The Zone

People walked around, many in shock and awe, amazed by the large crowds and the different races mashed together

"Whoa," Isa said as they walked into the main crowd, seeing all the people, it was beautiful

"Yeah." Colt replied, "This is beautiful, it's something else."

Naeme looked around, "It's beautiful," she said with a soft smile, looking around the crowds, the noise of the crowds was like a low buzz, but it was soothing and comfortable, people walked around the area, talking and chatting, making it a nice place to visit.

Jarvis smiled at the scene, it was a nice day.

Names turned around and gestured at the scene "Welcome to New Atlas, the city of freedom and hope we were promised, where everyone is welcome, It's not perfect, and there are problems but we are here to change that, We are here to help us achieve what we desire. What we wish for."

Jarvis smiled took out his camera and began recording, hoping to get some good footage for the article.

"This is not at all what I expected"

He walked around and recorded

"There are people from all over the place here, humans and Quitainians, it's not just limited to just the Quitainian Race, It's open to all, Anyone who's willing to come here, anyone who wishes to be free." Naeme smiled as she talked, proud of what the zone had to offer.

While Jarvis looked around in awe Isa looked at the crates and bags.

"Is this all food?"

"Some of it is. Some building supplies" Antonio replied "Some of it's a secret" he smiled

Colt walked to some of the guards while others picked up the massive crates

"Woah, How much do they have?" Isa said, looking around

"They have a lot of supplies, and it's not just food either." Naeme replied, "There are people in the zone working on building homes, and stuff for the Zone."

"Oh wow." Isa said, "What are you guys building?"

"It's a big project, we're building a huge building, a sort of HQ, It'll have places for people to live, eat, and grow plants for food." Antonio replied, "It's pretty awesome. But I can't give you the full details, It's a secret." he laughed.

Naeme gave him a bit of a stare but he just shrugged it off, and then Colt finally came back "So let's get started with this tour shall we? Follow me."

As the group followed Colt through the crowd, Jarvis recorded some more footage, trying to find a way to tell what was going on with the zone.

Jarvis looked around, seeing a large building in the distance, as the crowd slowly parted for it, making way.

It looked like a modern office, the front door made of metal, the walls painted white, and the windows were large.

The large building was surrounded by farms and people talking and working.

"This is the food plant," Colt said, gesturing at the crops. "They're growing food in the Zone and giving it to people, it's a good food source."

"Who are the people working there?" Isa said, gesturing at the farmers and workers.

"Mostly Quitainian workers, Some of them are refugees. The farmers are some of the first to volunteer to work on the farms."

Jarvis recorded, Isa, taking notes

"This is the first farm."

They looked at the crop fields, seeing several workers with crops, watering and tending to the plants.

"This farm is responsible for most of the food sold in the market. It's an amazing source of food for the entire city. All the people here are volunteers, and they work hard to get the food for the market."

Isa nodded as she listened to the story, making a note of it.

"We get most of the power from Solar Panels, which are all on top of this building, keeping it nice and bright in the area. This way it can help us light up the area and make it seem bigger than it is." Colt said as he showed them around the area."This area is where we're turning buildings into living spaces for the citizens to live in. We don't want anyone to feel unwelcomed or unwanted here."

Jarvis smiled as he took photos and video of the area, getting footage and pictures of the people working, the crops, and the scenery.

As they walked to another section of the Zone, they were greeted by the large crowds

"How many people live here? Jarvis asked, looking at the massive crowd

Colt looked to Naeme for an answer "I'm not sure, maybe 48,000? It's rapidly growing by the thousands, most fleeing because of their hatred of the government but most just being Quitantians who want a more peaceful life for their families."

As they walked through the crowds, Jarvis continued to take pictures, getting footage and photos of the different people.

The sounds of laughter and talking filled the air, It was a happy, peaceful place.

"It's so much better than what I expected," Jarvis said as he took a photo of a family having lunch in a park

"You think it's great now? Just wait until we build this up."Colt said, looking back at the camera

Then a Massive truck passed, with supplies galore in the back

"How do you guys get the supplies?"

