Era of the Dead
The day was dead as we walked past the deathly silence of The Square, a spatial place where people gather to meet, carpet of ashes lay down the ground as it concealed the whole city. The smell of the incessant poison of falling water as it fell from a rotten metallic tube traveled like blankets into thin air. Dust stayed put on the broken buildings and irregular chunks of debris scattered everywhere.
I held the pole of my spear and touched the pointed head that looked like a paintbrush then detached it from the weapon. My left hand dug into the pockets of my black leather suit and pulled out a tiny black gadget that looked like a pill when looked closely. Walking tightly into a straight direction, I plugged the gadget at the most bottom part of the the head and put the head back to the pole.
My shoes were too heavy that it produced a distinct sound of crushing pebbles from underneath as I stepped into my path of stones and boulders. We diverted into a left track and went out of The Square. Beside me were two young figures; one was a young woman with blue braided hair, walking as she moved away the big patches of stone from our path with her mind-levitating power which we called Telekinesis; the other was seventeen-year-old guy who only walked with cautionary measures, eyes springing back and forth, left and right, looking for possible danger.
The silence was too much that I could hear my breathing and my giant footsteps. We were enclosed by rows of deserted stalls and dilapidated buildings, dead grasses and non-growing herbs that were poisonous when touched. Strings of wires hung lazily at the top of the buildings and I doubt that it was still electrifying.
This country, Elejia, is where survivors of the nuclear war settled. The world was destroyed decades ago. The young ones like me were born without experiencing a single inhalation of fresh air. The air now was contaminated with poison and different dosages of chemicals that composed the atmosphere. All of the people that are alive today were only because we can inhale the filthy air. Thanks to the person who discovered this vaccine called 8xi.
8xi is a type of chemical where veins were altered and we're able to breathe in the air, our skin adapts the dead atmosphere. But the only things that's wrong with this was, for the newborns who were injected this kind of chemical, their veins were changed and the inner workings of their brain were altered which caused them to gain these kinds of supernatural abilities.
I was one of them, but I was never thankful.
"Are you guys ready this evening?" Jaridel spoke with a bass voice, eyes were still.
"We were born ready for this, right Milaia?" the girl answered.
I only smirked as response. Oh, yes, we are. We were.
It took us five minutes to walk and arrive into a distance where the smell of the poisoned river was dominating the nostrils. I saw Avae, the girl with the blue hair, pulled back the boulders of stones into places and stared at me with his green eyes. Jaridel moved few meters away from me and climbed one step at a huge stone. He pulled a rope and suddenly, a small semi-metal boat came out behind the big building. We followed Jaridel and climbed up.
The river was nothing but a pale reflection of the sky, an ashtray. At this very time, ashes were still scattered everywhere in the air, we just couldn't see the tiniest particles. It's just the color of environment was pale, dull, and dead. The waters were steady, but for some reason, it was poisoned.
"I really wanted to go swimming here one time. When will this happen?" asked Avae as she hopped into the boat. I followed and pulled her near me.
The boat was filled with three large pails. This boat was kind of wide, but when it was occupied by ropes, buckets, blades, and the three of our spears, it was looking so small that even our own bodies couldn't fit.
Jaridel spoke and cut the rope that held the boat, speaking "Well, unfortunately, it will never happen."
I held Avae beside me and Jaridel went at the edge of the boat, playing with three hidden buttons. The blue was for protection, red for emergency, and yellow for repair. He clicked blue and suddenly, a transparent glass covered the whole and now it was set to sail.
Avae stood up and went at the other edge of the boat to sit down and focus. For one moment, her green eyes produced a little brightness and the boat was moving on its own. She will stay there until we reach our destination, concentrating, but because of the mastery of her ability, she still managed to speak.
"Is everything all right?" she asked.
"Ready."
From this viewpoint, I could see at the top was the lonely bridge that was reconstructed few years back. Few people walked around the road. At my left side were bushes, half-covering several crying children with their parents hugging them tightly. I saw a man looking my age as he sobbed and held tight his metal slingshot, hugging himself. Right now, what we saw is that we weren't ready. We were but we're not.
