09/24/2018 - Author note: Hello everyone! First of all, I wanted to say that I'm Italian so what you're going to read is a translation of what I've written in the past three years. I published this first chapter ten months ago and from that time I've grown a lot as a translator and thus I'm revisiting all I've published until now, looking for grammatical mistakes. Maybe I won't find them all and if that's the case I hope they won't ruin your reading experience.
I know that I've a biased opinion, but it's a story worth reading :)
Earth. Asheville. April 10th 2154.
Chapter 1 = Asheville.
An odd silence filled the room. Only the slight hiss of the wind could be heard and that barely audible sound made Joel feel a sense of deep apprehension. "The quiet before the storm." He murmured to himself, breaking the silence.
"Joel, stop watching outside the window and help me getting up." Said Rain, feeling a little stressed.
They lived in a wooden house big enough to easily accomodate two people. However, it was built at least two hundred years prior, and for this reason, once in a while, a wooden board would rot and be replaced. Their home was located in the outskirts of the city and sorrounded by barren fields; only a narrow road lead to Asheville.
"Of course darling, It's just… I have a strange feeling, maybe it's the rain to blame! That reminds me that I am no longer in time to run off to Italy with a beautiful young woman by my side." Teased Joel with a genuine smile on his lips, and he went to help his wife.
"You can do it, if you want to! I am an independent woman!" Rain giggled and leaned her weight against his husband while she was standing up. Then, she toyed with Joel's almost-totally worn out leather jacket, but suddenly worry took over her. She lowered her head and looked at her bump. "It's only a matter of days…" She said thoughtfully. "We cannot live like this any longer. This city and the Blue templars are suffocating us. I don't want Rachel to grow up in Asheville we have to go and you know it." She spoke those last words without pausing. She had the feeling that if she said them rapidly, perhaps they would become real enough to persuade her husband of their truth.
Joel stared at her astonishing gray eyes and touched her red curls. "I know, but… there isn't any other place for us but here. I have a well-paid shitty job that it keeps us alive! And yes, our bosses are a bunch of motherfuckers, but those who belong to the other two factions are even worse! Think of it: we have something to eat while a lot of people don't! Every fucking time I go to sell rations I have to see the miserable faces of the commoners. Rachel won't grow up in a friendly place but she'll have something to eat if we stay faithful to the Templars."
Rain was motionless for a while as she scrutinized her husband with eyes full of sorrow. "Of course she won't die of hunger but this place is too dangerous! The peace between the three factions won't last forever. She could easily be killed by a bullet!"
"And what could we do? Run off? It would be a suicide. No, we'll protect her here." Joel, clearly nervous, distanced himself from her and began to pace back and forth.
"There's Spruce Pine…" Said Rain with a trembling voice.
"Spruce Pine… they describe it like an Eden: a settlement with honest people who are also willing to welcome new members… and they have supplies at choice. It doesn't smell right, but the even slightest possibility that it could be true... well, it makes me want to go there."
"Yes, supplies at choice. Imagine how Rachel would grow happy! She won't worry about the food and she would be safe." Said Rain. Her voice suddenly became delicate and serene. The previous worry seemed to be long disappeared, as if the only thought of that place made her a different person.
Joel noticed the slight change in her voice and mood and started to take into serious consideration what she was saying. "The road to Spruce Pine is full of dangers and crossing the border will be the hardest challenge."
"I know, my love. However, I have been thinking about a plan that could safely get us out of here. Obviously I'm worried too, especially for our Rachel, but I feel in my heart this is the only way for us to be happy!" Rain was nervously rubbing her hands.
The man was bewildered. "What?!" Why didn't you tell me?" His hands were sweating. Rain's proposition was inevitably becoming more and more real as the fear he was feeling.
"I wasn't ready but now we have to change our ways. We have to do it for Rachel… and you have to take us out of here! You're going to be a father and you're obliged to do whatever it's in your power to help our daughter live a joyful life!"
Joel caressed his dirty hair. "Fucking shit. Why can I never say no to you? Fuck." He took a deep breath.
Rain smiled. "So… Have I persuaded you?"
"Yeah, but only if your plan proves to be ok. What do you have in mind?"
