"The Runner"
written by Matthew Stell
Inspired by the novel "Logan's Run"
written by William F. Nolan & George C. Johnson
Prologue
The seeds of the Little War were planted in a restless summer in the mid-1960's, with sit-ins and the student demonstrations as youth tested its strength. By the early 1970's, over 75% of the people living on Earth were under 21 years of age. The population continued to climb, and with it, the youth percentage.
In the 1980's, the population was 79.7%.
In the 1990's, 82.4%.
In the year 2000: critical mass.
To control the population, governments came together to form an idea.
Whenever a child was born, he or she would have a stone implanted in their right hand. Every seven years, the stone would change colors. On the day before their twenty-first birthday, the stone would flash red and black. This would come to be known as "Lastday". On Lastday, the stone would turn black, and the person would report to a government sanctioned building to be euthanized. These buildings would be known as "SleepShops".
As expected, there were those who did not wish to be forcefully laid to rest, and decided to go into hiding to avoid such a fate. These people came to be known as "Runners".
To combat this defiance, a police force was created; men and women trained from adolescence to become hunters. They would come to be known as "Deep Sleep Operatives", or, as they were known on the streets, "Sandmen". Sandmen were trained in a variety of ways, ranging from simple detective work, to parkour, to a special form of martial arts called "Omnite". When a person ran, a team of Sandmen were sent to retrieve them and bring them to a SleepShop.
But not even Sandmen were excluded from reporting to SleepShops on their Lastday. The only difference between them and commoners was the fact that most Sandmen felt that sacrificing themselves was a great honor.
Most, but not all...
This is the story of one particular Sandman. A Sandman by the name of Sam 23.
Gotham Plaza Apartments,
Haven City, 2116
The air was stale in the lobby of the Plaza, and it didn't get much better in the elevator. Sam crinkled his nose, trying to distinguish the scent. "Sweat," he said aloud. He turned to Luke 2.
"What?" he asked.
"The smell," said Sam. "It's sweat."
"What's your point?"
"Just making an observation."
Luke scoffed and turned his attention forward. He hit the button for the seventeenth floor as he mumbled, "You need to focus." Sam
was focused. He'd gone through the motions in his head dozens of times just on the drive there.
Judah Sanderson, he thought.
Twenty-one years old today. Failed to report to the the SleepShop yesterday. Presumed to be armed and dangerous. But Sam wasn't worried. Sam had faced plenty of men like Judah Sanderson. This guy was no problem.
No problem at all, he thought to himself as the doors opened.
Luke stepped out first. In one apartment down the hall, they could hear dogs barking; in another, a baby crying. They turned left and passed 6 doors before stopping at Sanderson's apartment. Luke and Sam looked at each other, and Luke nodded for Sam to knock. He rapped three times and waited five seconds. They looked at each other and Sam shrugged. Luke banged on the door another three times. Still, there was no response.
Sam knew what Luke was going to say before he said it. He reached for the Gun he had in his hip holster. It'd been a while since he'd had to actually
use it, and even then he'd only had to use the Homer. The Gun really was a nifty little gadget. Created in the middle of the 21st century, the Gun's purpose was to provide DSO's with LTL(Less Than Lethal) takedowns. The Homer was the most widely used round. Once fired, the round would lock onto a target and follow through with an electrical charge. Sam had only used the other round on one occasion, and that was at the beginning of his career.
He had been charged with taking in a Runner named Vanessa Harlow, who had a young daughter named Zoey. Harlow had just turned twenty-one when the DSO's came to her home. When they found her, she had Zoey in a headlock and an unlicensed Gun to her own head. After an hour of trying to calm her, she put the Gun to Zoey's head. Sam had no choice but to put her down. The image and sound of Zoey's crying over her mother's lifeless body still haunted him.
Back in the present, Luke reached for his own Gun. He and Sam looked at each other, and Sam yelled, "Judah Sanderson!" No response. He continued. "This is officer Sam 23, from the New Haven SleepShop! Surrender quietly, or we will be inclined to use force!" Still no response.
The two nodded, and as they brought their legs up to kick the door in, an explosive blast blew a hole in the door just between their heads. They both ducked to each side of the door and brought their pistols up in the ready position. Luke looked at Sam in a mixture of annoyance and confusion.
"Son of a bitch has a Gun," he said calmly.