Tuesday, November 24th—12:17 PM
It’s lunch time, but I’m too nervous to eat.
Third period, a bunch of us got called down to the office. When we got there, there was a large group of Novite officials. You could tell they were Novites by the pins they all were wearing, with the symbol of the Novite organization on each of their lapels. That was a bit jarring to see.
The symbol has become a familiar sight in these last few weeks. It’s a circle filled with a couple of thick, red stripes, some blue lines, and a harsh black line cutting diagonally through the circle. Someone made a joke the other week about how the symbol looks like the Pepsi logo. I have to say, the color scheme is almost dead on.
As soon as I saw the officials, I tried to size up the group of kids that I was with. There were about twenty students in the office. Alicia and Kaylah had been called down, but there was no sign of the rest of the Lone Voice crew. All of the kids that were in the office were decent students, all around nice kids. I didn’t think we were here to be chewed out.
As soon as one of the officials started talking, I realized my assumption was correct. And also we, the Lone Voice crew, were in more trouble than we thought.
“Over the last few weeks, the local authorities have been alerted to a pirate radio broadcast that has been putting out caustic information at the expense of the Novite order.”
Novite order. Now that was a new phrase. I hadn’t heard this new regime be referred to as the “Novite order” before.
The official looked around at us, as if she were waiting for someone to confirm her statement. When no one spoke up, she continued.
“A recent broadcast they put out revealed their residency in this town. They are taken to be young adults.”
My mind sprung back to Friday night’s show. I sifted through our banter to see where we could have tripped up. I didn’t recall anything. We’re so careful about leaking information that it seemed impossible for us to have said anything that revealed our location.
Even worse, the fact that the Novites picked up on a small piece of information buried in our broadcast meant that they were listening. Listening hard.
Alicia’s voice broke through the silence. “Lone Voice Radio, right?”
I turned and saw Alicia, bold as ever, her face devoid of suspicion and a portrait of innocence. How was she so calm? My palms were sticky with sweat, and I could feel my heart slowly starting to speed up. It was really my stomach that betrayed me, though. It dropped like I had just taken a plunge down the Tower of Terror. Hold it together, Olivia. These guys don’t even have weapons.
Besides us, the students, and the officials, the only other person in the office was a delivery man, who was standing by the doorway and taking an awful long time to fill in the delivery slip. He was definitely conspicuously listening in. I guess Novite officials questioning students isn’t something one sees on a day-to-day basis.
Alicia kept talking, refusing to make eye contact with me or Kaylah. “Are you searching for them? The Lone Voice kids?”
The official nodded and pulled a page out of the manila folder she was carrying. “Our report says that they had over three-hundred listeners last Friday night. We suspect that their prime demographic was students, teenagers like yourselves. Your teachers recommended this group to us. They tell us you’re model students, no?”
I see Alicia and Kaylah nodding, yet I am left confused. Me? Model student? I mean, I get decent grades, and I manage to keep out of trouble, but I’m not exactly a “teacher-recommended model student”.
They’re onto you, Olivia. They want to see how you’ll react to this situation.
Impossible. They can’t be. I’m too careful, too smart to be caught.
Think about it, Olivia. Go long enough and you’re bound to make a mistake somewhere.
Someone knocks on the doorframe and we all spin around. A tall, broad man is standing smartly in the doorway. His head is nearly bald, hair shaven down to the nub. The hair is red, but darker than Matt’s. Like the color of a rotted tomato.
The official turns around and greets him. “Major… we weren’t expecting you—”
He smiles thinly. “I wanted to meet our helpers.” The man waves his hand impatiently. “Finish briefing them.”
The official does a short nod and explains to us, “We need you to be our eyes and ears. Listen carefully for people talking about the broadcast. Contact us when you find something.”
We’re all handed little cards containing telephone numbers, email addresses, even a fax number.
The man stands and looks us over. “We do not want this show to gain momentum. That is our biggest concern.”
“Why?”
The word falls out of my mouth before I can even process it. Before I even realize it’s me speaking. A silence hangs over the group assembled in the office as I see nearly ever pair of eyes focus on me. Real smooth, Olivia. That’s the kind of quality, low-key personality I like to see.
It’s the man who answers me. “Because the wrong words at the wrong time can throw everything into chaos. And it’s not chaos we want or need.”
I stutter a response. “Yeah, uhem, sorry. Right.” It’s at that moment his shiny nametag catches the light just right and I see his name. “Major Toz Vedyo.”
Oh, this day just kept getting better and better.
2:09 PM
I fly through the hallway after school to grab Alicia at her locker before she leaves to go home. I nearly smash into her, in fact. “Alicia, we’re supposed to snitch on our own show! What is this life!?”
She shushes my lament and says “Those were some pretty smooth moves back there, Olivia.” Shaking her head she adds “And I was doing so well, too.”
I roll my eyes in frustration. “I was panicked!”
