Badlands

5.

Sunday - July 17, 2073 (9:00 am)

Ophelia Hallen

We stepped out into the daylight and studied our surroundings, knowing this could possibly be the last time we'd be here. I spoke so much about getting to leave this place, but now that I was faced with it, I wasn't sure I was ready. I wasn't upset because I would miss this place, but upset that this was all I had to ever known. It's now or never Ophelia. I sighed to myself and ran to catch up with the group. We entered a part of town that I wasn't familiar with. And trust me, I wasn't ready know it either. Girls sat on the sidewalks, hoping someone would come and pick them up for a good time. Drunk people stumbled out of clubs and crowded around trash cans, taking turns puking their guts out. When you grow up here you become pretty much immune to everything, but every once in a while it takes you by surprise.

We continues to walk quietly and made sure not to make eye contact with anyone. You know, if awkward silence was an Olympic sport, we'd be the undefeated champions for 3 generations over. That's how good we are. We could all be in the grave and somehow find a way to make it awkward. But I guess I shouldn't complain, I've got a one way ticket out of this dump right?

After stepping over numerous people, we finally found ourselves outside a relatively tall building. Harvey knocked and a small window on the door slid open. Omg this is like something out of spy movie gotdamn. Harvey whispered some things to the man, and the large metal door swung open.

"Don't do anything stupid and get us killed," Harvey turned to us.

"They know me, but they don't know you, so don't say anything unless you're spoken to." With that, he led us inside. We marched down a long hall until we reached the end and found some sort of club. The smell of weed hit us instantly and a blue haze filled the air. It wasn't like your typical club, more of a lounge you could say. Neon lights, slow chill music, people platonically making out and smoking at ton. I found myself really enjoying this place, but began to feel kind of lonely looking at all the people together. I shook the thoughts from my head and returned to our task. Pushing past the people, we followed Shawn over to a guy who was chatting with a waiter.

"Hey Wes," Harvey said catching the mans attention. Holy shit he was beautiful.

"Hey Harv, it's been so long! How've you been?" He said in shock, showing off the whitest set of teeth I had ever seen. He shook Harvey's hand and I caught a glimpse of the intricate tattoos laced around his forearms. I took a deep breath, mentally thanking the universe for taking a little extra time when creating this gorgeous human being.

"I'd like you to meet Stone, Kane, Roman, Walker, and Ophelia" Harvey said introducing us. I cringed at him using my full name, but I let it slide. Wesley went down the line and said hi to us all. When he came to me he took my hand and place a kiss on top.

"Ophelia is it?" He smiled. For you it is.

"Yes, but I prefer Lia," I barely managed to say.

"Of course" He nodded.

"Let's go sit down and discuss our plans" We followed him to a booth in the back and gathered around.

"This morning we stopped at a diner to eat breakfast, and one of the waiters gave us this," Harvey unfolded the paper and slid it over to Wesley. He studied the paper and a frown formed upon his lips.

"Almost too easy," He muttered to himself. "Are you sure we can trust this?"

"Do we have a better plan?" Kane spoke up and Walker elbowed him in the ribs.

"No, he's right. This is better than what we have at the moment, so we'll use this as a base and go from there" Wesley nodded in approval and reached into a duffle bag on the table. He retrieved a map and rolled it out to where we could see. On it was marked the boundaries of the city and little red dots covered a majority of it.

"Each dot represents a person who has died trying to make it across," Wesley sighed. My eyes widen seeing all the tiny pinpoints speckled across the paper. It seemed to me that every way out had been tried and scratched off.

"And the people that did make it?" I held my breath.

"Eh, the numbers were so small that no one kept track of it anymore," he said nonchalantly.
I winced at the thought of us being captured or destroyed.

"Just think, maybe we'll get to put some numbers on the charts eh?" He said trying to lighten the mood.

"Anyway, we have a head count of 28 people, so for the rest of the day we'll need help packing and setting out rations. Sound good?" We all nodded and Wes led us out the back door into a big ware house. Guns hung up on the walls along with a bunch of other equipment I not want be on the receiving end of. Spread around were different stations getting things prepared for the next day.

"Kane, Roman, and Walker, I'd like you all to help out with artillery. Harv and I will help with first aid, and Lia with help with food, questions?" We all shook out heads and headed our different ways. I was kind of upset that I was stuck on food. But you know, I'm a girl and I wouldn't be able to handle the "man things". I rolled my eyes and trudged over to the food table. I was kind of nervous since I had no clue what was going on, but luckily a girl about my age picked up on it and came over to me.

"Hey, I'm Amanda!" She introduced her self and shook my hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Lia" I smiled.

"Nice to meet you too" She laughed, running her hand through her long brown hair. I had to admit she was very pretty and had the cutest laugh.

"I know it seems like a lot, but trust me there's an order to it," She sighed. "Come with me and i'll teach you" She motioned me over to the row of black bins.

"First you grab a bag at the end and make your way down the line. Each package get 2 from the first three bins, 3 from the fourth one, and 1 from the last four bins. Not to hard, right?" She grinned.

"If you need any help or get confused, just ask. I'll be storing water bottles," with that she left and I began to pack. The fact we were leaving became a little more real to me and I didn't want to wait much longer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alright, it's been a hot minute but here I am. I am so excited ahhhh (comment that you think will happen next) oh and if you have thoughts please let me know, I don't want to keep writing something that you all don't enjoy:) Okay byeee✌🏻