As Far As We Know

The rain had finally stopped, and the fires set by the Dark Ward Militia were starting to finally die down. The heavy billows of smoke gave us temporary coverage as we weaved in and out of the abandoned buildings to avoid being seen by the Legions. It had been many years since the underground lab set ablaze to the earth killing billions and unleashing toxins that altered neuron signals and electrical pulses within the brain.

Those of us who survived were forced into what we now call, The City. It is one of the largest underground scientific facilities in the world, well…what’s left of the world. I came here at the age of five with my best friend Aaron when we were found by the Dark Ward hiding in my grandparent’s basement. As far as we knew, everyone else in our families was dead. Grandma Josie told us not to leave until someone came back for us, but no one ever came.

I remember that day vividly, Aaron and I were playing checkers in our tent when we heard something crash through the basement door. We tried to be quiet, but it made a high pitch scream. I closed my eyes hoping it would disappear, but it started clawing frantically at the blockade Grandma Josie had placed over the tent. Soon there were several howls, and we knew we were surrounded by whatever animals had found us.

Next, we heard a robotic voice telling us to “Come out, follow the Legions, and you will be safe.” Alone and afraid, we listened and slowly climbed our way out. We found ourselves standing in front of these highly advanced robotic beasts with tri-directional eyes, diamond-sharp teeth, giant claws, metallic wings, and the body of a panther.

Aaron took my hand and never let it go. We walked for miles until we couldn’t walk anymore. It was scary, everything around us was black or burned to crisp, homes, stores, schools, were all destroyed. It was hard to breathe, and our little bodies couldn’t take the stress. Aaron led me to some concrete stairs outside of this abandoned building, where we sat down to rest. I laid my head in his lap while the beasts surrounded us watching our every move. My eyes became heavy and burned from the smoke that encapsulated our surroundings and then…I woke up when I heard.

“Evonne and Aaron welcome to QLAB also known as The City! This will be your home now. Please step up to the counter, so we can get you checked in.”

We found ourselves sitting in a row of white chairs facing this large desk. I’m not sure how we got there but it was bright and clean inside the building. I could breathe easily. I felt safe. Then a gray-haired nurse with sparse hair on her chin came from behind the counter and begun to undress us, she checked our vitals, and provided us with these tan uniforms that reminded me of the medical scrubs my mother use to wear. She then took my left hand and Aaron’s right hand and locked us together by our wrist with a heavy-duty chain.

That would be the beginning of hell for Aaron and me. We would become guinea pigs with the rest of those condemned by the Dark Ward. They injected us with unknown toxins, dissected parts of our body, and interchanged some people’s body parts with robotics, and when we asked about our family and friends, we always received the same reply.

“Everyone else is dead, as far as we know.” That was 20 years ago.

I could now see Aaron’s bottom lip trembling like the strings on a bass guitar. Our once tan uniforms were dirty and wet, signs that we had gone too far from the safe zone. We had made this trip a thousand times, each time managing to get farther away from The City. Aaron kept looking behind us. I hated when he did this, it made me anxious.

I could feel my skin starting to itch from the thought that, this time we went too far. I could feel his hand get tighter around my wrist where the chain connected us. I tried to pull away, but it was no use, he would never do what needed to be done.

“Evonne, I need you to stop trying to pull away from me!” Aaron shouted.

“It hurts…It’s no use, Aaron, let’s go back.” I whispered.

I moved closer to his frail frame interlocking my cold fingers within his. His eyes darted to mine as he hastily released my hand, his skinny pointer finger aiming at my nose.

“What did I say? What did I say about that? I can leave you, ya know? I can figure out a way to leave you. Why do you think we’re out here risking our lives? We have to find a way!”

“Would you stop! please, what if they hear you?” I grab hold of his arm tightly to keep from losing my balance and lay my head abruptly upon his shoulder.

I couldn’t stop my body from shaking. The vibration of my body filled Aaron with compassion and anger, he felt helpless. Aaron and I have been best friends from first grade, now in our twenties, he still carried this burden. I began to cry from the pain. Aaron wrapped his thin arms around me and for a moment I felt a peace that I once knew long ago.

