The Dome | Teen Ink

The Dome

October 15, 2012
By Alecx2x, Piedmont, Oklahoma
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Alecx2x, Piedmont, Oklahoma
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This window, not for my house, my company, but for my life. Living inside this dome is like living in a snow globe. There’s never any fresh air. All the air is man made. Even though it’s completely safe in here from the dead, it’s not safe for the claustrophobic. We’ve had people try to feel the same way now, especially since I’m in this wheelchair. But I have to stay sane. If word gets out that the creator of the dome is questioning something that can endanger the people’s lives, there will be complete chaos. I just have this odd suspicion that the dome isn’t quite ready yet. But I guess I just have to trust my creation.

The next day, I stay inside again. I have been for six weeks now. My paranoia about the dome has gotten stronger. I feel like it’s caving in on me. And knowing I haven't watched the news or looked outside my apartment gives me a suspicion there’s already been an outbreak. So I decide to reach for my remote, press power, and jump at the scare the sound of the tv game me. I listen to the news reporter, but nothing about the dome comes from his mount. “Well, since nothing seems to be bad, I guess I should open my curtains.” So I walk over to the window and pull the drapes open. The shearing pain from the sunshine strikes my eyes. There’s nothing, just people walking around the city. I take a deep breath, and slowly walk over to the door out of the apartment room. I reach the door and quietly put my hand on the doorknob. I turn the knob. “Knock! Knock!” goes the door and I jolt back and hit the back of my head on my bed. The door opens and the general of the military with two recruits behind him barge in the room. “Sorry sir,” the general says. I bring myself up to my feet as the general says, “We understand what you’re going through seir, but we need you to come with us. Someone extremely important would like to talk to you.” “Alright.” I reply, struggling to get to my feet. I follow them out the door of my apartment. I try to keep a cool face, but inside I’m freaking out. The general opens the door to the elevator and we get inside. Not a single word is spoken. When we land on the first floor I break the silence and say “So who is this guy?” “Military doctor, Doctor Bradley Musteen.” replies the general. The doors open to the lobby and we walk out the double doors. The brightness of the sky burns my eyes again. I continue to walk with the general and his recruits to their military vehicle. I enter and we leave to somewhere in which I do not know.

We pull into a small laboratory and there standing is a man in a white lab coat. He has white slick hair that’s brushed back. But is very young, looking around 25. He’s extremely skinny with rarely any muscle. He’s a bit taller than me. “My name is Bradly Musteen” he states in a Swedish accent as we get out of the car. “I’m currently the military’s doctor but I hope to become lieutenant.” “My name is Oscar James, head of GLazz, the company that created this here city.” I reply. “Will you please come into my office then, Mr. James?” I nod my head and follow him into the laboratory.

We enter the laboratory. I walk beside Dr. Musteen through the hallways leading to his office. THe general and his recruits follow behind us. We all enter his office after walking through many hallways. As we enter his room, Dr. Musteen states “Will you please give Mr. James and I some privacy.” A short silence occurs afterwards until it’s broken by the general saying “Understood.” as he leaves the room. The door closes and Dr. Musteen turns around to me slowly and takes off his glasses. “So Mr. James, how have you been doing?” asks Dr. Musteen. “Fine. Why?” I reply with suspicion. “I was just curious Mr. James, please take a seat.” he says as he walks over to his desk chair. As I sit down he says, “You know Mr. James, you don’t have to feel so tense. I’m not here to scare you. I’m here to talk to you about some things about the dome. It’s unsturdy. You need some help on it for sure. I also understand that’s why you have been in that apartment for so long, haven’t you?” “No” I reply with an angry frown on my face. “Then why? You have millions from the creation of the dome, and yet you got rid of it all to stay alone in an apartment.” He states. My anger rises and I jump out of my seat and yell “You’re wrong!” A short silence follows. “Mr. James, If you don’t talk about this, you will never move on and you’ll die in that apartment. You could have been a king of the dome, but I can tell your emotional right now though. So meet me at Marty’s Coffee Shop tomorrow at 5:00 PM.” I start to calm down. “Alright.” I say as I start to leave the room. No more words are spoken and I leave the laboratory, back to my apartment.

