I stood at the window overlooking the crowded, smog-spewing streets. Escape was the only thought on my mind. Escape from people, places and things. Sirens echoed into the sparse room. Even though I was on the 15th floor of my apartment building, I couldn't escape the harassing sounds of city life.
"God, I want out," I whispered softly. I felt hollowness in my chest. I knew I couldn't take another day in Los Angeles. I was suffocating.
The sharp ring of the telephone made me snap to attention.
"Hello?"
"Do you still want to go?" a deep voice whispered.
My heart felt as if it had stopped. I gripped the telephone so tightly that my knuckles had turned white.
"Yes," I replied. My chest felt as if icicles were stabbed into it.
"We leave at 4 a.m. Be ready," the voice ordered.
"What do I take with me?" I asked. I realized I was talking to dead air.
Packing what I thought were bare essentials, I realized I didn't have to worry about leaving anything behind. I practically owned nothing. My whole life fit neatly into a standard army-issued life pack.
I had twelve hours before I had to leave. I decided to run errands to pick up some needed survival gear. Better safe than sorry, I thought.
Sliding my life pack over my shoulders I headed out the door. I hated going into the streets and avoided it as much as possible. People were mean, animalistic and basically deadly on the streets of Los Angeles. They only cared about themselves and rarely looked out for anyone else. When their bloodshot eyes caught yours, you instinctively knew they were calculating what you had to offer. What could they take from you? Jewelry, money or your life, it didn't matter in what order. The only things important to the street dwellers were themselves.
Two generations before, Earth inhabitants were more caring. They were peaceful and caring to their fellow man. But that was before the change. Rebirth. Ever since then day-to-day life had changed forever.
I rarely thought about what life was like in the past. Hazy faces of my family--my parents and siblings--drifted in my memory. I didn't know if any of them were alive. And I didn't care. The Rebirth had changed everyone--including myself.
But, I knew if I could escape, I could start a new life. A dream life of peace, beauty and the freedom to learn.
I never told anyone of my dreams. I knew no one could make them become reality but me.
Since the Rebirth in 2157, schools were outlawed. Street dwellers had taken over the schools to the point it seemed useless to go through the charade of teaching. Students and teachers were assaulted daily. Murders casually happened in the schoolyard. Everyone carried guns. The government had finally decided it was safer to close the schools forever.
Heading out of my building I felt the full power of the steamy streets. Temperatures today were expected to hit 120 degrees, according to the morning radio report. Ever since the environmentalists got executed in the first days of the Rebirth, Earth's atmosphere had drastically changed.
No one was around to police the world's industrial companies. Large corporations began raiding countries—clear cutting the land, polluting the water and doing what they wanted to make themselves rich. Earth was paying the price.
Temperatures would rise so high during the day that water would boil and fish would die in the ponds. At night, it would get so cold animals would die in their tracks, their bodies stuck in a frozen motion of movement.
I carefully dodged dwellers on the crowded sidewalk. The human stench was unbearable. My stomach clenched as I tried to block out the stale, putrid odors mixed with the cooking smells of the street vendors.
The Army surplus store was only three blocks from my apartment. Sighing with relief, I slipped quietly into the store. Its dark interior was welcoming and familiar.
"Hey, Cap. I need a couple of things," said to an older, grizzled-looking man behind the scarred counter.
"You always need something, Arianne. What's it now? Stun gun? A magic powder to make people disappear??" he growled.
"What? You have something new in? A powder? Does it work?" I asked teasingly.
The old veteran who ran the store fought through more wars than I thought possible. He knew everything about war. He would have still been fighting if he hadn't gotten kicked out for assaulting a superior officer. Cap had a few problems--he had a hair-trigger temper and he hated all forms of authority. The military couldn't prosecute Cap because he was decorated more than most of their generals. He was a national hero.
So they retired him, and gave him enough money to start a new life. Cap opened up the surplus store. The Army was all he knew. And since the Rebirth, Cap's business had boomed. People wanted to protect themselves and to survive. That's where Cap came in.
Most of Cap's goods were probably off the black market, but I wasn't going to be the one to ask him.
I handed Cap the short list of items I needed for my trip.
"Do you have these things?"
Cap looked over the list. His clear blue eyes missed nothing. He glanced up at me, slowly looking at me from head to toe.
