The day of execution had arrived.They called numbers, I was a single number to them, they didn’t care about any of us, we the people of a village of 450, can’t take over the ‘people’. When they called numbers, they take them back behind the stage, we hear a gunshot, then another body drops.I was the single number of 364, the people called up numbers randomly from a giant glass bowl, the single number that knew that I was going to die, 364.

I thought in my head, Goodbye mom.

I struggled from the grips of the strong men that were grasping my arms, cutting the circulation from my wrists, they were taking me back behind the stage to die like a bunch of pigs getting slaughtered for bacon. They sat me down and put a bag over my head so I couldn’t see my death, I remember one thing before my vision and hearing and feeling went numb and a sudden pain started then stopped, I went dark fell over.

  I don’t remember what happened until I woke, no idea how long it’d been, I was tied up, I knew where I was, I was in a torture room. I struggled for a instance knowing that my wrists, ankles and neck was strapped down, I had the sudden urge of pain coming from my head, which must of been where I got knocked out from. I heard a click after budging then this brolic man probably about 6’4 walked in, white with a scar across his nose and forehead.

“Good morning Liam, gosh you smell like trash”, I budged even more when he said my name.

“The world is overpopulated and I’m going to make you into a machine, to help with it, we need smarts, strength, and skill, do you want to be worked easily for smarts, or hard for strength and skill?”

I just laid there trying not to burst into tears, I read his name tag, “Spike”.

I thought to myself, “His name is Spike. He's Brolic and he has the name of my friends dog, and he’s going to kill me, he’s going to torture me, he’s going to make me something I’m not.”

I grinned and said, “Let’s go the hard way.” He grinned and pressed a button that said escape then dropped me into a pool of water while still tied, at that moment I knew I chose the wrong move. I had no air in my lungs, and felt something nudging against me under my knee, a little lock pick. I nudged it and moved around until it was in my hand, swiftly transferred it into the lock and I saw little bubbles where water flowed into the little lock, and I quickly got my legs unlocked and swam up before drowning. As I broke the surface it felt the first time I did something that would change my life forever. I broke the surface to see a handgun pointed right at me. Spike was about to kill me. He cocked it and as soon as he did that, I swam under again. I heard him fire shots into the water, but nothing ever actually hit the water. I sprang up and out and saw the first door, and Spike just said locked. I found a stool and threw as hard as I could, the glass shattered and I tried getting out, but as soon as I got one foot threw Spike grabbed me and threw me backwards and I instantly felt blood flow from my back and hands, I have shattered glass over over them. I layed there and cried, wanting me family,  my dog, Robert, I wanted everything but this.

“Don’t you dare do that again or I will kill you in cold blood, I’m allowed too if I think you’re not worth it kid.”
I just layed there in shock, wet, bloody, cold, lonely. I knew that I chose the wrong decision that I chose the hard way, I said between sobs.

“How can you live yourself you devilish swine, holy crap, why is the world like this anyway?¨.
“Well my young slave, some people don't deserve to be living on this planet, so we get people like you to kill them off for bigger and stronger beings.¨

“Can we please do the easy way and it will make it easy for you also?” I got a one word response that made me cry even harder than I was before,”

“Nope,”

I said in uncomfort, “What do we do now to make our process a living hell?”

Spike first laughed really hard then got close to me so I could smell the turkey sandwich he ate,
“Why not start tomorrow, we can turn you into a machine.”

A few minutes of suffering later, Spike called on his radio “6-12”, then another giant human and walked in, they both untied me and carried me to my room. They threw me in and I hit my nose really hard on the tile floor and the blood instantly started flowing, it ran down my face and onto my blue prison uniform.
“There are towels in your bathroom and food in the pantry, wake up at 0900 or we will wake you up and that will be worse than the torture we do towards you.”
“No comprendo amigo, mi no hablar ingles.”

Which means, I don’t speak English in Spanish.

