Season 02 - Episode 16

‘away from when’

Ty is exhausted.

He has been trapped in the box transit system for what feels like forever and still cannot find a way out. As the time has slipped by, Ty has grown bolder in stealing food and now takes at least one whole meal from the belts each day.

This means somebody somewhere is missing out, is probably going hungry. He knows what hunger feels like and feels guilty every time he eats. He scoops the food up with his filthy fingers, hunched up in the corner of a too small tunnel and thinks of Mum's face, disappointed and sad.

He hopes that GovCo will notice the food theft and send EnFo's to investigate. He no longer fears getting in trouble if trouble means getting out. He's already decided, if the EnFo's come looking, he'll give himself up immediately, confess to everything, accept any punishment, whatever it takes to get back out into rooms and corridors.

Ty gave up on the well lit tunnels a few days ago as they always seemed to lead him in circles. He has been crawling through darkness ever since but still doesn't know if he's getting anywhere.

The world outside, beyond the periodic vents has changed as well. The initial chaos and confusion settled at first as people ran out of energy to run or realised they had nowhere to go. Then came something else.

The ordinary people all seemed to be hiding away, he saw them when he looked through vents into rooms. The only people in the corridors now were the funny people, the ones in strange clothes, sometimes with scars or bits missing. The people Mum always said he and Ky were to stay away from.

When he looked through the vents into corridors or meeting halls he saw them, running, hiding, fighting. Sometimes they fought with each other but mostly they fought the EnFo's and when they fought the EnFo's, he mostly saw them die.

The EnFo's had loud, black guns that made Ty jump. The funny people usually just had clubs or knives or even just their fists. He is thinking about this as he crawls down a particularly long, straight section of tunnel. He pauses by a vent, halfway along and looks out into the room.

It is a large meeting hall, as long as the tunnel, filled with funny people but they're all mixed up. Usually the funny people all dress alike but here there are lots of different types. They're all sat around on the floor looking tired and miserable. Some of them are very quiet, others are crying.

Ty is curious so decides to take a rest and watch the strange scene. For a while nothing happens. Then, just as Ty starts to lose interest and fidget, a door directly opposite his vent opens and big crowd of EnFo's march into the room.

They begin to shout at the funny people, with their scary, scratchy, mechanical voices. They kick and shove the funny people, making them all stand up and then line up against the wall, behind which runs Ty's tunnel.

Two of the funny people stand to either side of the vent so that Ty's view is pinched narrow by their arms. The EnFo's line up as well, facing Ty and the funny people. Everything get's very quiet except for some of the funny people crying.

He doesn't understand what's happening until the EnFo's all raise their guns at the same time. Their guns are pointing at the funny people, pointing at him. Now he understands what is happening. He also understands that the walls won't stop the bullets and that the tunnel is too long in either direction for him to scramble out of the way.

Ty is going to die.

He's going to die and they won't even know. No-one will ever know. He'll just lie in here forever and Mum, if she's still alive, will never know what happened to him.

The EnFo boss is giving the order.

Ty is shaking. He curls into a ball and closes his eyes tight. He has never been this frightened. He thinks of Mum and apologises. He hopes it will be quick. He hopes it won't hurt.

The sound of gunfire consumes everything.

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