This bridge was connected from our avenue, Northward, into the Eastplace. Each avenues had lines of houses called "wards", the direction only changes depending on the place. Moreover, at the end of each avenues or "wards" was a large space called "places". For instance, I live in Northward and we have Northplace.
"We aren't ready, aren't we?" I asked.
Jaridel glanced at me, doubtfully answering. "I am...I was."
"The life in the planet that they found was good and the distribution of the resources were equal that everybody ended up having more than what they need."
"That's what my mom told me. That's what we need."
At the back, Avae spoke, "Well, if we can survive." And a forced smile.
- - - - - -
We arrived at Peddle by the eastward sunlight. It is a market where many people do not buy. People doesn't buy what they need, people get what they need. But the bad thing was we only get to have few things per day. So what we do is we get everything that we need in a day possible, because one day absent is one day of starvation.
Avae parked the boat and we stepped onto a wooden bridge. An old man named Calibre tied a rope at the boat and set it aside. His face was perfected with freckles and rotten curls within his skin, but his voice never changed. He can still speak straight and monotone.
"Morning, young ones. Today's the sched?"
I nodded and answered, "As always, old one."
The Leaders (which according to my mom was the rulers of humanity in this generation) let Calibre work in here because old men aging higher than seventy was nothing but a walking corpse and useless body that still needs food.
The Peddle was a wide triangle filled with different stalls intermixed with different odors and fresh meat, raw food, and weird things. The entrance was laced with programs and scanners where we walked through and printed our datas as citizens and would also stand as our attendance for the day.
In the early morning, different people from different places came to their schedules. The lines of stalls were as long as the lines of bodies here. Avae used her Telekinesis and shifted at a direction where fresh waters were served. I went at the different line and took out a basket made of codes.
Quick question: How did they even make a basket by only using programs and codes?
The triangular structure of the Paddle represents not only a nutritional diagram of the food that we eat but also it stands for the certain type of people that were needed to be prioritized. This market was divided into three different groups: top, middle, bottom. Since only few people were prioritized and served the most of the rations, they were at the top. The middle were us, the young ones who had these strange abilities, and the bottom for the old "ordinary", workers and non-workers.
In the case of the young ones, we're only few left. Once a child is born, injecting was a crucial part because it takes more time to locate a child's vein which then ended up dying for inhalation of gaseous air.
The stalls were opened in steel surfaces. I clutched the basket and took everything what the workers in gray suits give to us. Each transaction was a retinal scan which simply implies to gun your eyes with a scanner and examine your bodily data. Each of the stalls stood guards which we call Patrols. They were in their gray uniforms, equipped with a muzzle-elongated weapon called Elsonic and a pair of eyeglasses that sees into walls.
"GIVE US MORE MEAT! MY FAMILY IS DYIN-"
As a scream shrilled, a gunshot pierced in the whole Paddle. We crouched and covered our ears as an unmoving body fell to the floor. Blood leaked from his head and eyes were blank. From the shadows of the Paddle, a Patrol came out, but this Patrol was wearing a black guard suit, eyeglasses, and a pair of earpieces.
He pressed his earpieces and the whole section was boomed by the registered voice. "You are here to get your ration. The Leaders didn't even offer something that will make you hungry. You didn't have to give money to purchase everything that you need. What you want is what others also want. NOW, tell me, what did The Leaders tell you to do? They only want you to work and serve for your own good. The end is near and there's still new generations to come. Shut your mouths and MOVE!"
The whole scenario ended in a short moment and I pressed my lips, propped myself and found the exit. The digital clock spun lazily at the top of the exit and there was only a few time remaining in the Paddle. I ran and found Avae and Jaridel on the boat. I heaved good bye to Calibre and jumped into the boat.
Protection on. Avae at the end. Jaridel on the buttons. Me on the supplies. Then we're good to go.
