‘No, but still, I’m not used to getting in trouble.’
‘You’re eighteen years old, they ain’t got no control ova what ya do and what ya don’t do. We could run away to the city together and never come back.’
‘You wouldn’t do that,’ I said grimly.
‘Yeah, leaving momma behind, I wouldn’t do that. It just sucks, you know, that they’re not open to visits and all. She loves it here and I get that. Life back home, after dad, it sucked. She ran herself into a panic and it seems like she’s found at least a little bit of peace ever since we came to Berkon. I wouldn’t mind her staying here. I just don’t want to stay here.’
‘They used to do the visiting thing but I guess they got scared that more and more randomers would find out where we are and some of them could be horrible people.’
‘I don’t get why anyone would come looking for this place to begin with. What are they gonna steal- a bunch of corn? Honestly, I think everyone here’s just paranoid for no reason. I get that they want their own little controlled environment but a little freedom wouldn’t hurt nobody. Ya know? Give the men some real beer. Give the women a bottle ah bubbly. Buy the babies some skittles. I dunno. But life like this is just…’
‘Skittles.’
‘Candy. Pretty damn good, oh god I just made my belly jealous.’
I sat up and Max brushed a few loose pieces of grass from my back. ‘You know,’ I reached a hand out to him, ‘it’s not that bad here.’
He pulled himself up and now it was my turn to pluck away debris from his shirt sleeve. ‘It’s not bad here,’ he echoed. ‘Just…’
‘Boring sometimes. But everywhere is boring sometimes. Once you’ve done everything in the city then the city gets boring too.’
‘There are some things that never get boring,’ he said, running a curled finger over my cheek. ‘Like skydiving or riding roller coasters. Plus, there’s always something new. And when you run out of things, then there’s people. Don’t like em, move to a different country. Get bored, learn a new language then move back.’
‘I guess. Just… sometimes I like the calm. I like, just, sitting here and watching the sun. Feeling the breeze on my back and breathing it all the way in without worrying that…’
‘You’re right,’ Max cut in. ‘It’s a nice place to unwind, to I dunno, sorta take a break from the fast life. But it’s not for the young, at least not for people like us. And I really don’t think it’s fair for them to lock us in here like a bunch of apes.’
‘If we really want to leave, we can. There are no rules about it, you know that.’
‘But there are rules about getting back in and my mom. I can’t just leave her here. I can’t not see her again but I also can’t not see the city again.’
‘And I can’t only know this for my entire life.’
I rested my head on Max’s shoulder and watched the wind sway the emerald green leaves all the way to the right, giving them only a few seconds to stand upright before sending them bowing again. This, Max had said to me quite often, was something the city didn’t know; something I’d miss if I ever decided to run away and stay away or if I got banned.
Something he’d miss too.
We both watched, in silence, for a few more minutes, as nature worked on the small piece of land at our feet, as the sky played a movie starring stratus and cumulus clouds. Different shapes, different sizes. Different scenes to be imagined. I was excited, to leave with Max, regardless of the consequences.
My grandfather had enough influence in Berkon to make sure that I wasn’t banned for life. And my family, we’d been here for a while, three generations, that’s what we’d given to Berkon. Of course, they wouldn’t be happy that I left, even if only for a few days. But they’d be happy to see me come back. Provided, they weren’t completely oblivious to our wrong doings. There was indeed the chance that things would go wholly according to plan. We’d hike for miles, hitch a ride and be there and back without anyone even really knowing we were gone. There were many things they could assume. One: that we were playing hide and seek- too old for that. Two: that Max and I were hiding out to make babies- they’d love that one. Three: that we were busy watching the stars- did that often enough. Four: The truth.
Sneaking past control wasn’t hard. Max and I had tried it out enough times to have it down to a T. One or two lazy guards, sitting out front, knowing that nothing has ever happened here and that nothing ever will; we could get past without having him bat an eye in our directions. Through the bushes, gathering a couple scratches along the way, but it was nothing we couldn’t handle. The hard part would be finding someone to pick us up. Someone we could trust.
Regardless of how much Max beautified the city, bad things still happened there. It might not have looked like the ‘back alley,’ Max insisted that we got shown when I was thirteen years old, but he couldn’t dispute the fact that serial killers and rapists roamed the streets. I’d read about it in the newspapers that are used to ‘control’ us and I know those things aren’t made up. We don’t print anything here in Berkon and I doubt they’d put that much effort into anything. After all, each story we’d been told, was one we happily slurped up, if only because we needed to find something more intriguing than the mundaneness of our lives.
I nudged a heavy breathing Max. ‘We should get back.’
His head sprung off my shoulder, and he looked at me, his mouth dropped and his eyes confused. ‘Damn it. I really just fell asleep. Shit.’
‘Yeah, well that’s what happens when you do farm work the entire day.’
‘But it’s just shortly after noon, no? I promised mom I’d help out with the canning tonight. She’s got a portion of tomatoes that needs to be bottled up.’
‘Yeah, I’ve got some things to take care of myself. Wanna meet up later?’
‘Nah. I think I’m gonna call it a night after I help her out.’
I was disappointed but didn’t let on as much. ‘Yeah. You do look tired, bags underneath your eyes and all.’
Max laughed.
Prepper Mortality is available on Amazon.
6:00 Hours: A Dystopian Novel Page 13