The next day, I’m questioning even going to meet Dr. Musteen. He starts off wanting to help with the dome, then starts to ask why I live in this apartment. He doesn’t need to know about my life. Hours pass and I’m pulling hair out of my head in confusion. “What was he trying accomplish with asking me that?” I finally decide to go to the shop in just complete suspicion. I need to know what he wanted to accomplish with that conversation. 4:30 already. I should probably get ready then.

I arrive at the coffee shop on time and enter the door. “Welcome!” I hear the cashier exclame far in front of me. I look to my left and right until I see Dr. Musteen waving at me from the furthest away booth. I get into the booth and Dr. Musteen says “Hello Mr. James” “Dr. Musteen, why did you ask me about my life like that?” I question him. “Oh right, about that, Mr. James have you ever loved anybody?” he replies. “Wh-what are you talking about?” I say worryingly. “I did some research about this kind of thing. What was her name?” How does he know? It’s impossible. “I’m smarter than you think Mr. James.” “Carey... Carey James. She was my wife. I decided without her, life was nothing. I gave all the money I earned to charity. And I live my useless life along.” I reply, with tears rolling down my cheek. “Alright, fair enough. I will now answer your question. The reason I’m like this is, because I want to take over development of this dome.” “My creation?” I reply. “Yes. I have some great plans for this dome. But you need to take the first step Mr. James. You can change this world again.” That was the sentence that made my decision. I will give Dr. Musteen the dome.

I know works as assistant manager of the multi-million dollar dome. It’s been 3 years and Dr. Musteen is now Lieutenant Musteen. And also my best friend. He’s done some remodeling to the dome by creating oxygen fans to freshen the air. I moved out of the apartment and moved into my two-story home. It’s not as big as it sounds though. I’ve also met my new girlfriend Shannon Maggette, a British doctor, studying the VY923 virus. The virus that created the Infected, or “Zombies” as some call them. But she can sometimes get a little too in depth with her theories, and will go a bit crazy. But besides all that, she’s very smart and pretty.


We’ve been discussing about a hole in the top of the dome to fit a tube in to get rid of the gases inside the dome. The plan is currently going into action.


“Crazy, isn’t it?” Lt. Musteen says as we watch construction workers fit this giant tube inside a hole in the dome hundreds of feet in the air. “What is?” I question. “How weird this all is. It feels like just yesterday we made the deal to work on the dome project together.” “Yeah it is.” I reply. I suddenly notice a crack appear next to the tube. “Woah!”” I yell as I stand up to my feet. I look to my side to see Lt. Musteen still on the ground holding his chin “Well this isn’t goo. Looks like our trajectory wasn’t as good as we thought it was.” says Lt. Musteen. “What do we do now then?” I ask. “Call it quits. We can’t afford any damage to the dome. I know it’s a bummer. But it’s our only option.” says Lt. Musteen. I think about it for a couple of seconds, then pull out my walkie-talkie and say “Councilman Chasney, Project Oxygen Fan has been called to a halt. Take that tube out and fill up the crack.” “Understood Mr. James.” I then see the construction works lower the tube. “We might as well go home now Mr. James.” says Lt. Musteen. “Right.” I reply with a disappointed look. I leave the construction site to my car and drive home.


