“What took you so long?” said Zack. Finally the others have arrived at blockA017.
“You’ll never believe what happened…I don’t even know what they are” said Derek
“Humanoids” said Alina as preamble to fill the group and everyone with everything she remembers now.
But which one is it, the beautiful pristine world or the humanoid roaming massacre field? That was the only thought that filled blockA017 after what Alina blurted out.
It required a brave soul to break the silence,
“Here’s the plan to break into the airport” said Zack stoic and composed, shocking everyone especially Alina, how can he stay calm at a time like this. It is as if he never experienced fear before.
“...but” muttered Rudy
“The way I see it is that there are two outcomes in the new earth, utopia or roaming savages. I wish for utopia. The humanoids sound like hell. But you know what’s scarier, is staying here only having one outcome, to be Joseph’s slaves. We have no other choice. So should I proceed with the plan?” said Zack and with everyone nodding in approval he resumed,
“Since the gates are highly guarded, we’ll bust a door along the fence in the planes’ runaway away from the gates. The planes take off vertically. When the planes take off vertically they absorb and suck everything that is in its vicinity. No one remains in the runaway. As soon as the airplanes start lifting we’ll bomb the fence. The sound will dissipate with the airplane's engines.
We’ll wait until no one is around. We’ll enter and drive along the fence in the runaway till we reach the medical center beside the airport. Throwing random grenades everywhere to distract them from us. We’ll drop our rides and blend in with the people in the medical check-up tents. The last planes leave tomorrow at 10 am, we’ll move at eight, easier with the commotions of the last planes. ”
The plan sounded solid and with the night falling all they had to do is wait till morning. Is this really happening? Alina was thrilled, she will finally reach the new world. But she had questions on this group of boys and girls who created chaos in the bazaar. And five of them are right in front of her.
She reaches Jeremy and asks him blatantly and he was thrilled to talk to her, but not too keen to share the details.
“You see it’s embarrassing” Jeremy started, melodramatically, to tell the story of the abandoned children.
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In order to enter the new earth you must pass the medical center first and in the early stages of the migration, the tests had to be negative for all viruses, even the minor ones. Some children tested positive for viruses, most of them were harmless like the common cold, but were denied entry. Their parents and guardians didn’t want to wait any longer and therefore opted to leave those kids at the airport gates. And so came to be the abandoned children.
Long Ridder city built an orphanage for them. Most kids were between the ages of 3 to 12. But some were infants like Rudy. who is now 15 years old and scared most of the time.
When Jeremy arrived at the orphanage he was 10 years and shared a room with another 10 year old, Zack.
The orphanage was a cage. Locked doors and shut in windows. No one is allowed to go out. Remaining to roam the same rooms and halls year after year. Zack has been there all his life; he was abandoned, just like Rudy, as an infant. And never stepped outside or seen the outside world except for a little crack in a window in one of the classes.
Most of the comers were too young to communicate to Zack about the outside world. Until ten year old Jeremy arrived. Jeremy would cry everyday and Zack teased him at the beginning but that grew old very quickly. They were sharing a room and when Jeremy finally started talking, Zack listened intently. Jeremy talked about the city he came from and the road to the airport and his family and school. Zack learned so much of the missing pieces he never experienced. But most importantly he learned the awful reason why he is in this place.
Since Jeremy stopped crying, Zack introduced him to his best friend Charles who was 9 at the time. Zack didn’t want to do it when Jeremy was still weeping because Charles is tough and hates crying, he would’ve beat some sense into him. Few months later a loud cry marked the arrival of a new boy, Derek but to his luck he met Charles first and was placed in a room with him. And Derek’s young age of 6 didn’t save him from Charles' tough love. In a month Derek’s laughter would fill out the corridor. And the two would become inseparable.
And for the next seven years the four boys would meet up all the time. And during that time an infant Rudy arrived and as a toddler, Rudy would cling to Jeremy the most. Jeremy would always smile and be kind to Rudy in this cold place.
The conditions of the orphanage were disastrous and most older boys were being recruited for the old earth gang when Joseph took power.
Staying in the orphanage center was no longer a choice, Joseph would recruit every young man to his plan which was repeatedly told to them in the orphanage. They’ll train like soldiers and stop most young people from reaching the new earth. In order to repopulate the old earth serving under Joseph’s reign.
When they were 17, Zack and Jermey were called for outside training. Zack came up with a plan and through earning the trust of everyone there he was able to know the places of the doors’ keys. And one night they got away.
They decided to run away and take their younger friends, Charles and Derek along. Five year old Rudy who would always sneak into Jeremy’s room at night, saw them running. Rudy followed Jeremy like a lost child. Jeremy couldn’t leave him; they had no choice but to keep him.
Ten years later, the boys were able to remain hidden from the old earth gangs’ clutch. And they still have the dream to reach the land that their parents abandoned them for.
The boys and especially Jeremy know well enough growing up, that no one will come to help them. And Zack’s stoic didn’t come from never having experienced fear. Or rather from experiencing too much of it.
