Inside Paradise - VI

William walked swiftly through the streets. Men now began to appear in windows and doorways, but only a few souls traversed the concrete outside. A loud scream echoed through the buildings as the second of many city-set alarms attempt to rouse the populace. By the time William managed to reach the first guard post, a lethargic stream of bodies walked down through the streets. Soon the entire street would be full of bodies, shuffling past each other toward their dreadful destination.

The guard post, a large nondescript concrete building, with slim slits which overlook the surrounding streets. At the foot of the building was a boy of maybe fourteen, he wore the enforcer's all blue uniform and stared at William with an odd fascination.

"Aye, good day to you," William said, toward the boy-guard.

"If you don't have business here, be on your way," the child said this as if each word was rehearsed until it held no meaning to him but sound.

"Aye, I have business to be had on the line," William said.

The child's face contorted in confusion, "The line?"

William nodded.

"You have business on the line, old man?" The child said.

"Aye."

The child went pale but said nothing, only walked back toward the concrete building, and smacked against its large wooden door. A small slide opened. The boy spoke out of earshot, and after a few moments the door opened and he waved William on.

"Then you know how to get there, old man?"

William nodded and walked into the guard post. There was a man there, dressed the same as the boy, but older and more tired looking. He asked for William's identification. William gave the man his Med-card.

"This all you got?"

William nodded.

"What you want on the line?- fuck if I need to know. Go to the outer city and tell the guard your business, and don't fuck around, old man!"

William passed through identical-looking halls, bare and desolate. As he walked he felt eyes against his skin. Yet, the guards only watched, they made no move against him. Don't trip up now! They'll be on you in a second, William thought.

Finally, he reached a door identical to the first. A guard waited behind it, older than the boy at the other, but not as tired looking as the second.

"Hello, I have business on the line," William said.

The guard measured William, his eyes taking intricate notes on every detail of his person, "Aye?"

"Aye."

"What business, old man?"

"I am to see an officer named Hume. I have been called upon… An issue of a letter in my name."

"A letter?"

"From the outside, aye."

The guard gave a bitter laugh, "I've never heard of those savages knowing how to write."

"Only, when you've lived as long as I"

The guard dropped his smile, his eyes became measuring again. "Don't fuck around out there, old man... We'll have a mule take you out to Hume" under his breath, William heard the guard mutter, "that fat fuck." and William found some new confidence in his plan.

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William waited outside the concrete building, being watched by another boy-guard. Yet, this one had a rifle instead of a baton. He kept the rifle close to his chest, his hand always fidgeting around it. After a few minutes, a small vehicle approached them.

"That's your ride, old man," the boy on the stairs said.

William nodded, gathered his pack, and waited for the vehicle to stop. When it did he placed his stuff on the back of the small cart and got into the passenger seat. The driver looked over to the boy on the stairs, who shouted down some directions, the driver nodded and the cart jerked forward, before somewhat smoothing out as the journey to the line began.

The driver never spoke. He was a large man with long dark hair. His face was stone-like, showing no emotion at all. His hands were huge, wrapped around the thin wheel and his arms were impressive pistons, interwoven on his arms and neck were pink scars which popped against his sun tanned skin. Wrapped around his neck and throat was a large scar which he seemed to boast.

The two men sat in silence. Yet, the mule's throat seemed to indicate it wasn't exactly a choice on his part. William let his eyes wander the cityscape around him. Concrete and glass scraped the sky, but when the sun glinted through the panes it revealed the empty graveyard the outer city had become. But William remembered it had always been this way and there was a time when even most of the inner city fringes were as dead as this.

Suddenly there was a deafening blast. The cart jerked to the right and left before it began to speed forward, toward their destination. William asked what was happening but his voice was ripped away by the wind rushing through the open cart. Another blast. William knew it came from the north, toward the line.

They crested a hill and the cart's two front wheels jumped off the ground, William had his hands pressed against the thin ceiling to keep him from bouncing around in his seat. Then he saw it. At the base of the hill was a barricade of overturned cars, busses, and trucks, forming a haphazard line, stretching out to the east and west for miles. Wherever they had failed to fit a car they had raised a structure which now houses two to three guards. For fifty meters on either side of the line is a wasteland, the line overlooks all fifty meters as they flattened everything, destroying any building, structure, or thing in its way. From the structure of a building that had once stood tall along the line, grows a thriving base along the frontier, which their cart sped toward.

A small party was at the entrance to the base and seemed to be awaiting the cart's arrival. A pudgy man waved the cart in and to a stop. The mule jumped out from behind the wheel and dashed into the base, a few of the other men went with him, but the pudgy man stood by the cart and waited for William.