"We have a lot of connections and people who can help us with this," Colt replied

As they walked along the roads, they stopped at a construction site.

"This is where we are building the new headquarters."

They were in a large park area, with many apartments around

"This is a big area, we have people working on fixing up the homes and places to live." Colt gestured towards the buildings "This is one of the areas that will be the central living area for the headquarters. We have plans to create a central hub where people can come and get food, or get help with different things. We want people to have a safe space to go to."

Jarvis smiled, taking more pictures.

"Is this where you're staying?" Isa asked

"No, This is where some of the new leaders live, we're looking at getting a headquarters soon. We have other leaders who are planning it out." Colt said as he looked at the building, a serious expression on his face.

"How many people are in the headquarters?"

"It'll have about 4000 people working here and living in the headquarters, we plan to add on to it. But that's a long way off."

Suddenly the happiness was interrupted by the sound of rotors beating against the sky

"Not again. Naeme mumbled under her breath

"Damn it." Colt said, looking up at the sky, his expression darkening, "There's more of them this time, It's getting bad."

Six Blackhawks flew above them, People on the ground looking in a mix of fear and curiosity

"They usually fly over here. Sometimes they send drones but this seems more like a fear tactic to scare us."

"Have you ever fired on them?" Jarvis asked, his voice nervous, a bit worried.

"Not yet, We're still waiting for the right time. But if they continue to harass us with these air attacks, We may have no choice but to retaliate." Naeme replied, her voice full of determination.

"You want to fight back?" Jarvis asked

"We want to fight back, but we can't let our anger get the better of us. We have to be peaceful." Colt replied, his eyes firm.

Jarvis nodded in understanding, taking more photos of the helicopters as they flew by.

"Woah..." Isa said, looking at the crowd. "Everyone's watching."

The helicopters flew away, leaving the people behind to talk amongst themselves.

The entire crowd was full of an air of fear, the excitement, the excitement gone.

People stood in place, watching the helicopters fly away.

"The military is always watching us," Colt said, his voice dark.

Isa stood there looking at Jarvis, then Naeme

"Do you guys have a plan to prepare for an attack?" She asked, her voice calm and steady, wanting to know the truth.

"We have plans to evacuate the zone." Naeme replied, her voice soft "But we also have plans in place in case things go wrong. We want to defend this place. We will fight if we need to but we will try to find peaceful solutions to this. We don't want to hurt people, We just want to live. That's all."

"What's your plan to deal with the government? Do you have a plan to defeat them?" Isa asked, wanting to know what would happen next

"It's too early to tell," Naeme replied, her eyes firm "but we will do whatever we can to protect this place. We'll fight if we need to, but we also need to find ways to resolve these conflicts, to work together and find peaceful ways to protect this place."

They looked at her, somewhat shocked by her reaction.

They stood in silence for a moment as the crowd slowly returned to normal.

"Alright, let's continue shall we?" Colt tried to change the subject, "To the HQ to meet the council that was established"

As they walked, Jarvis began taking pictures again, seeing how many people there were.

As they got to the HQ they were greeted by guards at the front and people coming in and out of the doors.

Colt spoke to one of the guards, the guard nodded and let them through the gates.

Jarvis continued to take photos of the entrance.

As they walked into the building they saw people working on various projects, on computers, talking to each other, and sharing ideas.

"Woah" Jarvis said, looking around the area

The entire area was so clean and so organized, it was beautiful.

"It's not all like this," Naeme said, "This is where we have some of the leaders, it's just the leaders in here. Most of the area is open for people to come and use."

Isa walked around, seeing the area, watching as people talked, sharing information, debating on how to use their time, all of them talking and sharing their ideas.

"It's a great setup," Isa replied, "It's a good idea."

As they walked around the HQ, Jarvis continued to take pictures, trying to get some good footage.

"This is where we have our main meetings, but most of the area is open for people to come in and share their opinions, share ideas, share thoughts to the ministry of the people to help shape Atlas," Naeme explained

"Do people ever disagree with what the leaders say?" Isa asked, looking around

"People disagree, sure, But there's no one way to be, everyone has their own opinions about things, and everyone has their own goals. We just want to help everyone who comes here. That's all."

