A Story Outside the Limits of Battery City
Chapter 1
It was xx/xx/xxxx. How many years ago it happened I do not remember. We recently ransacked this Wal-Mart and amazingly some notebooks survived within all the fires that were caused around the city. I'm writing in this book, what I now call a Journal, to explain all our stories up to present time now. Why? I believe that history is important and we are rapidly losing it. With an account of someone we may lay down a path for anyone else who may come across this book. We may refer to this book of records in case we're in a fix. Bleh, I'm rambling and I don't even understand what I'm saying now.
Keep reading if you will.
I estimate it was about eight years ago that the entire war went into a nuclear catastrophe. Actually, we aren't even sure ourselves what bombs were used in WWIII. The War of the Worlds. Judgment Day. Anarchy Reign. Whatever you call it majority know it as "The War".
I probably should've started off like this: My name is Aron. I am living/surviving with five other people. Amy, Jake, Dimtri, Molly, and Sage. Amy you could say is our leader. She's the oldest of 23/24 but she doesn't act like an adult. It doesn't matter in this day and age you just do whatever to live. I won't waste time describing everyone. Just know that Amy has purple streaks in her hair. Why she does I'm not sure. I think it's so she can keep hold to her old life because back then in the Before Time she had purple in her hair.
Molly is 9/10 now and Sage is 14/15. We used to be traveling with this woman who was severely sick with child. Amy, Jake, and me were with the woman until she gave birth. She died soon after and the baby looked very bad but Amy had taken care of the baby very well and Molly had grown well. Sage was with Dimitri when they joined us. Both of them had been in a tower when their city was bombed. They survived somehow under that rubble. Sage is Dimitri's little sister. Dimitri's about my age 16/17 and Jake is around 18/19.
A shabby small sewer hole emitted rusty smells and no longer smelling like decaying feces of years ago when people had the option of plumbing. Toilets are severely missed. Many pass by this vertical standing pipe entrance as part of the dusty scenery. It looks like any other normal sewer hole. As the twilight darkens a small figure walks between the broken bars with two larger behind her. Each heads over to the bright neon lighted building mass in the east. As the trio get closer to the more futuristic part of the city, away from the brown broken areas, the light shows individual features in the glow. The smaller one is a little girl wearing her hair back in a ponytail held together by a pair of goggles. The other two are male with one being more built and buzz cut hair with the small grey hints of a beard. The other shorter one with shabby unkempt black hair he wore a suit while the other is wearing a dirty white stained tee to match the condition of his blue jeans. As they get closer to the city Molly and Jake both assume rigid walking positions and stepped together as if in marching band. Aron walked in the lead to a white lit building with white walls, white tile, white chairs, and guess what. White tables. Basically the place was bright as hell.
Aron walked up to the register and behind was a woman wearing glasses and perfect skin. Actually, perfect everything. Hair, eyes, teeth - - anything you can imagine.
"Hello, Marie, is Mr. Green in?"
"Yes, sir," she answered with a soulless voice that still creeped out Aron, "He's in his office. Right now."
"Thank you Marie," thought she did not respond and continued to stand in a stiff position. There's one thing that hasn't been mentioned. Mr. Green is a spy. His real name is John Namestring he is a big boss in the company Better Living Industry. The three walking up to Mr. Namestring's office are part of a group trying to overthrow the company. They are called Killjoys.
The place I live now is called The Connected Interurbans of Amassus. In the middle is The Gleam or what we call is The Slave Centre. The entire place is called Amassus after the man who created this place, Armadeus. The entire city is surrounded by two electrically charged fences patrolled by the Controlled. A Controlled is someone who has a chip implanted inside their head and is programmed to do only certain actions. Each of them only take pills to substain nutrients to survive/live. Back to the fence: It is even guarded by Controlled animals. Dogs, cats, zoo animals, whatever you can think of. There is only one gate where the trucks carry chips and people out. We don't know how this system works because the Controlled are programmed to attack anyone and anything within the space between the two fences. Not even Mr. Namestring knows but each day the Killjoys and everyone else wait for the answer. How to leave Amassus.
