At the heart

He was out digging again in the fields, at the edge where it wouldn't interrupt the harvest or be as readily noted. He knew there was something special he would find to trade this time. His mother chastised him each time he shirked his chores, but he had a deep knowing, something drew him to this place time and time again. So far, he had been able to get extra meat and seeds for his family with the prizes he had uncovered, some sort of round disc that was shiny on one side and had words on the other, a toy "car" that would drive itself with winding up, metal pots and more. So his mother was not too harsh on him. But, he knew there was something even better he would find from the "time before". That was what all the adults called it, the nebulous world that had existed with electronics, motorized conveyances and medicine. Now, you were lucky to make it to your 20th year without a crippling or deadly illness taking you and if you did and managed to create a family, the rare child was conceived. In that way he was precious being in his 9th year now and healthy.

He was digging into a deeper richer soil now with some type of crumbling texture in it when his wooden trowel with the chipped edges caught on something shiny. Careful not to damage whatever this was by striking it again, he used his fingers to claw the dirt from around it. As he tugged on the chain that was becoming visible a larger piece tumbled out into his palm, shaped like a heart. This was it, this was what he had been called to. He just knew this was the key to something really, really big. Made of a silvery metal in fine details of woven knots and swirls it had a small clasp on edge. But the catch was crusted and would not open. Excited by the possibilities he forgot his trowel and to refill his site and ran back to his mother in the village.

She was terrified her son would come back too soon, somehow by the grace of the gods he had gone out on another "adventure" just before the Enforcers had arrived this morning. She knew, if they found a healthy boy of his age, they would take him away and she would never see him again. She trembled under their scrutiny, they had already executed the elder men and taken some of the younger women off where they could all hear them weeping as they were assaulted. The village had not been able to gather enough to pay the tithe the wandering band felt was due to protect them. The meeting hall was burning and their winter stores were torn asunder. But, this would be nothing if they took Aiden. He was the last light she had left to push forward for. Having lost his father several years back to the illness and no other family still living, she would be lost without her son. She could vaguely recall how it had been before, when there were so many people an open field such as theirs was nearly impossible to find among the buildings, cars and machines. The hot asphalt, the noise and the heaviness of the air. She had been so young when that first deadly illness had swept the world, devastating the population and halting the progression of humankind. Slowly devolving society into small groups of people clinging to what life they could eek for themselves based on small remembrances of how to forage, plant and hunt and the precious few books some could still read for knowledge on long before forgotten skills. She was taken in by some nearby strangers when they found her huddled next to the bodies of her parents starving and dirty, somehow untouched by the disease all around her. She had grown up in this small village and knew no other way to live, it was hard and made harder each year, by the rising demands of the Enforcers as more resources were lost or consumed. But, Aiden was so inventive, so strong, she had hope he and others may make a better future, if she could just keep him safe.

Aiden ran faster, there was smoke up ahead and he worried that his mother was hurt and he wouldn't be there to help her. As he rounded the first building into the village someone grabbed him, jerking him to a halt so fast his breath left him. He nearly dropped his treasure, but clasped on tighter as he fought to calm his racing heart and figure out what trouble he had fallen into now. The gruff arm around him held him up several feet off the ground and started to carry him toward the people he now saw huddled around a bloody area of dirt. His mother was there, the startled and defeated look on her face told him all he needed to know as the tears started to course down her cheeks, the Enforcers were here and he was now theirs. A harsh deep voice behind him asked, "Who do you belong to?" He knew it was too late to lie, his mother was too distraught to hide her fear, so he refused to speak. The large man tossed him to the ground and approached his mother. Before he could blink, she was gutted, falling to the ground clutching her bleeding abdomen. "That is what you deserve for hiding one such as this boy". Aiden tried to crawl to her, to comfort her, but the water in his eyes made the way too difficult to see and he was swept up again before he made it a few feet.

Boss grabbed up the young boy again and strode for his ride, he had one of the few remaining two wheeled conveyances still working. It roared to life under his ministrations and with the new recruit tucked in front of him he lead his band back to their encampment. He noted the child held a white knuckled grasp on something, once they stopped he pried it from the child's hand. It was a metal locket, like a heart. Boss was old in this world, nearly 50 years or so, he had lost count, but his greying hair gave only more power to his leadership, he had not become sick and could hold his own in any fight still. His heart was hard with the tasks of maintaining his control of his men and he felt no pity for the mewling child he now tossed to his second to start initiation and training. The locket though, seemed to glow in the now setting sun's light. Using his boot knife he managed to flick open the clasp and found the world stopped as he looked inside the tiny jewelry piece. Memories flooded him, love, laughter, followed by the putrefaction of death and dying. He fell to his knees, his chest burning, his breath leaving him. The picture inside was his own mother.