- - - - - - - -
We reached home in less than an hour. We passed The Square which, at evening, young ones will gather and a new nightmare will rise. Our home was located at the northward of Square, several footsteps apart. Jaridel, Avae, and I divided our rations and we went in each other's home.
The house which me and my mom, Tatum, lived was as small as the other ones. Each houses were built at the same sizes and structures. It only depends on how you customize it yourself. My mother was so addicted in decorating that she didn't knew, at some point, these decorations will be exploded into pieces when time comes. When people will be hungry and everybody will be mad.
Hunger releases the madman in us.
After stacking the supplies into the cabinets, I sat at a wooden chair. The programmed basket was already gone the time that it reached its destination and place back again at the Paddle.
"Is there another dead body?" she asked.
"As usual. Every day."
"But why are you looking so pale and afraid?"
It struck me for a moment. It's just weird that I saw many people die at different times and I never felt mercy about them dying. Well, I could feel a little sympathy but not that kind of sympathy where you go and fight for their rights. It's weird seeing them die and how each one of us are getting used to it. But at this point, I knew what really made me afraid.
I found her sitting beside me, caressing my cheeks. "You were bothered."
I propped myself and spoke, "Tomorrow Sport."
Leaders call it Dethea Warfare, but most citizens prefer "Tomorrow Sport", wherein your were sent into this techonoligcally-created and deserted planet called Dethea and try to survive. You will train yourself for less than a year, then battle for the X Duels, a nightmare for every young survivors. Those who win will have them and their families board a spacecraft and go to a planet identical to Earth called 02-Excurso. The first generations made it to 02-Excurso. Unfortunately, the spacecraft lasted into the burning atmosphere for several minutes then melted as it made its way back home. So, going there is a one-way ride. You go there and never come back.
Tomorrow Sport. A sport for tomorrow. Cruel, but if you really see, reality is ugly and that's worse.
Tatum only smiled at me. "Come here, let me give you a makeover."
"For what? I will die full of colorful things in my face?" I tried making a joke.
She forced a laugh. "Don't worry. This evening is only the General Screening."
"Yeah, General Screening. Where young ones with abilities are going for a preliminary fight and examination. Those who will top the scores will be sitting in the front row of the spacecraft and watch as we escape in this dying planet. Useless."
"But it doesn't just end there."
"Yeah, it doesnt, because as the Warfare begins, they are given extra supply of food for a day. Nice."
"Hush." She shut me up, but I only sighed and faced the mirror as she sat me on a weird broken chair.
I caught a glimpse of my face. My ash-colored hair fell straight on my back. My face were plumped, cheekbones slightly elevated and my jawline was kind of visible. Tatum started putting plastic-but-colorful flowers on my head, pinning it in my hair. My face were powdered with a little touch of black and gray.
"Mom. Is this really how the world colors? So dull and gray?"
"Well, before it isn't. Everything was intact and colorful. Not until we were tasked to hide in a bunker underground and everything above us starts falling apart."
I stared at my reflection once more, eyes green, veins altered and my own pictures of explosion flickered in my mind. How I pictured the world where everything is a fine color of green without the ashes. How I could swim the rivers deep without worrying anything. How the world changed before me...
"Am I beautiful?" I asked in random.
I could see the surprise in my mother's face. "Mila, you are beautiful in the eyes of someone that loves you."
"Do you love me?"
"I do, but someone that loves you deeply will see you perfectly."
My brows furrowed. "But didn't you love me deeply?"
"I do, but someone that loves you will see you more than just a person."
Well, that's for me to find out.
A knock on the door stopped our conversation. When mom opened it, Jaridel stood at the doorway with a wretched smile. He had my spear.
"Did Avae distributed the waters in the three of us?" I asked.
He only spoke, "Yep, she stacked two at the back of your house."
I greeted him inside.
"So, have you eaten lunch?", he questioned as he sat at a soft chair.