Jarvis took more pictures, getting some good footage and pictures of the room.

They went into the elevators, heading to the top floor, which had a long hallway with various armed guards standing around.

Naeme and Colt went to one of the armed guards "Greetings Ms Naeme. Mr Colt. These must be the visitors you informed us about."

He nodded to Jarvis and Isa

"This is Isa, and this is Jarvis. They are here for an interview with the council."

The man nodded, "You may proceed"

They walked down the hall to a large room with a large table, The floor was marble with paintings on the walls and a large rug.

"Here we are," Colt said as he stepped into the room, walking to a table with several people sitting around it.

As they walked in the others at the table looked at them, smiling.

"Greetings Ms Isa and Mr Jarvis. Please have a seat." Said a woman in a chair, she wore glasses, her hair tied in a neat bun. She had a bright smile and her hands folded neatly on the table.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jarvis and Ms. Isa," she said to them with a gentle yet firm voice "What do you think of our wonderful zone?"

Jarvis sat down, his hands clasped in front of him.

Isa looked around, seeing the various paintings, the desk in the middle of the room, and the marble floor.

"It's very impressive" Jarvis replied, his voice calm.

"I'm very glad to hear that, this is what we strive for, this is what we're trying to achieve. It may not be perfect yet, but I believe it's a step in the right direction" The woman smiled.

"This is the council of New Atlas," Colt said to Jarvis, gesturing to the members at the table. "They are the people who lead the Zone, they make all the decisions, they set the future goals of the Zone."

"This is a group of leaders and leaders, most of us have experience with the military, with fighting, but some have had a very different experience with their lives. We all have different goals and different ways of doing things, but we have the same goal, which is to protect New Atlas" The woman Gestured to herself "I am Kaila, I'm the head of the council, I make most of the decisions. I welcome you here, I know that this may seem a bit much for an interview but I wanted to get a grasp of how you see things in this city."

Kaila stood up from her chair and offered a hand to Jarvis and Isa.

The two of them shook hands, exchanging greetings and words with her.

"This here is our head of logistics Markus, he works on making sure we have what we need, from food, crops, and building supplies, he works closely with the farms and other parts of the city"

She pointed at a man in a black suit, he had short brown hair with a strong jawline.

He gave a smile and nod but didn't say anything, just looked back to his work.

"This is our head of engineering and technology, Tristan, he's the one who helped with the idea of using the construction trains as a way in and out of the city"

She gestured to another man "This is the head of intelligence, Ray"

The man, Ray, was an older gentleman, he wore a white shirt and a black jacket with a pocket watch in his right hand. He wore glasses and his hair was grey and combed back. He gave a small smile and a nod.

"And finally, This is the head of Medical and Aid, who is also the head of all medical in the city, Doctor Aslie. She's been a huge help since day one."

The woman in the chair, Kaila, gestured towards a woman with dark hair in a bun. She wore a white lab coat and had several things around her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said, smiling

"We're happy to meet you," Jarvis said, "What do you do?"

"I am a doctor, and I've been working on helping people get the care they need, we can get a lot of help from outside the city for some things, like blood bags and stuff, but for more serious things we have to make do with what we have here" She smiled, "But we've been getting more blood lately.".

The two smiled at her and turned to Kalia

"So what's your role? Why are you in the council?" Isa asked Kalia, hoping for an interview

"I am responsible for the Defense, managing training, weapon supplies, and general defensive infrastructure. I helped design the gates which are under construction around various entrances to the zone, As a way to block any government forces from pushing without some struggle" she said smiling which made the two uneasy, not knowing how to feel about the response, her words seemed rather ominous, something they didn't expect, they expected her to say something like "we do our best" but she said it like a threat.

Isa nodded, taking notes on what she said, she didn't know why she said that but she did know it would be an interesting piece of the article.

Jarvis looked at her, not knowing how to respond.

"So what would you like to ask me? We can talk about anything." Looking to Isa as Jarvis set up his camera to record them.

Isa cleared her throat and spoke

"What are your goals for Atlas? Why did you start New Atlas?"