"You going somewhere, Missy? his gravely voice boomed across the room.
"Cap, I need this stuff, either you have it or you don't. I don't have time for bullshit."
Cap hesitated, quietly staring at me. "I've got it. Some of it is in the back," he said. "Follow me."
The dusty shelves in Cap's back storage room held everything from beeswax to bullets. No one would ever think of stealing from Cap. He had two bodyguards that sat in the front of the store, ready to kill anyone he pointed at--no questions asked.
Cap pulled some boxes out from under a bench and opened the flaps. He reached in and grabbed an ionic laser torch.
"There's not much call for these since they outlawed off-planet travel. Visitors haven't requested many of these things being that they only work in low to zero gravity. I don't think I will ask why you want it."
"Good, because I'm not going to tell you. And give me two of them. Also, I need a case of dehydrated e-rations, water tablets and do you have any seeds for low-gravity farming?"
Cap stopped in mid-motion and sat down on the hard, wooden bench. He took a deep, weary breath and stared up at me.
"Low-gravity farming? Arianne, what the hell are you going to do? he asked, even though he had already guessed what my answer would be.
Cap was one of the few humans I liked. Even through all of his orneriness I knew what he was like deep inside. We had a mutual respect for each other. What I didn't know until later that Cap thought of me as the daughter he never had, or ever could have.
"I can't take it anymore, Cap. This town is going to kill me if I stay here any longer. I am getting away. I am going to start a new life somewhere else. And I can't do it here on Earth. Please, don't tell anyone," I pleaded, my hand resting on his arm. Curled white scars stood out obscenely against the curly red hair on his arms.
Cap put his huge hand over mine and gently squeezed it.
"I won't say a word. If you are sure this is what you want to do," he replied, staring at me, as if to memorize my features. I wondered if he'd miss me not harassing him on a weekly basis.
"It's what I have to do, Cap." I hesitated a moment and then impulsively said, "come with me." I realized at this point in my life I didn't want to lose the only friend I had ever had.
Cap stared at me. He first appeared shocked at my words. Go with me? Leave his business, his life? It was then that Cap realized he had no life. He had no family, and more importantly had no mission since they kicked him out of the army.
He made up his mind in an instant. "Tell me all about your plans," he said with determination.
I laid out all of the details as quickly as I could.
"And this 'Coyote' is going to pick up at 4 a.m.?"
"Yes. I can only take what I can put in my life pack. He is going to smuggle me aboard a routine garbage scow to Phobos. There are still people living out in space, Cap. The government just don't want anyone to know it. They know that people will leave in droves and abandon Earth," I said, my pale face flush with excitement.
"Since the Rebirth, the government said they abandoned all space colonies. They outlawed all space travel except for garbage dumping and industrial exploration for minerals and such. What makes you think you can get away?" he asked, his hand gripping mine.
"Do you always believe everything the government says?" I asked in a sarcastic tone. "Yes, they have abandoned some colonies. It was horrible; they just took people straight out of their homes and brought them back to Earth. Many committed suicide once they returned. The government lied to them. The government also said when the Rebirth happened that the world would be a better place and crime would no longer exist. Look outside, it's a war zone. You can't go across town without being shot at."
"Okay, I get your point," Cap said. He hesitated for a moment, his eyes looking around the room.
"Will your 'Coyote' accept me, too? Will he let me go with you?" he asked.
"He will if I pay him. He will take whoever I want. It's all the money I have, but it's worth it to get off this stinking planet. I won't need their money where I am going. It will mean nothing to me in my ... our new life."
Cap moved around the room, collecting more items and stacking them on the bench. "I have more than enough money myself, Missy Mae. You don't need to pay my way. So tell me what you have and I will bring the rest. If we are going to start a new life, we need to be prepared for anything and everything."
Cap felt invigorated. He rubbed his hands through his shortly cropped red hair. It was amazing how a few moments ago he felt old and useless. Now he was making a mental list of items needed for their mission. He had a purpose again.
"Thank you, Cap," I said, hugging the grizzled veteran.
Cap looked startled as I hugged him. We rarely had any physical contact besides me occasionally punching him in the arm. He wrapped his bear-like arms around me.
"Let's get cracking, Arianne. We have a new life to start."
.... to be continued.
© Robin Bailey
