There was a buzzing sound and a crack of light coming from outside Tanner Jase’s window this morning. Another Announcement, he knew it would not be for him, it was never for him. Yet his curiosity got the best of him, so he woke up and listened anyway. The names were droned out, some names he recognized, and others he did not. In the beginning of Tanner’s stay here in the “secure location”, that is what everyone called it, the names they would call out were a complete mystery to Tanner. As he aged, more and more of his friend’s names had been called. To be called was an exciting time, for those involved. Where they went and why, was not known to anyone. No one ever comes back once they are called. Why would they? This place felt like a dreadful hole.

Tanner did the same things everyday. He got up, got dressed in the same grey uniform, went to get a meal at Town Hall, off to school, learns what he is told to learn, ate at Town Hall again, back home and then to bed. His life was less than even a little exciting, he hated it. Tanner sometimes would go off his daily path, not like anyone else. Some days Tanner snuck away before bed and would go on a walk. Sounded harmless, just a walk, and the place is “secure”, right? Tanner had always wondered what was outside of the four walls and four gates. One day he asked his teacher, Mr. Ferdinand. “What’s outside of the walls?” during a lecture nobody was supposed to interrupt, yet that would not be Tanner, he was curious. To which Mr. Ferdinand responded, “Mr. Jase, you kn…. Well I suppose…. What is outside of the walls is no longer important. The reason we are here is because we should not be out there no longer. These walls have given us a Safe Haven of hope.” The response surprised Tanner, no one spoke about what happened before. No one. Maybe, because no one remembered or maybe because no one wanted to remember. Tanner wanted to remember.

After school that day, Tanner did not leave, like he was supposed to. He stayed behind and went over to Mr. Ferdinand’s desk. His teacher seemed flustered, which was unusual, but it also meant he knew something. “Mr. Ferdinand I have a question.” said Tanner, “Ah yes, does this pertain to any class discussions today?” Mr. Ferdinand responded looking Tanner dead in the eye. “Uh yes Sir. The way you spoke about the reason to why we are here, did you mean to say that something happened to place us here?” Tanner asked hesitantly. His teacher’s eyes were frozen and stared right into Tanner’s. Which left Tanner feeling uneasy and he began to break a sweat. The teacher’s eyes seemed to have looked right into Tanner’s mind, and then must have found an answer because Mr. Ferdinand looked away. Tanner’s teacher then glanced out the window before reaching down into a drawer beneath the desk. Mr. Ferdinand pulled a book out of the drawer and said louder than before, “Mr. Jase, I would like you to read this for class. I feel it will better help you understand what we are talking about in class. You really need to pay better attention during lecture.” Tanner’s teacher haisenly got up from his chair, and filed out of the room. Tanner stood there just stared at the book. The book was thin, but not too thin, and it looked like it had been well read for some time now. The title was, Predecessors.

That night Tanner did not sleep, all he did was read the book Mr. Ferdinand gave him today. The book was not what Tanner had expected, there were notes scribbled on the pages which was always a big NO to write any type of literature. His teachers had always said it was “disrespectful” and “wrong”. He was immediately intrigued by this book and more in awe of his teacher and how Mr. Ferdinand could own such a piece of literature. Tanner was flipping through the pages when a piece of paper fell out and landed on Tanner’s lap. The piece of paper was folded neatly and looked like it was placed there long ago. The creases on the page were sharp and the white paper was faded, very faded. Tanner’s curiosity never stopped him from opening up this folded paper. The page had markings and drawings of lines and curves, that resembled the town. It was a map! A map of this “secure location”, Tanner’s eyes had never seen what it looked like layed out. This map not only had what the “secure location” shape but it had what the outside of the four walls and four gates looked like. From the sketch it was not what Tanner pictured.

