my survival and the survival of my kind, Ihave to take one for the team. I guess this was my only purpose in life, toextend the continuation of the sleepwalkers. For even though we seem to be themost useless, and sometimes violent beings on the face of the planet; we, likeeveryone else, are human. And at the end of the day, would you like it ifsomeone killed off all the African Americans, or all the Hispanics, or even allof the Caucasians. I hope your answer is no, unless you truly hate that race,then I guess you can go ahead and say yes.
My firstwarning sign came the day after I released one of my first papers. Just likethis it was a warning to other sleepwalkers. I placed it on one of the gamingwebsites I frequented and watched as the views skyrocketed. Immediately after Ireceived a huge number of anonyms comments from other sleepwalkers confirmingmy thoughts. I could tell that I had hit the jackpot on this one, and startedmy next paper.
Thefollowing day on my way to school I could feel something was wrong. NormallyI’m not paranoid in the slightest, and actually I’m quite sure that I’m notstalk worthy. However today I felt as though someone were watching my everymove. Checking behind myself, I could see nothing but a crowd, which is commonin my city, but then I noticed by squinting, a distinct figure decked in allblack.
I frownedand a cold sweat draped my forehead as I turned the corner suddenly, not at alllooking where I was going as I navigated the causeways of the city. I couldtell the agent was still following me, so turning down another side corner; Ilifted up my trusty gray hood and reentered the crowd.
As asleepwalker, I’m granted the almost praiseworthy trait of blending in, which Iwas thankful for that day. When I had returned home that following day, therewas a package in the main addressed to me from an unmarked address, I didn’topen it. Instead I picked it up, dumped in a nearby mailbox, and walked inside.Hours later when the mailman went to go pick up the mail, the mailbox exploded.That was my first warning sign.
When Ichecked the forums, I had found out that some of the others had been hunteddown recently, mainly the ones that had corresponded with me using their screennames. I agreed with the others that it was too risky to keep using screennames, so I dropped my old one and gave it to some unsuspecting fifth grader.He was killed two weeks later in an inconspicuous car crash.
Days later,my father approached my guilt wrecked form as I cried silently on the bed. Allof these deaths were weighing on me, and even though my father acted like hedidn’t know what I was doing, he was with me every step of the way.
“It’s okay,we all make mistakes, it’s what we learn from these mistakes and how we makesure that they don’t happen again that matters”. Taking his words to heart Icontinued my writings. Pretty soon the agents were back, and this time theymeant business, but this time I was ready. The window as already unlatchedunder the excuse that the summer heat was too much to bare.
As theywalked in, I could see the grim look in their eyes as they glared down at meintensely, as though I were messing up the grand scheme of things, which I was.I was already sitting on my bed by the window when they began to speak, theirhands in their pockets resting on silenced pistols most likely. The wholesituation felt surreal, like I was trapped in a fairy tale super spy drama fictionor something. I could feel myself sweating out the deodorant that I had appliedearlier as the stare down peaked before finally, they spoke.
“JasonRamos, Identification Number JR2031, you are to come with us immediately, ifyou do not comply, we will be forced to use dangerous to deadly force to makeyou come with us”. I blinked. So they were going to giveme the option because I was home huh. Bleh, no need to think about thesethings, I just had to stall.
“First tellme why I’m being apprehended. I still have those rights as an American citizeneven if I’m a sleepwalker”. I smirked internally; they weren’t going to breachmy rights as an American even if they wanted too. I could see their hesitationas well; things were going good so far, now all I have to do is make it out thewindow.
“Is thatyour final answer JR2031?” I blinked. What do they mean final answer; I didn’teven answer the question. Damn it, I should have known they wouldn’t let me goall easy cheesy. Guess I gotta split straight to option two.
Turning mybody to run I could see them already pulling out their weapons as I made a madjump for the window. I technically made it, but because Agents were moretrained in this sort of art, they were quicker. So when over 4000 volts startcoursing through my body, I of course messed up my jump half way, and ended upnearly crushing myself in the window. Sometimes it sucks not exercising; itjust makes escaping all the more harder to do.
The longer Idealt with it, the longer I got used to it. Eventually I realized that my lifewas still the same as before, and so I returned to my world of games, anime,and blissful ignorance. Truthfully I’m not surprised that I had forgotten.Sheep have short attention spans, and that’s what sleepwalkers were considered,sheep; Useless animals that only give when their forced to give. They hold novalue to the animal kingdom aside from their wool, and even then it has to beprocessed and cleaned before it’s even useable.
I figuredthat after a certain number of years that they had forgotten about me, so I letmyself go. I dropped into a deeper pit that I had originally dug, slowly losingmy own emotions in my desire to forget my past, and my eminent future. Myfather was always there for me though, I could tell my behavior hurt himmassively, he only wished for the best and here I was destroying myself pieceby piece. Sometimes I wished I could just die, that way I wouldn’t be a burdenon him any longer. Sometimes, I should really watch what I wish for.
