[BLINDFOLD] SEASON I CHAPTER III

CHAPTER III - THE CHOICE THAT SEALS THE FATE

    “Steve, Steve! Wake up!”

Steve woke up in a place he had been before, it was the bar. The bartender was shouting at him, trying to wake him up.

“What is happening… Why am I on the floor…” Steve murmured.

“You were drunk, and you fell onto the floor! Now get up!”

Steve felt hot and dizzy for a few moments, and he stood there still for a long while. Meanwhile, he heard a noisy crowd outside the bar, moaning about something.

Suddenly, a gun shot shocked him, then there were a few more. So he ran outside to see what was happening...

There was a young boy, lying dead in front of a man. The man was a government official, who had just been patrolling the city with the robot squad. The man was taking pleasure out of the dead body, humiliating him, laughing at his weakness.

Steve’s face turned white, he could not react nor believe what just happened in front of him. Violent, abusive and disgusting images flashed through his mind. The shock unhinged his mind, he began to faint, slowly, his surroundings seemed to blur and disappear.

Steve stumbled in fear, and did not know what to do. Suddenly, there was a voice in his head.

“You should revenge for the boy! Take revenge on the cold-blooded government! Look at what they did to us, we must do the same!” It was a revengeful voice, but at the same time, it sounded justified.

Then there was another.

“You should not go! If you go and take revenge, you will get into a big trouble! We cannot do anything against the government… Just let it go, it is all over now. There was nothing related to you anyways, why do you even need to care? We shouldn’t be creating chaos in this ‘peaceful’ place…” It was a timid voice, but at the same time, it sounded reasonable.

Steve could not make up his mind, he struggled between the two thoughts in his head - he wanted to revenge, but he afraid to mess with the government. He stood still in the crowd of people for a while, deciding whether he should take action or not.

He finally made up his mind, he held his fist tight, and started to walk to towards the government official slowly, with a strong and fierceful soul in him.

“Hey! What do you think you are doing, stay back!” The official noticed him, but Steve kept on walking.

“This is the final warning to you - stay back!” The official is angered for being ignored by a low-class civilian, “Alright, if you insist to disobey, don’t blame me for doing this, robots-”

Everyone who was watching gasped in fear, as Steve punched the official in the face, without any thoughts. The robots immediately detected violation of the civilian, they raised their robotic arms, and their fists opened wide and showed a hidden machine gun.

Steve knew that was going to happen, but he didn’t regret for it, at least he made one righteous decision in his short life.

“BURN IN HELL YOU-” Steve took his last gasp of air and shouted out loudly, he shocked the crowd of people, but he also further angered the official.

The official knocked him down with his elbow, Steve fell, onto the road made up of bricks, slowly. He could hear the crowd screaming in fear, whispering to each other, but he couldn’t understand a word, as the sound around him was blurred. His eyes could still see, but he couldn’t recognize an object. His head was spinning, the world seemed to be collapsing, and finally, it all went dark.

*****

    There was light, shining into his eyes.

    There was sound, he could hear it.

    There was a sense of coldness, he could feel.

    Steve awoke on an operating table, he started to feel his body temperature again. He can sense the environment - the brightness, the noises…

    “Am I dead? Am I in heaven?”

    It took some time for Steve to clear his mind. When he could finally move his body, he took a look around him, he found himself in the middle of an empty chamber. He got his feet onto the floor, and he heard footsteps coming from the direction where the only door was.

The door opened, a woman came in, Steve recognized her - she was Eva Ross.

“Welcome back to the reality Steve, did you have a good experience in your dream we designed?” She came to Steve and said

Steve wanted to ask questions.

Eva stopped him, she put a finger onto his lips and continued “I need to apologize for knocking you out and dosing you with some -stuff- we got from the government, they used it for interrogating prisoners for intelligence, but we found another way to use it.”

More people came into the room, they all surrounded Steve, who was standing beside the operation table. Steve understood the situation quickly, and asked in a smile “So, How’s my result?”

Eva smiled too, and replied in pleasure “Welcome to the Crimson Rebels.”

*****

    There was a man walking on the street, the people around didn’t know him. He seemed to be a normal civilian, but there was one thing that the others might not know - this man had courage, the determined mind of turning himself into a great man, the stamina of training himself into a man with strength, the confident of making a significant contribution to the world in the future.

