Hey guys. So sorry this hasn't been updated sooner. Here's a recap of my summer so far: I went to camp for four days, when I got home I found out that our computer monitor was broken, and for about a week I was sick. So that's what's happened in my absence. So now that I'm updating, hope you enjoy the next chapter.
Dylan awoke to the sound of the sand being rhythmically trodden upon. He smoothed back his obsidian hair (which didn't seem to match his paler-than-normal skin), yawned, and realized that it was still dark out. He closed his eyes once again and propped his feet up on his father's wooden table, cluttered with random items like the other vendors on the street, when he heard it again.
Dylan slightly opened one eye and watched the silhouette of a girl running across the beach. Two boys were in close pursuit. Suddenly, the girl was cut off by more thugs coming from the opposite direction. Dylan was on the edge of his seat now as he gaped at the scene in front of him.
The girl had nowhere else to go, so she began running blindly toward the water. As she ran, Dylan noticed that a hazy blue light slightly began to glow from her body. He immediately knew that something was about to happen, as everybody in the FAYZ knew that you "realize your potential" should your body ever emit a small glow. The girl ran and ran…and kept running! Dylan stared wide-eyed as the girl ran ON the water!
No, that wasn't it. It appeared that wherever she stepped solidified the water in a smooth sheet of ice. He could do nothing but watch while the 'Dilios, the law enforcers of the FAYZ named to honor the very first one, Edilio Escobar, chased her down across the water and brutally tossed her into a cage. After injecting her with some sleep serum, they manually hefted the cage up and carried the poor girl away. Just like that, the beach was just as it was save for the melting ice in the water, although it wouldn't last long.
Once again, Dylan was nearly asleep when a clanging filled Ocean Boulevard. Looking left and right, the irritated boy spotted the source: a fallen trashcan and a boy running from the scene. A boy Dylan recognized. He jumped from his post and quietly ran to the corner. Glancing from behind a wall, he saw the nine-year old boy in rags with a ham under one arm, cautiously looking around. The ham made Dylan's mouth water.
His family was nearly dirt poor and couldn't afford such things. Only enough small meals to get by. Up on the sides of the "highway", as their ancestors called it, were a couple of farms where the farmers would raise a few cows, pigs, and chickens at a time and sell them as food. He'd never learned where they got the very first animals in the first place, but he didn't really care. Although, this kid was poorer than he was, but it was no question how he got it: theft.
Suddenly, quick as a flash, the boy ran down the street and turned a corner. Dylan had to rush quickly but quietly to keep up. He stealthily followed the young boy all the way through town until they reached the highway. The thief simply crossed the road and kept running.
Dylan was forbidden to ever leave town but he had to know what the kid was doing. He was just about to cross as well when finally a sliver of light broke the horizon. Dylan would be dead if he was caught leaving their stand unattended. With a backward glance at the unknown land across the highway, he ran as fast as he could back to the beach.
Aidan burst into his house just in time. The 'Dilios had his crying mother immobile as another extracted a syringe from his coat. Pretty much Insta-Abortion in a needle.
"Stop!" Aidan yelled. "Please don't!" The Head 'Dilio smirked.
"Do we need to recall FAYZ Act #1?" He grabbed Aidan's ear in a firm pinch. "Say it…"
Aidan took a deep breath and quoted, "'Due to the foreseen predicament of overpopulation in the FAYZ, the council decrees that each family is limited to one child. All children that exceed the limit will aborted slash eliminated with very rare exceptions.'"
"That's right", the Head 'Dilio sneered, releasing Aidan's ear.
"But…but…" Aidan stuttered, still looking for an excuse.
"And it appears that this one is long overdue." The Head raised the needle and plunged it into his mom's stomach. She screamed, Aidan screamed, and if you listened closely, it almost seemed like the baby screamed, too. The 'Dilios left without another word while Aidan comforted his crying mother as the child inside slowly died.
Aidan had ditched school today (who would really miss him for an hour or two?). He was huddled up on the edge of Clifftop's roof, not really in the mood to be around anyone. The view from up here could let him see most of the town and a bit across the highway, although he couldn't make out details. A breeze was picking up, making Aidan's hair flutter backwards, and it forced him squint. A skitter of gravel came from behind him and snapped Aidan to attention. Only one other person knew that he came up here when he needed time alone.
"Addison," he said as he turned around, "would you stop trying to sneak…" He trailed off when he realized that he was alone. Another small scratch drew his attention to a small rat ducking behind an A/C unit. It hissed a few times, perked up, and dashed away.
Aidan faced the town again and stared down at the street of vendors. Looks like another loon was setting up for a rally, he thought. The man sat an upside down crate on the ground and posted two flags on either side. All he could make out about the flags was that they had an orange background, but he'd already seen that flag plenty of times. It was orange with two black, gothic-styled letters painted over it: H and C. Aidan hung his head. Not another Human Crew rally, he thought.