"Sit near the table, I take the map and come back." She went to an armoir placed in a corner of the room, she opened it and grabbed the North Carolina's map. When she returned to her husband, she sat on a chair nearby the table and laid the map in front of Joel.
"Do you see this road?" Rain pointed at it on the map "Highway 26. We have to avoid it because there will be at least a dozen of guards to monitor the border. In the evening or during the night maybe twice as many. So, we must think of an alternative road, less used and…"
"Without considering we need a permit to cross it…" Joel interrupted her. "I have one of them, but it's expired because it can be used only once, look" He pulled out a scrap of sheet from the right pocket of his jacket. "The date printed here is the first of April. I have used it to deliver some packages to an important person a bit outside Asheville."
"Do you think it's possibile to counterfeit it?" Rain hoped with all her being her husband was about to answer yes.
"Perharps if I managed to add a 0 after the 1…, I think if I worked on it I would be able to do it in half an hour, but we must reach the border before midnight and if the guards verified it carefully they would notice something is off…"
"It's a stroke of luck they don't have replaced paper for olopads here in Asheville, technology makes everything so complicated." Raid took a breath of relief.
"if Asheville had the money for olopads we wouldn't be in such a miserable state." Joel went on looking at the map and all the possible roads that led outside the city. "We could take this street, the 694. There should be few patrol guards, maybe two, because it leads through the woods and to the mountains. What do you say about it?"
"I think it's a good idea. However, if we choose that route it will take us more time to reach destination but, as you have already said, the most important thing is to cross the border, then the dangers will decrease."
"So… Rain, what is your definitive answer? Do we do it?" He watched her intently.
"Yes, Joel, It's now or never, we have to dash off, let's take all the Blue Templars' money and let's hope that they would never see us again! Counterfeit the document, I fill up the luggage!" Rain was still speaking when she kneeled down and took from under the bed a big brown suitcase, she filled it with the few clothes they possessed, some supplies and then she closed it. "And if this strategy doesn't work? What do we do?"
"In the worst case scenario…I have a gun! Go take it and bring it to me. Do you see that board near the wall? Lift it and you'll find a metal box, the keys to open it are under the adjacent board." He ordered her.
"What?! A gun? How do you have it? Only the highest ranks of the organization can own weapons! How long do you have it?!" Rain was bewildered.
"Few weeks ago a friend of mine gave it to me. He's a patrol guard and it's his duty to supervise the Blue's borders... if we meet him, we are the luckiest people in the world!"
"And why do you tell me this only now?" Rains asked nervously.
"Well, as you said… owning a weapong is very dangerous."
35 minutes later
"That's it…" Joel lifted the sleeve of his jacket and looked at the old watch he weared on his wrist. "It's 10.30 p.m. Now we just have to leave."
The two of them rushed outside: Joel, luggage in hand, started to run towards the backside of his house, where his car was parked; while Rain limited herself to slowly walk, holding her bump with her hand. The man was the first to get in the car. Then, he threw the luggage on the backseats, inserted the keys in the ignition switch and turned them: the car made some noise and shook a bit too, but nothing happened. Joel tried again. "Don't you dare leave me now, Buggy!" It was useless. Joel hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand to vent his frustration.
Rain saw the whole scene. "Honey?! God… why doesn't it start? Let me get in and try…"
Joel looked at her with a dry look. He snorted and then decided to get out the car and let his wife try. The women sat cautiously, turned the keys, but the result didn't change. Her husband was about to tell her something when Rain tried again. This time she slowly turned the keys and when they were reaching the end she twisted her wrist, giving them a fast blow. After some poppings the engine roared.
"Wow! That's why I love you!"Joel rejoiced.
Rain responded with a satisfied face and she moved to the passenger seat in order to let the man drive.
"Are you ready?" Said Joel, hopeful.
She nodded and they departed from their home.
Unstable houses from the foundations and people sitting on the tarmac: these were the first things Rain noticed while she was looking through the car's window. The commoners were wearing worn out clothes and their skin was yellowish, dehydrated and dirty. At the mere sight of Joel's car they began to get up and walk more and more fast until they were running.
"Fuck, crossing the infamous quarter isn't going to be a small feat! Luckily, they don't have weapons, otherwise we would be already dead." Joel sighed. "Well, we have to keep going at all costs."