Killjoys. A group brought to us from people who were kidnapped from the outside. They said that Killjoys are those fighting for a more free government. They even brought information that BL/ind was already being remade be a woman named Victory X. That she had taken over the company and that all cities are supposed to be free, but can't because corrupted rulers still keep their power and that the Killjoys will one day go across the country and free every city. Most of us don't believe this; I mean c'mon seriously? Some chick just suddenly appeared and everything was fixed? Although we thought it was a nice story and the name was better than just "The Rebels". Plus it was a slap in the face to BL/ind if these people had heard of them. Killjoys.
Let me explain more about our dilemma. Each day there are normal people who come from the three sectioned areas. Simple areas called one, two, and three. No matter where you lived you had to work or else be turned into a Controlled. This seems broken does it not? You could just not work right? If only it was that simple. You have a card and every time you swipe that card at the assigned time that earns you a meal. Then after you've done your work hour you go through the exit room and swipe your card there. This earns you a second and third meal to sustain the human body. Everyone has a one day grace period. If you do not sign into work at the entrance and exit rooms on the second day you are hunted and controlled.
Enough of the city's works time to show how the Killjoys function here. We all live in the lonely sewer tunnels that are vast and confusing. We believe there to be three levels. Common travel tunnels are marked with white paint on the ceiling once every fifteen feet or so and corners where you need to turn, there are white chalk lines for areas that are being explored, and a special paint that shows under UV light for escape tunnels. Oxygen is very hard to get down here so precautions of a machine were made.
Each Killjoy has a necklace of essentials around our neck. A UV/normal flashlight, an oxygen pill capsule case for emergencies, a multi-tool for who knows what, a spark flasher for distractions and starting fires, and lastly a yellow colored purple pill that we call a quick death encased in plastic. A suicide pill.
Food is provided mostly by those inside BL/ind. Each day of the week we have a certain drop off location. Each of these locations is memorized. It is strictly forbidden to write anything down. I'm doing something pretty risky with this journal. That's why I have a match placed in the seam and as a just in case I could use my spark flasher. Whatever I disagree not writing at least something down. We don't even have a map of all the tunnels. Why this is a problem is because it's just a small bit of hope that the sewage could lead outside the city in one of the tunnels. Improbable it is said though. Plus it's risky considering the lack of oxygen and chance of getting lost. We don't have that much chalk.
I won't write down much right now at least about other Killjoy spots. I've only met up with three other main points but I know there's more scattered around the sewers. I know that all the Killjoy main points depend on each other to do their part in taking down Better Living and for certain elements of survival. It's also fun to at least have other friends that I can visit every once and so often. I kind of count the people I live with like a family and you know what a family can be like.
Speaking of which I haven't even explained our condition: we live in a spot where five tunnels connect to this large 'room'. In the center of the circular place is the heater with the bright shaded light on top. Along the walls are our beds aka decrepit mattresses. Just kidding, I'm pretty happy having them. The crate and jugs of life are on these shelves we've carved into the walls. Below the supplies are seven bags; five which belong to an individual. The two have tools/anything possible and our bags have miscellaneous items. Anything used is used and returned to the bag. We never know when we may have to suddenly book it and leave.
"Hello Mr. Green, what is our assignment for today?"
"Mr. Patridge," the stringy white haired man replied looking at Aron's fake I.D, "This suitcase is to be transported to the alleyway on Batters Street. A man will be waiting to see you and will see you first."
"If Molly has learned anything," a blonde haired small girl remarked, "That suitcases are not just so." Molly has an interesting language. No one really knows how to teach her better English. She refuses to not refer herself in third person. Still, people are able to understand her and think she's adorable no matter what.
"Rightly so Molly," Mr. Namestring's eyes twinkled, "But what is in this suitcase is very important. Do not worry; you'll know the man." Mr. Namestring is the hope of the Killjoys. Even though no one has ever said it; they all acknowledge the fact that he is our leader, and that he was the key to leaving the city. Maybe even freeing it.
