CITY DOOM

chapter 2- system

It's the middle of the night. I'm standing on the forest floor. The wind is calm and cold, and trees dance with the breeze. It's a complete state of tranquility to feel a sense of freedom. All of that was gone in an instant. A loud sound came from the back of the big rock behind me, as if someone were being chased by something. I turned to see what was happening. I can only see the rock, but the sound is getting louder and louder. I stared at the sides of the rock to see what it could be. All of a sudden, a lady pops out from the side of the rock and runs towards me. I'm waiting for its pursuer to reveal itself. Out of nowhere, a big lion appeared on top of the rock and jumped at me as it roared to claim its victim. I woke up feeling tired. I got up and sat on my bed, covered with sweat and worried, reflecting on my dream. Another nightmare, but this time it felt so real. I stand, do a couple of hops, and shake my body to loosen up a bit. "And why is it all animals?" I asked myself. I stop and think for a while, hoping that right now I can think of any connection with the animals killing me in my dreams. I stopped thinking about it and went to my morning routine. I can't let those stupid dreams ruin my day. I turn on the speaker and play my favorite song. Based on what I can hear, it's smooth rock jazz, but I don't really know what the genre is; I just love the vibes it gives to the room. It makes me want to dance all day. I do start my day with my morning exercise. I just do the basics to wake up my sleepy body, and as we all know, a good body equals attractive girls. I'll admit it: I'm a little bit of a jerk. That's what happens if you grow up alone. Dric, my father's driver, pulled some strings to get us this house. He is always out; top work, I guess. I take a shower while singing and dancing to the tone of my favorite music as I enjoy the fresh water. After that, I secured the place and proceeded to the most important part of my day. "Mirror time:" I spent more time here than cleaning the house. I believe, as a teenager, that this is how to get girls attention: by taking care of myself. I just turned seventeen last month, but I already have an athletic body. I'm six feet tall, give or take. I've got a good-looking face with a prominent jawline, black, wavy hair, a good set of teeth, a killer smile, gorgeous eyes, and a tanned complexion. As far as I can tell, I'm in love with myself. The song's concluding part is on the way. This is where I went insane, hitting the moves that I thought would go best with this music. "Here we go!" I'm completely in sync with the song. "Skye! Let's go!" someone shouted. "We'll be late for work. "It bangs on the door like there's no tomorrow. That would be my only friend, Rik, who occasionally ruins my day by interrupting me during my performance. "What a boomer!" I shouted. "Wait, I'll be there! "I'm quite pissed at what happened. I pack my things, wear boots, bite into my protein candy bar, and face the outside world. When I step out of the house, I see the field's rectangular design with the metal frame that functions as a water sprinkler on top of it. It resembles a rhombus pattern, and it gets thinner as my eyes travel towards the distance. Rainbows formed as the water evaporated into the atmosphere; it is so mesmerizing. The sun's warmth and the breeze in the air never fail to amaze me. "Hurry up," he said. "We've got a new field to cover today."This was Rik, my blabbermouth classmate, back when we were outside the doom. Now he doesn't talk that much, he is picky with his words, and he looks as pleasant as me; he's rocking a golden brown perm hairdo with a clean side. He's a bit shorter and skinnier than me with lighter skin, but he's above average. He still cried as we met for the first time here inside the doom because of my mind-controlling ability. I can create a fake reality of what will happen for a few minutes, immobilizing the person and letting kids cry, but as time went by, we gradually became friends. Now he is not bothered anymore. Although he's a bit ignorant when we're together, I don't know why he can't help but act stupid. Now we are here as farmers instead of soldiers because, about a month ago, during my birthday, we went swimming rather than taking the exam. I'm the one to blame for it, but he is cool with it. We always have each other's backs; we never even had a fight before. Maybe we have a lot in common. "Wait up!" I shouted. "Quit daydreaming; there's no girl in the field. "I dashed and hopped on the electric cart as we headed to the field where they assigned us. We drove into one of the farm's columns. I looked to my right to see some of the farmers on each row already doing their tasks for the day. On