"I have never seen this part of the city… God, this is absurd!" Rain was scared by the sight of so many people moving towards them: if their eyes once appeared to be totally dull now they were lighted up with awareness at the sight of their vehicle.
"Yes, they look like zombies…" Joel was horrified.
"Why don't they revolt? Why don't they try to cross the border?" Rain asked incredulous.
"The guards shoot at the sight of anyone who get close to the border by foot. Only vehicles are allowed, they are regarded as a symbol of welfare. And, even if they managed to cross it, they are in such a bad state that they wouldn't be able to reach another city or settlement." Joel explained while he was looking at the misery all around him.
"Fortunately we are leaving this place… anyway you have mentioned a certain Elvin Wright who gave you the gun and is a guard, but you have never told me anything about him, why?" Rain gazed at her husband.
"Well, he has a difficult familiar situation, every time I think about it… all the times I could have helped him more come to my mind." Joel felt a sense of guilt emerge undisturbed from the most forgotten places of his soul, and he remembered an episode.
"Listen, Joel, how long do we know each other? In the name of our friendship, help my daughter! Or, if our friendship has no value for you, I turn to your humanity! I'm begging you!" Said Elvin without taking a breath, while he was pacing back and forth around the house, his boots made the wooden floor creak. Behind him, seated on a chair, there was his daughter. Her big black eyes stared and scrutinized Joel. She was so skinny that her eyes almost protuded from her eye sockets. The house was cramped, the walls too close from one another. The cold seeped through his bones. Everything made the situation insufferable and oppressive.
"Of course I am your friend, but I do not set the prices, I'm in the same shitty situation as you! If I start to make discounts, I'll wind up into the next rations!" Joel said, trying to seem reasonable. He went on. "I see that you daughter is sick, but I really have no power to do anything." He felt like an arsehole, a man unworthy to exist, but it was a matter of survival. Darwinian selection; he thought. However, he set aside that observation, what kind of man had he become? He wondered.
"If seated here, on this chair, had it been your daughter, and our position had traded places, what would you want me to do? You know the answer. This place wouldn't be like this if people thought beyond their egoistic private sphere." Elvin said, too disperate to be angry. Deep down, he knew that Joel wasn't responsible for his daughter conditions, but he seriously needed some help, now more than ever.
"As I said, I can't lower the prices of the goods, because it doesn't depend on me, but…" Joel took the rucksack from behind his shoulders and he put it on the ground "…I can give you these: my supplies. Some of them aren't very energizing, I know, but I can't do more than this." He said while he was looking at Elvin. In the meanwhile the child was still staring at him. He felt uneasy: if he looked into her eyes, would she be able to notice he was lying? That, truth to be told, he could do more for her?
"I thank you for your kindness and I appreciate the fact you're willing to give up your supplies in order to give them to us, but they are insufficient, I can't prepare more than a meal with them. I really need the Standard Ration Pack. Listen to me, I have an idea…" Wright went to the poky room beside the one where they stood, opened a box and pulled out a gun, then, he returned to Joel. "This is yours if you don't make me pay the SRP, so… what do you say about it?" He watched Joel with hopeful eyes.
"A .44 caliber pistol… I spare you the question where you found it, but tell me… what should I do with it, exactly? If they found it on me, it's probable they would use it against me." Joel said matter-of-fact.
"A gun could always be useful, just remember to keep it in a safe place, like a box, better if locked! And the reason is that I have nothing to eat, and I simpy can't eat metal."
"Maybe you're right… it could be useful, especially with the job I do. So…I accept you proposal, Wright. However, if anyone suspects I have a gun, I know where to find you." Joel finished his sentence with a threatening tone.
The child went on to stare at him. Joel would have sworn she had never looked away for all that time.
"Thank you so much for helping me, thank God there are still good people like you." Elvin said full of gratitude and hope.
Joel didn't feel happy. Without saying anything he went to the door and left. That gun was worth much more than a SRP, the triple at least, however its possession was risky, he felt dirty for accepting it, but not too much, after all.
The trip lasted about two hours. The two of them spent them quietly, thinking over and over about what was going to happen shortly afterwards.
They had to succed.
There were no other options.