Unbroken: Linear

"For just one second I felt whole

                  As you flew right through me"

                                        -Sorrow(Flyleaf)

Everyone's a little crazy.

Everyone can be a bad person.

There's only one thing that motivates our actions; Reason.

If your heart took a blow from a gun, it's fairly obvious how death is your future.

But if your heart took a blow from dark emotions, my best bet is that you'd be on your bed with 3 cans of ice cream and 30 pounds gained. But why not? Even emotions cause death. Emotional death, breakdowns, maybe suicide. But its wishful thinking for death in my list.

"There he is!"

Because death is not an option. Not now. Not when I've come this far.

"It's over, Declan.

3 weeks ago:

"Declan Lawson"

I raised my hand at Mr. Watt's roll call. The musty classroom's dust shook at every boom of his voice. But how could we complain? That's the only way we can live our life here in Ink Lines.

Oh the irony.

Why the irony though? Heh. I can be vague as much as I want, but it's fairly obvious in our world.

Tattoos.

There's an old saying here.

When you're skin's clean, your soul's clean.

When you're skin's been touched, your life is not yours to keep any longer.

Tattoos in this lifetime are marks used by the Insignia Government used to create the perfect communist democracy. Unfortunately, they were successful. With their own special brand of ink, they managed to place a special molecule on the tattoo to bind their fates to their sick's leader's whim.

"Free will is dangerous" he said.

And people were stupid enough to agree. Now their alliance bit them in the ass.

The crime rate's gone down, but what was once a world of opportunities is now a world of unpredictable chaos. The tattoos are the marks of death.

I can go on about what the tattoos can really do, but that's what our class is for today.

"As you all know, tattoos take over a person’s fate. If Asher York wishes for two incompatible people to fall in love, he'll pull a few strings from the tattoos and force a connection. If he wants to track someone down, he'll access the tattoo's trigger tracking. If one attempts to scratch the tattoo's out, an electric serum will zap you until you stop scratching, or stop breathing all together." Mr. Watt writes a complicated line on the board.

"The ink in the tattoo is linked to the person's mind. With it, the people have unknowingly gained a few talents from the tattoos, but that part was obviously left out to prevent rebellion." He puts the chalk down and smiles upon us.

"Alright, who's up for a little field trip to Echo City?"

Our field trip was a simple mission. We were to enter the city and walk around to gather information on the center of the democratic community’s destruction.

To do that, we had to get ourselves tattooe'd. Not with the ink that the Asher York created, but the regular kind. We had to wait our turn to enter the tattoo parlor.

"What's yours, kid?" Eleanor was once a model in her day. Depression from running away and leaving behind her husband took its toll on her. She looked haggard.

"Um..." The tattoo book had a lot of choices. Eleanor may look mean, but she's the most patient person in this room, so I didn't feel guilt on taking some of her time.

But I guess that didn't look like an option anymore. The moment I opened the book, a tattoo that looked like swirling lines of fire took my attention.

"That one." I point. She smiles.

"You've got your mother's taste, I'll tell ya that." My mother...

From what I hear from my Uncle Garret, my mother was living two years in on Echo City. She had given birth to me and wanted me to live a life free from this obstruction of freedom, so she formed a plan. She wrote my uncle a letter asking him to disguise himself as a doctor and lead me out of the city after she gives birth. Uncle Garret was successful, but his face has been on a wanted poster for years. He can never turn back.

It took about 30 minutes to finish my tattoo and 2 hours for the slight pain to fade. My role here in Ink Lines was simple. I made candy.

Yes and no, if that's what you’re thinking.

I make candy that you can eat, yes. But I also make weaponized and gadget candy.

The regular candy was for the kids.

The guys old enough to venture out of the lines and do missions use some of my simple looking gadgets in some missions. Some of which are the Track n M's, MnM's used for tracking. A gum version of a tracking device was created for missions that required more ease. Tracking Gum. Equipped with recording devices.

Then, there's the Lockys. Lock picks disguised as Pocky. And then, there's the Candy Heart Tacks. Nothing says love than tacks that pops holes into tires and disappears into vapor. One of my personal favorites that they use are the Chewing Web. When thrown, they turn into big, sticky piles of gum that can turn into a spider web to block others ways, or as a trap to stick people into the floor.

I have more, but they refuse to use the more dangerous ones like my Cherry Death. Cherry flavoured grenades. Yum.

But I still enjoy my job, of course. I just have to deal with the fact that my better gadgets might never surface out of the training room. I’ve already got a few new ones in mind. I think I’ll head there now.