By now youcan tell that I’m smarter than most people give me credit for, I actively usemy brain for something other than gaming, which I can probably attribute togaming. We sleepwalkers are emotion beings, incapable of using rational thoughtwhile in our emotional state, we have to exit it and enter a state ofemotionless rationale. It is the only time in our lives where we can trulythink and become human beings. However it comes with a price. Each time weenter this state we drop further into our state of uselessness. And the longerwe stay in this state, the worse the regression is. Each time it is moredifficult to enter this state and after awhile we’ll need additional ways toenter it.
It is arisky business, but for the sake of my survival and the survival of my kind, Ihave to take one for the team. I guess this was my only purpose in life, toextend the continuation of the sleepwalkers. For even though we seem to be themost useless, and sometimes violent beings on the face of the planet; we, likeeveryone else, are human. And at the end of the day, would you like it ifsomeone killed off all the African Americans, or all the Hispanics, or even allof the Caucasians. I hope your answer is no, unless you truly hate that race,then I guess you can go ahead and say yes.
My firstwarning sign came the day after I released one of my first papers. Just likethis it was a warning to other sleepwalkers. I placed it on one of the gamingwebsites I frequented and watched as the views skyrocketed. Immediately after Ireceived a huge number of anonyms comments from other sleepwalkers confirmingmy thoughts. I could tell that I had hit the jackpot on this one, and startedmy next paper.
Thefollowing day on my way to school I could feel something was wrong. NormallyI’m not paranoid in the slightest, and actually I’m quite sure that I’m notstalk worthy. However today I felt as though someone were watching my everymove. Checking behind myself, I could see nothing but a crowd, which is commonin my city, but then I noticed by squinting, a distinct figure decked in allblack.
I frownedand a cold sweat draped my forehead as I turned the corner suddenly, not at alllooking where I was going as I navigated the causeways of the city. I couldtell the agent was still following me, so turning down another side corner; Ilifted up my trusty gray hood and reentered the crowd.
As asleepwalker, I’m granted the almost praiseworthy trait of blending in, which Iwas thankful for that day. When I had returned home that following day, therewas a package in the main addressed to me from an unmarked address, I didn’topen it. Instead I picked it up, dumped in a nearby mailbox, and walked inside.Hours later when the mailman went to go pick up the mail, the mailbox exploded.That was my first warning sign.
When Ichecked the forums, I had found out that some of the others had been hunteddown recently, mainly the ones that had corresponded with me using their screennames. I agreed with the others that it was too risky to keep using screennames, so I dropped my old one and gave it to some unsuspecting fifth grader.He was killed two weeks later in an inconspicuous car crash.
Days later,my father approached my guilt wrecked form as I cried silently on the bed. Allof these deaths were weighing on me, and even though my father acted like hedidn’t know what I was doing, he was with me every step of the way.
“It’s okay,we all make mistakes, it’s what we learn from these mistakes and how we makesure that they don’t happen again that matters”. Taking his words to heart Icontinued my writings. Pretty soon the agents were back, and this time theymeant business, but this time I was ready. The window as already unlatchedunder the excuse that the summer heat was too much to bare.
As theywalked in, I could see the grim look in their eyes as they glared down at meintensely, as though I were messing up the grand scheme of things, which I was.I was already sitting on my bed by the window when they began to speak, theirhands in their pockets resting on silenced pistols most likely. The wholesituation felt surreal, like I was trapped in a fairy tale super spy drama fictionor something. I could feel myself sweating out the deodorant that I had appliedearlier as the stare down peaked before finally, they spoke.
“JasonRamos, Identification Number JR2031, you are to come with us immediately, ifyou do not comply, we will be forced to use dangerous to deadly force to makeyou come with us”. I blinked. So they were going to giveme the option because I was home huh. Bleh, no need to think about thesethings, I just had to stall.
“First tellme why I’m being apprehended. I still have those rights as an American citizeneven if I’m a sleepwalker”. I smirked internally; they weren’t going to breachmy rights as an American even if they wanted too. I could see their hesitationas well; things were going good so far, now all I have to do is make it out thewindow.
“Is thatyour final answer JR2031?” I blinked. What do they mean final answer; I didn’teven answer the question. Damn it, I should have known they wouldn’t let me goall easy cheesy. Guess I gotta split straight to option two.
Turning mybody to run I could see them already pulling out their weapons as I made a madjump for the window. I technically made it, but because Agents were moretrained in this sort of art, they were quicker. So when over 4000 volts startcoursing through my body, I of course messed up my jump half way, and ended upnearly crushing myself in the window. Sometimes it sucks not exercising; itjust makes escaping all the more harder to do.
This post has been edited by Inorite: 17 March 2011 - 04:02 PM
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