Youth Patrol Read online

  YOUTH

  PATROL

  ANDREW LUEDERS

  Copyright © 2017 Andrew Lueders

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Design: Art by Karri

  https://www.artbykarri.com

  For Maria and Lisa

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Part 1: Youth Music Singers

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Part 2: Youth Patrol

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Part 3: Santa Verde

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Part 4: The Cave

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Part 5: The Salt Flats

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Part 6: Utah

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  PART 1

  YOUTH MUSIC SINGERS

  CHAPTER 1

  We can hear the crowd go crazy even from way down here. They keep cheering; shouting for us to come out. The other guys in the band are all chill, hanging out in the green room, relaxing on the couches. But me, I’m kind of a wreck; I can’t stop thinking about Valerie Star, and who she might be having sex with.

  “Where are you?” I mind-text her.

  She doesn’t answer.

  “Evan!” Johnny calls out to me as he sits on the floor while a medic tweaks his L-Chip. “Stop pacing around dude. You’re making us all tense.”

  “Sorry,” I tell him, “I just want to get this show started.”

  “We all do man, just calm down,” he says all mellow. Then, suddenly he perks up. “Hey, you hooking up with Val tonight?”

  The question catches me off guard. “I don’t know, maybe.”

  “That’s like six, seven nights in a row, right?”

  It’s been more like twenty, but I wasn’t going to tell him that, so I tell him, “How the hell should I know; I’m not keeping count!”

  “Okay okay, you don’t have to get all testy about it. I just don’t want you to get in trouble.”

  “I’m not going to, I know the rules, Johnny. It’s all good. It’s no big deal!”

  “If you say so.” The medic detaches the electronic device from Johnny’s forehead, leaving the L-Chip glowing all kinds of colors. “Great job, Perry,” Johnny mumbles to the medic. “Great job.” Johnny’s now high.

  The medic turns to me. “You need me to tweak your L-Chip too?” he says lethargically, almost like he’s ready to fall asleep.

  “Na, I’m fine,” I answer him, but the medic won’t look away. He keeps staring at me like he can’t let it go. It’s annoying as hell. “What do you want, Perry?” I finally blurt out.

  He shrugs his shoulders and walks away. What a weirdo. I flop down on the couch, hoping to think of something other than Valerie.

  Taryn Storm comes over and sits next to me. She wants to flirt, or maybe something more. This is good. It’ll keep me from thinking about Val. She starts rubbing my forearm, squeezing my bicep. Taryn has a tendency of trying a little too hard to get people’s attention even though she doesn’t have to; she’s super hot. Her hair is dyed pink, and she always wears a top, or a dress that only has one shoulder strap. It’s kind of like her thing. She’s the ‘Asian’ in the music group, and she’s also one of the older ones too. She’s like 20 or 21. She’s coming on strong and I kind of like it. But then Valerie pops into my head. I start thinking about her. What if she walked in and saw Taryn and me like this? She’d be pissed. Or would she?

  I push Taryn’s hand away. “I’m sorry, I’ve got to focus.”

  “You can’t have Valerie every night, Evan,” she says, keeping her voice low. “It’s not right. You have to be with other people, that’s Policy.”

  “I’m sorry, Taryn. I just can’t.”

  “What’s wrong with you?” she yells. “Why won’t you fuck me?”

  Everyone stops what they’re doing and looks up. They’re shocked at Taryn’s outburst.

  “I’ll fuck you,” Johnny says jokingly from across the room.

  I laugh, but Taryn doesn’t. She gets up in a huff and goes over and sits next to the bass player. Everyone goes back to whatever they were doing, but my mind drifts back to Val.

  What if she did see me with Taryn? Would she really be all that upset? Probably not. She knows we’re supposed to have sex with as many people as possible. That’s the Policy. So why do I care what she thinks. Maybe I should’ve gotten my L-Chip tweaked. Where is that medic? Maybe I should go and fuck Taryn.

  Wait, I know what to do. Why didn’t I think of this before? I’ll download one of Senator Vincent Willenger’s famous speeches. That should get my mind off Val. Every time I listen to one of his old lectures it totally clears my head.

  The download is complete. The L-Chip sends a signal to the audio and visual cortex in my brain. I close my eyes and I can watch the speech as if I were there in that dark basement all those years ago. Thank goodness someone recorded it on one of those smartphones. I think that’s what they called them back then.

  “We were told to ‘Love what was good and hate what was evil!’” Willenger shouts passionately. “But let’s examine what was loved and what was evil. Slavery was loved, sexism was loved, homophobia was loved, but women’s rights, civil rights and gay rights were all considered evil. So maybe, we should learn to love what was evil and hate what was loved.”