The training room was a narrow shooting range converted with most of the technology everyone was able to smuggle out of Echo.

My desk was lane 9. If you ignored the mechanized cranks and knots, you’d enjoy the sweet scent from the food side of my station. Seated idly by was my partner. Rena Scott. Her blond hair was short and cropped. There were a few red highlights on her hair as if to say “If you patronize me, you’re just asking for it.”

“Hey. Here are the Stun Gun parts you asked for.” She hands me a small box full of disassembled stun guns on it.
“Thanks.” My next work will involve the use of Licorice and obviously, Stun Guns. I know. Seems impossible. But my best friend, Ted Garner, bet I couldn’t make it happen. He was gravely mistaken.

“Here are some random grade Cherry Deaths. Care to try for me?” Rena smiled as she grabs a handful. I didn’t include really strong grade ones to avoid excessive damage.

I tinkered for about 28 minutes as Rena blasted away at the targets.

“So, gonna give me that 5 bucks yet?’ Ted was smirking at me as I look up.

Rena approaches.
“This should be good.” She crosses her arms.
I pull out the barely thick licorice from the tray and present it to them.
“I don’t get it.” Ted says. “Is that Licorice or did you accidentally puke your lunch earlier.” I cover my hand in the slightly slimy film of licorice and pinch Ted by the stomach. He doubles over in pain as the sparks from my finger disappear.

“Behold, the Stun Wrap.” I grope at the air to demonstrate the electricity it emits. The Stun Wrap uses flattened and stretched licorice with electrical circuits inserted in it. It wont shock the user because of some wirings I took from the safety button. It lets me covertly stun people with a simple touch.

“Ow… You didn’t have to test it on me.” Ted clutches his stomach as he tries to stand.
“I didn’t have to. But where’s the fun in that.”

“I wonder how good these things are.” Rena pulls out a 300,000 Volt Thunder XL Stun Gun and eyes Ted before eyeing the Stun Gun again.
“Where’d you get that?” I ask. I did only ask for the parts.
“The guy who got me the parts gave me one as an extra.” She pulls Ted back before he could escape and places the stun gun by his armpit. He convulses and falls to the floor.
“…Why?” He moans. Rena grins and puts the Stun Gun away. Ted stands again, but only when Rena had left.
I put my hand out bluntly as he is on his knee. “Where’s my 5 bucks.” He mumbles about having a bad day and pulls out his wallet to hand me a bill.
“By the way Declan, Mr. Watt asked me to tell you to arm up our classmates with tracking and hinder candy. He told me to tell you not you bring the dangerous ones.” I scratch my head. Typical. He asks us to barely arm ourselves as we venture into the city where we might get captured.
Perfect. Just Perfect.

The field trip was in 5 hours. Ms. Bagge was kind enough to supply me a few side bags to make a snack bag.
The contents as listed by a list Mr. Watt followed up on after asking Ted to tell me what to bring, where all precautionary gadgets.
-4 sticks of Chewing Web
-10 sticks of Lockys
- Track N’Ms with a few sticks of Tracking Gum
-Gummy Bug(A small recording bug in the guise of gummy bears)
-Crackle Pops(Makes small crackling distractions. Has a hint of Lemon)
-And the ever so famous Candy Heart Tracks.

Before I could go meet my classmates, a thought occurred. No one was watching me pack these things.
I grabbed 3 snack bags and added in a few of my more dangerous works. I scattered random grade Cherry Deaths on each, 3 sticks of Knife-Os(Stickos that produces blades). A pair of Stun Wrap for each, and a few experimental prototypes. Dangerous as it is, these things needed field practice. I hand the bags out before we could enter the Pass.

The only link we have to the city was a small tunnel with carts in it This is what we call, The Pass. No one in the city but a few inside moles know about this. The tunnel leads to a small, abandoned warehouse out of view from most citizens and desolate for officials. Making it easy to enter and easy to blend. It’s taboo to enter the city alone. Not only is it risky to enter the city alone, but the city is big. You could get lost and never make it back to the warehouse, eventually leading to capture.
Mr. Watt blows his whistle as the carts arrive. They look like those rollercoaster rides from amusement parks I saw in pictures.
“Alright class, go to your respective groups and wait until your group’s name is called. Enter the cart when you hear your names.”
He flips his clipboard and start calling out groups.
“Azelea” Carts entered and exited as each group departs.
“Valiel” Our groups name. We enter the cart together.
There are usually four in a group. Everyone gets a partner and everyone has their own thing in Inklines. I did candy, Rena did recon, surveillance and gathering materials and info. So to speak, she’s more trained in the ways of a field agent.
Ted’s partner, Veronica Westley, was base of operations. She worked computers and surveillance like Rena. If Rena’s a field agent, you could say Veronica was more of a hacker and a detective. She uses info to her advantage and works the bugs that are planted from my candy. So it’s more likely that she’d be in front of a computer instead of out in the field with us.
“Check your bags.” I told them. They opened up the bags and rifled through it.
“Someone was quick with their hands.” Said Rena.
“Or no one was really watching when I put in these things.” I replied.