"Is it lunch time already?" I lost track of time that I never really noticed I didn't feed myself. Tatum brought us two steaming foods which I never really knew how to identify it when it was cooked. I knew how to hunt and find stuffs, naming them raw, but when seared and served warm, I had no idea.
Jaridel took a mouthful. "That gunshot rang my ear I wanted to disappear."
"Oh yeah, thanks to your Shadow Camouflage ability that you could go anywhere you want." I forced a laugh.
"You wanna go training for this evening?"
I only answered a series of cheerful nods.
The time we stopped eating and drank a little ounce of water, Tatum polished our spears and installed that explosive device. Yes, she was the one who created that device. Clever, isn't she?
I kissed her good bye and headed out the doorway.
Jaridel looked at me. "You're beautiful."
- - - - - -
Eastplace expanded briefly at a circular direction. Here, only the view of the rows of houses and the seemingly endless river of poison were only visible. The ground was concrete and this place was surrounded by a dome of translucent glass.
Jaridel, a technology geek, played with the buttons and started onward. The dome was divided into two and Jaridel and I were separated. We decided to battle some programmed dummies and stretched our bones.
I known myself for my kicking skills and the fast-paced use of my spear. Then, with my Mental Blast ability, I could manage to send series of shock waves through mind links.
Five seconds passed, different faces came out from nowhere with their own weapons. Racing at different speed, they ran towards my direction and I went after them. One jab through the stomach and one tremendous hit with my spear. I performed different movements as I jolted and fought with them. One buffed man stuffed me on the ground and was trying to pull out my spear as my protection. A woman kicked my face and two different bodies racing into me.
I pulled the energy inside my and pushed it in an outward motion. The energy raced like blood then I felt a strong link of waves getting out in me. For one moment, the buff man writhed in pain as he rolled on the ground. I took the opportunity to stand up and mind-blasted the woman who just kicked me with such great force. As the man vanished, defeated, I made this woman weak that he raced for her own breath. She needs torture.
The two racing bodies jumped in the air and I thrived to throw them away. The first one was just too strong I swung my own body and landed on the ground again. I swung my body for the second time but with the spear, then threw the spear on the other one. The other one exploded into bits of codes. Luckily, the first one was near enough to join the explosion and their bodies faltered in grains.
I looked to the woman beside me, dancing in pain. I propped myself and inhaled. The outward motion of my energy went back and forth as she zapped in pain on the ground, veins bulged in her forehead. But as the blood oozed from her mouth, eyes, and different holes of her body, my body felt weak and flailing.
That's the side effect of our abilities: when used too much, we share the attack.
I grabbed the spear, installed the last piece of gadget , then it came racing into her heart. Explosion and then space.
The division disappeared, then I went to Jaridel as blood forced its way down his cheek. I sent him home and I waited 'til evening.
The only difference here was, tonight, our enemies will be real. Each having abilities that could surpass our own capabilities. Real blood oozing, real body flailing, real life risking.
- - - - -
Evening came and a boom of fire and a deafening sound crashed the silence that settled in ourselves. A familiar pitch vibrated from The Square, a voice of someone calling out. "YOUNG ONES, TO THE SQUARE!"
My heart never felt like it raced in my chest because coming in means risking. I came out of my house when at the exact time, Jaridel came out. He smiled at me and held my hands. At the next doorway, Avae and her sister Abbyl came out with tears streaming down their faces.
The Square was several footsteps away but the racing footsteps of frustrated children came racing forward as if time is ticking and it's not worth wasting. From different directions (northward, eastward, southward, westward), lined different faces with different emotions. My count was like twenty or more or less.
I held my spear once again and swooped in the crowd.
I lived in an era where the earth was dying, rivers were poisoned, animals were gone which many people would love to make them pets and trees were endangered to extinct. We can never eat stones, dust, and ashes. We can never occupy weak buildings.
Maybe we are born. Maybe this is a dead era we are living. But one thing's for sure, we are born to either fight or die.