the other side are newly grown seedlings; now I know where our new spot is. Every now and then, the people who are in charge of the farm assign us to different fields that produce different yields, so if anyone gets sick or something goes wrong, we can do their work. Today, we are assigned to the tomato field, and these are new plants for us. I looked ahead, and all I can see is the massive wall that serves as a division between the middle ring, where we are right now, and the outer ring, where the wealthiest people live. When I look at Rik, he seems to be silent, as if he is contemplating something. "Are you okay, Rik?" I asked. "You're not your own self right now." "Yeah, I'm okay; I'm just tired," he replied. "Okay." I didn't bother him any more. We stayed silent during our slow ride. I looked back into the field, watching other farmers and plants embrace the sun. Suddenly, it hit me: tomorrow is his seventeenth birthday. Maybe that's why he's silent; he thinks I forgot. I leave him be so I can think of my surprise for him by tomorrow. During our ride, I perceived that we'd been in this city for ten years since the incident and that too much had happened. The city underwent a lot of changes to become what it is now."We're here," he said."Finally, I can stretch up a bit," I replied.I quickly stepped down to feel the earth, looking at the rectangular metal frame with the controller at the end, near the main road. On my right, I can see the houses where we are staying, as they resemble miniature houses I've always seen in malls when I was a kid. Behind it is the wall that separates the middle ring from the inner ring, where less fortunate people live and a wide range of goods are accessible. I usually go there to party, but I can't get through the night because the ladies always trick me into buying them drinks, leaving me empty-handed. Far away in the distance is the cone structure that generates the shield wall, which protects us from outside threats."Skye! Come on, we don't have all day," Rik said."Alright, grandpa, I'm coming," I replied.I think of things to lift Rik's spirit, and I know just what he needs."Go get the manual," Rik said.I get the manual and try to delay the work as much as I can because I know farming here is simple and fast. In under a minute, we can already harvest the crops that we sowed a few days ago. All we need is water, enough sunlight, and a person who can manipulate time. That's what Rik is good at, and that's why he's the captain of this two-man crew. And me, I just follow what the manual says and provide him with any assistance, but as far as I can tell, it causes more delay in our work."What does it say in the manual, Skye?" Rik asked."Wait, I'm looking at the instructions," I replied. "Why does this manual have a lot of pages?""To know more about the plant we're working with," he exclaimed."What's the point?" I asked. "They grow, we eat them, and that's it.""There's more to that sky," he explained. "They provide clean air, and and more.""See, you don't know what you're talking about, I exclaimed. I'll tell you what: one day, if I decide to marry a plant, I'll know them more."Rik doesn't like my sarcastic reply; he pauses for a while and thinks."Oh! I tell you what, if I'm a plant, I will not let you eat me."It had me thinking for a while, "I'll tell you what, if you're a plant, you're disgusting.""Oh! I'll tell you what, if you're a plant, you'll be an eggplant," he said."Why?" I'm curious about his (I'll tell you what) joke."Because you are always horny, but you can't do anything about it because no one likes you.""Oh, it's on," I said. "I'll tell you what: if you're a plant, you'll be a bitter melon."Why?" he asked."Because no one would like to touch your grandpa, it's too weak; it has wrinkles all around it.We're pissed at each other for what we've said: Now we're at war, for I'll tell you what jokes. We're just laughing, sometimes enraged by our jokes. It's nice just being who we are. Until we realize that we haven't done anything, we've been goofing around all morning."Let's stop this nonsense," Rik said. "Give me that manual.""Okay," I replied.still laughing at the jokes we throw at each other's faces.Rik snapped the thing out of my hands and scanned it."Let's see, the procedure lasts for thirty seconds."While I went in front of the hologram controller to punch the needed materials."A bag (10 kg) of soil fertilizer, three gallons of water, and thirty percent sunlight.""That's all?" I asked.Rik checked the previous and next pages."That's all," he replied."Get ready,""Okay," he said. handing me the manual and going to the platform.It is quite fascinating to watch the whole thing unfold before my eyes. As I press the button, the materials are mixed together, giving