EDIT: Because of the large word count, I had to split the chapter in two parts. I will post part 2 as soon as this one gets more critique. Sorry if it feels like I've left you hanging.
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CHAPTER 1: P1
It's at a dead place, today's raid. They called it a mall before the Division--a place that was supposed to be bustling with teenagers hanging out with friends, and other shoppers looking for a time-out from life. That was back when time-outs could be afforded. Back when shopping was possible and no one had to worry about randomly stabbing themselves in the heart, or drinking a vial of poison, or jumping off a cliff, plunging towards death.
Suicide had been rare back in the day.
I step over a chunk of ceiling that looks like it collapsed at least three years ago. The spiders have a well maintained domain over the crumbling gray cement and scurry about as my heavy boot descends upon years of hard work. That right there is the story of life outside the city of Globe. The Sectors work and work for God knows how many generations, until the Globe comes down and tramples us all with their so-called superior technology.
Gabriel's voice echoes back to me through the humongous space of the second level of this complex.
"Lena!" He calls my name from inside one of the badly beaten down stores. The glass showcasing is smashed out and the shards crunched down to sparkling dust. Same thing with the beauty salon next door, and a Goodwill branch after that.
Five years. The glass would need that much time to achieve its current state.
I make my way through the mess, dating anything I can set my eyes on, trying to find something that matches the age of seven. Seven years of this wandering, serving the lowest of both Sectors: the once rebellious, now warriors of the Globe forced into submission. Seven years since my life has ended. This breathing and pounding of my heart isn't reality. I know one day I'm going to wake up and find my two favourite people in the world standing above me, one grinning with the golden halo surrounding his head and the other looking bored and tired of my games and as always managing to annoy the hell out of me. Jem and Lethan, the brothers, the companions of my childhood. The only other miracle humans born with the Golden Moon, and because of this, separated from me and sent away to be shared with the others, just as I was sent here.
On days when I'm particularly miserable--tired of the day long raids on the far fringes of the Globe, hiding and running from the hunting dogs and some strange motion detecting technology only the Globe possesses--the other option gets stuck in my head. The idea that maybe I will never wake up. Or worse, I am already awake. The first seven years of my life have been nothing but a sweet, unforgettable dream in which the three of us spent hours and hours running across the flat Ruin Fields and skipping stones over the majestic green lake as twilight descends, eliminating all the burden from our then fragile shoulders.
We called them just the Fields because to us, the toxic waste littering the once-upon-a-time-city was invisible, lost to the haze of being happy. But to keep ourselves amused we never forgot the ruin part. It made for good detective games, wandering the Fields searching for fragments of our ancestors' past.
"There's nothing but dust here," I say kicking down the empty cardboard box that must've held precious food once.
Gabriel looks tired and hopeless but manages to lift up the lid of the white box that must be what they called a freezer. It no longer sends up puffs of cold smoke so I know before he does that there is nothing of value inside. Outside the store, I hear some of the other men and women from our raiding team, scuffling around for anything worth dragging back to the village. We've travelled further this time than ever before, risking not only the wrath of the Globe if they found us, but also the possibility of a disappointment greater than any before. And although the former did not worry me just then, the latter could be seen in the hard lines of Gabe's face.
"We keep looking until sunset," he says letting the heavy lid fall close with an angry thump. I nod and meet his eyes. They are tight with worry--worry about returning empty handed to the villagers waiting for fresh spoils to be used at the Holiday. Worry about more deaths from starvation on top of the ever growing rate of the Blight. Worry about the future of his people, who grow weaker and weaker everyday, the Globe cruelly never providing a proper meal.
I know what the underlying meaning of all of this is. Weak people make bad warriors. Bad warriors are unwanted by the Globe, and although we're being forced into service--keeping the pathetic, lazy brains of the Globe safe from external threats--it is a chance at survival. Without that nothing awaits the Sector but obliteration.
It isn't fair to our Sector--more Gabe's than mine, really--that they be required to do the hardest jobs and receive the lowest payment. But as I was explained, this is the Globe's way of punishing the rebels for running away years ago to try and found a new, more just society. Standing as rebels, the Sector would be ruined. As warriors they could still cling to what precious hope they had left in these times of darkness.
It is different for the People of God. The religious Sector doesn't need to raise soldiers, just farmers and holy men. In return for food and shelter all they have to do is pray for the Globe and farm. Pray! How hard a task could that be? Besides, no amount of praying was going to get the Globe a ticket to Heaven.
They call themselves the Globe--the last city remaining on the entire planet, the only one not attacked with the destructive bombs decades ago--but I know better. You can't become the world just by erecting a round, now mostly blue globe in the middle of your city. Monuments hold no meaning in a world full of despair, misery, and death--suicidal deaths to be exact. But then again, most of these things are non-existent inside the Globe where civilization flourishes just as always. It's only the Sectors, Nomads, and the few Wanderers that suffer from this wretchedness. It's their precious technology that gives them the upper hand. Otherwise they're a bunch of brainless cowards who can't tell the difference between thirst and hunger, always wanting more and more. And getting it. Even if a drop of water for them equals the blood of an entire battalion.
Sometimes it's hard to hate the Sectors despite their behaviour towards me. Deep down I know that like me and the brothers, they too are victims of the almighty Globe. Now if they could just smile at me once in a while, I might not be as ticked off all the time, eager to leave behind the people I'm meant to serve.
"We have one last day before the Holiday," I say walking deeper into the store to mark it so that none of the other teams waste time searching it again. I start to carve the symbol into the back door, where teams are suppose to check. This is routine so I don't think about the way my hands hold the knife, pressing hard into the unyielding metal. I just let it out. Let all my frustration and anger and hatred for the Globe pour into this piece of drawing.
Behind me Gabe is silent and this makes me turn around curiously.
"Have you decided?" he asks, and I don't need further clarification. It's apparent in the set of his jaw and the stiffness of his neck.
I turn back to face the door, sad that it has to be this way every year, but at the same time bubbling with excitement at the promise of another trip to the Fields, another day of waiting for him. Jem's words ring inside my head like a siren. More hopeful but slightly painful. There is always room for disappointment in my world.
"Yes," I say in an even tone. "I have to check. He'll be there this time. I can feel it."
Gabe sighs, irritated. "You felt it last year too, and the year before that and the one--"
"I can't give him up, Gabe," I say whirling around.
"You can't afford not to, Lena," he says, hands balling up at his sides. "One more year and then you have to either commit or they banish you."
I drop my voice so the others won't hear. "I don't want you," I tell him for what seems like the billionth time. It doesn't make me shy like it used to. It's a fact and we've both learned it well. It's not just that being Gabe's would feel like ripping my heart out, like abandoning and giving up on Jem, but I know without a doubt that we just aren't suitable for each other. He's five years older than me--much too old to be uncoupled, yet still waiting for my yes. He can have me if he wants to. By force. No one would say anything. But he chose to wait, let me be satisfied that Jem wasn't coming back so I don't spend the rest of my existence in anticipation. For Gabe, Jem has been delivered to the Globe for good. Gone for good.
[continued...]
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*my first ACTUAL review >.>*
Same with Gabe. And tel us more about this Jem person, we only know his name and nothing about what went on between him and Lena. Maybe you shouldn't even really mention anything about it yet, too early.
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