Chapter 10: Big Surprise

Dave and the boys took Simon through almost every clothing store in the mall. Simon admitted feeling better once he was out of the school uniform. He walked out of one of the stores with a blue sweater, black jeans, and red sneakers. In the shopping bag he carried his old uniform in. The intelligent chipmunk didn't even bother to fold it neatly. He just rolled them up in a ball and stuffed it in the bag. In the next store Alvin and Theodore noticed Simon eying a black leather jacket, so they convinced Dave to buy it for him...sort of a belated birthday/Christmas gift. After trying it on, Simon had to admit that it looked good. They were about to go into another store when a female's voice called out to Simon. All of them turned to see who it is. A young female red-headed chipmunk came running up to them.

"Hi Renee!" Simon called back.

Instead of her school uniform, Renee wore a red t-shirt and tight blue jeans. "Simon!" she said as she gave Simon a big hug. "I almost didn't recognize you without your uniform on!"

Simon laughs while he returns her hug, "You know, I almost didn't recognize you either." He then pulls back, placing one arm around Renee's shoulder and gestures the other one towards his family "You remember my brothers, Alvin and Theodore, and my dad, Dave!"

"Of course!" She answers while holding out her own hand to give a proper handshake to Simon's family. "My mother is over there with Tom's dad over in the food court. Tom is out side for some fresh air." And closer to Simon's ear, she whispered, "Want to join us?"

Simon smiled out of the corner of his mouth and turned towards his family. "Ah, I'll be right back; I just need to go talk to Renee and Tom for a minute."

"Ok, Simon, we'll meet you at the food court." Dave said.

Simon handed his shopping bag to Theodore and ran off with Renee. When Simon and Renee caught up to Tom outside Simon noticed that he too no longer wore his uniform either. Tom wore a black shirt and black jeans. He held a cigarette up to his lips and breathed it in, and then when he blew out a puff of smoke he noticed Simon and Renee. "Hi guys!"

As soon as Renee stopped beside Tom she took a cigarette from his package and lit it up. Simon puts his hand in his inner jacket pockets when he suddenly came to a realization. "Oh man," he groaned.

"What's wrong, Simon?" Tom asked.

"I forgot my pack at home!" Simon said, sheepishly.

"No problem, you can borrow one of mine!" Tom said, handing over his package.

Simon looks at the small package for a moment before taking one of the cigarettes out. His mind drifts back to a moment on the island.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

THREE YEARS AGO (Two years and three months after arriving on the Island.)

Simon was walking down the hall heading for the 'study hall' along side him was his friends Brian, Brenda and Renee. Tom was assigned on a special project and would soon catch up to them as soon as he could. They each still had visible scars and bruises from their 'punishment' on trying to escape the Island a few weeks ago. They were lucky to be still alive and to be given a second chance. Still, it would be a while before they would trust anyone from the Island, 'student' or not.

As soon as Simon and the others sit down with their books a tone goes off and one of the supervisors slowly begin to close the door. Tom makes it into the room before it was too late. The female human glared at him as she closed the door the rest of the way.

"Another few seconds and you would have been in been trouble!" She said.

"I know I'm sorry!" Tom said, trying to look as apologetic as possible. He still bared a black eye from his beating, though the swelling had gone down quite a bit. As soon as he turned away from her a proud mischievous grin grew on his face, and then looked up towards his friends that sat at 'their' table.

When Tom reached the table, he immediately took his seat and again smiled at them. "I have good news!" He said. "I have found a way to get out of study hall for a while."

"What? How?" Renee asked as she still rubbed her sore wrist when she had her arm nearly twisted off during their 'punishment'.

"We'll have to wait a while, but just follow my lead."

The supervisor heard the young chipmunks whispering and stood up. "There will be no more talking, study period begins…now!" Then she sat back down to continue her own studding.