"You should open it," Jake said after they had left the building.
"Jake you're supposed to be a Controlled," replied Aron looking around to see if anyone noticed, "And besides I'm sure we'll find out if not now later." Right now Aron was in professional mode. They had reached their destination and were observing the people around them. Well not even people. No one spoke. They all just walked, and if someone did speak it was in quiet whispers. It was from the society they are growing up in or they were a Controlled just passing by going to a new destination. It was sad to see that someone on the outside looked fine but you could tell by their reactions and face that all they did was exist. Sometimes people have grown sick of this life and let their selves be Controlled. The feeling of not having to put effort in anything anymore and let someone choose for you became a desire. That's how Armadeus wanted it set up. It was all about control.
In a sudden move Molly was lifted over her kidnapper's shoulder and being carried down the alley. It nearly happened so fast that Jake and Aron didn't notice it. They ran after the hooded captor. Jake tripped over something that Aron tried to warn him before he ran into it. A thin shiney strand was connected from one side to the other. Using Jake to bounce off of, Aron threw the suitcase to trip the kidnapper. It was a perfect toss. Molly rolled indistinctively away like she was trained to do. Aron swiftly unclipped the multi-tool and poised it ready over the kidnapper.
"Okay," Aron took a breath, " I don't know who the hell you are, but you're about to get your ass kicked."
The captor started laughing and pulled off his hood revealing lengthy blond hair and a black trimmed beard, "Just as I expected from you Aron."
"Zerbe?"
Zerbe is my mentor. Well mine and a couple of others, but I'm his best student. Well I like to say I am. insert cheeky face here Sheesh what? I'm just motivating myself. Anyway he taught me a lot: about fighting with your body but also with words, Talking your way out of a fix. He's also my friend and we've done a couple of missions together. It was around the time upon us five entering the city. Well 'enter' is a nice way to put it. Snatched and caged was a better more factual description. No one in this city is someone who was brought here on their own free will. We don't even think there are any more people who actually were here before Armadeus took over. Anyway, it was Zerbe who helped us make our own main point. I asked him why he, and all the other Killjoys, don't hide/help the rest of the city. Most of the reasoning is because that is basically impossible. Other reasons are that they are weak. Not physically but mentally. 'The Rebels' (what was the original name of the group) needed young strong-willed people.
Sometimes I wish we could do more. Still the small crap like blowing up a chip delivery truck, messing with the machinery, the clocks so people are let out early by accident, or loosing up the wheel on a food truck. I keep telling myself all of these things have an impact.
Not meaning to brag but Zerbe and I have done way more hardcore missions. I mean sneaking into facilities for information, getting people out of the way for another Killjoy's mission; we're more like spies than just simple revolutionaries. I don't mean to brag (:D) but hey, we're awesome.
I'm on a bit of a touchy subject here. We've failed missions before. I know I made it seem perfect and all but I'd be lying if we're lost other Killjoys and missions. Someone had accidentally (or on purpose. Until this day unknown). This is one of the examples we use to not write anything down. So it was simple: place a hidden bomb on the second floor. Well, we weren't able to get to the second floor and it was a life or death situation. So we placed the bomb in the boiler room and the entire sixth floor building fell killing innocents inside and outside. It was after this incident that Armadeus started propaganda against the Killjoys and that we were the enemy causing problems.
Time is always a problem for both of us. Another mission we had to save someone unknown to us. But there's a difference between saving someone and rescuing someone. Save in this case means to pass by the prisoner's cell and drop a suicide pill. We didn't make it in time but it is unknown to us what happened to this person.
A group of five persons sat at a café table. Aron, Zerbe, Molly, Jake, and another one of Zerbe's partners called Emil. Emil is a supplier and a mechanic for mostly for explosives and certain tools of destruction. He helped create the UV paint for the escape tunnels. Each of them stared intently at the suitcase in the middle of the table.