Rik ten seconds to prepare his magic. As the light turned green, the water began sprinkling. I watched as seedlings within the rectangular frame crawled out of the ground as they consumed the nutrients in the sprinkled water to burgeon. After the water and lights are out, all we can see are pull-grow plants with fruits hanging on their branches, ready to be picked. Now all we need to do is repeat the process until it's done. If only I could be of any help to him with the task at hand, but that is not the case because my skills are inadequate for the task. Maybe if they have an electric chair at the penal institution, I will be the man for the job.The sun is almost vertical on the horizon, and the siren has already turned to let us know that the time is up, so we pack our bags and hop on our electric cart to collect our payment. As we reached the arsenal, we got our translucent charge card, which serves as an identification card as well, to swap on the payment machine, which automatically pays us based on how many rectangular frames we completed. Although our work is not finished, thanks to our hard work and dedication, we still got paid. Is not as big as the others, but it's enough for us since we live on our own. As always, we go to our secret spot due to the fact that Rik can't go to the inner wall where fun is because he's not seventeen yet, and I have to save my money to surprise him for his birthday. We put a rope ladder on the wall at the back of my house to witness the glory of the sun as it descends behind the tallest wall of the doom, the outer ring, and its megastructures. This spot is where we recollect the pieces of our yesterday. There we are, sitting on the edge of the thirty-foot-tall wall, eating chips and drinking soda, and asking about things that pop into our minds. As I looked behind me, where the inner ring is, parties began to emerge as lights danced in the distance, for the reason that it is the most accessible city."You can go there, you know," Rik exclaimed."No, I just wondered, Why is it that there are a lot of people living in that place?" I hide the truth."Maybe people all around the cities just like to party," he said."Do you like to party, Rik?" I asked."Ah, what's the point?" he sighs. "You go out and drink alcohol that could kill you; you meet girls that rob all your money in front of you, and you feel happy about it; next thing you know, you're old and alone and sad while lonely."I'm looking at him while getting hurt by the truth he spoke. I'm thinking of any positive outcomes from the things I usually do for the last few weeks."At least you're happy now," I said. This time, I can't help but feel guilty."Have you ever speculated about what the outside condition is?" he asked, looking so serious."Yeah, why?" I said. "As they all said, it's a wasteland with monsters at every corner.""Would you rather stay here for the rest of your life?" he exclaimed. "We can't even enjoy the full might of the sun because we're stuck here with a lot of restrictions; we can't explore the cities because they've already planned our tomorrow; we are unable to showcase our ability; we're merely pawns in someone's chess game; you should be one of the people who could understand that."I'm shocked by the words he said. I guess my surprise is not worth it. The sun is halfway down, and the outline of the tall buildings is curved to form a place we can never conquer; it creates the perfect scenery for us."What do you want, then?" I asked."Nothing; I'm just wondering," he replied.I scratch my head out of prostration, but I can see on his face that he is sincere.As the last light of the sun disappeared, I said, "I'll give you the adventure you want.""What are you talking about?" he said. "Come on, it's already dark; we have too much to do tomorrow."He avoided the topic, so I didn't force it anymore."Okay, Captian," I said. I recall that we didn't even cover half of the field today.We gathered our things, started to descend from the ladder, and walked in front of my house.I said "good night" as he and I parted ways. I cleaned myself up and went to bed, looking at the ceiling while thinking about what could be the best surprise I could give my friend at his legal age. Something that is worth his time. Knowing that going to the inner city and partying is not a good idea because he's not into that kind of stuff, we can't also go and explore the entire doom because we're not authorized to go anywhere except the farm and the inner wall, and we might end up in jail. The inner city is huge as well; it will take us a couple of days to go around it, and we don't have the time for it. As my thoughts get deeper, my eyes get heavier, and I fall asleep, as I always do. That's a problem for another day.