Alicia ignores my excuses. “We’re in trouble, Olivia. They’re closing in.” Alicia finishes packing up and I follow her outside to her car.
The late November sky hangs over us, grey and unchanging. I shiver slightly as wind races through the parking lot, scattering the remaining leaves on the pavement. I get a weird feeling when I look at the leaves. They probably grew during the late spring, long before the Novites came. It’s eerie to see how much the world has changed in a matter of months. “So, Toz Vedyo is human?” I say in an attempt to propel the conversation forward. “I was really pulling for him to be an alien.”
Alicia slams her trunk shut after piling all of her books in. She doesn’t laugh at my comment. “Olivia, this isn’t some sort of joke anymore. We’ve gotten the attention of some of the most important Novites in the area. This is real. This isn’t some sort of game or movie. Real people are involved and real lives are at stake!”
I turn to leave, but not before adding, “I know this is real. But you gotta laugh at the irony.”
“ Have you even stopped to think about what effect this could have on your family? Olivia? You need to grow up.”
“Okay, mom.” My response comes out harsher than I intend it to be.
Alicia and I don’t talk on the way home, which leaves me time to question what Lone Voice Radio has started.
Once again, I am left with even more questions than before.
Why are the Novites so concerned? Are they onto me? And what exactly did we leak that led them to this town?
And also, note to self: Alicia is scary when she’s mad.
Is she right? Have we surpassed the point where this was just a fun thing we did on Friday nights? When is it too late to stop?
Wednesday, November 25th—3:27 PM
After school today, I went through the recording we saved of last Friday’s broadcast to find where we revealed our location. It’s on my third time through the show that I find it. Matt and Gavin are talking in their pre-recorded message when Gavin says “It reminds me of last Thanksgiving’s football game. We crushed the Smithfield Bears, without any resistance! See you again this year, you noobs.”
Dammit, Gavin. I slam my hand on my desk in frustration. It was prerecorded. We should’ve caught the error; we should have listened to the recording beforehand.
Lone Voice Radio has made our first mistake. And the Novites found it before we did.
Thursday, November 27th – 4:40 PM
It’s Thanksgiving. At the dinner table, all my relatives talk of is the Novites.
“This curfew is ridiculous!”
“I’ll tell you, they’re not planning on withdrawing anytime soon.”
“We’re leaving next week. Going to Maine, someplace remote.”
Everyone it seems wants to pack up and leave. It’s hard to tell who’s gone missing and turned into (maybe?) a Ms. Whitson and who has simply packed their bags and run for the hills.
My chemistry class has fifteen kids in it, which means five kids are already missing or have left with their families. Everyone wants to go someplace far, someplace remote. One of the news anchors last night described this retreat as “the mass exodus out of civilization”. In a weird way, it’s almost good that the Novites haven’t left yet. With all the abandoned houses and businesses, I’m almost sure looting and even anarchy could take hold without the Novite officials keeping everyone in line.
If there is any resistance, the Novite officials are doing a fantastic job of covering it up. Maybe that’s why the radio show scares them. They can’t pinpoint it, and they can’t stop it. It’s uncontained resistance.
Sometimes I wonder if that’s what happened to Wilson, the first kid who disappeared, or Ms. Whitson. Maybe they had their own private acts of rebellion and they were removed by the Novites. Although, that wouldn’t explain what happened to Ms. Whitson. And Wilson is not really a rebel.
It was a mistake to start this show. We didn’t want any trouble, and now Matt and I have dragged five other kids, including my brother, into this mess. To answer my earlier question, I don’t think there is any going back now. We can’t let down our listeners. And, even if we did quit, I don’t think the Novites would stop looking for us.
8:55 PM
The chipping day for our region was announced.
December 22nd.
Merry Christmas.
Friday, November 28th—11:45 PM
We did our fifth show tonight and we were more paranoid than ever. The whole time, I was running everything I said through my head. I had to be sure I wasn’t giving anything away. We had 448 listeners. Alicia picked out the song for tonight, a song by one of Matt’s favorite bands, actually. It was “The Cave”, by Mumford and Sons.
After the broadcast, the girls once again all are sleeping over. Alicia seems to have forgiven me about what happened on Tuesday, although I know she didn’t forget.
I see Lauren reading a thick book, her brow furrowed in deep concentration. “Lauren, whatcha doing?”
She looks up, startled, and then shows me the cover. “Oh, nothing, just a bit of light reading.”
The book is about as thick as my thumb is tall. “Yeah, light reading. Looks like it.”
Lauren slides a bookmark in between the pages and then shuts the book with a soft snick. “It’s about the German occupation of France during World War II.”
If there’s anything Lauren loves more than her blog, it’s history.
“I don’t know, it reminded me of the Novite coup, or invasion, so I thought I’d read up.”
Kaylah puts her phone down and joins the conversation. “What’s Laurepedia dug up?”
“Some fun analogies,” I answer.
Kaylah thinks for a minute and then says “You know what this all reminds me of?”