"Okay Zerbe tell us," Aron started the moment they all sat down, "What is in the suitcase?"
"I think we should enjoy lunch and then I'll tell."
"Molly bets Emil knows."
"Eh," Emil gruffed, "This isn't important at all. In fact it could be a reckless hunch."
"Of what?" Aron asked intently, "Dude you have to tell us. What are we going to talk about during lunch?"
"I wish to ask you about this rumor that you caused that small explosion by one of the markets."
"Pssh, I'm not that messy enough to get myself caught."
"You used B3 lead powder from the Argon Instituion. You're fuse was a spring and you used silicon casing," Zerbe stated down like a list.
"Emil told you that didn't he?" Aron glared, "Well it was Jake's fault! He kept distracting me!" Jake raised his hands innocently.
"Molly wants Jake to give a candy," she pawed at Jake.
"D'awww . . . Jakeh share candeh?" Emil cooed.
The Mexican stayed silent staring indifferently at the small Indian man.
They seem to be having a good time right? With all the terrible things of the city it is small moments like these that keep Killjoys going and many other people. Every normal moment is a moment of free will for these prisoners of Amassus.
"Hello Customers," a flawless and ceasingly staring waitress came up, "May I see your cards?"
"Here ma'am, I'm paying," Zerbe handed his fake I.D. The waitress took the card and swiped it through the scanner on her belt. "Enjoy. Your stay."
"Molly feels sad and scared," she said after the waitress stiffly walked away. They all knew inside somewhere was a person.
"Okay then, let's open the case shall we? Emil asked to break the silence.
"Let's go to main point then," Zerbe gave in, "Then we'll talk alright?"
Down to layers underground a purple streak haired woman is working with a man wearing a brown fedora holding a package of cigarettes in them. They're both staring at an old machine wondering it's purpose.
"It's on the top of my tongue" the man said, "I just don't remember."
"Well if we can't figure it out maybe we could use if for parts," the woman suggested.
"Nu uh, this seems too important. I can feel it!"
"That's your nicotine addiction."
"Shut up. I'm set for two weeks anyway. We found an unopened box of them," the man quickly replied while playing with the switches.
"Amy! They're coming back," a brunette teen announced running down the tunnel,\.
"Oh thanks Sage," Amy replied, "Do you know where Dimitri is right now?"
"Explorin' some tunnels."
Amy sighed, "We're nearly out of chalk. Jared do you have some?"
"Yeah sure," he flicked some ash off his cigarette, "but we're running low."
"Molly sees here is Jared," a ponytail haired child came walking in.
"''Eyy Mollypop waz up?" Jaried lifted her.
"Jake look at the white paint. It's fading and I'm sure we could find some in area two."
"Area two is crawling with BL/ind cronies. It'll have to wait."
"Huzzah! Suitcase of power!" Emil exclaimed setting it by the, "Is that a radio?"
"That's it!" Jared snapped his fingers, "It's a radio."
"Oh damn," Amy added, "I haven't seen one of these in like forever."
"Try turning it on," Aron said excitedly.
"Already did and no luck. Fret not I'm sure Emil can fix it." Emil flashed a beaming smile.
"Hey we're off track. Open the suitcase."
"Alright then, Emil may have the honor," Zerbe gestured.
It was a map, specifically many blue prints, never less a map of the sewers. It was a probable answer: to follow the main tunnel outside of the city. There were many problems though. I know right? It seems so straightforward but no. The amount of oxygen, getting lost, and a fact that it really did not show it went out of the city. There were pieces either not labeled or accidently ripped off the papers. We were still thankful that Mr. Namestring put something together.
We discussed this for a long time. Long enough that Dimitri came back; instantly he was all for it. He's such an explorer. In the end if an emergency would arise we would follow the blueprint to as far as they can take us then we'll have to guess the rest of the way. Emil has gotten the radio working. Of course. That guy can fix anything. He fixed a couple of broken blaster guns we got from a skirmish. Well only five of them; two which my main point has. It's hard to fight against BL/ind because the Controlled are innocent people. We don't want to hurt them which is a bonus for Better Living because they're expendable.
