running toward a sealed window of glass thick, two five centimeters. He shot at it with the laser rifle, the window unaffected. Abreon surprised quickly turned to fire upon other workers and spun around shooting the casing of that window, set within the bulkhead. Abreon then backed up, charged the window and broke through, the window snapping from its housing. He fell through hitting the ground five meters below.
He stumbled, fell again, got up and ran again.
Two
Abreon ran down the sloping concrete lots of the facility. He found a transport unit, jumped in, grabbed the metal beneath its front console and pulled it off. By now, most workers and soldiers were running away, others watching and then running, for the facility was going to melt down. He threw the console, grabbed a fist full of wires underneath the dashboard, finding the one he needed, pull them apart and then patching the wire back together. The console of the cart lit up ready for him to drive the transport away. Abreon stepped on the gas.
One
He turned the cart about and drove straight for the first perimeter fences, driving through.
Zero…Set
Now Abreon had only five minutes before the containment units grew hot enough to have a core meltdown.
Five
He drove down through the facilities grounds and then through a set of new concrete lots.
Four
He drove from those lots into a third set, then through another series of fence, no one following him, because they were all fleeing the facility as well.
Three
Abreon eventually left the facility grounds and entered the fields.
Two
He entered the plants grassy areas beyond the facility, its lots and the mine itself.
One
Abreon entered the woods and then drove on toward and then along of the back paths, forgoing the now clogged roads which led out of the facility.
Zero
He now had five minutes before the radiation would reach him.
Five
Abreon floored the transport and he rode on through the woods.
Four, three, two.
Abreon was nearing a ravine, having traveled a total of three and a half kilometers.
One
The ravine was ten meters deep and ten meters wide.
Zero
Abreon ran over into the ravine, the cart flipping as it hit a tree, bending, Abreon hitting a rock, with his back, tumbling down to the bottom, slumping over as the cart collapsed upon him near a stream that made its way through the ravines bottom.
Seven
“Yes, indeed.” Said a doctors in a radiation suit to the others. Each one of them stood around Abreon inside a white walled, white door room, insulated; with thick glass windows to watch him from should they find the need too. Abreon found himself strapped upon a table, naked, his body blistered and burned, in some places more severe. The burns were deeper around his knees, his ankles, his forearms and his wrists. Abreon’s eyes were on fire as he spoke, his vision blurry, his lips chapped, his hair falling out on the table he was strapped, “Who are you?”
One of them speaking to him through the visor of her suit, a woman, “We are from the recycling plant Tarnar. You are in basement level four, med/lab area, isolation room three.”
Abreon struggling with his straps, “What?”
The woman holding out her gloved hands, “Oh don't struggle, it will be of no use to you. Your movement has been restricted for good and probable cause.”
Abreon lifting his head struggling, “Why!”
“Because, you have been radiated. Our employee’s found you after they did a perimeter sweep of the Zitar Nuo Corporation’s main smelting and mining facility. We are still salvaging the ore from their strip mine pit. This will undoubtedly bring us into the war at some point. However, some of the area is radiated from the meltdown.
Abreon dropped his head back down onto the metal table, weakly, “No…”
The doctor, “Oh, don't worry, we are confident that we will win it. That is part of the reason we are doing it.”
Abreon looking at a technician, noticing the meter he was holding another one beginning to unbind his legs, wrapping them in mesh cellular growth medium, “You don’t understand they had a secret weapon.”
One of the four in a suit, a second doctor, “We all do.”
The technician binding his legs again. Abreon looking down at him then up at the doctor, “How long until I can leave?”
The doctor, “I am doctor Nece. I will be your doctor and help you regain your health. You may have to stay for a year or two.”
“What?”