I get out of the car to find my small wooden house. The creeking in the steps of the porch greet me to my home. I enter the house and immediately smell a wonderful smell, maybe spaghetti? “Hello Oscar!” I hear my girlfriend exclame. “Hey SHannon.” I reply in a disappointed voice. “What’s wrong?” asks Shannon as she comes into the room with an apron on. “The Oxygen Fan... it was a failure.” “Aww man, I was looking forward to it.” says shannon. “So how was your day?’ I ask. “Good. Right now we’re working on the history of the infection. My part of the job is to find where it came from, the origins of it.” She replies. “That’s pretty interesting. Probably a little less stressful than this.” I state. “You don’t even know, Oscar!” yells Shannon playfully from in the kitchen. I giggle a little and roll my eyes. I hear the phone ring next to me. I scoot my chair back and get to get the phone. “Hello?” I greet the caller. “Mr. James, we need you back immediately at the job site.” “Seriously? I just got back home!” I exclaim. “Sir, I’m sorry, but it’s serious.” the caller replies. “Well okay then.” I say as I hang up the phone and walk towards the dining room chair to grab my coat. “So who was it?” Shannon asks from in the kitchen. “Someone from work. I have to go back to the job site.” I say as I’m walking out. “Oh, well, goodbye then” says Shannon waving me off. I leave out the door, back to the site.


I enter the job site at around 8:00 PM to find nobody there. No construction workers, nobody. Even the crack in the top of the dome is gone. “What happened here?” I say to myself. Where is everyone. I decide there’s nobody coming. I turn around, get back in my car and drive home.

It’s around 11:00 PM when I get back. I open up the door and notice the lights are off. “Shannon?” I ask in a loud voice. I walk into the bedroom and find nobody. I look around the house, and just can’t find Shannon. Maybe she got called back into work. I seemed to liek that possibility, because right after that I decided to go to sleep.


I woke up hoping to turn around and Shanno be there. But I’m extremely mistaken. She’s still not there, or anywhere in the house. I continue on with my normal morning routine then off to work. I don’t stop thinking about where Shannon is. So many possibilities pop into my head. Some I really don’t like.


I enter the company building to be immediately greeted by Sergeant Howard, Executive Producer of the dome. “Mr. James! Mr.James! Have you seen Lt. Musteen?” “Lt. Musteen is missing?” I asked. “Yes! We got a call from a friend of his that said he dropped by and Lt wasn’t there.” “Where could he be?” I ask. “I don’t know. The police are at his house right now investigating.” answers Sgt. Howard. “Well, let’s go by there as well.” I declare. “Alright.” says Sgt. Howard, slowly starting to calm down. We turn around to the parking lot and we enter Sgt. Howard’s car.


As we’re driving, I think to myself, first Shannon, then Lt. Musteen. Am I next? It’s obviously connect to me somehow. Just what is this person trying to accomplish with this, revenge of some sort? We arrive at Lt. Musteen’s house and see the yellow police tape around his house. We get out of the car and speed walk to the head investigator of the case, who is talking to another officer. “Sorry to interrupt, I’m Mr. James, creator and co-head developer of the dome.” I declare. THe man looks at me and says “Agent Scott, lead investigator on this case.” “Any leads to where Lt. Musteen is?” I ask. “Not yet. Not traces of blood or anything.” he replies. “Well great. My girlfriend and my bestfriend have both been kidnapped.” The word girlfriend strikes my brain with memory. My wife... I didn’t pay enough attention to her. She said she didn’t feel good but I didn’t listen. She was taken by the virus and I was forced to kill her. I look down at the ground as tears roll down my cheeks and off my face onto the ground. “Mr. James, are you okay?” asks Sgt. Howard. I can’t let it happen again, another loved one die. I have to find her. I take Sgt. Howard’s keys out from his pocket and ran. “Mr. James, stop!” yells Sgt. Howard. I get in Sgt. Howard’s car and quickly drive off to my house to see if Shannon has returned.


I get to the house and run up to the door. I notice a sticky note on the door and start to feel relieved. But that relief soon turns to anger after what I read. The note says, “If you want to see Shannon and Lt. Musteen again, meet me at 18497 Southwood Street at 3:00 PM.” “Dang it!” I exclaimed. Twenty minutes late. I have to hurry.


