Noah Cicero - Go to work and do your job. Care for your children. Pay your bills. Obey the law. Buy products.

Monica said in surprise, “Sherwood Burke, that crazy criminal from NEOTAP?”

“Sherwood Burke is a total and complete soldier. I would even say a warrior, a true leader and warrior. He shows no fear, no matter how loud and vicious the battle becomes. He remains calm, he remains at peace. He only feels alive when engaged in struggle and violence. He is my man on the inside.”

“Do you know if Michael is okay?”

“Yes, Sherwood said he is fine. They have become friends.”

Monica and the man finished their coffees and went outside. The cornfield and giant sky terrified Monica, but she was starting to come to terms with it. She had a direction now, a point at which to move. She could finally move with purpose and confidence.

They walked over to the man’s truck. He pulled out a bag and showed Monica what was in it.

The man went over the supplies. Two bottles of water, a small pillow, a sleeping bag, and a small amount of food. He said, “These are yours. It won’t be hot so you won’t need much water. Conserve your water. Snack a little bit every three hours but don’t eat a lot at once.” Then he took out a small handheld GPS system and night vision binoculars and said, “You will need to find the camp and locate where you should be.” Then he pulled out five handguns, extra bullets and five grenades, and said, “Give these to Sherwood.”

“I don’t understand. Am I getting Michael out or starting a war?”

“You can’t just get one person out. Either you get them all out or no one gets out. There will be a firefight, but there are over one-thousand prisoners and only sixty people on the staff. Half of the staff is cooks, janitors and case managers. There are five guard towers with high-powered machine guns that must be taken out.” Then he pulled out bolt cutters and attached them to the backpack and said, “These are to cut the fence with.”

“What the fuck is this shit? All I want is Michael, I can’t be getting shot at by high-powered machine guns.”

“You have to.”

“Have to do what?”

“Get shot at or you won’t get Michael back, or the men and the women in the camp won’t be set free.”

“I just want Michael.”

“No, you want all of them because they are all Michael. Every single one of them is Michael. They are all a person trapped in that camp because of what they were thinking.”

“What kind of fucking camp is this?” Monica said.

“A camp for those who think differently. Imagine NEOTAP times a thousand. All day long they must attend classes, listen to speeches on responsibility, on the Five Pillars.”

Monica stood there. She didn’t know what to think. “But why me? I’m just some random IT girl.”

The man looked at her and said, “Because you have to.”

“How am I supposed to defeat people with high-powered machine guns?”

“Because they are idiots. Just use your intelligence. The people in charge now have been selected because they are afraid of thinking. Just outthink them.”

He got in his truck and drove away. He didn’t look back. He didn’t wave. It was over. He had other things to do.

Monica stood there in front of the diner, amongst the cornfields. She took the supply bag and put it into her car and drove to the gas station where the CIA agent told her to abandon her car.

Monica lay on a bed in a boring-looking hotel room. There was one picture on the wall. It was a cowboy riding a horse through the desert. She looked at the picture and thought, “Am I a cowboy?” She remembered watching cowboy movies with her dad when she was young. She never understood why her dad wanted to watch a bunch of white guys shoot each other in the desert. But she started to understand it was about adventure. She kept thinking about her dad and Michael.

She went to the bathroom and showered. She knew she needed to get nice and clean before walking through the desert. She lay on the bed and took another Xanax. The Xanax felt good. It felt like a soft waterfall, cool water pouring down on her. A soft breeze on a hot, humid day. She wanted to feel peaceful. It was hard though. She couldn’t stop worrying. It was like life was relentless with responsibility. She fell asleep watching television. The television stayed on all night while she slept.

When she awoke in the morning she brushed her teeth and made a small pot of coffee. She put her clothes on and noticed a small envelope under the door. Monica felt panic and picked it up, walked over to the bed and sat down. She opened the letter carefully and unfolded the pages. The words were typed neatly in Helvetica. On the top of the letter, written in pen: “From Ashley/keep going”

The letter was from Mike, apparently typed up on a cellphone and sent as an email to Ashley, who printed it out and delivered it to Monica:

monica

it is michael

ive disappeared

i was able to write you this email because burke had a cellphone smuggled in the camp where im staying

this is what happened

i got to work

standing there drinking latte from starbucks

berg comes up to me says michael, come with me to office

didnt want to go to office

wnted to tell her to fuck herself

shld have

shld have ran out of the building

didnt

went to office with berg

she told me to sit down

sat down

she sat down

both sitting

she asked if i wanted soda to drink said okay

berg left office

got soda

gave it to me

drank it

started 2 feel weird

last memory seeing berg sitting there with stone cold facial expression

berg face no humanity no life nothing

passed out

woke up in airplane

looked

fucking insane

was on an airplane

panic

knew something was wrong

saw two men in their 20s dressed in military fatigues

machine guns

was cuffed 2 chair

knew i was fucked

knew i had disappeared

been arrested

thought

this must be a mistake

is this a joke

why would the govt arrest me

im boring

i go to work

go home

do nothing with my life

drive the speed limit

im boring

person that plays by rules

what rule did i break

couldnt think of 1 law i broke to get stuck in an airplane and guarded by men with machine guns

why would they need machine guns

fucking machine guns

machine guns are scary monica

never been violent in my life

insane

didnt understand reasoning behind arrest and machine guns

knew it was horrible

that i was fucked

didnt say anything at first

pretended was passed out

listened 2 soldiers talk hoping would hear something that would help me

soldiers kept talking abt their wives kids

1 soldier was excited his kid was starting to walk

drove him nuts that his kid ws putting everything in his mouth

other soldier told him he had a 7 y/o

said his kid would get over that stage

move on to do other strange crazy things

they both laughed

they talked about their kids like they really loved them

nothing said about where we were going or my situation

decided to wake

ask them a question hey

they looked at me

said why am i on this plane should be at work

soldier with 7 y/o we can’t help you

but what are you doing now

we are guarding you

you don’t know why im here

soldier tired of hearing me speak said

we arent the people that can help you we have orders

what about my rights

soldier said

please be quiet

sat quiet

machine guns make a person quiet

they couldnt help me

they had orders