Even from up here, he could vaguely hear a small bit of what the man was yelling. Just the usual stuff about how freaks were oppressing those without powers. Even though he wasn't a freak himself, Aidan didn't feel like getting involved in conflicts like this.
In the back of his mind, though, Aidan felt that something was wrong with what he was seeing. He now had to squint from the wind to figure out what was wrong with this picture: the Human Crew supporter was angrily yelling, a small crowd was beginning to gather, some folks were avoiding the rally, the flags simply hung down their side…That was it. With wind like this, shouldn't the flags be…
Aidan suddenly jumped to attention. Wind? How had he not noticed this before? According to the science and history he'd learned, there wasn't supposed to be any wind. Sure they had A/C and heating ever since some brainiac Jack-something or other fixed the power plant and included a hydroelectric generator, but that was only inside houses and stuff. A second thought occurred to him: it must be taking a pretty powerful mutant to do this. Finally, a third thought occurred to him: wasn't it windy in his dream, too?
"AIDAN!" The sudden voice shook him from his trance. Aidan looked over the edge of the roof. A girl with long, slightly curled hair was frantically waving at him.
"Coming!" Aidan yelled back down. He slowly descended a set of stone stairs whose railings had been ripped off some time in the many years of the FAYZ. His sandals ripped somewhere around the sixth floor, forcing Aidan to run down barefoot and to leave a mental note to get them fixed.
As soon as Aidan reached the bottom, he was tackled into a hug. "I heard about what happened. I'm so so sooo sorry," Addison confessed. Aidan slowly took her arms away. She was pretty much his height and absolutely beautiful to Aidan…or would've been if she washed her hair, scrubbed the dirt and bruises off her body, and didn't wear frayed, worn-out hoodies that were two sizes too big.
"News spreads fast, doesn't it? I'm fine, okay?"
"No you're not. I can see it in your eyes," she pointed out with a grin. Aidan brushed away the topic.
"I gotta ask you something. You remember…the dream?" Addison frowned, not out of concern but from tire of this subject.
"Not this again!" she moaned.
"Hear me out, okay? Anyways, I was up on the roof and I noticed another one of those Human Crew rallies-" Immediately, Aidan knew he'd picked the wrong choice of words.
"A Human Crew rally? Oh my gosh, is it still going on? How come I didn't know about this? Come on!" Addison said in one breath. Her family was highly supportive of the Human Crew.
"Whoa, hold on! There's more to what I was-" DOONNGG! Aidan and Addison looked toward the large makeshift bell that rested on a hill between Clifftop and Perdido Beach. They counted seven more "dongs". "Eight o' clock! I have to be home-"
"Ugh! I was supposed to be home 30 minutes ago! C'mon. We gotta go," Addi interrupted. I just can't a single sentence in, Aidan thought before following her.
"Nice job, Aidan. We're lost."
"You're blaming ME for this? As I recall, you're the one that had to 'take a shortcut.'" Aidan and Addi were now standing in street intersection, houses and shadows in all four directions. Addi read the street sign (the only one that hadn't been knocked down or vandalized).
"Hold on. I think I know where we are."
"You think?"
"All I know about this place is that we should be careful about which street we go down. One of these roads leads to…Hellion's Path," she said, trying to keep her voice down. Hellion's Path, formerly known as Bully Row, was how the Great Vice War was compromised: any and all vices were legal within the limits of one street, therefore dubbed "Hellion's Path". And naturally, that's where all the alcoholics and drug dealers flocked to.
"Well," Aidan began, "of all four streets, what are the odds that the one we pick leads to HP?" He examined each way once more and finally said, "This way. I think it leads back to the beach and we can find our way back from there." Addi clung to his arm as they cautiously walked down along the curb into the fading darkness. If only they'd noticed the cardboard sign hidden in the tall grass, painted crudely to say "Warning: Now entering Hellion's Path."
Here's an interesting story: so one of my friends pointed out that he didn't think that Lake Tramonto could supply enough water for everyone in the FAYZ, especially this far into the future. In response to this, I tried to come up with some explanation as to why they had enough water and the best I could come up with was that somehow another mutant was able to rival Sam and Caine's power level and provide never-ending rain over the lake. However, while I was doing all of this, I was reading through "Plague" as well and as I came nearer to the end, a single sentence caught my eye. For those of you that have the book, if you turn to page 270, about 3/4 down the page, Sam says (quoted):
"Best of all, the lake was huge and filled with fresh water. More fresh water than they could ever use in a thousand years."
Therefore, even 150 years into the future, the people of the FAYZ would still have plenty of water. For those of you that have thought of the same problem of water shortage in the FAYZ's future, simply refer to this quote.
Anyways, thanks for reading, reviews are welcome, and I also ask that you may please respond to the poll located on my profile page. Thanks!
~Aros13