That next day at school Tanner and the rest of the class were sitting there much longer than they had ever sat to wait for Mr. Ferdinand. The Announcements had not called their teacher’s name. This had happened before to Tanner’s 4th grade teacher, Ms. York, one day she was there and one day she was called off and never came back. No one really thought anything of it, because that next day there was a new teacher and we continued to learn. Tanner really hoped that Mr. Ferdinand was just going to waltz into class and apologize and go about the day. Tanner had too many questions for his teacher, too many wonders that went through Tanner’s mind about ‘Why did you give me this book?’, ‘Where did it come from?’, ‘And where are we really?’ That is when there was a knock at the door, and it was one of the Safe Keepers, they keep the peace and insure that no one leaves and nothing tries to come in. The Safe Keeper was tall, six feet tall maybe, he wore a black suit and tie, had a black helmet on to cover the identity of his face and hair. The man had a deep calming voice, it felt like the warmth of a crackling fire on a cold night. The man explained to them, “You’re teacher, Mr. Ferdinand, has gone ill. We are unsure of his health status at this moment and we are unsure if he will make it back. Nevertheless, you all still need to learn. That is why I am here, to well teach you. Consider me a guest speaker.” This is when a hand shot up among the many pupils, Tanner’s hand. The Safe Keeper nodded as if to say speak, “Do you have a name?” Tanner asked. The man responded, “No name, my name is kept from even I, all I know to myself is a number 7841. You may call me that.”.

The day at school ended and the students had learned what it was like in the life of Mr. 7841. There was watching, watching, observing, and more watching. Tanner almost felt bad for the guy, but Tanner knew that it was all the man knew so how else would he want to live his life. The most interesting part of the entire lecture given by Mr. 7841 was when he talked about his training. The man did not train here in the “secure location”, he trained elsewhere and then had to be stationed here. This made Tanner’s mind scramble and come up with endless questions, to which he asked none, surprisingly. Tanner sat a stayed quite the whole class. The man said that the training was grueling and took up his entire childhood. Tanner wanted to see him after class to ask the questions, but the man quickly left the class.

That night would have been another sleepless night for Tanner. His mind could not stop. The constant question ran through his mind along with many others, “Where was his teacher?”. No one gets sick here, and if they do, the Healers quickly attend to them and they are fine with in an hour. Why not his teacher? Tanner did what he seldom does, he sneaks out his bedroom window and off into the night’s streets. He wonders where his teacher lives, well he knows sort of where Mr. Ferdinand would live. All the instructors live in a separate building, actually every profession lives in its own building. The craftsmen live in a building, the students in one, the Safe Keepers in another, the Healers in one, and so on and so forth. It has always been this way. Tanner walks hasenly through the darkened streets, careful a Safe Keeper does not spot him. Finally Tanner comes up to the front door of the instructor's building. The place looks similar to the rest with the plain gray paint job and the same white front door, yet this one is different, inside through a little window Tanner can see something. He thinks it is a bookshelf, a very large bookshelf that has… color. The mahogany wood shelves that hugs the manuscripts off the ground is mesmerizing to Tanner. Each book looks worn and used, some of the books even have bright red covers. There was also something green in the corner of the entryway, it looked what they learned to be a palm tree. “Wow”, was all Tanner could think, simple word with such a strong meaning. Tanner had never seen anything like it, Tanner was distracted by these objects that he did not hear the click click click click of the metal shoes the Safe Keeper was wearing, and he did not notice the sudden burst of cold air hitting the back of his neck. Tanner was oblivious to the man behind him until Tanner turned about too see him. Tanner jumped back and was startled by the figure watching him. The Safe Keeper rushed the boy and grabbed Tanner by his shirt and pulled him into a dark alleyway. Tanner thought this was the end for him, when the man told the boy to hush, Tanner recognized the voice. It was Mr. 7841.

“Boy! What in the man’s name are you doing? Are you trying to get sent away? Huh?”, Mr. 7841 shook him to make Tanner answer. “I, I was just looking for my, my, my teacher! I had a question, about um school.”, said Tanner frightened. The man shook his head and let go of Tanner’s shirt, sighing Mr. 7841 took off his helmet and set it to the ground, relieving his face for Tanner to see. The man was blonde, he had no beard, not even a shadow, the emerald of his eyes darted into your heart and pulled at it’s secretes. “Boy, do you have any idea about the consequences for this? They would kill you. I have to get you out of here!” Mr. 7841 took Tanner’s arm and the helmet and dragged him through street after street. He must know where the Safe Keeper’s are on watch tonight. Finally the two reach the Announcement collection building. “Here go inside,” Mr. 7841 directed Tanner into a small side door that lead into the basement of the building.

