Chapter 3 – Frozen
Claude Speed, Ghost Town, Liberty City, 2019
Claude and Sanchez were handcuffed and loaded into the back of one of the police cars and they had there bag of money taken away from them. The car began towards the tunnel and into Shoreside Vale. Within a few minutes they were facing the door of Liberty City Prison.
"Hey" Claude said to the policeman taking him out of the car "don't we get a court case?"
"Why?" the policeman said "so fifteen policeman can all say, yep you robbed the bank and the evidence is a bag of money with your fingerprints on it, you'll be going in prison for a long stretch, until we think you're ready to come back into society"
The large gates of the prison were suddenly opened and they were led in by a prison guard.
"Would you like to go straight to the cells or to the lounge and meet the other prisoners?" the prison guard asked
"We'd like to go to the lounge first" Claude replied
They were led into a lounge where everyone was sitting watching a television. It was on Zaibatsu TV.
"Damn, I'll miss tha election tomorrow homie" Sanchez said
"Isn't the election every four years?" Claude asked
"No, remember when Alex Shrub got in power in 2016 homie, he changed it to every three years, the elections tomorrow, we won't be able to vote" Sanchez said
Claude and Sanchez began watching Zaibatsu TV and there was a news report with some news reporter.
"And tomorrow there's an election and as you may or may not know Zaibatsu TV's owner Red Valdez is taking a run for the presidency, so here is his last speech to try and convince you to vote for the Zaibatsu party, speaking from Capitol City"
The camera switched to a Cuban looking man with a slight beard and a big scar down his right cheek in a smart white suit talking from a chest-high desk.
"Hello Zaibatsu TV viewers, as you may know tomorrow I'm facing my first election, so I'm here to give a rundown of some Zaibatsu policies" the man said "my first policy is I'm going to ban all cities in America, instead of hundreds of little cities I'm going to build one big large city which will cut down on carbon monoxide emissions, secondly as you may know I also work in the field of pharmaceuticals and medical technology, a friend of mine named Dr. LaBrat has found the first way to cryogenically freeze humans, if I become president that is the first thing I will introduce to the nation, it will cost a lot but if you think it is worth it it's there, we will introduce cryogenic plants instead of prisons to keep prisoners, instead of keeping them in stone cells with metal bars where there is a chance they may escape, we will freeze them. That is all; please vote for Zaibatsu party tomorrow"
"That guy is now facing the election, he already owns the pharmaceuticals, all of America's media and now he's trying to own America" Claude said
"Ya homie, but I don't think he'll get in power" Sanchez said
"But Sanchez" Claude said "look at some of his policies, he wants to ban cities and live in one large city with less carbon monoxide emissions, I think they'll do pretty well in votes, they might not get in power but they'll certainly get quite high votes"
Claude and Sanchez then asked to be led to our cells which were up a few floors from the lounge; the cell was tiny and had bars along the front and window, it had a tiny bunk bed with uncomfortable looking mattresses and pillow.
Claude took the lower bunk and Sanchez took the bunk bed at the top. He took off his black jacket which revealed a white shirt. Claude then tried to raise a conversation with Sanchez.
"Do you think we were set up today Sanchez?" Claude asked
"Come on me homie, I think we were, a dozen fking policeman don't appear out of thin air like that" Sanchez replied
"I wonder what Lee is doing right now?" Claude asked
"He's probably in amazement at how he was so lucky escaping, I don't blame tha homie for escaping when seeing tha police, he wouldn't have got us out of tha place rápido so its better one of us not in prison than all of us in prison, unfortunately our fate is to be trapped in this concrete prison, Lee's fate must be freedom"
"You believe in fate then Sanchez?" Claude asked
"I believe in fate Claude my homie, and I think if Zaibatsu win tha election there is only certainly evil fate ahead, I never trust a gangster as the president" Sanchez said
"How about Alex Shrub, he's a gangster?" Claude asked
"I don't see him as a gangster homie; he's just stupid; however Red Valdez is smart and knows how to use propaganda effectively, no matter how many pros he tells tha people there gonna get, the cons will always out way it" Sanchez replied
They continued there conversation for an hour or so but then tiredness fell over them so they got into their uncomfortable beds and fell into a deep sleep and dreamed about the long unexpected day they had just finished.
The next morning Claude was awoken by a guard who told him someone was here to see him. So he immediately got up and followed the guard down the stairs into a room where the person would be sitting. Inside the room was his father Vince Speed. The guard showed him in and then shut the door.
"Hello son" Vince said "how are you doing?"