  I pause the speech to meditate on the Senator’s wisdom. Wait a second; he wasn’t a senator then. Wow, he was just some normal guy like me. He hadn’t even started Youth Nation yet. It’s hard to imagine an America without Youth Nation or Senator Willenger for that matter. Some say he has more influence than anybody in the country, even more than the President of the United States. I can’t believe this speech is over seventy years old, and when you look at the Senator today, he doesn’t look all that different. He doesn’t look 80 or 90 or 100 or whatever age he is, he looks 40 or maybe even 35. He’s still lean, tall, strong jaw; even his perfectly combed hair is still jet-black. Of course we all know why he still looks the same as he did back then. It’s because he was the first to implant the L-Chip, or Locator Chip as it was called back then, right into his forehead. Chip technology was still in the experimental stage, and he risked his life to prove to everyone that it was safe. Now, everyone gets the L-Chip. It’s Policy
. As soon as someone’s born, you get it. Willenger put his life on the line for us and in return we have longevity. The L-Chip can tap into our brains and release endorphins or antibodies, or whatever our body might need. Some scientists speculate that we’ll live to two hundred and thirty years old, maybe more, no one knows for sure. Maybe we’ll live to be five hundred. The L-Chip gives us knowledge and wisdom. We’re able to download entire libraries, music, movies, anything we want, right from the Internet, right into our brains. The L-Chip is a miracle. How could anyone refuse it? And yet there are some who do. They hold on to the past and don’t want to change. They want to hold on to their superstitions, their archaic beliefs; their stupid religions. Those people are vile, plain and simple. We’ve got to stop people like that; we’ve got to stop people from thinking that they know more than the Policy.

  I’m ready to doze off when Ashley Autumn comes walking into the room. Damn she looks good. She has on a tight green suit that clings to her body, and white high heel boots that come up to her knees. Her auburn hair is slicked back, so as to show off her new designer plate that’s drilled into her forehead. A lot of people are doing that now-a-days. They say it accentuates the L-Chip. It’s kind of trendy. I’m not doing it, at least not yet.

  “Okay guys,” she says really really energetically. “It’s time to go on!”

  We all get up from the couches kind of sluggish.

  “Today people,” she says, clapping her hands as if that will make us move faster. “Let’s not keep them waiting. We’ve got a full house tonight.”

  Ashley is pretty cool, I have to say. She sang with the band before I joined Youth Nation; she’s now too old to be in the group. I think she’s like 27. She now helps out the Senator and is a mentor to us. We’ve had sex, but it was a long time ago.

  “Valerie isn’t here yet,” I tell her. “Shouldn’t we wait for her?”

  “No, she’s on her way.”

  “Where was she?” I ask.

  “I think she was having sex with the Senator,” Ashley answers.

  “What?” Taryn blurts out. “Why is she with him. Why does everyone want to have sex with Valerie Star and not me?”

  “Oh Taryn. It’s just her turn,” Ashley says blissfully. “She’s the Senator’s favorite, and what Vinnie Willenger wants, Vinnie gets.”

  “It’s not fair,” Taryn pouts. “I’m older than Valerie and I’ve never been the Senator’s favorite.”

  “Is Val really with the Senator?” I ask Ashley.

  She laughs and walks away, thinking I’m joking, but I’m not. I stand there looking like a fool. I begin to wonder if that’s the reason Val didn’t text me. Was she having sex with the Senator? Crap, now it’s in my head. All I can think about is Senator Willenger and Val having sex. I gotta get this image out of my head. But then again, why should I care. She’s had sex with him before and it never bothered me. She’s had sex with everyone. I’ve had sex with everyone. What’s wrong with me? I just have to focus on the show.

  CHAPTER 2

  We leave the green room and hurry up the spiral staircase to the round stage above. The band waits just below the platform while I continue to climb up the stairs. I can feel the energy from the crowd; it’s a rush. I peek out from the steps and look out into the arena. It’s packed with kids without their parents. No adults are allowed; that’s part of the Policy. It’s weird to think, that only a few hours ago none of this existed. This whole arena wasn’t even here; it was erected just so we could have this concert.

  A hologram billboard hovers above the crowd, and as it so happens it’s airing the commercial we produced a few weeks ago. A whole bunch of us were interviewed, one after another, about how cool it is to be in Youth Nation, and why it’s so awesome to be a part of it. My interview is coming up; I stop to watch myself.

  “Hi, I’m Evan Sparks (That’s me). I’m eighteen and I’m a part of Youth Nation. I’m a performer in the musical group, The Youth Music Singers. I uphold the peace by fighting against religious fanatics, environmental dangers and moral decay. My desire is to bring harmony and tolerance to the world and end radical extremism at all cost.”

  “Hi, I’m Commander Jeremin Jolt. I’m eighteen years old and I’m part of Youth Nation. I’m a squadron leader in Youth Patrol and I too uphold the peace by fighting against religious fanatics, environmental dangers and moral decay.

  “Hi I’m Perry Stone, I’m twenty-two and I’m also part of Youth Nation. We all fight against religious fanatics, environmental dangers and moral decay in our own way. Right now, I’m a Youth Nation Medic, but I’m training to be a Medical Technician. Other Youth Nationers are training to be lawyers, healthers, and politicians. We all work together to bring harmony and tolerance to the world.”

