"Come on, wakey, wakey, Rick. Eric Hunter, Jesus. What did they do to him? You should know-you're out of college, huh?" Jake! I'm alive, dude. "He's only been knocked out," Gosh, June-she was safe.
I tried to open my eyes, but guess that only added to the REM thing.
"He can't be sleeping," Jake said disbelievingly. "Nah, he's just trying to open his eyes," June said close by. Wow, she knew what I was trying to do.
I tried more to open my eyes, but felt them too heavy. Some help, dudes? I desperately thought-since my mouth was just as heavy.
Finally, a hand crawled onto my shoulder, than slowly pulled me up. My eyes faintly opened and my mouth came open at he same time. Shuck timing. I looked around, eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light. I then saw June-she was the one helping me up, and suddenly I felt strange with her hand on my shoulder. I had somehow craved this, I noticed. She stared back.
"Finally! Eric!" Jake clapped his hands, delighted like a 4 year old. The description could have better fit him if he was just the 18 year old teen I knew than the adult he was.
I heard a few groans and mutters around us, and sat up quickly on some U.N. of my thing.
What I absorbed through my eyes were shocking.
I looked back at a big circular room of people, about 10. We were all sitting or standing or lying on the cement floor, and a old light bulb flickered and stuttered above our heads. The others looked unclean and sleep-deprived. They still didn't wear the infamous dirty clothes of jailers. they were just a bit quizzy and tired. There was a few windows on the bent walls to fit the circular floor. They were all with glasses and barred, though.
I turned back to Jake and June for an explanation-they seemed the cleanest, though June looked quite tired and bruised-I felt awful about that.
"What happened?" I croaked through a sore throat. Shit, that guard's throttling skills had been so effective on knocking me completely out.
"You were out for 2 days, man. June jumped insanely across the houses again and kicked the man just in time-the bullet hit the ground near you instead. But you blacked out already, and June was trying to fight the men alone, so I jumped back and helped her. Still, with you to haul around and fight on a single roof was goddam hard-they got us, and didn't kill us nor put a bullet on our thighs, which these people had suffered-" He jutted his chin at hem. "They put us in here and have only been putting in water and bread through a slot over there," he pointed at a tiny metal door at a corner I hadn't noticed before. "Then who are the people?" I whispered in my hoarse croak. "The usual guys who did crimes-though we're the only ones here to be caught by the SSC yet," I gulped at that. "Jake, I figured out a few things, and-" Jake pushed me a tiny cup of murky water. I took it in a anyway. My throat felt scarred, but a tiny bit better. "The SSC was only created for us, for our matter," I said. "Maybe. I;m not sure," I added. Jake gave me a very concerned look. "Huh? Explain," He demanded. "The announcement came the day we arrived. It came on CNN. I thought it was just for safety-that's what the reporter and the gov said. But what if it was a coincidence?" While Jake gaped at me, considering my crazy theory, June, who had been silent, hugging her knees, atared at me in the eye. "The gov isn't very honest right now. You may be right," "But I kind of noticed something-they call it only as they government', not like the officials or the president," June bit her lip. "That's been like that forever, Eric," "Huh?" Me and Jake inquired at the same time. "It wasn't like that in New York in your time? But that's impossible. It really has been in force even before I was born, I think," "Jesus. What's going on?" I said, confused. Our gov had been not like that-democratic, though there were a few scandals. "Maybe-" Suddenly what i had finally figured out during my long sleep came to mind, and I just had to break June's worried sentence. "Guys, I really really need to tell you this. I figured it out, and this is the most crucial thing," June looked curiously at me. "Huh?" Jake seemed interested and shielded me and our conversation from the others by turning his back on them. "Go on," June demanded.
I took one more sip of water.
"This world is fake," I said. And waited.
I thought they'd hop up and down and not belive me at all-but that's not what happened, especially with June.
"I thought of that before. I thought of it as a possible plot for a story but reserved it-and how did you find out?" She was almost beaming. Wow, I liked her. She was believing me for real! "The guard that nearly killed me-he spoiled some stuff-he talked about us hacking the city. And then, the fact hat he said It can't kill you' indicates that more. He can't kill me here, because we're both virtual," June gasped at that while Jake remained solid, blinking. "But how?! I mean, you're a fake?" She seemed panicked. "I;m not sure, but only I can't be fake-you both should also be," "What he hell?" Jake muttered. "So your main point is-" "that our history has been all fake. And we ought to go find the truth," "What if you just skipped to conclusions?" Jake raised his eyebrows. I now started to wonder if he really existed, or was simply a program-wait, was I a program myself?! "This all makes sense, Jake. Don't you remember your childhood only a little bit? Plus, there's not much reason to believe in this," "But New York can't be fake-maybe only Francisco," He said, panicking, thinking of his parents, who might not have been his parents at all. The thought had already hit me like a bullet and geared my sleeping heart. But I loved 'dad', and that was all, I'd decided to take it. "No. Look at June here. Maybe every city is a program," "So how does the real world look like, then?" Jake squinted his eyebrows. "How do I know?" I replied. Well, that point was even hard for me to get to. "Maybe someone deleted our memories all together and put us in some VR or something," June suggested with her extra-creative brain. Another thing occurred to my mind just then. "June, are nightmares uncommon here, too?" She replied immediately. "Yes. But I had a few nightmares before you came,"
Hrmm.
"Just like me," I said lowly, staring at her brown eyes.
"So nightmares indicate detecting the virtuality of the world we thought was reality. That's why the gov must have been against it and treated it as some disease. So, the gov inside here, our gov, are the real gov," I said, still staring, forgetting Jake and the cell.
"Exactly,"
Just as she said those life changin words, the doors opened. We watched in surprise as 5 guards in black pointed guns at us.
And I knew that this time, I'd fight back with all my might.

"Fight, no matter what," I hissed just before one of them grabbed me roughly by the shoulders and threw me onto my feet.
I saw June nod, while Jake seemed frozen-he got up obediently, his eyes darting all around.
The guards led us over the other prisoners who were all cowering at one corner. They didn't know that the world they lived in was fake.
I stayed inactive but walk as the guards thrusted us to a cool, white-paneled hallway, hands chained in front of us. Like in sone hospital or something. I suddenly remembered when I visited the dentist with dad. The halls had looked just like this, though more friendly. Dad had told me the truth of the frights of the dentist-but with a goofy face. He had told me his own experience. That made me behave...
'I'm getting back there soon, dad. I gained more than I lost,' I told my dad in my head.
The seconds ticked by as the guards took us along the walls...
I was planning to kick my feet from beneath me when something totally unexpected happened.
I mean it.