Simon and the others would know these supervisors and most of the children in the room have become 'zombies', children that had sir-come to the brainwashing of some of these so-called-classes lead by the Founder called Mr. Grafton. It sadden them to know that the young woman in front of the room was once a care free child taken away from her home and brought here to be changed into a lifeless being. It made no difference that she now knows everything that there is to know about everything about the universe.

The kids were about a quarter of the way done with their studies, when Tom tapped on his book to grab the attention of his friends. Simon and the others looked up at him and he smiled and gave them a knowingly nod and all five chipmunks moved slowly to the front.

The female supervisor looked up at them with a cold blank look on her face. "What are you kids doing out of your seats?" She snapped.

"We require a smoke break." Tom said while pulling out a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket.

The supervisor rolled her eyes back and sighed. "Very well, you will report back in a half hour."

The children were surprised that they managed to get out of study hall. Simon remembered a time when he wouldn't mind being in study hall, but these days he'd rather do anything then school work. The last two years had been stressful, thankfully his newfound friends felt the same way and together they discovered ways to get around without going insane.

Even though they had been caught a few times…none, though, was worse when they had been caught from trying to escape. They actually attempting to flee off the Island on a boat they had made by hand and in secret. It had all been set, and it was perfect. Except the fact they had shared this secret escape with another child on the Island. How would they have known that this boy, who actually helped them build and gather supplies for their boat, was actually a spy for the Founders? It was going to be from now on that they were not going to trust anyone else on the Island except each other.

As soon as the chipmunks were outside, Simon could finally ask his question. "Where did you get those? Are we actually going to smoke them?"

Tom turned and smiled at him, "You'll see! Come on, I will introduce you guys to some new friends." He started to run ahead and stopped when he noticed his friends was not following him. "What?" He asked in confusion.

"Tom? Don't you remember the last time we trusted one of the other students from this Island?" Renee whined.

"Yea, dude. This happened!" Brian reminded his friend as he pointed to a large bandage still on his head. He will forever remember the savvier beating he received that nearly gave him a major concussion.

"Brian's right, how do you know these people you are about to introduce us to could be trust worthy?" Brenda questioned.

"Guys I know the last plan was, well, a major disaster." Tom started explaining.

"Yea, which nearly got us all killed!" Simon retorted angrily. He rubbed his sore ribcage from when one of the Founders kicked him. Simon was just grateful that his ribs were only bruised and did not break during the 'punishment'.

"As I was saying…" Tom continued in a defensive tone. "These people are different. They can help us, trust me ok?" And with that he started running towards the forest. Simon and the others all looked at each other then shook their heads before deciding to follow Tom into the forest.

The kids found themselves out of sight from the school and began to wonder where exactly where they were heading. Just then they saw someone with dark hair poke her head up from behind some bushes.

"It's alright!" She said with a New Zealand accent as she turned her face away towards who ever sat behind her. "It's just Tom and his friends!"

The kids found a small path and made it in the hidden smoking pit. There sat four teenagers about the ages of 16 to 18 years.

"Guys this is Mary-Anne, Jeff, Rob and Mark. They are experts on finding loop holes and getting out from being controlled by the Founders." Tom said. "They told me that they have been watching us for the past two years, and were really impressed with our recent near escape from this place. Now they want to help us."

The four chipmunks seemed reluctant to trust these four teenagers so quickly. The female human teen realized this and decided to explain the situation further.

"First if you want to take a brake and get out of those so-called-classes is to be a smoker!" Mary-Anne said, not wasting any time. "I know it goes back on what you once believed in, but they're going to test you to see if you do smoke and if they find out you've been lying to get out of class they will punish you more severely then a mere slash on the wrist…as you have sorely found out, recently?" She finished with a look of pity to the chipmunk's latest experience.