    He was called Steve, and his name would be written down in history…

[BLINDFOLD] SEASON I CHAPTER II

CHAPTER II - CRIMSON REBELS

    It was a dark night. Cold wind blew on the streets making a frightening howl.

   

    Steve was walking on the street alone.. He was wearing an old, torn t-shirt, brown jacket, and a pair of dirty jeans borrowed from the good-hearted doctor. He didn’t like wearing them, but there weren't any other choices.

     This city’s name is Mill Spring according to some locals.

    He walked along the streets. Buildings were all over the city, covering the view of the surroundings. Most of them were damaged, pieces of glass and bricks shattered everywhere. The buildings that were unaffected were barricaded. Doctor told him that it was to prevent wild animals and bandits.

    After walking for about 15 minutes from the clinic, Steve arrived at a bar. He opened the door and walked inside.

    “Howdy pardner! Nice to see you recover, how's life?” said the bartender with a Texas accent.

    “Thanks, it has been all well since I have recovered. I am still not quite familiar with this city. Can you tell me a bit of information… ”

    The bartender took a bottle of whiskey and handed it to him. He continued “Well, we’re actually not suppose to talk about this, but I think you have the right to know - Mill Spring is not as peaceful as you think it is. The government controlled every single aspect of life. It is all conducted by a ruthless dictator, Lizbeth Anderson. The government is very cold blooded. Yesterday, there was a kid who accidentally bumped into an government official. The kid was then executed publicly.”

Steve gasped, as if he was making a silent protest.

He asked “Why are the people not fighting back?”

    “If we can, we would like to. But don’t forget about the weapons they have. We are like dust to them. They can destroy all of us in a matter of seconds. We can’t even go near the government buildings. 《Restricted》 is a warning for you to stay away. You do not want to get involved...”

    Steve was angry, but he had nothing that he could do. In his wildest dreams, he wanted to destroy the current totalitarian government. Though he have no responsibility to do so. He had a strong sense of justice and belonging to the society. He didn’t understand why he would have such thoughts, but he just wanted to help the weak.

.BANG.

Steve slammed on the table hard. Protesting. People around him were shocked. They fled and ran away as if there was a time bomb next to them.

“I must destroy this useless government! I… ” Flames roared behind him.

“Stop!” whispered the bartender “Do You want to get us all killed? If those patrol robot heard us, we will all be...”

.BANG.

It was very unlucky that he couldn’t finish his sentence. But that was his fate. The bartender’s life, is gone.

Steve saw the chaotic situation. He ran for his life and left the bartender lying dead on the bar table. He laid dead in a pool of blood. Steve ran out into the dark alley next to the bar. He turned back, but he couldn’t see any traces of the robot.

He got lost in the city. He wandered around in fear, following where the lights were. Suddenly a door to his left caught his attention, there were bloodstains on it. He thought that someone was injured inside, so he decided to rush in and see what was happening. By the time he walked into the room, somebody grabbed him from behind and strangled his neck so that he couldn’t move.

    “Who sent you?” said a bold voice.

    “I just got lost! I… I don’t mean any harm!”

    “Who are you, a spy?”

   

“Most definitely not! My name’s Steve Jones, at least I think it is… ”

“Let him in, he is the man found injured few weeks ago, he doesn't know anything… ” that was another voice of a female. She took a look at his innocence expression on his face. "I believe that he is not lying… ”

     The man released Steve, and he was instructed to walk downstairs into an empty basement. There, he saw a woman.

    “Welcome, Steve Jones, my name is Eva Ross, the leader of the Crimson Rebels. Sorry for the impoliteness, it was for security reasons. We are a group of people with an aggressive aim - to disband  the current government. I have heard of what happened at the bar. I believe you are the kind of man we need… ” Eva took two chairs from a nearby stash, she sat on one of them and asked Steve to sit on the other. She continued, "To everyone in this town, you are still a complete stranger. Although I would like to trust you, we cannot, yet.”

    Steve took a deep breath, and replied confidently “I can prove my abilities; abilities to achieve the aim. We share the same belief. Maybe you won't trust me yet, but I promise you, you will soon.”

    After Steve finished his sentence, the man behind Steve hit his head with his muscular arm, and Steve fell out of his chair and became unconscious on the ground.

    “Good luck Steve, do not disappoint me.”