  The commercial goes on showing the diversity of Youth Nation and explaining its greatness, but the crowd really isn’t paying any attention to it. Heck I don’t blame them, this commercial plays way too much as it is. Every time I go anywhere, it’s always playing on some billboard somewhere.

  Suddenly, there’s static, the hologram image wavers. There’s a car speeding, it rolls and crashes, it bursts into flames. A person on fire crawls out from the wreckage.

  “America kills! America tortures!” a voice bellows out over the speakers. “The Resistance is innocent! America is the true evil!”

  The hologram billboard shuts down and is replaced by an image of the purple and green American Flag.

  I look at the crowd for their reaction, but it seems no one noticed, or cared that the commercial was hacked by the Resistance. These kinds of things happen so often, that no one takes them seriously anymore. Or maybe no one ever did.

  Soon the hologram billboard reboots and the commercial that I’m in starts up again.

  “Hi, I’m Evan Sparks. I’m eighteen and I’m a part of Youth Nation…”

  “Who’s that tall dark sexy guy up on that screen?” someone whispers in my ear. Of course it’s no mystery of who it is.

  I turn around and there she is. Valerie Star, the most beautiful girl in the world. She’s perfect in every way. Her smooth skin, her long blonde hair, her lips; everything about her is perfect.

  “Hi baby,” she says softly. “Why are you so goddamn cute?”

  “Where’ve you been? How come you didn’t answer my mind-texts?”

  She looks at me with her blue eyes and just laughs. I want to ask her about the Senator, but I know it’s none of my business. And besides, she’s in such a good mood I don’t want to ruin it with my jealousy. Jealousy, one of those words we’re not supposed to use. What is wrong with me?

  “I missed you baby,” she says giggling. “I missed you so much.”

  “What’s up, Val? Why are you so happy?”

  She looks around to see if anyone is near us. The whole group is still waiting below, so she takes my hand and walks me down the steps and over to a more secluded area behind some scaffolding.

  “I’m pregnant,” she whispers as she continues to giggle.

  “What? You can’t be pregnant, you’ve got the L-Chip.”

  “Shhh. I know, but I am.”

  “You’re serious.”

  “Yeah, I had my check up a few hours ago, and Perry told me I was pregnant. I’ve been back at the shuttle looking in the mirror imagining me all fat,” she giggles again.

  “So you weren’t with the Senator?”

  “No, why?”

  “Nothing. So that’s why Perry was looking at me all strange.”

  “You know Perry, the medic?”

  “I know who he is, that black guy, tall, kind of weird looking. How come he didn’t get rid of it?”

  “I told him not to,” she answers brashly.

  “Why?” I shout, but immediately compose myself. “You can’t have a baby,” I whisper. “You’re 17. That’s totally against Policy.”

  “I know, I know.”

  “How could the L-Chip miss that? It should have prevented it.”

  “Calm
down lover boy. It’s no big deal. I just wanted to be pregnant for a while. I’ll get rid of it in few days, I promise… if not sooner. It all depends on if the Senator knows. If he does, I’ll get rid of it tomorrow, if he doesn’t, maybe next week.”

  “How would he know you’re pregnant?”

  “I don’t know, maybe Perry told him, or maybe he’s listening in right now through my L-Chip.”

  “He can’t listen in without a warrant, how many times do I have to tell you that. It’s illegal.”

  She looks at me like I’m stupid. “Oh Evan, you’re so naive.” She gives me a peck on the cheek. “By the way, it’s yours you know.”

  I stand there dumbfounded. I’m a little in shock.

  She then leans in and gives me another kiss, a really long kiss.

  “I wouldn’t be doing that you two,” Ashley says cheerfully as she peers around the scaffolding. “You’ve been doing that a lot lately, don’t think we haven’t noticed. You know how the Senator feels about exclusive relationships.”

  “I know, I know. It’s against Policy, bla bla bla,” Val says, rolling her eyes. “But I just can’t help myself.” She kisses me again.

  “Val, don’t try the Senator’s patience,” Ashley warns. “He’s very fond of you.”

  “Whatever.” Val shrugs.

  “Oh to be the Senator’s favorite for one more day,” Ashley says in a state of dreaminess. “It’s just the best, isn’t it?” But Val seems uninterested.

  Just then, the auditorium lights go dim and the audience begins to chant, “Valerie, Valerie, Valerie!”

  “That’s your cue,” Ashley says gleefully. “Have a great show everyone.”

  “Why don’t they ever shout my name?” Taryn complains.

  “I’ll shout out your name baby,” Johnny butts in. We all laugh but Taryn doesn’t.

  CHAPTER 3

  We climb up the final steps to the stage. The musicians take their place in the center while Val, Taryn, Johnny and myself find our spots on the edge. We’re all dressed in the typical Youth Music Singers’ green and white silvery uniform, but each one of us wears it a little differently. Johnny’s altered his uniform to show off his abs, Taryn likes to wear as little of it as possible and I’ve made mine sleeveless. My arms are my best feature. But Valerie just wears the uniform the way it’s supposed to be worn, tight pants, tight top, and she still looks better than any of us.