The Sparks of Revolution

Ambitan scooped up what he had exchanged for before leaving Senorita Rodriguez behind.

Although the items were a bit awkward to carry, Ambitan had thought of a solution.

Taking his belongings he ducked into the entrance to one of the side alleys before stopping to bandage himself.

Tenderly he wrapped the roll of bandages around his back, making sure to bind it tightly but tenderly.

After that, he wound it up around his limp leg, trying his best to ensure that it was cared for after the fight that had recently broken out.

Feeling that the pressure was too tight, Ambitan loosened it a little before rebinding it. He had learned all too well that although a tight binding was good and all if it were too tight then it would only cause it to swell further.

Having completed his bandaging he stood back up, clutching the three water bottles close to his chest as he did.

The tidbits he heard about the scholarship piqued his interest, and Ambitan wanted to investigate if it was a human chop shop or something done in the name of so-called 'philanthropy'.

If it were the latter, then it wouldn't be too bad, but if it were the former, then it would be the best to get the hell out while he still could.

There were many ways to obtain information in the slums, some liked to rely on personal info brokers, and others went to established organizations. The very few went to the people at the forefront of what was going on.

In Ambitan's case, he simply went to a bar, not a fancy place by any means, nor a clean by that, but it would do the job.

The problem was that bars, while lively and rowdy places, didn't take kindly to loiterers. 'A sort of 'either pay up and drink or get out' mentality.

"You got coin?" the bouncer asked, stopping Ambitan before he could push open the door.

"Umm… yes. I do. Just gimme one sec and I'll go get it," Ambitan stuttered, not expecting the plan to be setback so soon.

Stopping Ambitan in his tracks the bouncer reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "Kid, don't even gimme that bullshit. I know ain't got no cash. Just run your ass before I have to lay you out. I really don't wanna hit a damn kid."

Ambitan grabbed the bouncer's arm and pried it off, but as he did he noticed that there was something odd. Unlike normally, upon grabbing the bouncer's arm there was no warmth. All that he felt was cold, unfeeling metal.

Then the realization hit him like a sack of bricks. "Oh god, I'm so sorry I didn't know that this was a prosthetic. I'm very sorry sir."

The bouncer sighed, shaking his head and turning towards the ground.

"It's all good, don't mention it. Now get outta here. The bosses are selective with who they let in here. Keep out the riff-raff and all that."

"But sir! I really do have to get in there!" Ambitan protested.

"Oh? And pray tell me why I should stick my own neck out for you now?"

Ambitan took a quick glance at the bouncer, looking from head to toe.

It was time to try to appeal to someone's sense of humanity, a rare existence to begin with.

"Sir, the things in there could change my life," Ambitan tried to explain.

"Liquor would do that to anybody so long they get tied up in it long enough," the bouncer shut Ambitan down.

He continued on with a sense of finality, "Now go run back to your buddies and tell one of them to run for the alcohol instead, and make sure to mention the entrance fee."

Seeing that the bouncer was about to turn away from him, Ambitan latched onto him. "I'm really not here for the goddamn alcohol! Why can't you believe me?"

Realizing what he just did, he let go of the prosthetic again before retreating into himself and curling into a ball.

"I'm real sorry. But let me just explain myself. Surely you've heard bout that scholarship that's been going 'round?"

Ambitan continued rushing through his explanation not registering the bouncer's nod.

"If that's really true then it's an opportunity for me to get out! I don't wanna stay in this shit hole! Not even a hundred years ago everything was good and humanity was flourishing! Now, look at this bullshit!"

"Where was the world our generation was promised? Everything just had to go to shit!"

His voice cracked, and Ambitan's eyes started to water. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he pounded the ground. "I just want a better life man. You know what I mean don't you?"

"I'm a kid. Kids weren't supposed to grow up like this. Humanity was supposed to advance. Now, look at us! It seems the further we go the more steps we take back!"

He took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I'm just a little passionate about how fucked the world is. Sorry for the rant, but that scholarship, if it's true can really help me out, man."

The bouncer cradled his head in his hands and let out a deep breath that wisped upwards into the frigid air.

"I'm definitely getting kicked for this," he said.

"Look kid I can't let you into the bar still. But I will tell you this. You seem like a good kid, you should've learned this by now but don't go round acting like that here. That'll only get you cut up. "

"But since I've apparently got a bleeding heart I'll tell you that the scholarship's real, in about a week or so those posh fucks are gunna come down here and take some kids like you away."

"You'll be paraded as a trophy and smothered and brainwashed to become like them."

"Do you really want that?"

"I mean…" Ambitan stuttered, "what choice do I have?"

"Kid, I see your passion. You've got a fire burning in you. See the wrong and pain and suffering and something rears up in you. Something that demands retribution. Nothing like the horseshit that the Neo Police spout out. Nah," the bouncer spat out a great old wad of spit into the street before stamping it under a worn boot, "it's like revolutionary in a sense."

"You look at the decrepit buildings, the drugs, the hunger, the suffering as a whole for damn sake. And there's an anger no?"

"Stop me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that sound more like you?"