“Why, do you make things so hard for us E? I need you… I can’t live without you; you get that right? We only have each other now…”

Unable to speak. I nod my head slowly. Aaron places me gently up against a tree. Its remnants black as coal. The sky is dusty gray, and the smoky musty odor of soot lingers in the air.

I look over to Aaron who is seated next to me, he has also begun to seize as a painful side effect of our testing. He closes his eyes waiting for the pain and the time to pass. We lay there quietly, patiently, defenseless, hoping no one finds us outside of the safe zone.

“Damn it, wake up, we overslept!” Aaron panicked. Pulling me up to my feet.

“No... this can’t be! We won’t be able to get back in!”

“Wait, wait…Don’t panic, this may be what we needed to escape.”

“What do you mean? They can kill us outside of the safe zone.”

“I know but we are not too far from Windsor.”

“Are you Crazy? We’re not ready!”

“Wait, wait, just listen to me. What if my dad or your mom is still alive? What if they survived and are waiting for us there?”

“Stop it, Aaron, Stop talking nonsense.”

“Don’t you remember someone was supposed to come back for us.”

“She’s dead Aaron, they're all dead, except the few thousands that was saved by QLAB, you know that! We just need to figure out how to get back inside The City!”

“Look, my dad would say everything happens for a reason, were screwed either way.”

“Aaron, we have no food, no water, no medicine, no shoes, do you hear yourself?”

“I do, for the first time, I hear myself and I refuse to live the rest of my life wasting away in some underground science lab being treated like a lab rat, they did this to us, they destroyed our world, killed our friends and family and made us sick. I will not continue to bow to these people. ”

“Aaron! I can’t let you do this?”

“I can do whatever I want, I’m free out here! do you want to be free? You do know the military didn’t look everywhere for survivors?”

“She’s dead Aaron, they're all dead, I have to face it and so do you.”

“It doesn’t matter… I’m leaving…the sun is setting soon and it’s easier to travel at night. You can’t break this chain and you won’t cut off my wrist, so you have no choice but to leave too!”

Aaron starts taking the soot from the bark of the tree and rubbing it all over his pale white skin. He covers his face, his arms, and his already blackened feet. He begins to rub it all over my face and I don’t fight him. I see his rage and I feel his pain because it is also mine.

I sit here frozen and afraid of what will happen to us next when the military realizes we are not within the walls. Surely, Commander Sedrick who helped us slip out will lose his life and will be placed on display in the main garden like the others who don’t follow the rules.

Aaron finishes painting my skin black and then motions for me to lay down and roll in the nearby mud puddle. It is messy, it is cold, it is death that we are egging on. My thoughts are scattered, my body is numb, and I am just eager to find a hiding place.

I touch my chest to make sure that my heart-shaped locket is still there, it is the only thing I have left of my mother’s. I miss her warm smile and kisses on my cheeks. Aaron tugs at the chain on our wrist beckoning me to stand. I get up slowly from the mud that has added at least five pounds to my petite frame. Aaron grabs my hand and begins to cry uncontrollably. I wrap my arms around him. His breathing is heavy and slowly begins to return to normal.

“Aaron, I think it’s time…”

“Time for what?”

“Time for you to let me go…”

“What do you mean?”

I take my hand from within the heavy chain and slide out my wrist. Aaron’s eyes widen in disbelief.

“All this time? We could have escaped this place!”

“I know but there’s nothing out there Aaron!”

“Unbelievable! I have risked so much for you! the things that they have done to me, to you, to others! And you still don’t want to leave?”

“Go, Aaron, if you must...go… I’m sorry, just go… I know I owe you, my life! Let me buy you some time…”

I turn my back on him abruptly, I could feel his anger and my betrayal all at once burning a hole into my existence. I felt horrible but I wanted to keep him safe with me in my own twisted way, being in The City was safer than wondering a world being hunted by the Dark Ward.

I waited for him to beg me to come along, to wrap his arms around me, to change his mind. That never happened. By the time that I turned back around, he was gone…so I began the procession towards my fate, back at The City.