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'Addiction'
The three officers opened the outer airlock door leading to the house. They waited for the standard green light to flash, and then removed their oxygen helmets before knocking.
A blonde woman with thin hair opened the inner door. She pointed to the bedroom. “He’s been locked in there for ten days! He won’t go to work. We haven’t any credits remaining, and there’s no more food in the house. You have to do something!”
“Nature Channel?” asked an officer.
“What the hell do you think?” The scraggly woman turned away and screamed at the bedroom. “It’s the police, Eugene! Now you’re in for it!”
“Stand aside, ma’am.”
The police kicked down the door as if it were made of balsa and dragged Eugene Daniels from the bedroom. He was unshaven and bleary-eyed.
His wife pushed her way past everyone and shut off the television with an angry blow, nearly breaking it. A picture of green fields and a river slowly faded to black.
While two of the officers held Daniels firmly, the third forced an oxygen helmet over his head and led him outside.
There was not a trace of green anywhere. The sky was a pale yellow, with crumbling buildings that stretched for miles and air thick with the smell of acid and slow death.
The End
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