All's Fair in Love and War
Eleven: Lights Camera Action
The crew of Jam Pony stood with eyes glued to the flat screen in the corner as their former co-worker's face appeared. Normal offered no bips and remained just as captivated.
The residents of Terminal City were also staring at various screens throughout the city. The majority were in the Commons where Dix and Joshua had rigged up a large screen and projector. The place was as silent as it had been a week after it was first evacuated after the toxins accidentally spilled into the city's streets all those years ago.
Finally Logan's voice was heard.
"Tell us about yourself."
Max gave a brief, small smile before beginning. She had already decided the best way to deal with her nervousness was to pretend she was sitting on the space needle reflecting on her life.
"I always wanted to be a regular girl and before all of this I basically was. Yeah I had a secret government agency after my ass for the ten years after I first escaped from Manticore. But other than that, I had a job. I had friends, a place to hang out after work. I went grocery shopping. I complained about the long lines to get gas. I dreamed about getting away from this hectic city every now and then and going hiking or camping."
"Way to go, Max." Alec whispered as he watched her recount her daily routines, thoughts, and ambitions that illustrated to the masses how more alike she was to them than different.
"Why do you think the public fears you?"
Max took a deep breath. "I understand people's fears. I lived in Manticore for the first ten years of my life. When I first escaped I was scared of everyone and everything on the outside because it was all so completely different from what I was used to. But I did get used to it. I adapted. The people who knew me could see that I was different from them in certain ways. And I could see how different they were from each other. Everyone had their own past experiences ( hard times and good times), that made them into the individuals they were. So anything different about me didn't make me a freak, it made me Max. Just like the different things about any one of the people I came in contact with made them into the individuals they were.
I also understand how people fear us because of the way some of us look. When I was taken back to Manticore, I met a man named Joshua. When I first saw him, I was frightened because I'd never seen anyone that looked like him before. But all it took was for me not to run or scream or shoot but instead to say hello and a minute after that I knew I could trust him with my life. He's one of my closest friends to this day."
"What do you want now?"
"What do I want?" Max stared into her lap for a few beats before looking up again. "I guess I don't want to have to live in fear that if I'm walking down the street somebody is going to try and hurt me just because I have a barcode on the back of my neck or another one of my friends die because of the way they were born looking."
"You've been hurt recently because of the barcode on your neck. Can we talk about what happened to you when you were captured by the police a few weeks ago?"
Max looked down at her hands again and nodded slowly. "Okay." She said in a soft voice.
"Did you know that they were planning to rape you?"
"I…ugh…I heard them talking about it, but I thought they were joking. I think they were…at first. But when I heard them heading to my cell, I knew they were serious."
"Were you scared?"
Max nodded. "I tried not to be. I tried putting all my focus into how I would fight them and then hopefully escape. But they had this thing on my ankle that electrocuted me. I…I tried to keep fighting after they handcuffed me to the bed. I tried to stop myself from giving into fear by still focusing on how to get away. But I couldn't…I couldn't get away from them. I couldn't stop them from…hurting…me." Max felt the tears slipping down her cheeks as she became caught up in the memory of that night.
"Um…can we stop now, please?" She asked in almost a whisper.
"Yes, yes of course," Logan said, his voice thick with his own emotions at watching Max relive that night.
Author's Note: Okay I know it's like attack of the short-ass chapters but the next one should be longer and I'll try to get it up soon.