We all shrug and she explains “Well, it’s a bit like boiling a frog. Throw a frog into boiling water, and it jumps out. But put it into regular water and slowly turn up the heat—”
“The frog will stay in and die,” finishes Alicia.
“Yeah. The heat’s being turned up. So why don’t we leave?”
“Because maybe things will get better?” offers Lauren.
“Sort of. But hope’s a lot to bet your life on.”
Eventually someone turns out the light and besides the glow of Kaylah’s phone, the room is dark. I haven’t mentioned it to anyone yet, but I’ve starting preparing for the worst case scenario. I got my cousin to do some repairs on the RV, and I’ve starting sneaking some food to fill up the RV’s pantry and cabinets.
Kaylah’s right. We need to leave. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, or next week, but we can’t get chipped. I don’t see our situation ending any other way but with us making a run for it.
A/N
Hi everyone! Once again, thank you to all of you who submitted reviews and comments!
As always, if you enjoyed this chapter, leave a like, comment, or recommend this story to a friend! If you didn’t enjoy it, drop a comment and let me know what I should work on!
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140,098 Literary Works • 672,998 Reviews
It's been a long time since I've gone on a reviewing spree like this. But surprise, it's me again.
Another really strong chapter. I found very little to fault with it, and there were moments where I forgot I was meant to be reviewing it. You've upped the stakes, which is great, and that's making the story so readable.
Having your character ask a whole bunch of semi-rhetorical questions like this didn't really work for me. Felt like a little bit of a rip-off, because it kind of feels like instead of having the character wonder about what's going on, and why these things are happening, you're making the reader do it instead. It feels a bit clumsy as well, and I think you could have Olivia ask all these questions without them being questions, as such. It's a bit too summary-ish at the moment, but if you work the questions in a little smoother it would work.
To an extent I agree with Megrim about the Novites questioning everyone together seeming a little odd. I think that they would be a little more subtle, but I did like how Olivia was observing that they were all good kids, and I think that works well. But I do think you could have a quite humorous moment if Olivia thinks she's been picked at random to rat on her own show, and doesn't know if anyone else has been told to do the same. I think maybe adding more subtlety in how the Novites go about it all is needed, though.
Starting to see that character interaction I was wanting in earlier chapters. Plenty of action and dialogue now, and the flow's a lot better, less rushed. You've still kept Olivia's voice feeling the same, which is great to see.
I like the pressure you're putting on the characters. Things are getting serious at just the right pace, and the radio show isn't just a game any more. I also like how Olivia is realising this, but isn't magically aware of what to do. Like I've said before, your characters are acting like real teenagers likely would in this situation, and they're continuing to do so.
See you at the next chapter!
Intense...
"Third period, a bunch of us got called down to the office." I think that you could make it sound better by adding something before "third period," like "During" or something like that.
"Shaking her head she adds “And I was doing so well, too.”" You should add a comma after "adds."
"“ Have you even stopped to think about what effect this could have on your family? Olivia? You need to grow up.”" Don't forget to omit the space you accidentally put between the first quotation mark and "Have." Also, I think putting "Olivia?" just like that by itself seems a little weird. You could write it as "Have you even stopped to think about what effect this could have on your family, Olivia? You need to grow up." Or, "Have you even stopped to think about what effect this could have on your family? Olivia, you need to grow up."
Great job!
Here again!
Nice!!
This should probably have occurred to her when Matt suggested the whole DAMCON thing. Like she even admitted, that's basically the start of an intel/resistance movement. She didn't seem very hesitant about the implications then. I thought she understood and accepted that it was no longer a small fun little thing?
I like the analogy of the boiling frog.
So things are coming along nicely now. I didn't do a very in-depth review here because I wanted to read through quickly (instead of stopping and starting) and give a bigger picture analysis at the end. I'm enjoying how things are progressing, even though it was obvious this was what would happen. Predictable isn't necessarily bad. The ending note is particularly ominous, with the thought that they might have to run.
I thought it was a little weird/awkward that they assembled a random group of "good" kids to talk to. My first thought was, why do they care so much about teenagers talking to other teenagers? But I think you answered that question sufficiently. I suppose the only reason I still don't like that scene is because something about it doesn't seem very realistic. I just had an idea. If they're really so scary, covering things up, working in the dark, wouldn't it make sense for them to behave that way in everything they do? I could totally picture them bringing in students one by one, asking them calm, seemingly straightforward questions that actually have lots of dangerous undertones. It seems too lazy that they would pick a handful on teachers' recommendations, give them all a speech, and expect something to happen. If they really want to recruit teenagers to be informants, they would have to be persuasive. And if they really want anyone to expose themselves, they'd need to be alone, without backup, unable to corroborate each other's lies.
Some food for thought. Good luck with this and I hope we see ch6 soon!
Thank you for the reviews Megrim! I really appreciate it! I like your suggestion at the end for having each teen be questioned alone... I'll probably have that scenario when I edit this later on!
Foreshadowing??
Maybe