"Hello sir, I am here to see-" William started but the pudgy officer raised his hand,

"You might want to cover your ears, old man," he said.

The officer put his hands against the sides of his head and blocked his ears, William imitated him and in a few seconds felt his entire body vibrate as a third deafening blast went off.

"There you go, old man… now you were saying?" The pudgy man said as he replaced his hands to his sides.

"Aye, I'm here to speak to officer Hume."

"Why?"

"I have a proposition to discuss." William said, his hands beginning to tremble as arthritis started to rise.

The pudgy man gave a smile, "ah… I don't think any of my men have seen a man as old as you come here with a proposition…"

William nodded, "So, you're Hume, then?"

Hume nodded.

"Can we talk in private?" William asked.

"I'm no moron, old man. There are only two reasons a man comes all the way out here: And a man as old as you won't be shooting up… So I'm guessing you ain't got no paperwork," Hume said.

William shook his head.

"It's been a long time since I took a bribe, but it's also been a long time since we had a good stoning out here." Hume took a step toward William.

"Ain't that why you got those mules, officer?"

Hume laughed, then leaned in close, so that William could smell the sweetness of his breath, "Aye, but it ain't no fun when those fuckers keep getting up."

William smiled and looked Hume in the eye, "but you haven't chased one of those stonings with a bottle of booze yet, have you?"

Hume met his gaze, "Well, shit! Finally, the old man shows his use! Well, if only I had two, I might just be able to skip over some old fucker's paperwork."

"If only you had three, you might even be able to watch that old fucker across the waste."

"The wastes! Well��� I haven't heard anyone call it that for a long while... How old are you?" Hume said.

"Do we have a deal, here?" William responded.

"Aye, but you ain't seen the outside recently… things are getting heated, more than the usual. If one of my boys sees you, we may bring you back and I may send you on your way… but more likely one of my mules will lynch ya' out there just to send a message... Got it?"

William nodded, and reached out a hand "I could use a map…"

Hume accepted the hand, in an overly-firm grip. "We'll set ya' right up old man. But you'll be out tomorrow, the locusts have some fires going, so we're all waiting for a few hours. Maybe even out tonight… now let's see these booze!"

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William looked out over the wastes. In the distance, a thin stream of smoke rose from behind a few shorter buildings. From this point on most of the buildings slowly shift from tall structures of glass and concrete to shorter thicker buildings and houses for the residential district. Yet, there are some glass behemoths that stand as towers over the other smaller northern buildings.

Hume and a few of his men came into the room where William rested, their party was quiet and secretive, whenever someone other than Hume spoke it was through a delicate whisper. William turned toward them and greeted them, Hume responded with a drunken hello, he had already tested some of William's booze.

"Your map is ready, and my men can bring you out if you'd like. The Locusts are falling back unexpectedly." Hume said as he handed the map over.

"Thank you, Hume… It's been a very pleasant experience."

Hume laughed and gripped William's shoulder with an aggressive strength, "Oh you old fool… I am sending you to die y'know."

William's heart began to pound, his body tensed and a sharp pain began to sprout from the base of his back.

"You don't know what it's like out there, old man. Only five years ago there were families and men and work… those fucking savages had potential." with his other hand he pointed out the window into the now billowing smoke. "Now look at them… they burn and pillage and they ****… They are nothing like us, old man. Give them a few more years and they'll have destroyed everything they have. They will be ash, atop which this city will grow and thrive." He let his hand drop and his eyes, bloodshot and glazed locked with William's, "I'll let you out there, for whatever you think you need… I won't even pursue any answers from you. But you will see… and then you'll understand why you need people like me, old man. See, I'm not afraid to burn those fuckers down. To lynch the ones that try to run… because I understand their nature. I understand that they will just keep coming back… like an insect. And only one of us can exist… either paradise or that."

The two men stared out into the distant cityscape. The light of the sun grew dim and so the fire which loomed amongst the buildings grew to be the only source of light. In the flickering fire, the city seemed to come alive, the concrete itself was something to be feared. William tried to remember a time when he had found peace in that place when that desolate teeming land seemed a place of respite. But no thought of that sort came, there was no sweet inclination when he focused on the chaos of that fire-lit land. And somewhere inside him, he felt he finally realized he had left a part of himself behind, when he had started his new life and now entrenched in his life of paradise, he didn't know if he would be able to survive what lay ahead. Actually, he was certain he wouldn't.