The Prison Keeper

Chapter 1

Tip-tap, tip-tap, tip fucking tap. The water drips incessantly from the roof of the plane's carcass. It's too high up for me to try and stop it and there's nowhere else to hide. The desert is cold at night, and the sound of dripping water makes it feel even colder. You make your choices and you have to live by them. There's an animal sniffing around outside, I hope it's an animal, if it's not it's probably them and they're just waiting, toying with me, giving me my last moments of hope.

A shadow creeps across the floor, the moon is bright, it's just a fox. It looks at me and runs off into the desert. I wish I was a fox, life would be easier. I want to light a fire but that would be stupid, it's so cold though, a little bit of warmth would lighten my mood. I feel in my pocket for matches, there's enough wood from whatever cargo the plane was carrying to make a nice fire. I didn't bring my matches. I didn't bring them because I knew I'd want to start a fire, and if I start a fire it'll attract attention I don't need.

The mountains in the distance are covered in small dots of orange. It's their way of letting you know they're there, you don't know when they'll come, but you can see them. At night we sit and watch the orange glows, waiting for them to go out, when they go out, you know they're moving. That's when you have to move, get away, find somewhere safe to hide and just hope they won't find you. When they've had their fill, taken what they want they go back, the orange lights appear again, and then we wait again for the next time.

When she asked me to come out here, I said it was foolish, I might not make it back. If they find me they'll have no mercy, life is worthless to them, murder has been normalised, it's how you survive in a world where there's little left and what's left is worth more than any human life. A red light flies up into the air, a small cracking sound. They're having fun, they like to do that, make you think they're coming soon. Two more red lights fly up into the air, two more cracks, the orange lights in the middle of the mountain disappear, one by one. Not now, please not now!

The orange glows reappear. I was right, they were just having their fun, back home they'd have been watching, as the lights went out they'd have been scrambling for their few belongings, grabbing the children and the few elderly left, running for whatever hiding hole they can find in this barren waste land. I hate the desert. When the lights came back on they'd be sighing in relief, hugging each other, at least it's not today, you've just got to live by the day.

My wife, she'd have grabbed the bag which sits in the corner of our room, a blanket, a torch and a small knife. All our belongings. Then she'd have ran, where I wouldn't know, it could be anywhere, needles in a haystack doesn't do justice to a person in the middle of the desert. I'd probably never find her, I'd never see my child, the one she's carrying. I feel partly guilty at bringing a child into such a world, but then, you need to have some happiness, and I cling on to the hope that one day it'll change, they'll bring about a better world, one like it was before. I want my child to be part of that.

That's why I'm here, sitting in an old rusting plane, cold and tired. We're planning on going, finding somewhere to live where it might not be so dangerous, if such a place exists. She asked me to go out there and see if I can find out when they might be coming. If we know when they're coming we can plan our escape, use the confusion to get away. You can't just leave, they'll find out and hunt you down, abandoning your community is punishable by death. Death, it's always death, morals and value for life have been tossed away for false loyalty and oppression.

Maybe it's the world which has made me cynical but this is a fight we can't win and my only reason for living are my wife and unborn child. I don't want to wait for death. We need to get out, there's rumours of settlements in the west, plenty to eat, and most importantly it's safe. They're only rumours, but you have to cling to rumours. Follow the railroad track, it's a long journey but eventually you'll get there. I don't even know where the rumours have come from, but all I can see in my mind is green, and coffee, a cup of coffee, what I would do for some coffee.