“Here this is the kid I told you about 502, he is different, he could be what were looking for.”, exclaimed Mr. 7841. There was a shuffling sound and muffled words coming from a dark hallway. The room Tanner was standing in was dark and musty. It had piping along the ceiling and water puddles on the ground. There was two hallways that lead to places unknown to Tanner, but the one hallway definitely had sounds coming from it. There was then a light, yellow and gleaming. There is a man holding the lamp, his face was hidden amongst the darkness. Though his voice was recognizable, it was Mr. Ferdinand. “Boy, you really do have a death wish”, chuckleed Tanner’s teacher. “Yes I guess so, he really was not careful about it tonight. He never really is though,” said Mr. 7841. “Woah woah! Are you trying to say you’ve seen me at night before?” squeaked Tanner, “Well yes, we’ve been keeping an eye on you Tanner.” slowly exclaimed Mr. Ferdinand. Tanner was in shock and the room around him began to shrink until it felt like it was swallowing him whole. This was news to Tanner, news he did not know how to fathom. “Why?” asked the confused boy. To which Mr. Ferdinand said, “Son, this place is not what you think. We are no longer inhabiting Earth. The planet was destroyed by the third WW and Space Findings took everyone left on the planet here and to other livable planets.”

“Tanner? Tanner? Boy wake up! We need to hurry!”, some was shaking Tanner with immense force but Tanner could not see who it was considering his blurred vision. He had just passed out. The home he has been living in for years held mysteries and secrets from him that were all unlocked tonight. Tanner’s mind could not handle them all so quick it needed to be dropped one by one like to the beginning of a rain storm. Though this storm struck at once and did not leave Tanner room to run anyone for cover. “We need to leave this planet, and leave it now. Space Findings has gotten out of control with power. They have made too many Announcements and they are about to evacuate everyone to finish the war.” puffed Mr. 7841. Tanner was on a plank of wood that was in the basement and there were four men holding him up and running down a dark hallway. The air was thick with must and there were few lights that gleamed a dim shadow of light. “Stop! Stop I can walk, I’m fine.” said Tanner. “Ha alright boy, but we don’t want you to go out on us again!” chuckled the biggest man of the group, “I’m Mark, that over there the skinny kid is Ronnie, my son.” Son? How did he know? There were never any families in the “secure location” they always said it would cause distraction. “I’m Tom and this is Evan. Evan is a boy we found on Mars, he was too close to the war’s polluted planet and he needed our help.” Tom said calmly,“We need to go.”

Running and running through this dark underground passage was not anything exciting. It was exhausting for Tanner, who never really exercised but he somehow looked “fit”. The other men were running with ease and looked as if it was just a nice walk around the park. The group finally stops after running for some hours. Mark takes the light and shines it for Mr. Ferdinand to look at something on the wall and then back at the map. The wall had a lever, red and rusted. There was an outline along the wall, shaped like a rounded door. The men nodded at one another and Mark began to fight with the lever, until the door cracked open and the light flooded us. All seven of them squinted and covered their eyes. The light felt hot and stung their dark sensitive eyes. Once their eyes were comfortably burning they stepped outside. Tanner’s first time outside of the walls and gates. What Tanner was about to see was going to shock him into cardiac arrest if he was not careful. The vast landscape took Tanner’s breath away and froze him in place as he looked at all of it. There were dusty rocks jutting from the ground and then trees which held clusters of green leaves on each branch and the scattered orange flower. There was no sign of life there was not much but red dirt beneath Tanner’s shoes. The sky was not like Earth’s. You could see there were other planets or moons or suns much closer. Tanner counted five other masses that he could see and they looked magnificent. “HALT”, yelled someone from behind the group. They all slowly turned around to see three Safe Keepers behind them with large guns coming out of the door they had just left. There was some whispering amongst the men and then Mark looked at Tanner and then darted his eyes towards the large rock. Tanner knew what he was saying without him even having to say it. He ran towards the rock and this stirred up a commotion and shots were being fired. Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom. Tanner was hit and he could feel himself falling down into a hole he could not escape. The feeling of ending with so much beginning terrified him. He could see the sky and it’s five masses and the beauty calmed him and he fell deeper and deeper until he was gone. The adventure of his new world was to never be and he was to forever have to be satisfied with the answer to his biggest question: What was behind the four walls and the four gates?