I arrive at the address and see a house. It looks abandoned, like an old metal camper with a horrible yard. I run into the house and am alerted by a gunshot coming from the basement. I run down yelling “Shannon!” I reach the end of the stairs to see a sight I could have never imagined. Shannon staring at me wide-eyed, shot in the side of the head. She falls hard to the ground. The gun holder though, is an even greater shock... Lt. Musteen. He looks at me with a smile. “Hello Mr. James.”


“What did you do?!?” I screamed. “Isn’t it quite simple?” he replied calmly. “I just killed your girlfriend.” “Why you devil! We were friends!” I yell. “No we weren’t. We never were.” Lt. Musteen says calmly. Confusion and anger levels rise to their highest point. “If you want me to break it down for you, I’d be happy to.” says Lt. Musteen. I just stand in shock. “I’ve been granted a power. On that lets me control life. I call it the Life Book. It’s quite simple really. You have a dead corpse, a piece of paper from the Life Book, and a needle. And you can make your own people, like the man that called you last night telling you to come back to the job site.” he explained. “But you know what was kind of sad?” asks Lt. Musteen. “What?” I angrily reply. “You have to create and write down a paragraph long backstory of the person you create on the Life Book. Let me read you the paragraph of the man who called you.” Lt. Musteen states. He then begins to read the paragraph. “The man’s name is John Walsh. A tattoo artist from America. John has just got out of jail for drug possession. John then cleans up his life by getting his dream job. One in the tattoo industry.” “There it is. You want to know what I did after that phone call he to you, which of course I forced him to do? I killed him Oscar. I shot him just like I did your girlfriend.” He starts to laugh uncontrollably. “Why, why did you kill Shannon?” I ask. “She knew too much I suppose. She told you about her job to find the origins of the virus. Well, it was me. I created the virus. I made the Infected and destroyed the Earth.” “Let me guess... the Infected was a failed experiment with the Life Book?” I ask. “Well, it was at first, but eventually it helped me get to where I am now in this plan.” answers Lt. Musteen. How could I have fallen for this. Trust a man with my creation. Just because of my emotions. “What was all this for? The purpose?” I ask. “When I was a boy, I looked at places like Great Britain and knew I wanted to be a king, a ruler of the world. Someone who knows their better than everyone else. So I created this plan, and used my advanced knowledge to create the Life Book. My plan is near completion, and now that you have no more questions...” He reaches over for the gun he shot Shannon with. I dive to grab the gun before he does. I get my hand on the grip of the gun, but i’m pulled up into the air by Lt. Musteen with tremendous strength. He’s much stronger than I thought he was, knowing how skinny he is. I see an open section of his body and kick him straight in the gut. he bends over in pain as I point the gun at his head. I turn my head away, and as one more tear rolls off my chin I pull the trigger.


A loud “BANG!” sounds through the basement, echoing extremely loudly. I turn my head back to Lt. Musteen, who is laying on the ground, in a puddle of his own blood. But with a smile, a very odd smile. As if he needed to be shot, which he did. “Very well done” I hear Lt. musteen’s voice from somewhere in the room. I look down at his body, still lifeless, where did that voice come from. “Are you suprised?” I hear the voice of Lt. musteen again. I then see a figure of a man coming around the corner, it becomes clearer. It is Lt. Musteen, I look back down at the body to notice it’s still there. Lt. Musteen walks up to me, “It was a great shot don’t get me wrong, but you didn't kill me. Just another clone created by the life book.” He stops and smirks at me. Right once I thought I had him dead, he’s back! This guy IS an evil genius! “Again, all part of the plan. I bring you to this basement, make the clone Musteen shoot Shannon, and explain everything about my plan for world domination to you-” I’m done with all of this “plan” business. I point the gun at the alive Lt. Musteen and pull the trigger again, but nothing, I check the ammo, not a single bullet. “If you thought i’d let you kill me twice you're an idiot. I packed the gun with two bullets, one for Shannon, one for the clone Musteen. But now that i’ve done all the explaining it’s time for the next part of my plan, arrest you for killing me and your girlfriend.” “You killed Shannon!” I reply. “says the one with a gun in his hand. You will be giving complete control of the Dome to My newest clone, Corporal Tommy Levine. He was made to give all of the orders I tell him to, since I will have to be in hiding, knowing i'm dead in this world.” My body shivers in fear. give my creation up, all together. “You of course will be doing this, or you will be put on death row. Your choice, I'm just creating a perfect world. I know lives must be lost to find equality, and If that meant exterminating a whole ⅓ of the population of earth and putting this in a dome the size of Russia, then so be it! Goodbye Mr. James, it was fun doing business with you.”