Back to the radio: our excitement went to disappointment as all we heard was static. Dimitri suggested we'd take it above ground to see if it would work. Little did we know . . (Woo cliché foreshadowing line) . . That this radio was about to be a beginning movement in a full scale war. Oh it gets better.
Sorry I'm going to be a little descriptive here and there's a reason why. The sky was orange and brown from dust and sad. It was a near dusk as the sun waited two more hours to set. This is like, my favorite time of day because everything almost looks the same color. Plus it's really pretty. TELL ME I'M PRETTY.
. . .
Anyway . . Emil set the radio on a crate and went at it turning and twisting the antenna and dials. It was quite awhile before he got anything. It's a little fuzzy (with the static and all) but here's what I remember. I'm sort of just jotting stuff I remember.
". . . Battery City . . ." ". . . Doctor D . . ." ". . . Free West . . ." " . . Music From . . "
And then Emil nudged the radio to its side and then it started to get a little louder and more clearer.
"The Future is Bulletproof. The Aftermath is Secondary. Killjoys. Make some noise!" and then a song came on. Now as a little kid I didn't know much about music so this was brand new to me. Let me tell you: I wanted to destroy things! In a GOOD WAY! The guitars and drums made me want to jam and blow things up. I wanted to punch people in the face! It was sage who made the first move, while she was head bobbing; she turned up the volume and threw a chair over the tall wooden fence. Then she kicked a can towards Jared and then Jared punted it. Amy looked very disapproving as Jake started doing a metal rock symbol and Molly did some sort of little dance. As we started to like I suppose 'party' a few people joined us. We were too into the music to even care as we bumped against each other knocking them down and getting kicked in the shins. Man it hurt but the music kept driving us.
You know that thing where you're so concentrated on a thing that you forget all the things going on around you? I feel that I lost you somewhat. Like when you're so into what you're doing everything around you sort of blurs and disappears. That happened here. Before I knew it there were A LOT more people than there were in the beginning of the song. Everyone was dancing/screaming/throwing stuff/jumping on the roofs. I could barely hear the music but somehow this small radio projected it within a half mile radius. Or else everyone was bored and decided to have this huge orgy of destruction.
We caused such a commotion that soon the police came with at least fifty Controlled. Usually this means serious business. Over the music a voice on a megaphone could be heard, "EVERYONE HERE IS TO GO HOME NOW. TURN IN THE RADIO. EVERYONE GO HOME. TURN IN THE RADIO."
The. Entire. Crowd. Looked at the police and screamed in a huge jumble of vulgar things. A new song came on I think titled "The Only Hope for me is You." It was so powerful sounding and everyone began, instead of throwing things at each other, throwing things at the police. A sonic blast went through the air as one of those vertical umbrella looking machines emitted a neural explosion that didn't hurt people but pushed them. Groups of people piled behind each other and charged towards the umbrellas and some were successful in getting to them and turning them towards the police. The Controlled marched towards the crowd but they over threw them and restrained them.
It was absolutely crazy. A fire even started! I have absolutely no idea how anyone did that. Soon people started a chant many chants but only a few caught on. Some were very bland but pssh; don't blame me.
"OUR MUSIC. OUR FREEDOM. OUR MUSIC. OUR FREEDOM."
One chant above them all made me cry, "KILLJOYS. KILLJOYS. KILLJOYS. KILLJOYS."
The war that we all waited for has begun. And just because of a radio and a little music from a place I keep hearing often now.
Battery City.
AUTHOR NOTES:
HEY GUYS TRAP WOLF HERE SAYING IM SORRY IM BRAND FREAKIN' NEW TO FANFICTION AND IDK REALLY HOW TO PROPERLY UPLOAD IN THE FORMAT I WANT SO I HOPE YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND THIS AND CAN READ IT. ;-;