Walking the Ruins

A surprise, and work in the fields

Next morning, I approach the village at the usual time, planning to observe Jan and his cronies, as they get their food from the village. Trying to find a weakness in their daily routine that would give me leverage to get Steve and Jenny out of that bunker.

But Jan and his people don't show up.

I make my way to the bunker's entry, and I find it closed.

This is the first time that there has been such a break in the morning routine. What's going on? My unspoken question is met be the forbidding silence of the closed bunker doors.

I shrug and decide to search for some food. I'll return later.

The sun stands already high in the sky when I get back to my hiding place at the forest's edge. I found some apricots and have lunch. Even though I usually like the fruits, their sticky sweetness starts to bore me.

A group of people is approaching from the bunker, entering the village. They are more than usual, five of them. I immediately recognize Jan and his thugs, the latter carrying their empty baskets. But I need some seconds to recognize the other two: Steve and Jenny! Jenny has done something with her hair, tied it up or braided it to her head. She looks different.

I have stopped eating. I feel an urge to rush out into the open and to grab my friends.

The group is greeted by the long-haired, lanky villager. Soon, other people join the impromptu meeting in the main street. Long-hair and Jan are talking, and some of the villagers seem to greet Steve and Jenny.

After a while, the group of people splits up. Two women lead my friends into a house in the center of the village. Jan and his guys get their baskets refilled and stroll off towards the bunker.

I stay in my hiding place at the village, observing the house where Steve and Jenny have disappeared.

I think about the chipping that Anna has told me about, the implantation of the chips that makes the villagers obey and that Jan abuses to enslave them.

I am about to lose my patience when Steve and Jenny finally re-emerge from the building, still accompanied by the same two women. They have changed their clothes and are now wearing the dull, brownish garb of the villagers.

They walk through the village. The women seem to introduce Steve and Jenny to the local attractions, whatever they are. Then they approach a house with a low roof. One of the women enters. Shortly later, she returns loaded with some objects that I can't see clearly. They may be tools. She hands some of them to Steve and Jenny. They walk down main street, away from me, heading for the fields on the other side.

It's hard to see what they do over there, but I soon see them kneeling on the ground, apparently pulling weeds. First, the two women stay with them, gesticulating, and then they leave for another part of the same field.

Steve and Jenny are now alone. They could get up and run off into the woods, and no one could stop them. But they just keep on working.

Jan must have chipped them.

Later, I walk around the clearing of the village, intending to get a better look at my friends.

The forest's edge on the other side is much closer to them, and I finally see the expression on their faces. They are concentrated on their work, their features serious and calm. I remember that expression. It's the one the villagers are wearing all the time.

The two women work in the same field as Steve and Jenny, close by. Sometimes, one of them comes over and talks to them. They point to the ground and seem to discuss the plants that grow there.

I hope for the villagers to go elsewhere, or for my friends to come closer to where I hide. I want to talk to them. But no opportunity arises.

Towards evening, Steve and Jenny return to the village, accompanying the other villagers. They disappear in the house where they changed clothes when they arrived.

Even though my muscles are stiff and cramping from hiding in the bushes nearly all day, I stay for a while longer and observe the house that they have entered. I wonder if I should break into it at night and get them out. But I saw at least six others entering, so that may be a bad idea.

On my way back, I decide to make contact with them tomorrow, whatever the cost. I want to know if they remember. If they remember their old lives. If they remember the freedom that Jan took away from them. If they remember me.