"As you know the chemicals in our brain has been altered, so that we can think three times faster then any 'brilliant mind' on the planet." Jeff, the boy with blond hair said. "It is also works as a 'self-destruct' system. We realized that it is designed to cause sever pain and suffering if we ever strayed away from this place. That is why we need to eat the substance you like to call the 'slop'. The 'slop' that they feed us helps control the chemicals in our brains in our brains by dissolving into our cells without actually having to digest it."

Mark, the oriental, blows out a puff of smoke and adds. "We found that liquids are something we can take into our system without any problems. When we are in the outside world for a longer visit we find that water and sometimes juice works as a temporary solution."

"You mean, you guys have been off this Island and gone…out there?" Renee said, pointing out towards the ocean.

"Yep!" Rob, the one with the dark goat-tee answered. "We go out, gather info, bring it back and give it to Grafton, the head Founder here. He is also a member of an organization called the Illuminati. We discovered that he is planning on using every child on this island to start some kind of psychic war on the rest of society."

"What do they do with the information you bring them? What are the Illuminati? And what do you mean by a psychic war?" Simon asked.

"They use it to find kids with high I.Q.'s, like you and every other kid on this Island. And the Illuminati are an exclusive society that, believe it or not, is controlling 79% of the world. We are just the latest 'project' in their organization in a future attempt for ultimate control on the people of Earth 100%. By raising our brain power we are able to tap into more than just 10% of our brain and use the part that can actually control the weaker brains of society." Jeff answered.

Simon and the others stared at their new friends in shock. All the older teens could do was to hang their heads, knowing that they had no choice for the things they do.

"Anyway, we don't have much time; we'll be able to tell you more secrets about this place another time. In the meantime, you kids better start learning how to smoke!" Mary-Anne said.

Tom pulls out the package of smokes and hands one to each of his friends. Simon was hesitant to take one.

"Come on, Simon! Don't back out now, we need you with us!" Tom said with a nervous tone. "They've taken our freedom, but they won't take our minds, right?"

"What have I got to lose?" Simon said, slowly taking a cigarette. "Not my mind!" He began to hold the cigarette up to his lips as Mary-Anne lit it up for him.

Simon looked into Mary-Anne's eyes and for some reason felt protected by her. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, then attempted his first drag. It wasn't as bad as he'd thought, sure he chocked for a bit, but so did Tom and the others. After a couple of tries they all got the hang of it.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Simon inhaled another drag of his cigarette, pulled it away and blew out a puff of smoke between his lips. He wouldn't admit it to anybody, not even to his friends, but he enjoyed the odd cigarette now and then. In some cases it had nothing to do with getting out of the classes on the Island, but even in the middle of the night when they were suppose to be sleeping he'd sneak out to have a smoke. Sometimes his friends would join him; usually he'd go out so he could to be alone. He looked up at his friends and noticed they looked tired and worried.

"Are you guys doing all right?" He asked.

"We can't live like this, you know!" Renee whined.

"If we don't do something there is the possibility that we could all die in a few weeks. Including Brian and Brenda!" Tom added.

"What if we came up with a cure? I'm sure we could do it! I mean we are supposed to be smarter then any best 'brilliant minds' on the planet with our altered brain waves!" Simon said, trying to keep his friends hopes up.

Tom looks at him for a moment while taking another breath of his cigarette and blows out a puff of smoke. "I suppose it's worth a shot!" He finally said.

Simon took another drag of his cigarette – not aware of a familiar figure approaching them. Alvin came around the corner as Simon exhaled, blowing smoke into the air.

"Simon, we were just won…uh?" Alvin did a double take, as he couldn't believe his eyes. Yet another one of Simon's secrets revealed.

Simon gave a look like a deer caught in headlights. He could now hear his brother's thoughts and without words being exchanged Simon could tell that Alvin would never let this down. Of all the lectures Simon gave Alvin about smoking and other bad stuff that people do, now here he is doing exactly what he once protested against. Tension filled the scene, even Renee and Tom had been affected by this moment. Finally Simon had to turn away from his brother with an awkward glance up at the sky. "Oh, man!" Simon moaned.