Lt. Musteen leaves the room, locking the door behind him. “Wait!” I exclaim. No, thi-this can't be happening, all i’ve ever known about Lt. Musteen was a lie. He thinks he can become a hero of the world by killing most of it? Crazy.


I hear a bang on the upstairs door, “Oscar! We know you're in there, you’re caught!” I sit there in silence, wondering how i could possibly talk my way out of this, with two lifeless bodies laying next to me, and a gun in my hand. I hear a crash as the upstairs door comes down. It doesn't affect my body language though, I feel no need to try to escape, knowing I can’t. They run to the basement door next, to the room i’m in. It’s like slow motion watching the basement door come down. Noticing my life is probably coming to an end. I see Sgt. Howards wrinkly face and deep, dark blue eyes meet mine. His mouth begins to move, but I hear no words. No reason to listen anyway, I planned it out about a million times after Lt. Musteen locked me in here. I then notice him tackling me to the ground, I would usually feel pain, but now I feel nothing, nothing left to feel. The shackles are put around my feet and hands and i'm left unable to move. Sgt. Howard then again gets into my view, His disappointed face strikes pity into myself. But my vision is then turned black once I see an object hurled towards my head and knocks me out. Unconscious, on the hard, cemented, basement floor.


The next thing I see is myself on a stage, in front of millions of people, but there was no smile on a single person's face. I try to move but the shackles are still tied around me, strapped to a chair. I turn my head to the right to see a stranger. Someone Holding a pistol to my head. Am I being executed? “Mr Oscar James, convicted of two murders in the first degree, One being his own girlfriend, the other being his best friend and business partner, Lt. Musteen. He has been sentenced to Death Row, and this is his execution date. Type of execution has been chosen By Sgt. Howard, which will be “Public Shooting.” I feel the name of the execution has explained enough about how to do it. Mr James, you have been ordered to give complete control of the dome to me, Corporal Tommy Levine. There is no point in this, I now have control of the dome, this is only for if you would like to go out respectfully.” Says Crp. Levine. “ I-I-I accept.” My voice is weak and scared “I give all control of the dome to you.” My unwashed black hair hangs over my face, and I don’t plan to show it anyway, so i keep my head down. “Understood, I will now commence with the execution.” He cockes the gun and aims for my head. I hear the familiar sound of a gun firing As I shut my eyes and flex my neck muscles. BANG!


But I don't feel anything. Did he miss? Should I open my eyes. I hear the sound of a helicopter and a fierce wind that follows. Then the screaming of the crowd. I then decide it is necessary to open my eyes, I do and look to my right again to find Crp. Levine in a pool of his own blood, also another familiar site. I look at the flying object, but can't make out what it actually is. I’ve never seen something like it in my life. The door to it slides open, and a man in a black suit with a white helmet comes out with a hammer. There’s a logo on his suit labeled “OGC” with a white star around it. He runs over to me and breaks me out of the chair with his hammer. He grabs me and takes me to the vehicle. He shuts the door and we fly off. “Here take this, we’ll explain everything later.” He gives me a mask like his and we fly outside the dome in a hole forced open maybe by a missile? The last glance of the dome is of the people running like animals around in the huge dome. Almost as if a prison.



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