For many days Abreon could not eat, he could not sleep and he could not drink. He would dehydrate, come back from the brink, take in fluids and then dehydrate again. After several days, they removed their containment suits, replaced by standard uniforms. They changed his bandages daily, applied what growth medium they could as his skin began to scar and waited. They fed him through a catheter that went into his arm. He vomited and bled from his nose. He cried bloody tears. Abreon’s skin cracked, oozed, and healed again. However, he did heal. Abreon did gain his strength, it slowly returned and he again began to grow strong. He made fists upon his bed in anger and pain, as Nece visited him every day, giving him words of encouragement. Abreon’s hatred of the Zitar Nuo began to fade, and he began to wonder if his wife and children were alive, or if Marcy survived.
One day Nece walked into his room her path following blue lines that were painted on the tile floor. For the first time he noticed there not only were blue lines on floor but also yellow. Abreon thought that he had been too weak to notice the paint previously. Nece walked to the side of his bed following the blue lines intently, “How are you feeling, Abreon?”
Abreon watched her adjust the flowers that were in a vase, next to his bed. He had not seen flowers since before the war, which had been over three years ago. It took him aback and for a moment, he forgot where he was, for he was in a different place.
“Abreon?”
Abreon watched as she sat next to him, noticing her warmth through the sheets of his bed, “Why are you following those blue lines, walking that way?”
Nece laughed a bit, “In order to save precious environmental energy, as dictated by our parent company, Tarnar.”
Abreon gave a pained laugh back, sarcastically, “Why not the yellow?”
“The yellow is for returning.”
Abreon frowning, “How much longer will I need to stay?”
“You’re here to stay.”
Abreon frightened, “Why did you not say this before to me, Nece?”
Nece smiling warmly, “Because, Abreon, it would have been to your detriment. Come, I think you’re well enough to go on a trip. Let’s go on a trip and I will show you the area and your house.’’
She helped him up, in his white and blue gown, “Abreon?”
“What?”
“Walk the yellow indicator lines. I will show you when to change to the blue.”
Along the way, Nece pointed out the recycling plant and the corporate tower next to it in the foreground. In the distance, Nece showed Abreon the recycling plants metal yards, the heaps of plastic, glass and other materials, which could be melted and reused. Nece showed Abreon the companies various machinery, trucks and workers. A few minutes’ walk from the hospital, they found themselves on a great hill that led to a park of grass and trees and down to a community of small houses. There seemed to be many of them each painted white with solar roofs. Between them were windmills. Even farther, off in the distance another recycling plant and upon its own roof, solar panels. A second field flanking the right from that plant was a wide solar array. Toward the east in the background were the Tarnar Corporation’s facilities. Nece pointed back toward the houses, “Those are where our workers live. You shall live there.”
Abreon noticed the directional lines along the roads from the community dwellings. They radiated outward. He picked at the scarr
ed skin of his forearm. Some of his hair was growing back in patches on his arms and upon his head. Abreon’s scarring had partially concealed the barcode that had been burned onto his forehead, “And what will I do?
“You will work in the recycling plant.”
“I have a level B technology certification.”
They sat in the park on a bench. Nece arched her back, as she looked into the sun, her eyes dosed for a moment. She had long blond hair, down to her waist, her face an oval, soft features and mild lips. Nece neck was long and fragile, her shoulders small but strong, her thighs wide, her legs, slender and long. She smiled and turned to him opening her eyes, “Then I’ll place you in recycling product development.”
Abreon moving closer to her, “You really think you’re going to win?”
“Win what?”
“Win in a war with the Xelon Dru.” Nece assured, “We consume less resource than they do, they will burn out in their efforts against us.”
“They take what they need!”
“We will win.”
Abreon pulled at the strings of his gown, not looking at her, “You don’t understand. I know they took a lot from me. I have to pay them back. I have to stop them from destroying our lands, other communities. How am I supposed to do that if I make recycling bins?”
“Huh?”
“You don’t know do you? You don’t even have a militia, or an army. You stepped on the snake, and now it’s going to bite you.”
Nece: “I don’t know about you stopping them, but I can help you and the company.”
Abreon looking up to her, “How?”
Nece looking out at the windmills, then at Abreon, “Abreon you can transfer from the
The war at the river Zitar Nuo Page 12