Kaila nodded "Our first goal is to help people, we are a sanctuary city, we want to be a safe place for refugees, we want to be a place where people can come and live in peace, but we also have other goals that we need to accomplish. We need to stop the government from making decisions that will harm our people, We need to defend this place. We need to stop the violence and the bloodshed. We want this city to be peaceful. We want it to be a place where everyone can be happy. We want to protect our people from those who would take advantage of their kindness. We want to live without fear, to live without oppression. We want to create a better future, and we will do anything to make this a better future."

Isa nodded at her words, taking notes as Jarvis recorded.

"What do you think of the riots and protests in Atlas?"

Kaila looked down at the table and paused

"The whole reason I founded this place was to give people a place where they could come and live without fear. But now with the violence and bloodshed, I'm starting to wonder if that's going to work. I'm starting to wonder if this is the best course of action. But I also understand that we cannot just stand by and watch our people die, we have to do something. So we have a plan to try and make this place safer. We want to keep people safe. But we have to do it peacefully." Kaila said, her voice firm

"Is it a peaceful way to do it?" Jarvis asked, "I don't think it is."

"I agree," Isa said, looking to Jarvis "I mean this is going to hurt a lot of people, even if the goal is to protect people, I don't think there's a peaceful way to do it. The last time someone did something like this was in Seattle a few years back, how many years was it? Like seven? eight?"

Kaila paused at the question, thinking

"I believe it was 7 years ago, I remember the riots, they were pretty bad. But I didn't think that the police force would be the problem." She said, thinking "It's the National Guard thats the issue."

Kaila paused for a moment, her hands clasped, thinking to herself.

"I think I know what you're saying, but I still believe that this is a peaceful way to go about it, I do understand that this is a lot to handle, so we've been making plans to try and peacefully help people."

"What are your plans?" Isa asked, looking at Kaila

"We've been making plans to evacuate the city if things get bad, we've been making plans to protect this city and make sure that the citizens are safe. But we need to make sure that the people have a safe place to go. We don't want people to be hurt. We don't want to kill anyone." Kaila paused, "But we'll defend ourselves if we need to. This place is our home, and we will do what we can to protect it." The rest of the council smiled at her words, giving nods of approval.

Isa smiled, taking notes on the interview, her pen writing at an impressive speed.

"You want to make sure no one gets hurt, that's good. But I think you know how bad the situation is."

Kaila paused for a moment, "We don't know how bad it is. We know that things have been getting worse, but we don't know what's happening in the other areas. We just want to keep this city peaceful."

"Has there been any attempt of contact by the government? I mean have you talked to them?" Isa asked

"We have spoken to them but, most of it was just negotiations" she sighed, her voice getting low, she looked down at the table.

The room got silent, Kaila looking at the ground.

Isa paused, waiting for her to speak

Kaila sighed, putting her hands on the table and looking up "Most of it was just talks, they were trying to get us to stand down. They said they wanted to negotiate with us. But most of the time, all they wanted to do was negotiate to see what they could get out of it. It was frustrating. It felt like a waste of time. We've talked to them, we've told them we just want peace, we want to make a safe place for everyone here. But it seems like no one cares about that. They care about their own goals."

Kaila paused and then looked at Isa

"I don't know what you guys think, but I believe this is a good idea. It's not going to be easy, but I think we can make this happen."

"Yes," Isa said, taking a few moments to think about it "What are you going to do if they attack? I mean the government will attack."

Kaila nodded in agreement "We've been making plans for that, they won't be able to stop us." She said, looking around the room to the members at the table, "We don't know exactly what they're going to do, but we are ready for whatever happens. We'll be able to stop them if we need to. If they try to attack, we will defend ourselves. But I don't think they'll be able to take us by surprise."

Isa looked at Jarvis with concern on her face

What if this place just leads to more violence?

What if this just makes things worse?

What if the council's plan didn't work?

Whatever would happen

It wouldn't end well

For anyone.

It'll probably be bad.

Very Bad

It won't end well.

This is going to get bad

Bad

It won't be good

Not for anyone.