[BLINDFOLD] SEASON I CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I - WAKING UP

It was daytime, but nobody could tell, as the weather was horrible. It was raining heavily, mist covered the land, city looming in the distance. Trees bent over and drag its branches along the icy cold river. Birds sang sadly but sweetly on the branches, moaning for the devastation of mankind.

In a dark alley of a city, a man laid in a pool of blood. He was naked, and badly injured - a large part of his body was covered by blood, scratches were all over his body as if he was attacked by an evil wild beast. Nobody was walking on the street due to the horrible weather, and the man was left there, experiencing the coldness and wetness of raindrops, falling heavily onto his body.

Time passed, the rain had stopped and the fog was gone. People started coming out from their houses. A woman walked by, and saw the man, she screamed loudly and attracted a crowd of people. People gathered around, weeping, coughing out tearless sighs.

The man was sent to a doctor. He bandaged him, sterilized his wounds and used some of the remaining medicine on him. The crowd waited impatiently outside the doctor’s clinic.

    “This man is safe, for now. I have tried my best to fix him up, but he remained unconscious. It’s now all up to his own surviving desire.” The doctor told this to the crowd as he walked out, slamming the doors shut. The crowd gasped in silence.

    Every day, the doctor would go to the clinic to check on him. After weeks of treatment, his wounds nearly recovered, but he was still in coma. It would be a miracle that he managed to wake up as he had a hard blow.

    It was a ridiculously quiet and chilling night. Some noise squeaked out from the clinic, someone was moaning. It was the guy who was found unconscious in the dark alley several weeks ago. He couldn’t remember anything. He had no sense of time and no idea of what was happening, and who he was.

 

The next day, the doctor went back to the clinic. He wanted to give up taking care of the patient he has been trying hard to save for the past few weeks. It made him tired, both physically and mentally. Just as he opened the door, a sharp knife was pointing at him from behind to his neck, threatening him.

    “Don’t you dare to make a single noise, I… I have warned you!”

    “Okay okay! Chill out man, what do you want!”

    “Listen… listen! Walk inside slowly and close the door. Do not try to shout for help.”

    Following the orders from the trembling voice, the doctor did what he was told. After that, he turned backwards trying to fight back. He then saw the face of the one who was threatening him - it was the stranger!

    “Calm down! I am a doctor, and I have saved your life!” the doctor shouted in fear.

    “What happened ? Where am I?” the man asked when he lowered his knife “and… who am I… ” at this point, the stranger trembled in tears and bursted out crying. Seeing him crying is like seeing a giant weeping, considering his muscular, athletically built body.

    “You were found unconscious in an alley. I think you were harmed by someone, it’s just my prediction… ” the doctor explained his situation to him calmly. “We have also found this near where we have found you.” he took out an ID card and handed it to the man.

    “Steve Jones… born 24th July 2014…” He could not remember anything about himself, even if he was trying extremely hard. Steve was in shock, but there was a picture of him. He looked at the mirror, he stared at his hands, he stood there still, weeping. The harder he tried to be tough the weaker he seemed to be.

    “Doctor, can you tell me what day is it…”

    “It’s 24th July 2034. Or in another way, 14th year after The War.”

    “The War?”

    “Steve, can you not recall anything? Not even a single bit of it?” Steve shooked his head. “The War started 14 years ago, the date was 13rd October 2020. Two nuclear missiles were launched from China and USA at the same time to each other. The two country then fought a war. At last, the human race was half wiped out, and the civilization of human was gone in 7 days.”

    “The war only lasted for a week? How did it end?”

    “A mysterious organization consisted of people with high-tech weapon, or to be more specific, robotic army and highly-destructive arms. They came out of nowhere and destroyed the two countries. They ruled the world since then.” the doctor took a deep breath and sighed “They are currently ruling the world by setting up small cities in this abandoned land. Totalitarian government was set up and people like us were forced to work for them. We receive propaganda everyday. We need to donate resources we were told to gather, we need to work as a construction worker sometimes, we need to live without much freedom…”

    It seemed like everything was restricted and everyone was being monitored. The citizens have been blindfolded. Blindfolded so they can follow unreasonable instructions given by this unreasonable government. The truth has been covered by heavy mist and cannot be seen clearly. Mayhem will soon be all around this world, this dark, pathetic world full of lies and tricks.

    And so here comes the Crimson Rebels.