The terminal from below the warehouse was like an old subway. There were some of our agents working there. This is how far I’ve ever gotten out the Pass. I usually just come here to resupply them with a few gadgets.
Ms. Hawthorne was standing in front of the usually locked vault door.
“Here’s a map for each of you.” She hands out watches like GPS.
“If you ever get lost, just check the map. Remember, do not engage in too much activity. You are to only explore and gather any data you can get to ready yourself for future field work.” She eyes me.
“Should you all encounter any danger, do not hesitate to use any of the supplied gear from Mr. Lawson here.” She enters the vaults code.
“Good luck.”

The city air was fresh, ironic to how dirty the community is these days. People were bustling left and right. Their tattoos were very… deep. They were anywhere they could be. Neck, foot, arm. Whatever.
“Where are we going?” Rena asks.
I check my map. There were countless areas to go to, but the teachers were careful to mark it with red, indicating danger and forbidden.
“How ‘bout the neighborhood?” Ted suggest. Not a bad idea, but there were too many people around. The neighbors should know each other and they’ll find us suspicious. They’ll immediately report us.
“I don’t think we should go somewhere where people know each other too much.” Rena nods in agreement.
“Let’s ask Veronica.” Ted opens his bag and grabs a Mintphone, a tictac communicator to base.
“Hey. Yeah. Yeah. We’re at Cat Street. Yeah, no, it’s fine.” He hands me the mint. “She wants to talk to you.”
“Veronica?”
“Hey. Look, I know it’s all just a fieldtrip, but I’d appreciate it if you could all split up. Risky move, I know. But I placed an extra feature on the watch to locate your friends if you ever get lost. I have a few things I’m working on and some data is appreciated. You’re the leader, so you can initiate the order. Thanks.”
“Alright.” I hand the mint to Ted.
“She says to split up. Is that ok with you guys?” They look at their maps.
“Alright.” Rena says. “Let’s meet back up here.” She points to Daisy Apartments on her map.
“We meet there after an hour. If anyone is in danger, avoid eye contact with people and run. Throw some crackle pops to signal each other if you need any help. Throw some in the air too to make a flare.”
Everyone nods and we split up.

I decided to go by the public mall. There were various stores and food stops to go to. I decided to stop by a shady trinket shop and bugged the table with some Gummy Bug.
As I left, my eyes widen as I see a few workers of Insignia on the move. I decided to follow them. One of them stopped by a weapons store. With careful precision, I threw some chewed up Tracking Gum on the floor. The guy was stupid enough to actually step on it. Their next stop was a small club. They locked the front door so I couldn’t enter, so I checked for a back door. It was padlocked. This was a job for some Lockys. The stick was mightier than it looked and immediately opened the lock. I didn’t want to stick around for too long so I just threw another Gummy Bug on the roof.
I had about 20 minutes of free time left so I headed out. As I opened exited the mall, a girl bumps into my back.

“Oh! Excuse me. Sorry.” She scrambles for her things and places it on her purse. I kneel down to help her.
“Thank you.” She looks at me. I find myself stunned.
She was beautiful.
She blushes, and I find myself blushing too.
“Oh… Ah. Sorry. Again.” She looks away, smiling.
“It’s… Alright. I guess… I’m… headed to Mosley cafe now.” I don’t even know why that last bit of info slipped. She perks up.
“Oh… I’m headed that way too. Maybe we should… go together.”
She does seem sincere. I know it’s risky to get acquainted, but…
Something’s pulling me to her. I can feel it.
“I’m Declan, by the way. Nice to meet you."
“Callie.”

Author Notes:
Sorry it took so long for me to add in my next story. I've been busy. So without further ado, here's my next story: The Unbroken Series.
The Tagline for this Chapter Will Be:
"Find What Has Been Lost"