"Fine Dad" Claude replied
"I'm sort of depressed that you are in prison, why didn't you tell me you were going to do a robbery?" Vince asked
"Because you would've told me to call it off" Claude replied
"And wouldn't that have been a good thing?" Vince asked
"Probably, but it's not the sort of thing you talk about over dinner, oh by the way my three friends and I are going to rob a bank, is that okay, it was between us, a little bit of money to help us" Claude said
"You could've asked me for money, I get more money than the banks some day's from owning a franchise of Ammunation" Vince said
"Yeah, but there's a difference, if I borrowed from you I would have to pay it back, this would be cold hard cash, we would have no-one to pay to" Claude said
"But look where it got you son, you didn't even succeed in the robbery" Vince said "and today if the Zaibatsu party get in today there going to cryogenically freeze all prisoners, so this might be the last time I see you if they get in"
"Just try and make your vote count father" Claude said before saying goodbye and walking back to his cell.
It was 8pm later that day and Claude couldn't believe his eyes. He was watching the screen of the television on Zaibatsu TV and in big letters at the bottom of the screen was 'ZAIBATSU PARTY WIN ELECTION!' and there was a speech about to begin.
The half Cuban man with a scar Red Valdez came onto the screen with a delighted smile in celebration. He walked up to the same chest-high desk.
"I'd like to thank the people of America who voted for me, most importantly the viewers of Zaibatsu TV who were obviously inspired by my speech yesterday, I can tell you those policies will be carried out as soon as possible, in fact cryogenic plants will open tomorrow and a random prisoner from each prison in prisons all over America will be frozen, the new city has already been planned and workers will start to build it tomorrow morning, we will reveal later when the city shall be open to the public, my friend and vie president Uno Carboni shall name it, tomorrow I shall move into the White House, I shall now reveal the symbol of the Zaibatsu Party" Red said
He pulled up a card that had a star symbol on it, but it was slightly different, the bottom of the star was in the shape of an inner horseshoe, and there was a small triangle cut out of the top of the star. It was the same as the star of Zaibatsu Pharmaceuticals and Zaibatsu Media.
Claude and Sanchez stood back in terror at how this lunatic had won the election and quickly walked up to their cell.
"How could a lunatic like that win an election homie?" Sanchez asked as they prepared to go to bed
"As you said yesterday evening Sanchez clever use of propaganda" Claude said
"I'm gonna go to bed early if ya don't mind homie, I don't even want to think what tomorrows America under Red Valdez is going to be like, I'm gonna saviour tha last few hours under Alex Shrub in my sleep" Sanchez replied
The next morning Claude was suddenly awoken by two men dressed in black that he had never seen in his life shouting wake up punk.
"Wake up punk!" the other man was shouting at the top of his voice at Sanchez until he woke up
"Now guess what" one of the men in black said "you two have been picked as the two from this prison to be cryogenically frozen, you may take this or another choice which is you can be taken out of prison and join the ZPF: the Zaibatsu Police Force and see normal life again"
"I'm going to be frozen" Claude said "I'm not joining your Police Force"
"So be it" the man in black said
"How about you?" he asked Sanchez
"I will join tha ZPF I suppose" Sanchez said
"Guess what sir, your going to be the first prisoner to be cryogenically frozen" the man said to Claude "since Red Valdez was originally from Liberty City he decided to let them be first"
"I'm glad both your decisions are made then, I'll take this one" the other man in black said pointing to Claude "you take the one with the beard"
The guard in black took Claude down the stairs to the main corridor and past the lounge. Then he opened a door leading off the corridor which he had never been in and into another long corridor. There was a lot or journalists and television reporters walking about. The guard stopped Claude in front of one of the television reporters with a camera and nodded.
"Hello may we have an interview for Zaibatsu TV?" the reporter asked
"Yes" Claude said
"What is your name" the reporter asked
"Claude Speed" Claude replied
"Hello Claude, what was your crime?" the reporter asked
"I tried to rob a bank" Claude replied
"So how do feel about being cryogenically frozen?" the reporter questioned
"Terrible" Claude answered "but it was either that or joining the ZPF"
"I'm aware you're facing a one hundred year sentence" the reporter added
"I wasn't" Claude replied
"So how do you think the year 2119 will be like?" the reporter questioned
"I'm sure Zaibatsu will still be in power" Claude said
"Thank you for the optimism" the reporter added "that will be all"
He was led off with the guard in black to a small room where there were hundreds of little cryogenic chambers. Claude walked into the chamber as the nation watched and were probably muttering his name as one of the people who was to be cryogenically frozen. The tiny chamber door closed and he could fell the temperature going down. He then felt himself lose consciousness with the icy temperature a minute later under the conscious eye of Zaibatsu TV.