The Solution Read Online Free Page A

back and took a breath he put his hands over ears in hopes of drowning out the hellish noise, yet the distortions kept increasing in volume until they eventually formed into a single, concentrated male voice.
    The voice said, “You’re under control.” 
    “What!”
    Then it was like channels repeatedly changed in his mind until a female voice came in, though her sentences were choppy and broken, “Operator, we’re experiencing interference . . . Is that necessary . . . not sure I can . . .”
    The o perator, a wiry male voice, responded brusquely, “Follow orders.”
    A battle of voices began.
    “We’ve lost him.”
    “I’m dispatching Tetrax.”
    “Leave there. Leave there now, Randal. Go.”  
    Whether for fear or an attempt to maintain a sense of sanity, Randal pushed himself up from the floor, his head continuing to pound with the transmissions, having no idea why they were there or what in particular they could really be. He ran out of his apartment, down the stairwell four stories and eventually onto the streets and into the festival. 
    Now Randal made a clumsy beeline toward an alleyway through the floods of people, thinking he had just opened his eyes underwater because everyone seemed to smudge into light-stained inkblots. His thoughts continued clashing like steel beams and he imagined his body smashing between them. He attempted to clear his head and put back together the mangled image of himself, but his mind was constantly twisting and reality itself seemed to morph into something phantasmagoric and terrible.
    As he lumbered onward Dr. Reverence’s voice floated down from above, cutting t hrough the cacophony in his mind and the roars of Lupercalia. She was beyond loud; she ruled all sound. Randal looked up to where the psychotherapist displayed on a holographic billboard, commencing the usual Solution cautionary speech:
    “Welcome, you will find all your necessities are in order. This is Lupercalia. Remember, no cash . If you see anyone using this illegal means of exchange, it’s your civic duty to report them to your local Solution operatives. Live your dreams well with us, for all our resources are yours.” 
    Dr. Reverence’s voice soothed him momentarily, but it wasn’t enough. Randal made it to the alleyway, walking into the blackness and disappearing within it, the rumble of the festival dampening behind him. Woozy, Randal sat down and leaned against the alley wall. He stared into the blackness, hoping maybe either silence or sheer oblivion would come but instead he heard more voices inside his skull repeating his name. They would not stop.
    “They’re coming for you.”
    Concentrating on the acidic burn in his throat and the yearning in his veins for something, though he couldn’t tell what, Randal began passing out. It seemed to be the better option.
    The universe unravels to reveal its abomination. Those words echoed in Randal’s head as he went under. Two minutes went by but it could have been an eternity for all Randal knew. “Wake up, man! You’re going through it! You’re almost done. You’ve been streaming the All.”
    Randal heard the voi ce distantly, and understood it, and he wondered what the All could be. It sounded like Randal surfaced from underwater, coming closer to shore until he woke, groggy, head pounding, still lying in the black alleyway and Lupercalia booming a ways out with an ambient cadence. Life had become a vicious anomaly. Randal had asked for none of it. He already didn’t want it. Where was his normality? Where was his couch? His sweet tea? His TV? His nerves grew worse, his fear and confusion intoxicating.
    “Randal. Tetrax has been ordered to kill you!” the little voice inside his head yelled. “We’re coming to get you. We’re on our way.”
    “Go away!” Randal screamed. “I didn’t do anything! I want tea!” He wasn’t sure exactly why he’d thought of tea.
    He propped himself up and set his back against the wal l, attempting to