I slammed the "Refused" stamp eight hundred times today. I watch the mass of complaints next to me, my head falls on my desk with a grunt of frustration.

"Ugh... I didn't want my career to be like this." I mumbled.

I stamp REFUSED and look at the following complaint on the pile of complaints on my desk. I look away as a frustrated sigh leaves my body, feeling powerless as the number of these complaints just increases. Jorge, a co-worker, arrives bearing another pile of complaints.

"Ughhh,more?" I said.

He chuckled and slammed them down on my desk.

"A lot of folks have a lot of complaints," he said.

"Complaints that we never make right." I. rebutted.

"Complaints we can't make right."

"When was the last time I actually picked up this accepted stamp?" When was the last time we did? I asked, and he opened his mouth but didn't speak for a moment. When he finally seemed to find the words, the sound of dozens of footsteps running outside my office stopped him. We looked at each other and walked away from the room. Dozens of people from various ranks ran in front of us; I reached out and caught the shoulder of one of the lower ranks.

"What is going on?!" I demanded. The young man turned to me, slightly startled.

"They found something out in the fields. "Some of us brought it in." He said

"Found? Found what?" Jorge asked.

"Well, just come and see." He told me before to run after everybody. We both decided to join the hustle and bustle and follow the tide; once we reached the source of the disturbance, we drew closer for a better look.

"What is it?" I wondered in shock.

"I don't know," said Jorge, as shocked as I was. The source of our perplexity was the great box in front of us, standing at least 10 feet tall. If the teared blue wood was something to pass, then it had seen a few years. What was most perplexing were the strange symbols on various parts of it; the most noticeable was "POLICE BOX," whatever that meant. Some others approached holding metal bands and hammers; two of them began to try to hammer the windows or force the doors. Before I could stop them in case they damaged the thing, a loud whistling drew everyone's collective attention. A dozen men, each dressed in a silvery grey uniform opposite our dark green, stood a few metres away. The department of integrity A tall, pudgy man stepped forward and coughed into his fist.

"We will be taking this, I'm afraid." He said it dryly. Disapproving sounds came from all sides of the crowd.

"We found the thing! "Why can't we keep it!?"

A random voice called. Cries of agreement punctuated his question. The paunch man signed with a roll of his eyes.

"Governor Chalice has ordered any suspicious objects or people to be acquired." He said. The crowd seemed to calm down, but by no means were they happy with this. Once he was sure, he stepped closer towards the box, which caused one of the more disgruntled employees to step in his path. With a motion of his hand, one of the other men stepped forward and jammed a metal tube into his stomach. The employee gagged and fell to the floor clutching his own stomach.

"Anyone else who tries what he did will be detained, registered, and charged with obstruction." The paunch man yelled out to the crowd. This seemed to be enough to get everyone spooked. Soon the crowd had dispersed and the box was taken away.

"Unfortunately, with the rise of people moving into cities, the amount of complaints is only going to increase." Now, subsection A-7 has had a particular increase; Stefan, you are the newly appointed sector chief; what's yours? Stefan?" My boss's attempts at calling my name when unnoticed by me My mind focused on what had occurred earlier.

"Stefan!" He screamed inches from my face.

"Oh! "Um, yes, sir?" I finally realised he had been calling me.

"Not paying attention, are we?" I'll see about that." He said, grabbing the file I left on my seat.

"A young man was arrested on charges of "public disruption"; two members of his family later came to the district station and demanded to see him." and they were obviously denied. Hmmm, oh look, they're from the suburbs. Say, Stefan, you've never been on any expeditions outside the city. I think now is a golden opportunity. "You will join the ministers on a trip to our dear citizens to detain them." He said smugly.

"Why would we detain them if they haven't done anything wrong?"

"No, but a member of their kin has, and if their situations are similar, they could cause some serious problems." You will go.

"But it's not even our department!"

"You are going, end of!" He said this before turning and speaking to several others in the department.

I tugged on the tightly bound metal chest piece they had strapped me in. For my own protection, they said.

"Stop playing with it." "You'll make it come apart," an ageing man had said. He was in charge of this little expedition; I can't recall his name.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit nervous." I chuckled, scowled deeply at her, and turned away.

"Just my luck, I thought in the battle of the five regents and now I'm stuck with snot-nosed brats like you." He mumbled to him. I thought it would be better to keep any thoughts to myself. After a few minutes, we arrived at the location. The five of us stepped out of the truck and marched up to the house.

"You can do the honors," the mission chief said, shoving me towards the door. I coughed and knocked on the door harshly. A face peeked through the window before retreating; the sound of running could be heard inside.

"Move." He said, shoving me out of the way. He lifted his boot and smashed down the door. Inside where to people. an elderly man and woman. The ministers around me rushed and grabbed the two of them, holding them to the floor.

"You two are under arrest on charges of association with a public menace," he said, taking two pairs of handcuffs off his belt.

"On what? "We were only here to detain them." I said

"It doesn't matter; we're here to keep the peace," was said. The cuffs clicked onto their wrists. I noticed that the woman had been looking at the stairs behind them for quite a while now. Unfortunately, so had he. He turned to look at the stairwell and moved towards it.

"No! Don't go up there! The man yelled. This not only prompted the chief to speed up his approach, but it also prompted me to follow him. The two of us entered another room upstairs; the small bedroom was empty. The only sign anyone had been there was the cold, wet towel and the pile of used bandages. The chief growled and stormed down the stairs. I just stayed looking at the pile of bandages.

"Who was here!?" I could hear him yell.

"W-what?" A feminine voice responded.

"Who was here?!" He screamed. Nothing but silence

"Take them out of here!" I could hear him stomp up the stairs behind me.

"What are you doing just standing about!" He asked

"What colour is our blood?" I asked softly.

"What?"

"What colour is our blood?"

"Green obviously."

"And are there any animals with red blood?"

"No, of course not," he asked, growing more and more confused. I picked up the used bandage and held it in front of me.

"Then what the hell is this?" the bloody red bandage shocking us both.

end chapter