Spike’s buddy rounded up and swung right and hit me in the face and I could hear something crack under the impact. I started laughing really hard as they walked out, and I hurried to the mini bathroom to clean up and think, I hopped in the shower and thought, I need to gain their trust and slowly escape over time, killing anyone in my way. I washed up and ate a mini fruit salad with a plastic spork and thought to myself, what if I pretend to do something, to get out of here, I could maybe persuade them to get me onto their side, or maybe gather people and escape or fight to stop these people from making them this way. I took another shower because I thought I smelled a little bit like diapers and blood, so I took a long steamy shower so I felt good and refreshed, so I could go to bed all relaxed for the torture tomorrow.

I woke up the next morning in darkness hearing the little ringing sound that happens when you shoot a gun, did someone shoot something or do something really loud? I just went to back to bed for what felt like ever but only a hour later. I woke back up in panic, expecting to be in pain or scared, but mostly scared because a loud beating sound and instantly put my clothes on and opened the door to see a fearful Spike screaming at me that there’s a fire and we needed to evacuate, so he grabbed me and we both ran along seeing people in terror as they were running from the giant ball of fire that was flaming towards them.

Spike grabbed my wrist and hurled me out the door with him behind, we sprinted to the main entrance when a huge gust of fire exploded and hit our group we were running with and most of them died from the heat and impact, and I could feel the third degree burn on my whole left side, I got up and ran and people already broke through the main entrances and gate, I felt the briskness immediately, I saw snow, a giant patch of it and I hobbled over to it and jumped in and felt the calmness coming over me, I realized, I had no protection from the cold, and no idea where I was in the world. I ran over to the sniper tower and saw this electronic map, I screamed, we were in Colorado, 800 miles away from my hometown in Montana. I panicked, found a military van, told myself, I knew how to find the keys, they are on the mirror on top, and just with my luck, there they were, but I had never had experience driving, and this would take 5 or 6 hours, but I rethought, 800 miles and I will be going 60, that’s more like 12 hours, I threw my hands down at the steering wheel, and powered up the van and heard a gun get cocked, my heart dropped and the unknown figure told me to start the car and start heading north, I did as told and the burns on my side were starting to hurt super bad so I scrunched up and the man fired his gun right into my tricep and blood just went flowing, in that instant every heartbeat turned into a marathon, I took a breath and that was a chore, I felt nothing, see nothing, I was in complete and utter shock no idea what to do. I pressed the gas really hard then fell asleep, I passed out when driving, and I never knew what happened until I woke up in a nicely lighten room no idea where I am.

Bandage over my tricep, and the left side of my body having ice packs, I moved but immediate pain shivered over me, a woman that looked very familiar, i’ve been in that prison and not known anything on the outside, it was my mother.

“Hi Liam, I hope you remember me.” I burst into tears at the sight and tears flowed and my voice quivered,
“Hi mom, may I go home, and am I safe?”

“Yes honey, you are safe, you need to stay here for about 2 more weeks and rest and get better, you are very brave in what you did and I love you for it”

When my mother said that, I knew at that point that I needed her, and she needed me, we were a family together that needed to stay together, to survive from the terrible government that puts us into solitary confinement for no one knows, I am with my family that I have left, I will never leave ever again.

About two weeks later that I remember, I remember leaving with a arm cast and crutches for my third degree burns on my whole left leg, my mother and I walked out, with distance memories of torture and horror, people dying, getting burned alive, horrid, all gone, and now what I hope to be peaceful and superb memories with the rest that I have. We return home and the first thing I notice is our house is abnormally clean,
“Did you clean while I was gone?”

“Well you were gone for two or so months and I never thought I’d see you again so I panic cleaned, dad and Judy died while you were gone so I was alone, and I also bought a cat, I got super lonely.” I felt the humor in her voice as she led me to our newly little cat who was sleeping peacefully on my pillow.
“Great, it will smell like cat!”

“His name is Jorge, and his left foot has 6 toes, be gentle, you’re still injured.”

I sat down and he woke up and crawled up on me and started doing the weird kneading thing that made me feel awkward so I just put him back and, my mother and I had our first dinner together, as we start our brand new lives, only us two together.